Wied was born in
Neuwied, the grandson of the ruling count (after 1784 prince) Johann Friedrich Alexander of
Wied-Neuwied. Born at the end of the European
Enlightenment, Maximilian became friends with two of its major figures:
Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, a major comparative anthropologist under whom he studied biological sciences, and
Alexander von Humboldt, who served as Maximilian's mentor. He joined the
Prussian army in 1800 during the
Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of major in the
Zieten Hussars. He was given a leave of absence from the army in 1815 (prior to Napoleon's escape from Elba). Wied led an expedition to southeast
Brazil from 1815 to 1817. In 1816 he found the tribe of the
Botocudos, about which he gave exact details for the first time. On account of the war among the different tribes of the country he was obliged to abandon his original route and remained for some time near some ruins that he had come across. North of the Belmonte river he made his way through the woods, and after many difficulties arrived in the province of
Minas Gerais. His delicate health forced him to abandon his expedition, and he was detained on unfounded suspicions for four days, and robbed of a large part of his collection of insects and plants. After this he resolved to leave the country, and embarked for Germany on 10 May 1817. On his return, he wrote
Reise nach Brasilien (1820–21) and
Beiträge zur Naturgeschichte von Brasilien (1825–33). In 1832 he travelled to the
Great Plains region of the
United States, accompanied by the Swiss painter
Karl Bodmer on a journey up the
Missouri River, and wrote
Reise in das Innere Nord-Amerikas (1840) on his return. During his travels, he was a sympathetic recorder of the cultures of many of the Native American tribes he encountered, notably the
Mandan and the
Hidatsa, who lived in settled villages on the banks of the Missouri, but also such nomadic peoples as the
Sioux,
Assiniboine,
Plains Cree,
Gros Ventres and
Blackfoot. ==Gallery==