Eduard Moritz was a German secondary school teacher in Berlin and apparently also a professor of geography. During 1909-1910 he carried out research
on the physical geography of German South West Africa (now Namibia), including a
cartographic survey of the Tiras Plateau in Great Namaqualand.
He also collected plants, which went to the Botanischer Garten und Botanischer
Museum in Berlin. His work was reported in the following papers: 'Die Tirashochflaeche'
(The Tiras Plateau, Mitteilungen aus den
deutschen Schutzgebieten, 1910); 'Reisenstudien aus Suedwest-Afrika'
(Travel studies from South West Africa, describing the climate and the movement
of the sand dunes, Zeitschrift der
Gesellschaft fuer Erdkunde zu Berlin, 1911); and 'Die geographischen und
wirtschaftlichen Verhaeltnisse der Huibhochflaeche' (The geographic and
economic relations of the Huib Plateau, Mitteilungen
aus den deutschen Schutzgebieten, 1915). He also wrote a book on the school system in the territory (1914) and researched the accounts
written by early travellers there, reporting his findings in 'Die
aeltesten Reiseberichte ueber Deutsch-Suedwestafrika' (Ibid, 1915, 1916, 1918).
Towards the end of his life he wrote two important historical books: Die
Deutschen am Kap unter den Hollaendischen Herrschaft, 1653-1806 (The Germans at
the Cape under the Dutch rule, 1938) and Die deutschen Einwanderung in die
niederlaendische Kap-kolonie (The German immigration in the Dutch Cape Colony, 1943).
One of Moritz's more important works dealing with
territories other than German South West Africa was Die entwickelung des kartenbildes der Nord- und Ostseelaender bis auf
Mercator (The development of maps of the North Sea and Baltic Sea countries
since Mercator, 1908).
