Garlieb Helwig Merkel (October 31, 1769, Lēdurga, Latvia – May 9, 1850, Rīga) was a Baltic German writer and activist and an early Estophile and Lettophile. Events 445 BC – Ezra reads the Book of the Law to the Israelites in Jerusalem (see Nehemiah 91 NLTse Year 1769 ( MDCCLXIX) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Latvia ( Latvija officially the Republic of Latvia (Latvijas Republika is a Country in Northern Europe in the Baltic region. Events 1457 BC - Battle of Megiddo (15th century BC between Thutmose III and a large Canaanite coalition under the King of For the game see 1850 (board game. 1850 ( MDCCCL) was a Common year starting on Tuesday (link Riga (Rīga riːga) the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava. The Baltic Germans (Deutschbalten or Baltendeutsche) were mostly ethnically German inhabitants of the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea, which today A writer is anyone who creates a written work although the word usually designates those who write creatively or professionally as well as those who have written in many different forms Activism, in a general sense can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change Estophilia (from Greek: φίλος, 'dear loving') refers to the ideas and activities of people not of Estonian descent sympathetic to or interested in
Merkel was born into the family of a rural priest in Livonia. Livonia (Līvõmō Latvian and Livonija Estonian: Liivimaa; Finnish: Liivinmaa; German and Swedish: Livland From the age of 17 he worked as a tutor for upper-class families. In 1790 he joined the circle of Riga intellectuals. Riga (Rīga riːga) the Capital of Latvia, is situated on the Baltic Sea coast on the mouth of the river Daugava. Influenced by the ideas he found there, he published the book Die Letten ("Latvians") in 1794, which described in the darkest terms the life of the peasantry and the atrocities of the German landowners and called upom the Imperial Russian government to intervene and ameliorate the lot of the Latvian people. The Russian Empire ( Pre-reform Russian: Pоссійская Имперія Modern Russian: Российская Империя translit: Rossiyskaya Latvians or Letts (latvieši the indigenous Baltic people of Latvia, occasionally refer to themselves by the ancient name of Latvji, which
Merkel's book caused a storm of anger among the landowners of Livonia, and Merkel was forced into exile. He moved to Weimar, then in 1800 to Berlin, where he was the co-editor with August von Kotzebue of the weekly Der Freimutige (1803-1806). Weimar (ˈvaɪmaʁ is a City in Germany. It is located in the Bundesland of Thuringia (Thüringen north of the Thüringer Wald, Berlin is the capital city and one of sixteen states of Germany. August Friedrich Ferdinand von Kotzebue (ˈaʊgʊst fɔn ˈkɔtsəbu May 3, 1761 &ndash March 23, 1819) was a German Dramatist
In 1816 Merkel returned to Livonia. He published the book My Ten Years in Germany (1818) and Images and Characters from My Life (two volumes, 1839-1840). He also wrote the pamphlet Free Latvians and Estonians (1820), which was published in Leipzig. This sort of fix restores section edit linkpoints to where they belong
References
- Raun, Toivo U. (2003). Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Estonian nationalism revisited. Nations and Nationalism 9. Nations and Nationalism is an Interdisciplinary academic Journal covering Nationalism and related issues 1, 129-147.
- Merkel, Garlieb. Die Vorzeit Lieflands: Ein Denkmahl des Pfaffen- und Rittergeistes. 2 vols. , Berlin: Vossische Buchhandlung, 1807.