Historedia
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Meyer and Purtscheller first reach the summit of Kilimanjaro

When
1889
Where
Southern rim of Kibo crater; Klute Peak, Mawenzi
Episodes
2

German geographer Hans Meyer and Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller achieved the first recorded ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro's highest summit, Kibo, on 6 October 1889. Following earlier failed attempts, the pair reached the southern crater rim, marking a significant milestone in African exploration history.

Episodes

  1. 1889 · Klute Peak, MawenziAttempt on Mawenzi

    Following the Kibo summit, Meyer and Purtscheller attempted to climb Mawenzi but retreated due to illness.

  2. 6 October 1889 · Southern rim of Kibo craterFirst Ascent of Kibo

    Meyer and Purtscheller reached the highest summit of Kibo on the southern crater rim on 6 October 1889.

Background and detail

Background. Mount Kilimanjaro, a dormant stratovolcano in Tanzania, is Africa's highest peak. Hans Meyer, a German geographer, made an initial attempt in 1887 but turned back due to lack of equipment. Subsequent attempts by other explorers also failed to reach the summit, setting the stage for Meyer's successful 1889 expedition.

Expedition. In 1889, Meyer returned to Kilimanjaro for a third attempt, accompanied by the celebrated Austrian mountaineer Ludwig Purtscheller. The pair pushed to near the crater rim on 3 October before retreating to the base of Kibo. They subsequently reached the highest summit on the southern rim of the crater on 6 October 1889, coinciding with Purtscheller's 40th birthday.

Aftermath. After descending to the saddle between Kibo and Mawenzi, Meyer and Purtscheller attempted to climb the more technically challenging Mawenzi. However, they could only reach the top of Klute Peak, a subsidiary peak, before retreating due to illness. Meyer named the highest summit of Kibo Kaiser-Wilhelm-Spitze for Kaiser Wilhelm.

People involved

Sources

  1. Mount Kilimanjaro Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-07
  2. Hans Meyer (geographer) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-04-20
  3. Ludwig Purtscheller Wikipedia, revision of 2026-07-25

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.