Professor Sabine Wilke, Chair of the Department of Germanics at the University of Washington Seattle (one of the leading Departments of German Language and Literature in North America), is an internationally renowned specialist in German colonialism who has published extensively on the German connection with the South Pacific, from Georg Forster’s eighteenth century perspective on the South Pacific gleaned from his role as a naturalist on Captain Cook’s explorations, to the 4,000 enquiries from Germans wanting to emigrate to Tonga after a visit by the King of Tonga in 1979. 

Professor Wilke's presentation to the Goethe Society will focus on the famous Prussian geographer, naturalist and explorer Alexander von Humboldt. The presentation will be in Room 501 (Pat Hannan Room) in the Arts 2 Building, University of Auckland City Campus.