# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/ferdinand-von-richthofen
# Generated: 2026-08-14T14:43:16.421Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/ferdinand-von-richthofen"
name: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
slug: "ferdinand-von-richthofen"
description: "He gave the Silk Road its name. The German geographer's 1877 coinage turned a tangle of ancient caravan routes into a single phrase that shaped how the world thinks about East-West exchange."
tagline: "German traveller, geographer and scientist (1833-1905)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/(Ferdinand_von_Richthofen)_-_Ernst_(...)Milster_Ernst_btv1b84510245_(cropped).jpg"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Scientists"
  slug: "scientists"
profileType:
  name: "Scientist"
  slug: "scientist"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q39631"
birthDate: "1833-05-05"
deathDate: "1905-10-06"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           52.26
  momentum:             0
  historical:           21.691512
  currentAttention:     0
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "STABLE"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: 121
tags:
  - name: "Business Professionals"
    slug: "business-professionals"
  - name: "Scientist"
    slug: "scientist"
  - name: "Chemistry"
    slug: "chemistry"
  - name: "19th Century"
    slug: "19th-century"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Pantheon 2.0"
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    title: "فردیناند فون ریشتهوفن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Ferdinand fon Rixthofen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Фердинанд фон Рихтхофен"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://eu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Richthofen"
    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D9%81%D8%B1%D8%AF%DB%8C%D9%86%D8%A7%D9%86%D8%AF_%D9%81%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%B4%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%88%D9%81%D9%86"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "Ֆերդինանդ ֆոն Ռիխտհոֆեն"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Ferdinand Richthofen"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_von_Richthofen"
    title: "Ferdinand von Richthofen"
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    title: "フェルディナント・フォン・リヒトホーフェン"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "فرديناند فون ريتشهوفن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "فرديناند فون ريتشهوفن"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Ferdinand Freiherr von Richthofen was born on 5 May 1833 into a German noble family. He built his career as a traveller and scientist, ranging across continents to map and study the physical world. In 1877 he coined "Seidenstraße" and "Seidenstraßen" — Silk Road, Silk Routes — terms that would outlive him by centuries. He also standardized chorography and chorology, tightening the methods geographers use to describe and compare regions. He died on 6 October 1905, leaving a discipline more rigorous and a metaphor the world still uses.