Early Life
Georg Forster was born in the small village of Nassenhuben (Mokry Dwór) near Danzig (Gdańsk), in the province of Royal Prussia, in the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland.
He was the oldest of seven surviving children of Johann Reinhold Forster and Justina Elisabeth (née Nicolai). His father was a naturalist, scientist and a Reformed pastor. In 1765, the Russian tsarina Catherine II gave the pastor an assignment to travel in Russia on a research journey and investigate the situation of a German colony on the Volga River. Georg, then ten years old, joined him. They reached the Kirghiz steppe on the lower Volga. On the journey, they discovered several new species. The young Forster learned there how to conduct scientific research and how to practice cartography. He also became fluent in Russian.
The report from this journey, which included sharp criticism of the governor of Saratov, was not well received at court, and the Forsters claimed they had not obtained fair payment for their work and had to move house. They chose to settle in England in 1766. The father took up teaching at the Dissenter's Academy in Warrington and also translation work. The young Forster, only thirteen years old, published his first book: an English translation of Lomonosov's history of Russia, which was well received in scientific circles.
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