RECLUS, JEAN JACQUES ELISEE French geographer, was born at Sainte-Foy la Grande (Gironde), on March 15, 1830, the second son of a Protestant pastor. He was educated at the Protestant college of Montauban, and studied geography under Karl Ritter at the University of Berlin. Leaving France in December 1851, he spent six years (1852-57) visiting the British Isles, the United States, Central America, and Co lombia. During the siege of Paris, Reclus shared in Nadar's aerostatic operations. He was taken prisoner on April 5, 1871, while serving in the National Guard, now in open revolt, and on Nov. 16 sentenced to transportation for life; but the sentence was commuted in Jan. 1872 to perpetual banishment. After a short visit to Italy, he settled at Clarens, in Switzerland, where he resumed his literary labours, and, after producing the Histoire d'une montagne (a companion to Histoire d'un ruisseau), wrote nearly the whole of his great work, La Nouvelle Geographie uni verselle, la terre et les hommes, 19 vols. (1875-94). This is a stupendous compilation, profusely illustrated with maps, plans and engravings, and was crowned with the gold medal of the Paris Geographical Society in 1892. An English edition appeared simultaneously, also in 19 vols., the first four by E. G. Ravenstein,
the rest by A. H. Keane. Extreme accuracy and brilliant exposi tion form the leading characteristics of all Reclus's writings, which thus possess permanent literary and scientific value. In 1882 Reclus initiated the "Anti-Marriage Movement," in accordance with which he allowed his two daughters to marry without any civil or religious sanction. This resulted in government prosecu tions, instituted in the High Court of Lyons, against the an archists, members of the International Association, of which Reclus and Prince Kropotkin were designated as the two chief organizers. The prince was arrested and condemned to five years' imprisonment, but Reclus, being resident in Switzerland, escaped. In 1892 he became professor of comparative geography in the University of Brussels. Reclus died on July 4, 1905.
His works are: Histoire d'un ruisseau (1869) ; La Terre: description des phinomenes de la vie du globe (2 vols., 1867-1868) ; Histoire d'une montagne (188o) ; La Nouvelle Geographie universelle, la terre et les hommes (19 vols., 1875-1894) ; L'Homme et la terre (19o5) ; and many contributions to scientific journals.