George Perkins Biography
George Perkins Marsh was born in Vermont, United States, in 1801. He was the son of a landowner and grew up immersed in the nature of the small state of New England. He studied hard as a young man, acquiring an extensive knowledge of foreign languages, including Latin and Greek. He later embarked on a career as a lawyer and representative of his state in Washington. He was an entrepreneur, but not always successfully, and cultivated his passion for geography, philology and natural history in parallel. Marsh was soon recognized for his intelligence and insight, receiving numerous honors as a leading intellectual and public man. In 1849 he was appointed United States ambassador to Turkey, and after a long and adventurous journey that took him to Europe, he had his first experience of contact with Italy and Tuscany. Marsh visited many Italian cities, meeting various political and intellectual figures who made a great impression on him. Returning to his homeland in 1854, Marsh assumed the role of United States ambassador to the newly formed kingdom of Italy, first in Turin and then in Florence. Although he was not a professional geographer, Marsh wrote a geographical work of great interest, entitled "Man and Nature, or Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action", published in 1864. In this work, Marsh anticipated some of the ideas of the French geographers J. Brunhes and E. Fels on the transformations wrought by man on the natural environment, inspiring many to consider him a precursor of modern ecology. In fact, his writings contain many reflections on environmental problems and the use of natural resources, aspects that today continue to be current and of great relevance. His work has been republished several times and his figure continues to be studied and appreciated in both academic and public circles.
