Georg von Schleinitz

Georg von Schleinitz (17 June 1834 - 12 December 1910) was a Prussian explorer, naval officer, colonial administrator, and hydrographer who served as the colonial governor of German New Guinea from 1886 to 1888. He is the namesake of the Schleinitz Range of Papua New Guinea.

Biography
Georg von Schleinitz was born in Bromberg, Posen to Johann Eduard Christoph von Schleinitz (1798-1869) and Jeanette von Hippel (1804-1850). He began his maritime career as a cabin boy on a trading brig before enlisting into the Prussian Navy in 1849. He served aboard the steamship Danzig, partaking in the Battle of Tres Forcas against the Barbary pirates in August of 1856. He then served aboard the ship Arcona for its 1860-62 voyage to East Asia.

In 1874, Schleinitz was made commander of the frigate Gazelle, and embarked on an astronomical voyage to the Kerguelen Islands to study the Transit of Venus. He then traveled to the Pacific, naming the Gazelle Peninsula of New Guinea after his ship. In 1880, Schleinitz was appointed head of the Imperial German Navy's Hydrographical Office. He became Landeshauptmann of the German New Guinea colony on 10 June 1886. During his tenure as governor, Schleinitz employed many colonial subjects as laborers to work in the colony's developing cotton and coconut industries. In addition, he established several towns and established a colonial shipping service. He also embarked on several expeditions into New Guinea, including one up the Sepik River in 1887. The flowering plant genus Schleinitzia was named in his honor by German-Jewish botanist Otto Warburg in 1891.

Schleinitz's term as governor of New Guinea ended on 1 March 1888, and shortly thereafter retired from naval service on account of poor health. He returned to Germany, continuing to publish papers in scientific journals. He died in Detmold on 12 December 1910.