John Hemming

John Hemming "is one of the world's experts on Brazilian Indians, the Amazon environment, the Incas, Peruvian archaeology, The Royal Geographical Society, and the history of exploration generally. He is also Joint Chairman of Hemming Group Ltd., a company that publishes trade magazines and organises trade exhibitions and conferences."

"John Hemming was educated at Eton College, McGill University and Oxford University, where he received a PhD in Modern History. He was Director and Secretary of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS), London, from 1975 to 1996, a time of great expansion in the Society's range of activities, membership and finance. The RGS was particularly concerned with environmental issues in its many conferences and lectures, in papers in its three learned journals, and in its sponsored and supported field research. Dr. Hemming was active in launching and organising the Society's multi-disciplinary research projects at Mulu, Sarawak; Karakoram, Pakistan; Kora, Kenya; Wahibah, Oman; Kimberley, Australia; Mkomazi, Tanzania; and Temburong, Brunei. Dr. Hemming was co-chairman of the RGS’s Badia Research and Development Programme in Jordan, and he personally led the Maracá Rainforest Project in northern Brazil. This grew to be the largest research project ever organised in the Amazon basin by any European country, with some 150 scientists and 50 scientific technicians working from 1987 onwards, and an output of fifteen books, hundreds of papers and extensive collections and scientific discoveries.

"Dr. Hemming has also been on many expeditions in Peru and Brazil, including the first exploration and mapping of the upper Iriri River. He has visited or lived with over forty tribes, four of them at the time of first contact. He is the author or editor of sixteen books, including The Conquest of the Incas, Red Gold, Amazon Frontier, Die If You Must: Brazilian Indians In The Twentieth Century, The Search for El Dorado, Change in the Amazon Basin, and The Golden Age of Discovery.

"He was active in many charitable organisations, including serving as Trustee of The British Council, Chairman of the Anglo-Peruvian Society, President of the Rainforest Club, and Founder Trustee of Survival. He is currently a Trustee of Earthwatch UK, Hakluyt Society, Cusichaca Trust and Pro-Natura International, among other organisations.

"He has received numerous awards, including the CMG (Companion of St Michael and St George) from the British government, Orden al Mérito (Peru) and Ordem do Cruzeiro do Sul (Brazil); medals and awards from Royal Geographical Society, Boston Museum of Science, Royal Scottish Geographical Society, Explorers Club (New York), Instituto Nacional de Cultura (Peru), Andean Explorers Club; and literary prizes such as the Pitman Prize and The Christopher Medal (New York). He holds honorary doctorates from the universities of Warwick and Stirling as was named Honorary Fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford. He is currently chairman of Hemming Group Ltd. and of various publishing and exhibition-organising companies."

Website: http://www.johnhemming.co.uk


 * Trustee, Global Diversity Foundation
 * Europe Trustee, Earthwatch Institute
 * Patron, Wilderness Foundation
 * Advisory Board, Rainforest Concern
 * Advisory Board, Cool Earth
 * Trustee, Rainforest Foundation UK