Giovanni Roncagli (1857–1929) was an Italian naval officer and hydrographer.

Giovanni Roncagli
Born1857
Died1929
NationalityItalian
OccupationHydrographer

Biography

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Roncagli was born in 1857.[1] He enlisted in the navy in 1875, attending the Royal Naval School of Naples. In his biography Vita di mare he tells of his early career, at a time when sailing ships were only slowly being replaced by steam.[2] Roncagli was the hydrographer for the Italian expedition to explore Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego of 1881–1882, led by Giacomo Bove.[3] Decio Vinciguerra was officially both zoologist and botanist, but in fact Carlos Luigi Spegazzini from Buenos Aires handled the botanical work.[4] The geologist Domenico Lovisato made up the scientific party.[3]

Giovanni Roncagli became a navy captain, an expert in commercial geography and a member of the Italian Naval League. He was secretary general of the Italian Geographic Society from 1897 until World War I (1914–1918).[5] He also became director of the Navy's historical section.[1] He was a pioneer in aeronautical topography in Italy, which quickly turned out to be of great importance in World War I.[6] In 1913 Roncagli presented a report to the Tenth International Geographical Congress in Rome in which he discussed the need for an international aeronautical map.[7]

 
Southern Argentina and Chile from Roncagli's Atlante Mondiale Hoepli

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