Welcome

n this sec­tion I will try and give some back­ground of per­sons who, in my per­sonal view, deserve appre­ci­a­tion for their efforts, impor­tance and influ­ence in the devel­op­ment of ani­mal col­lec­tions, menageries and zoos through the ages. The selec­tion of per­sons is not meant to be an exhaus­tive overview. I selected per­sons who stand out for dif­fer­ent rea­sons. They may have been world con­querors who brought back with them from their cam­paigns exotic ani­mals. Or they may have been rich noble­man show­ing off their wealth by cre­at­ing their own menageries of exotic ani­mals. Or peo­ple involved in trade of these ani­mals, or founders of zoos. There can be more and pecu­liar rea­sons, but even­tu­ally my per­sonal inter­est will deliver a list of per­sons who, at least most of them, have one thing in com­mon: their care for nature, espe­cially ani­mals, and its sus­tain­abil­ity. There­fore, the brief biogra­phies are mainly focused on the part of the (v)ip’s life which had some­thing to do with col­lect­ing animals.