Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography/Wernicke, Gottlieb

WERNICKE, Gottlieb (vair-nick-eh), known also as Miguel de Faria, German adventurer, lived in the first half of the 18th century. He was a merchant, trading in Brazil, and made several expeditions to the interior. About 1720 he discovered rich gold-mines at the foot of the peak of Itabira, and a few years later he organized a new expedition to explore the mountains north of Itambe. He found a rich gold-mine, which he opened and worked for several years, acquiring great wealth; but the governor of the province of Goyaz claimed that Wernicke had never obtained a grant of the mine. Soldiers took possession of Wernicke's establishments, and he was taken prisoner; but the complaints of his friends secured his release, and he went to Portugal to lodge a complaint against the governor, but died before obtaining justice. His defence, written originally in Portuguese, was translated into French under the title “Exposé des explorations et de la découverte des mines du district d'Itabira, par Gottlieb Wernicke, et de leur exploitation, avec un résumé de ses contestations avec les autorités de la province de Goyaz” (Amsterdam, 1736).