entered the family business at sixteen. Ill health caused him to travel to the United States and Cuba to recuperate, where he befriended henry christy, the banker and archaeologist who supported the research of the French paleontologist édouard lartet. Tylor traveled with Christy for six months through mexico visiting the archaeological sites made famous by john lloyd stephens and frederick catherwood, all of which was to have a profound impact on the direction of his life and career.

In 1861, he published Anahuac: Or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern based on his observations in Mexico, and his new interest in anthropology is already in evidence in that work. By 1865, his interest had grown into expertise, the outcome of which was the major anthropological work Researches into the Early History of Mankind. In that book, Tylor compared languages, myths, customs and beliefs, and the universality of some human behaviors—arguing for both evolutionary and diffusionist explanations of culture. In 1871, his ideas about cultural evolution were further developed in Primitive Culture, which led to his being elected to the Royal Society.

Not only is Tylor regarded as the founder of modern anthropology, he also helped to create the acceptance of anthropology as a science. Primitive Culture had an enormous impact on the study of anthropology, and his Anthropology: An Introduction to the Study of Man and Civilization (1881) was the discipline’s first English textbook. Although he was not a university graduate, Tylor commanded great professional respect. Appointed keeper of the University Museum at Oxford in 1883, he became Oxford’s first professor of anthropology in 1896. He was twice president of the Royal Anthropological Institute and the first president of the anthropological section of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. He was knighted in 1912.

Tim Murray

References

Stocking, George W. 1987. Victorian Anthropology. New York: Free Press.