After Poland's partitions, in which Russia, Prussia, and Austria seized all of the Commonwealth's territory, Staszic was active in many scientific and scholarly initiatives. He studied the geology of the Carpathian Mountains. In 1800 he co-founded the Warsaw Society of Friends of Learning; from 1802 he was one of its most active members. In 1804 he went to France, where he observed the changes wrought by Napoleon. On return to Poland in 1805, he spent some time in the Tatra Mountains, where he continued his geological studies and conducted ethnographic ones. He worked with Jan Chrystian Hoffmann on a geological map of Poland. In the Duchy of Warsaw he worked with the Ministry of Education ("Izba Edukacyjna Księstwa Warszawskiego") and was involved in numerous educational reforms and initiatives. He also briefly worked with the Ministry of Treasury.