The influence and legacy of Alexander von Humboldt in the Americas (original) (raw)
Related papers
Alexander von Humboldt’s perceptions of colonial Spanish American societies
Dynamis, 2009, n. 29, Granada, p. 49-72., 2009
This study presents an in-depth analysis of Alexander von Humboldt ́s descriptions and critical comments on the colonial society of the different regions he visited during his well-known expedition through the Americas (1799-1804). The criticisms of colonialism that he expressed, reflecting his personal convictions, have already been the focal point of many studies, but Humboldt also was able to offer a more differentiated assessment through com- parisons of regional and local traditions and developments. This essay focuses on his personal diaries, which offer many interesting comments on colonial societies. These considerations and impressions made during the expedition are of particular scholarly value since they were not subject to censorship of any kind.
“In Whose Heads I Would Like My Ideas To Live”: Humboldt’s Interest in the United States
Iberoamericana, 2019
Alexander von Humboldt’s decision to add a visit to the United States at the end of his expedition has led to various speculations about the motives of this change in his itin- erary and the particular moment during his voyage when he took this decision. This article argues that his stay in North America forms an important part of his American Expedition and is crucial to better understanding both the historical context and the larger impact of his journey. It therefore addresses this topic based on a thorough analysis of his first references to this country and the information he received about the young republic during his time in the Spanish colonies. In particular, it focuses on the role the Louisiana Purchase had played in this context and the possibilities he saw regarding the scientific exploration of the newly acquired territory. La decisión de Alejandro de Humboldt de añadir una visita a los Estados Unidos al final de su expedición ha llevado a diversas especulaciones sobre los motivos de este cambio en su itinerario y el momento concreto de su viaje en el que tomó esta decisión. Este artículo argumenta que su estancia en este país forma parte importante de su Expedición Americana y que es crucial para entender mejor tanto el contexto histórico como el impacto de su pe- riplo americano a mayor escala. Se acerca a este tema en base a un exhaustivo análisis de sus primeras referencias de los Estados Unidos y de la información que Humboldt obtuvo de la joven república durante el tiempo que permaneció en las posesiones españolas en América. En particular, se enfoca en el papel que desempeñó la compra de la Luisiana en este contexto, así como en las posibilidades que observó en relación con la exploración científica del terri- torio recién adquirido.
Anais da Academia Brasileira de Ciências, 2005
Alexander von Humboldt's expedition from 1799 till 1804 to the "equinoctial regions of the new world" led through Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Mexico. In Europe an increased knowledge of the "New World" was connected with the privately funded journey, which served purely scientific purposes and had nothing to do with the exploration and exploitation of natural resources. Besides the research results, which were based on new measuring methods and the quantitative ascertainment of scientific basics, the journey also made possible detailed descriptions in matters of regional studies including social, socio-economic, political, and economic-geographic circumstances, which were based on empirical field studies. The expedition took place shortly before the political change in Latin America. Humboldt, who still experienced the feudal character of global economy based on slave labor in the colonies, vehemently criticized this economic structure - alt...
The Passage to Cosmos: Alexander von Humboldt and the Shaping of America
2009
Explorer, scientist, writer, and humanist, Alexander von Humboldt was the most famous intellectual of the age that began with Napoleon and ended with Darwin. With "Cosmos", the book that crowned his career, Humboldt offered to the world his vision of humans and nature as integrated halves of a single whole. In it, Humboldt espoused the idea that, while the universe of nature exists apart from human purpose, its beauty and order, the very idea of the whole it composes, are human achievements: cosmos comes into being in the dance of world and mind, subject and object, science and poetry. Laura Dassow Walls here traces Humboldt's ideas for "Cosmos" to his 1799 journey to the Americas, where he first experienced the diversity of nature and of the world's people - and envisioned a new cosmopolitanism that would link ideas, disciplines, and nations into a global web of knowledge and cultures. In reclaiming Humboldt's transcultural and transdisciplinary proj...
A Sense of Place: Early Modern Roots of Humboldt’s Natural History Practices
in: The Invention of Humboldt. On the Geopolitics of Knowledge, eds. Mark Thurner & Jorge Canizares-Esguerra (Routledge) , 2023
THIS ESSAY IS NOT AT ALL IN AGREEMENT WITH THE INTRODUCTION TO THE VOLUME BY CAÑIZARES AND TURNER - FROM WHICH I WANT TO TAKE MY DISTANCE. This essay places the iconic ascent of Chimborazo by Humboldt, Bonpland and companions, and Humboldt’s analysis of plant geography in the long-term context of a European style of doing science (esp. in botany and geology) linked to methodologies in which autopsy, fieldwork, and site-specific expertise played key roles. The parameters of that style were set in the 16th century and especially in Italy. Humboldt travelled in Italy both before and immediately after (1805) his American journey, in part to compare American volcanoes with Italian ones. In particular his Italian journey of 1805 has been characterized as crucial to Humboldt’s own interpretation of his American experience and findings in a comparative perspective. Fieldwork and personal observation on the spot that resulted in ‘a sense of place’ were as much part of Humboldt’s style and practice as was his emphasis on measuring and the use of instruments.