Book ID: CBB878153624

Humboldt's Mexico: In the Footsteps of the Illustrious German Scientific Traveller (2017)

unapi

Echenberg, Myron J. (Author)


McGill-Queen's University Press


Publication Date: 2017
Physical Details: 288 pages
Language: English

The incalculable influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) on biology, botany, geology, and meteorology deservedly earned him the reputation as the world’s most illustrious scientist before Charles Darwin. Humboldt’s breath-taking explorations of Mexico and South America from 1799 to 1804 are akin to Europe’s second “discovery” of the New World – this time, a scientific one. His Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain is a foundational document about Mexico and its cultures and is still widely consulted by anthropologists, geographers, and historians. In Humboldt’s Mexico, Myron Echenberg presents a straightforward guide with historical and cultural context to Humboldt’s travels in Mexico. Humboldt packed a lifetime of scientific studies into one daunting year, and soon after published a four-volume account of his findings. His adventures range widely from inspections of colonial silver mines and hikes to the summits of volcanoes to meticulous examination of secret Spanish colonial archives in Mexico City and scientific discussions of archaeological sites of pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures. Echenberg traces Humboldt’s journey, as described in his publications, his diary, and other writings, across the heartland of Mexico, while also pursuing Humboldt’s life, his science, his experiences, his influence on scholars of his time and after, and the various efforts by others to honour and at times to denigrate his legacy. Part history, part travelogue, and always highly readable and informative, Humboldt’s Mexico is an engaging account of a gifted scientist and visionary that ranges across topics as diverse and broad as natural history was in his era.

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Reviewed By

Review Tobias Kraft (2019) Review of "Humboldt's Mexico: In the Footsteps of the Illustrious German Scientific Traveller". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 614-616). unapi

Review Alan R. Kabat (2018) Review of "Humboldt's Mexico: In the Footsteps of the Illustrious German Scientific Traveller". Archives of Natural History (pp. 384-384). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB878153624/

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Authors & Contributors
Ette, Ottmar
Schneider-Kempf, Barbara
Drews, Julian
Melcher, Lillian
Wulf, Andrea
Weber, Jutta
Concepts
Travel; exploration
Scientific expeditions
Natural history
Science and culture
Colonialism
Indigenous peoples; indigeneity
Time Periods
19th century
18th century
20th century
Places
United States
Germany
Americas
South America
France
Mexico
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