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Alexander von Humboldt: From the Americas to the Cosmos

August 1998

August 1998

Publisher: Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies
Editor: Mauricio Font

Authors:

Mauricio Font

CUNY Graduate Center

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Content may be subject to copyright.

Alexander von Humboldt

From the Americas

to the Cosmos

Coordinated by:

Raymond Erickson

Mauricio A. Font

Brian Schwartz

Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies

The Graduate Center, The City University of New York

iii

Contents

List of Figures vii

List of Tables xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Preface xv

Part I: Cantata

1 Humboldt, Mendelssohnm, and Musical Unity 3

R. Larry Todd

2 Willkommen! 13

Text by Ludwig Rellstab

Part II: Culture and Society in the New World

3Faith and the Conquest 19

José Gabriel Brauchy

4Humboldt en la Nueva España 25

Jaime Labastida

5A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 41

Elizabeth Millán-Zaibert

6 La Arquitectura Inca 57

César W. Astuhuamán Gonzáles

7 Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 69

Paul Rizo-Patrón

8The National Imagination in New Granada 83

Margarita Serje

9Entre Caos y Cosmos 99

Odette Casamayor Cisneros

10 The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 111

Alfonso W. Quiroz

11 Celebrity in American Society and Science 129

Michael F. Conlin

Part III: Literature and the Arts

12 Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 141

Claudia Mattos

13 New Sites and Sounds 157

Adrienne Klein

14 Humboldt and the Visual Arts in America 167

Amy H. Winter

15 Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 173

Adriana Méndez Rodenas

16 Classic Nomenclature in New Exploration 183

Donald Hassler

17 Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 189

José Ángel Rodríguez

18 Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 203

María-Rosario Martí Marco

19 Threats to the European Subject 221

Jason H. Lindquist

20 Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 237

Rocío Oviedo

21 The Birth of the Two Cultures 247

Laura Dassow Walls

22 Científico, y Poeta 259

Luisa V. De Castillo

Part IV: Life and Travels

23 A French Perspective 281

Pierre Laszlo

24 Maler, Legacy and Mexico 293

Claudine Leysinger

25 Una Mirada Recíproca 311

Sandra Rebok

26 Recording civilization 325

Georgia de Havenon

27 Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 343

Daniel Gerould

28 Influencia en los artículos de Bello 353

Alister Ramírez Márquez

29 A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 361

Aaron Sachs

30 Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 371

Philip K. Wilson

Part V: Knowledge and Worldview

31 Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 387

Alexandra Cook

32 A German minerologist visits Peru 403

Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy

33 Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 415

Richard Weiner

34 The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst: 427

Ivani Vassoler

35 Writing In and Out of Time 437

Ann C. Colley

36 Scientific Instruments in ‘Cartas Americanas’ 445

Ann de Leon

37 Trailblazer for Ecology 453

Dietland Muller-Schwarze

38 Ancient and modern forms of slavery 469

Irene Prüfer Leske

39 Gradations of Suffering and Privation 485

Evelyn Powell Jennings

40 Speaking of Nature 501

David Kenosian

41 Herschel, Humboldt and Imperial Science 509

Christopher Carter

42 Writing Science 519

Renata Schellenberg

43 Afectos Científicos Italianos 525

Marisa Vannini de Gerulewicz

vii

Figures

FIGURE 6-1. Mapa de Piura. Fuente: Vallejos 1925. 59

FIGURE 6-2. Plano de un sector de Chulucanas (Caxas). Fuente:

Bonpland 1802. 60

FIGURE 6-3. Reconstrucción hipotética de Caxas. Dibujo: C.

Campos 2003. 63

FIGURE 6-4. Foto del acllahuasi de Caxas. Fuente: Bleyleben 1970. 63

FIGURE 12-1. Jacob Philipp Hackert, “View of the Vesuvius,”

1794, oil 62,7 x 88 cm, private collection. 152

FIGURE 12-2. Jacob Philipp Hackert, Title page of the book:

“Principles to learn how to draw landscape from nature,” 1802.153

FIGURE 12-3. Spix and Martius, “Plants of Tropical America”

Lithography from “Atlas of the Voyage to Brazil,” 1823. 154

FIGURE 12-4. Spix and Martius, “Extraction and preparation of

the turtle eggs at the Amazon river” From “Atlas of the

Voyage to Brazil,” 1823. 156

FIGURE 13-1. Daniel Velasco-Schwarzenberger, “Island

Landscape,” 1999 160

FIGURE 13-2. Mark Dion, “Cabinet of Curiosity,” The Wexner

Center for the Arts, Columbus, Ohio, 1997. 161

FIGURE 13-3. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International

exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999 162

FIGURE 13-4. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International

exhibition, Pittsburgh, PA, 1999. 162

FIGURE 13-5. Image 5: Mark Dion, “The Delirium of Alfred Russel

Wallace,” 1994 163

FIGURE 13-6. Mark Dion, Alexander von Humboldt (Amazon

Memorial), 2000 163

FIGURE 13-7. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not

Hegel’s,” the Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September

2004. 164

FIGURE 13-8. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not

Hegel’s,” the Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September

2004. 165

FIGURE 13-9. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004 166

FIGURE 13-10. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004 166

FIGURE 22-1. 264

FIGURE 22-2. 265

FIGURE 22-3. 267

viii

FIGURE 22-4. 268

FIGURE 22-5. 268

FIGURE 22-6. 270

FIGURE 22-7. 271

FIGURE 22-8. 271

FIGURE 22-9. 273

FIGURE 26-1. Frontispiece, Vues des Cordilléres. Paris: F. Schoell,

1810 328

FIGURE 26-2. Two illustrations from Vues des Cordilléres, Hill

in the Puebla Valley, Mexico, Plate 34 and Boat on the

Guayaquil River, Plate 63 328

FIGURE 26-3. Peruvian Monument at Canar, Plate 17, Vues des

Cordilléres 329

FIGURE 26-4. Inca-Chungana, Plate 19, Vues des Cordilléres 330

FIGURE 26-5. Ponce Monolith and Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku 330

FIGURE 26-6. Kalassaya wall, Tiwanaku 331

FIGURE 26-7. Mt. Chimborazo, Plate 25, Vues des Cordilléres 332

FIGURE 26-8. Portrait of Alcide d’Orbigny 333

FIGURE 26-9. Drawing of the Gateway of the Sun, Alcide d’Orbigny 334

FIGURE 26-10. Head of a Colossal Statue and Details from the

Gateway of the Sun, Alcide d’Orbigny 335

FIGURE 26-11. Men in a reed boat, Alcide d’Orbigny 335

FIGURE 26-12. Aymara Indians, La Paz, Alcide d’Orbigny 336

FIGURE 26-13. left: Michoacan dolls, from Vues des Cordilléres

(detail); right: Indians from the Province of Chiquitos,

Alcide d’Orbigny (detail) 336

FIGURE 26-14. Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku by Léonce Angrand 337

FIGURE 26-15. Tiwanaku, December 26, 1848 by Léonce Angrand 337

FIGURE 26-16. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce

Angrand 338

FIGURE 26-17. Monolithic gateway at Tiwanaku, Léonce Angrand 339

FIGURE 26-18. left: Alcaldes at the Fiesta of the Conception, Léonce

Angrand; right: detail from the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce

Angrand 340

FIGURE 26-19. Scenes of local women, Léonce Angrand 340

FIGURE 26-20. Balsa boat, Léonce Angrand 341

FIGURE 26-21. Members of the French Scientific Mission, 1903 341

FIGURE 26-22. left: Statue discovered by the French Mission; right:

Grand staircase, Tiwanaku 342

FIGURE 26-23. Discoveries of the French Mission, three small rooms

to the west of the “grands alignments” 342

FIGURE 26-24. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, the French

Mission 343

FIGURE 26-25. Gateway of the Sun. French Mission 344

FIGURE 27-1. Jan Witkiewicz in a Czarist army uniform. A lost

portrait attributed to Walenty Wankowicz. Reproduced in

Jan Reychman, Peleryna, ciupaga i znak tajemny, Cracow,

1976 346

FIGURE 27-2. Jan Witkiewicz in an Eastern costume. As Fig. 27-1 349

FIGURE 27-3. Jan Witkiewicz. Pencil sketch in the Tatras Museum,

Zakopane. Photograph by K. Goradowska. 354

FIGURE 31-1. L’homme de la nature. 395

FIGURE 31-2. Colchicum autumnale 396

FIGURE 32-1. 417

FIGURE 32-2. 418

FIGURE 32-3. 418

FIGURE 32-4. 418

FIGURE 37-1. Freiberg in Saxony, a mining town where A.v.

Humboldt studied at the Mining Academy and held his first

post. 458

FIGURE 37-2. Top: Cotopaxi, considered by Humboldt the most

beautiful of the Andean peaks. Bottom: Pichincha, as seen

today from Quito airport. Humboldt climbed Pichincha

several times and studied its volcanic activity. 459

FIGURE 37-3. Chimborazo. Humboldt reached his highest altitude

here, developed his model of altutudinal plant zones, and

considered the Paramo vegetation at Chimborazo

impoverished. 461

FIGURE 37-4. Paramo flowers at Cotopaxi. 461

FIGURE 37-5. Popocatépetl. Humboldt did not visit Popocatépetl, but

measured its height from Mexico City. The pines are Pinus

hartwegii. 470

FIGURE 37-6. San Augustín de Callo, Humboldt’s headquarters at

Cotopaxi. Today a tourist lodge, the hazienda is built onto

the old Callo Palace of the Incas. Humboldt measured and

described in detail the Inca Palace. 471

FIGURE 37-7. The Humboldt family’s Tegel Castle in Berlin. Top: The

mansion. Bottom: The family cemetery, A.v. Humboldt’s final

resting place. The column is in honor of A.v. Humboldt 472

Tables

TABLE 1-1. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Humboldt Cantata (1828) 11

TABLE 18-1. Cambios Ortográficos 212

TABLE 18-2. Adjectivos 214

TABLE 18-3. Plantas Y Animales 214

TABLE 18-4. Términos Geológicos 215

TABLE 18-5. Contenidos 216

TABLE 18-6. Topónimos 216

TABLE 18-7. Cifras 217

TABLE 18-8. Abreviaturas 217

TABLE 18-9. Personajes Y Pueblos 218

TABLE 18-10. Alejunos Ejemplos Generales 219

TABLE 18-11. Algunos Ejemplos Geográficos 219

xiii

Acknowledgments

The Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies is grateful to the many

individuals and organizations who were involved in this online publication as

well as in the international symposium on which it is based – “Alexander von

Humboldt: From the Americas to the Cosmos,” held at The Graduate Center

of the City University of New York on Oct. 14-16, 2004. We thank all

contributors and participants for their papers and comments, as well as for

their patience in the effort to convert the conference proceedings to

publishable form. Neither the conference nor the publication would have

been possible without the generous support of the Alexander von Humboldt

Foundation, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Mr. Albert

Bildner, the German Consulate in New York, the Consulate General of

Mexico, the General Consulate of Venezuela in New York, the Festo

Corporation, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, the Goethe Institute

and Dr. Sylvia Kahan. Many within the City University of New York system

also played important roles in the success of the endeavor, especially the

Office of the Dean of Arts and Humanities at Queens College, the Office of

the President at Queens College, the Aaron Copeland School of Music at

Queens College and the Ph.D./D.M.A. Program in Music at The Graduate

Center. Special thanks goes to Dr. Brian Schwartz and the CUNY Office of

Sponsored Programs for their gracious assistance.

The staff at the Bildner Center also played an enormous role in the

successful execution of the conference and publication. Danielle Xuereb

coordinated the conference with a steadfast hand, and she artfully performed

the tasks of layout and design. Scott Larson put in countless hours organizing

the conference and editing these texts. Interns Michael Landis, Steve Perez

and Carlene Buchanan helped insure the smooth running of the conference,

and Sandra Black was instrumental in the early stages of putting it on track.

This online publication and the conference on which it was based advance

the Bildner Center’s mission of bringing together scholars, policy makers,

civil society leaders and others to further understanding and policy-oriented

research concerning the governance, security and economic well-being of

peoples in the Americas. In that spirit, the authors are responsible for their

own views; their positions do not necessarily represent those of the Bildner

Center. Our hope is that by offering different views, by confronting theory

with evidence, the Bildner Center can help shed light on key issues of our

times. We look forward to organizing more groundbreaking events in the near

future.

Mauricio A. Font

Director, Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies

Preface

In 1804, Alexander von Humboldt concluded a five-year journey of explora-

tion and discovery through South America, New Spain (Mexico) and Cuba

with a visit to the United States at the invitation of President Thomas Jeffer-

son. This extraordinary expedition thrust Latin America into the Old World’s

imagination and established Humboldt as the most famous explorer of mod-

ern times. From Oct. 14-16, 2004, 127 scholars and Humboldt enthusiasts

from 14 countries gathered at The Graduate Center of the City University of

New York to commemorate the bicentennial of this momentous journey and

to celebrate the remarkable legacy of an extraordinary human being.

Hosted by the Bildner Center for Western Hemisphere Studies, the three-

day celebration featured a multidisciplinary conference at which 89 scholarly

papers were presented; the American premiere of “Begrüssung” (“Greet-

ing”), a cantata commissioned by Humboldt and written by Felix Men-

delssohn-Bartoldy for the opening of a scientific conference in Berlin in

1828; a series of films on exploration and discovery in the Americas; and the

first performance of ‘Wide World,’ a play written by Lauren Gunderson and

commissioned specifically for the event. Among the distinguished Humboldt

scholars to participate were Ottmar Ette, chair of the Romance Literature

Department at the University of Potsdam; Manfred Osten, retired Secretary

General of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation; Jaime Labastida, author

of Humboldt: Ciudadano Universal; Laura Dassow Walls, professor of

English at the University of South Carolina and Frank Baron, of the Hum-

boldt Digital Library project and the University of Kansas.

This volume is a compilation of the proceedings from this truly remark-

able event. The papers which appear here, and which represent a portion of

those presented at the conference, are a testament to Humboldt’s vision, his

achievements and the lasting legacy of his work in various fields of human

inquiry and creative activity. Organized into four thematic sections, they crit-

ically explore his personal and professional relationships, as well as his influ-

ence on literature and the arts, on culture and society in the New World and,

ultimately, on the creation of knowledge.

The last of the great European polymaths, Humboldt was important to the

development of many intellectual disciplines. His interests ranged from geo-

graphic and scientific exploration to engineering, ancient and modern lan-

guages, painting and the advocacy of human rights. His uniquely holistic

view of the natural world – which recognized the interdependence of all

things on the planet – led to his designation as the first ecologist, and he

shared with Goethe the belief that “true knowledge depend[s] on an intense

collaboration between art and science.”

xvi

Humboldt’s American explorations started in what is now Venezuela and

proceeded across the Andean Highlands to Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. He

also made trips to Cuba and Mexico. Papers in this volume examine many

aspects of these journeys, including Humboldt’s observations on emerging

society in colonial regions, his views on the mining of the New World’s min-

eral riches, and his observations regarding the many geographic and natural

wonders he encountered. Others analyze the written records he kept of his

experiences, exploring in detail the words and stylistic approaches he took in

crafting works such as Ansichten der Natur (Aspects of Nature), Vues de

Cordilléres en monumens des peoples indigenes de l’Amérique, Personal

Narrative and the seminal Kosmos.

The fame and influence that followed from Humboldt’s voyages and writ-

ings were truly enormous; in the early nineteenth century he was quite liter-

ally one of the most famous people in the world. His celebrity, both at home

in Europe and in the Americas, is the focus of several essays. Still others

explore his literary legacy and the influence of his ideas on major artistic fig-

ures, from Henry David Thoreau and Cuban writer Alejandro Carpentier to

landscape painters Frederick Edwin Church and Wolfgang Paalen. Humboldt

is still revered for his science as well as his empathy with the sufferings of

exploited peoples. A number of essays touch on the monumental impact

Humboldt’s writings had on important debates of his day, including slavery

and early autonomist movements. His views, as expressed in works such as

Essai Politique sur I’lle de Cuba, made him an icon to the oppressed, prompt-

ing Simon Bolívar to declare, “The real discoverer of South America was

Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all

conquerors.” That many of these ideas still resonate, only confirms Hum-

boldt’s lasting relevance.

Within the scientific world, Humboldt is equally revered. Still today, his

name is appears not only on the Humboldt Current that runs along South

America’s Pacific coast, but also on mountains, streets, schools, research cen-

ters, glaciers, plants and animals throughout the Americas. Contributions cel-

ebrate Humboldt’s “deep appreciation of magnificent, abundant nature,” and

argue the case for including him among the earliest environmental scientists.

Humboldt’s influence on a range of scientific figures – from Charles Darwin

to British geophysicist John Herschel and explorer J.N. Reynolds – is a major

component of this collection.

Just as Humboldt inspired the writers, artists, scientists and thinkers of his

time, he continues to motivate scholars and “enthusiasts of extreme experi-

ence” today. The works included here are a fitting tribute to this singular fig-

ure, this scientist, writer, naturalist and humanitarian who stood at the

crossroad between two worlds and shared the view with the rest of us.

Part I

Cantata

CHAPTER 1 Humboldt, Mendelssohn,

and Musical Unity

R. Larry Todd

If a scholar of unusual interdisciplinary breadth – I suspect there are some in

attendance today – were to write a comparative monograph about prominent

historical figures who happened to be polymaths, surely one full chapter

would concern the remarkable life of Alexander von Humboldt. Often

described as the last great universalist, Humboldt traversed with a facility

that strains credulity an astonishing number of disciplines – astronomy, geol-

ogy, botany, zoology, climatology, meteorology, oceanography, anthropol-

ogy, geography, cartography, and political science, and the list could

continue. His overarching purpose – to study the interconnectedness of phe-

nomena, to lay bare the underlying unity of nature – inspired his prolific out-

put as an author, including the Personal Narrative of Travels to the

Equinoctial Regions of America, the popular account of Humboldt’s New

World expedition (1799 to 1804), the bicentenary of which we are celebrat-

ing. His life’s work culminated in the colossal, five-volume Kosmos, over

which the scientist ruminated for decades before releasing in 1845 its first

volume, with the unassuming subtitle, Entwurf einer physischen Weltbes-

chreibung, or Sketch of a Physical Description of the World. In the preface,

Humboldt acknowledged his purpose – “the earnest endeavor to comprehend

the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection, and to repre-

sent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal forces.”

(Cosmos: A Sketch of A Physical Description of the Universe, trans. E. C.

Otté, London, 1849, I, ix.) Invoking classical authority, Humboldt placed on

the title page an apposite quotation from the Naturalis Historia of Pliny the

Elder, who centuries before in his Natural History had compiled an elephan-

tine compendium of knowledge. Humboldt found his theme near the begin-

ning of Pliny’s seventh book, where, after concluding a six-volume

description of the natural world, the Roman paused before taking up human

4Cantata

kind to comment, “Indeed, everywhere the power and majesty of the nature

of the universe defies belief if one contemplates only parts of it and not the

whole.” (Pliny, Naturalis Historia, vii: 6)

The German states of Humboldt’s time produced few other polymaths

worthy of comparison. One who springs to mind is Goethe, who in addition

to his undisputed role as the reigning German literary laureate cultivated a

wide variety of interests, including, with Humboldt’s encouragement, the sci-

ences. Another was the composer Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847),

grandson of the Jewish Enlightenment philosopher Moses Mendelssohn, son

of the banker Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy, and through his family

befriended with Alexander and his older brother Wilhelm. While the com-

poser is usually remembered as a musical genius whose precocity rivaled if

not surpassed that of Mozart, Felix possessed a vigorous intellect that ranged

comfortably over many musical and non-musical fields (see most recently,

the new biography, R. Larry Todd, Mendelssohn: A Life in Music, N. Y.,

2003). In addition to his international stature as a composer, pianist, organist,

and conductor, Mendelssohn was also an accomplished violinist, and a

skilled draughtsman and painter whose watercolors impressed his nemesis

Richard Wagner as products of a “landscape-painter of the first order.” (Edu-

ard Dannreuther, “Wagner,” Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians,

London, 1893, IV, 369.) Mendelssohn was a polyglot who spoke several lan-

guages fluently, a classical scholar, poet and translator, and a polished prose

stylist whose vivid letters rival in imagination the writings of his contempo-

raries, Robert Schumann and Hector Berlioz, both professional music critics.

Deeply religious and well versed in theology, Mendelssohn took an active

part in preparing and editing the libretti of his two major oratorios, St. Paul

and Elijah, and described himself as a disciple of the Protestant theologian

Schleiermacher, whose sermons Mendelssohn heard in Berlin. The com-

poser’s career, which unfolded principally in Berlin and Leipzig between

1829 and 1847, overlapped with Humboldt’s return in 1827 to Berlin, where

he served two Prussian monarchs, Frederick William III and IV, as court

chamberlain and cultural advisor. But despite the many connections between

Humboldt and Mendelssohn’s family, there has been relatively little inquiry

into the question of whether Humboldt’s work influenced the composer in

any substantial way. Today I shall review their relationship, introduce the

cantata Mendelssohn composed for Humboldt in 1828, and briefly propose a

connection between Humboldt’s search for cosmological unity and Men-

delssohn’s treatment of musical unity in his larger compositions.

How Humboldt first met the Mendelssohns is cloaked in some mystery.

According to Meyer Kayserling, the nineteenth-century biographer of Moses

Mendelssohn (Moses Mendelssohn: Sein Leben und seine Werke, Leipzig,

Humboldt, Mendelssohn, and Musical Unity 5

1862), the philosopher played a decisive role in educating the adolescent

Humboldt brothers. In 1785 Moses published the Morgenstunden (Morning

Hours, or Lectures on the Existence of God), seventeen lectures in dialogue

form offering justifications of God. Kayserling claimed that Alexander and

Wilhelm attended these lectures, designed by Moses for the religious educa-

tion of his fifteen-year-old son, Joseph. Though recent research has chal-

lenged Kayserling’s assertion (see Peter Honigmann, Der Einfluß von Moses

Mendelssohn auf die Erziehung der Brüder Humboldt, Mendelssohn Studien

7 [1990], 39-76), we do know that the seventeen-year-old Alexander attended

the funeral of Moses Mendelssohn in 1786, and that early on Joseph and

Abraham Mendelssohn numbered among Alexander’s childhood friends. We

may offer today a new, confirming piece of evidence: in an unpublished con-

dolence letter Alexander wrote to Felix on December 7, 1835 after the death

of Abraham, Alexander states unambiguously that like Joseph, Abraham was

a friend from the earlier years of the scientist’s youth (“er war, wie Joseph,

der Freund meiner ersteren Jugendjahren;” Oxford, Bodleian Library, M.

Deneke Mendelssohn Collection, Green Books, IV, 177).

In 1806, having returned to Paris from his voyage to the Americas, Alex-

ander helped secure funding for the engineer Nathan Mendelssohn, Moses

Mendelssohn’s youngest son, who established a Berlin workshop to develop

astronomical and geodetic instruments. Three years later, the Hamburg bank-

ing firm of Joseph and Abraham, Gebrüder Mendelssohn & Co., provided a

line of credit to shore up Alexander’s own finances, considerably weakened

by the costs of his expedition and various publication projects. Strained rela-

tions and hostilities between Prussia and France during the Napoleonic

period and culminating German War of Liberation of 1813 curtailed meetings

between Alexander and the Mendelssohns, but the post-1815 Restoration

afforded new opportunities to renew the old friendship, as did Humboldt’s

return to Prussia in 1827, and he soon became a regular visitor at the Men-

delssohns’ residence. Alexander was among the contributors to the Garten-

zeitung (Garden-Times), a mock literary journal founded by Felix and his

friends in August 1826, just weeks after he finished, at age seventeen, the

Midsummer Night’s Dream Overture. According to the young theology stu-

dent Julius Schubring, Humboldt’s conversations were especially prized: a

circle would form around him, and “he could go on, for hours together, with-

out a pause, relating the most attractive facts from out the rich stores of his

experience.” (Julius Schubring, Reminiscences of Felix Mendelssohn-Bar-

tholdy [1866], in R. L. Todd, ed., Mendelssohn and his World, Princeton,

1991, 222.)

We can document several more ties between Humboldt and Felix’s family

during the late 1820s. Between November 1827 and April 1828, the scientist

6Cantata

gave sixty-one weekly lectures on the physical sciences at the University of

Berlin, highly fêted events that strengthened his resolve to undertake the

writing of the Kosmos. By popular demand Humboldt condensed and

repeated the lectures before an audience that included not only Prussian roy-

alty but commoners of various socio-economic classes and – most unusual

for the time – women. Felix, who had matriculated in 1827 at the University

of Berlin (his professors included the philosopher Hegel), attended the lec-

tures there, while his sister Fanny, like Felix a musical prodigy, was among

the audience for the simplified versions delivered twice a week at the Berlin

Singakademie, the same hall where in 1829 Felix would conduct for the first

time in one hundred years J. S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion, the seminal

event that triggered the modern Bach Revival. Reporting to a friend about

Humboldt’s lectures, Fanny observed how they were attended “by everybody

who lays any claim to good breeding and fashion, from the king and the

whole court, ministers, generals, officers, artists, authors, beaux esprits (and

ugly ones, too), students, and ladies, down to your unworthy correspondent.”

And then, in defense of her sex, “Gentlemen may laugh as much as they like,

but it is delightful that we too have the opportunity given us of listening to

clever men.” (Fanny to Karl Klingemann, December 23, 1827, Mendelssohn

Family, I, 151). According to Felix, a thousand auditors were entertained by

Humboldt’s engaging accounts of fire-spewing volcanoes and “loathsome

animals” – i.e., seals. And, Felix continued, when a Berlin mädchen tried to

buy some material for a ribbon, and the clerk asked her to specify the size,

she answered with an unusual astronomical measurement – two widths of the

star Sirius. (Felix to Klingemann, February 5, 1828, in Karl Klingemann, Jr.,

ed., Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdys Briefwechsel mit Legationsrat Karl

Klingemann in London, Essen, 1909, 47).

In September 1828 Humboldt convened an international conference of

naturalists and physicians. Presiding over this early example of scientific col-

laboration, he welcomed six hundred colleagues converging on Berlin,

including the Englishman Charles Babbage, who in 1833 would design his

prototypical calculator, and the great mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss.

From Warsaw came the Polish zoologist F. P. Jarocki, accompanied by a

young, introverted pianist, Frédéric Chopin. At the opening session, Hum-

boldt gave an address on the social utility of science, and Mendelssohn con-

ducted a new cantata commissioned by Humboldt for the event, and heard in

its belated American premiere this evening.

To approach the cantata, I shall begin with its most striking feature, the

unusual orchestra that supports the chorus and soloists. In lieu of a conven-

tional orchestra with full complements of woodwinds, brass, and strings,

Felix scored for a considerably reduced ensemble that conspicuously avoids

Humboldt, Mendelssohn, and Musical Unity 7

flutes, oboes, bassoons, violins, and violas. What is more, the chorus calls for

only tenors and basses. Fanny mused about the omissions in gender-specific

terms: “As the naturalists follow the rule of Mahomet and exclude women

from their paradise, the choir consists only of the best male voices of the cap-

ital; and as Humboldt, whose forte music is not, has limited his composer as

to the number of musicians, the orchestra is quite original; it consists only of

double-basses, violoncellos, trumpets, horns, and clarinets.” (Fanny to

Klingemann, September 12, 1828; Sebastian Hensel, The Mendelssohn Fam-

ily, I, 162.) We should note one small correction – there is in addition a part

for two timpani. Mendelssohn’s use of the male choir seems designed to

invoke the sounds and traditions of male singing societies then popular in

Prussia, and associated since the Napoleonic wars with German nationalism.

Whether the male chorus might in some way signal Humboldt’s preference

for male companionship must remain open to conjecture. But it is fair to say

that the unusual, reduced orchestra under girds the male tessitura of the cho-

rus and soloists, and not infrequently presents musical figures of speech that

in the culture of the time would have been understood to connote masculine

imagery – e.g., fanfares for the horns, trumpets, and drums, which sound

vaguely militaristic but also stately and ceremonial, and horn calls, associated

in German musical romanticism with male hunters in natural, open-air set-

tings.

The text of Mendelssohn’s cantata is by Ludwig Rellstab (1799-1860), a

music critic and poet who in 1819 had founded with Mendelssohn’s former

piano instructor, Ludwig Berger, a male singing society in Berlin. Rellstab’s

music criticism shows a distinct bias for the German romantic opera of Carl

Maria von Weber, in particular Der Freischütz, premiered in Berlin in 1821,

and teeming with images of the hunt, forests, the supernatural, and the con-

flict between the diabolical and divine. Weber’s romanticism left a strong

mark as well on the forming style of the young Mendelssohn, and emerges in

several pages of the Humboldt Cantata, especially in the choruses reminis-

cent of the German part-song tradition.

Though Rellstab’s verses for the cantata may impress few as poetry of the

first order, he did win considerable fame for supplying Schubert with several

texts, including seven poems which the terminally ill Viennese composer set

in his proto-cycle Schwanengesang of 1828, indeed, at about the same time

when Humboldt’s scientific colleagues were gathering in Berlin. And, we

should note, it was Rellstab who in the 1840s would compare the opening

movement of Beethoven’s Op. 27 No. 2 to a moonlit scene on Lake Lucerne,

thereby transforming what Beethoven viewed as a non-descript piano sonata

into the immortalized “Moonlight” Sonata.

8Cantata

Rellstab’s cantata text treats a familiar theme that would have resonated

with Humboldt and his circle – the progress of the natural world from chaos

to unity. Earlier composers had already explored this topic, most notably

Haydn in his oratorio “The Creation” (1798), which begins not with a tradi-

tional overture but an extraordinary orchestral depiction of chaos (Vorstel-

lung des Chaos) that explodes eighteenth-century musical conventions before

the opening choral pronouncement from Genesis, “And there was light,”

reintroduces the boundaries of Viennese classicism as a kind of musical cor-

rective. The progression from darkness to light preoccupied as well the

young Beethoven, who in his cantata on the death of the Emperor Joseph

(1790) used the metaphor to compare the Austrian monarch to an enlightened

philosophe contending with the destructive forces of fanaticism. The dark-

ness/light polarity also seems to have inspired, albeit in abstract, purely

instrumental terms, the last two movements of Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony

(1808), with which Rellstab and Mendelssohn of course would have been

familiar. But Rellstab’s text reads as though he were an avid member of the

audience attending Humboldt’s 1828 lectures. Thus, after a celebratory cho-

rus of welcome to the conference delegates, the text begins by sketching the

disarray of the elements, in which fire, wind, and waves are in unrestrained

conflict. Toward the center of the cantata, we suddenly encounter the sound

of a new voice, as the raging discord subsides, and the “wondrous clarity of

light bursts forth from ethereal dreams.” In the second half, the “kindred

forces” (verschwisterte Kräfte) and “united powers” (vereinte Kraft) form the

“glorious” world, and a higher, radiant purpose (leuchtend hohes Ziel)

resolves the previous dissonance into unity (Einheit). The text concludes with

an invocation to God to bless the creation, and a doxology-like verse of

praise.

Mendelssohn appears to have composed the music for the cantata in con-

siderable haste; the autograph (Staatsbibliothek zu Berlin, Mendelssohn

Nachlass 48) is dated September 12, 1828, only six days before its perfor-

mance at the conference, and is fraught with corrections, as though the com-

poser were working quickly against the looming deadline. To be sure, Felix

did not exhaust his most inspired efforts on the music, which, though

through-composed, and thus performed without breaks between individual

movements, in the main alternates somewhat predictably between choral

movements and solo numbers, including recitatives and an arioso. And there

is no evidence in his surviving correspondence that he later gave serious

thought to revising or publishing his score. For Mendelssohn the cantata was

simply an occasional work, and once the occasion had passed, he evidently

lost interest in the composition.

Humboldt, Mendelssohn, and Musical Unity 9

Nevertheless, the careful listener will discern how the music parallels the

binary, chaos/unity division of the text, and how Mendelssohn imposed upon

the composition an overarching musical plan (see Diagram 1). After the

brightly scored opening choral movement, in D major, he introduces two

minor keys, G minor (bass solo) and D minor (chorus), and a good bit of

rather obvious storm imagery to depict the natural strife; in addition, the D-

minor chorus contains passages of fugal writing, in which the voices musi-

cally contend with one another. The dramatic interruption of the tenor recita-

tive shifts the music from the minor to major mode, and prepares the

following two movements, for tenor solo and for tenor answered by the cho-

rus. Here the palette of keys brightens to A major and E major, as Men-

delssohn exploits the minor vs. major tonalities as musical counterparts to the

progression from chaos to unity (concomitantly, the earlier dissonance level

of the music now drops considerably). In the penultimate movement, the D

major chords that had heralded the opening bars of the work return, and lead

into the finale. Here Mendelssohn introduces a fresh fugal subject, and then

recalls that of the earlier D-minor chorus, now woven into the celebratory

conclusion. Through the technique of thematic recall Mendelssohn thus

brings together different musical strands from the first half of the score in

order to effect in the closing pages a new musical order and unity, in keeping

with Rellstab’s text and Humboldt’s vision.

The 1828 Berlin conference brought Humboldt into closer contact with

the Mendelssohns in another way. When the mathematician Gauss urged his

friend to continue his geomagnetic experiments, Humboldt had a copper hut

constructed in the garden of the Mendelssohn mansion on Leipzigerstraße.

Here, in 1829, while the composer rehearsed Bach’s St. Matthew Passion,

Humboldt made his meticulous recordings, all part of a grander scheme to

chart the earth’s magnetic field. The recently published diaries of Fanny

Hensel confirm the experiment: according to one entry, on January 31, 1829,

Humboldt supped with the Mendelssohns and then excused himself to

observiren, that is, make hourly measurements in his hut between 3:00 P.M.

and 7:00 A.M. (Fanny Hensel, “Tagebücher”, ed. H.-G. Klein and R. Elvers,

Wiesbaden, 2002, 6).

There remains for brief consideration the question of whether Humboldt’s

theories about natural unity could have influenced in a general way Men-

delssohn’s approach to musical form. Though regrettably the composer left

no detailed reactions to Humboldt’s lectures, we do know that Mendelssohn

was especially drawn to the work of the geographer Carl Ritter (E. Devrient,

My Recollections of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and His Letters to Me,

trans. Natalia Macfarren, London, 1869, 33), Humboldt’s friend and col-

league at the University of Berlin, whose massive Erdkunde (Geography),

10 Cantata

begun in 1822 and destined by 1859 to fill some 20,000 pages, presented a

vision of the globe in which “the winds, waters, and landmasses” acted “upon

one another like animated organs, every region having its own function to

perform, thus promoting the well-being of all the rest.” (W. L. Gage, The Life

of Carl Ritter, N.Y., 1867, 208.) It is surely not insignificant that in 1827,

1828, and 1829, that is, the years of Mendelssohn’s matriculation at the Uni-

versity, and the height of his association with Humboldt and Ritter, he com-

posed or conceived a series of instrumental compositions that reveal

“organic” approaches to musical form. Furthermore, two of these works, the

concert overtures Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage (1828) and the Hebrides

(1829), concern natural phenomena, in the case of the former, Goethe’s

description in two short poems of a becalming at sea; in the latter, Men-

delssohn’s own impressions of the Hebridean islands of Mull, Iona, and

Staffa (Fingal’s Cave), with its extraordinary formations of plicated, hexago-

nal basaltic columns. Among Humboldt’s circle was the young mathemati-

cian Gustav Lejeune Dirichlet, now remembered for his work on number

theory (see, most recently, John Derbyshire, Prime Obsession: Bernhard Rie-

mann and the Greatest Unsolved Problem in Mathematics, N. Y., 2003,

passim). After Humboldt introduced him to the Mendelssohns in 1828,

Dirichlet became enamored of Felix’s younger sister, Rebecka, and a few

years later married her (Dirichlet, by the way, would later fill Gauss’s posi-

tion at the University of Göttingen after his death in 1855). In 1829 Hum-

boldt brought to the Mendelssohnss the news of Wilhelm Hensel’s

appointment as a Hofmaler, or court painter, clearing the way for his mar-

riage to Felix’s sister Fanny. And finally, it was likely Humboldt who advised

Frederick William IV to award Felix in 1842 the Ordre pour le mérite, an

honor also accorded Franz Liszt. But perhaps the most remarkable testament

to Humboldt’s friendship with the Mendelssohns came in 1844. When Hum-

boldt’s landlord decided to sell his property, and thereby threatened to dis-

place the scientist, Felix’s uncle Joseph Mendelssohn quietly bought the

residence, so that Humboldt could continue his research undisturbed. We do

not know for certain, but it seems likely that Humboldt was among the many

mourners who thronged to Felix’s funeral, when he was interred at the Berlin

cemetery of Trinity Church on November 8, 1847; only a few months later, in

March 1848, after the outbreak of the Revolution in Berlin, Humboldt would

lead a procession mourning the first casualties of the barricades.

Each of these compositions begins with a compact motive which, sub-

jected to continuing repetition, development, and transformation, forms the

basis for the thematic complex of the entire composition and acts as a unify-

ing agent. To be sure, theories of organicism in the arts abounded in early

nineteenth-century German critical thought, in the writings of Novalis,

Humboldt, Mendelssohn, and Musical Unity 11

Wackenroder, Goethe, and in the music criticism of E. T. A. Hoffmann (see

most recently, Holly Watkins, “From the Mine to the Shrine: The Critical

Origins of Musical Depth,” in 19th Century Music 27 [2004], 179-207). But

in Mendelssohn’s overtures is it too much to imagine that the relationship

between the particular and the general, between the individual musical ges-

ture and the overarching musical design owed something to Humboldt’s

determination to discover in natural phenomena the keys to unlocking a

vision of a comprehensive unity? Indeed, Humboldt’s vision may be seen to

have transcended science to embrace art, an idea that he proposed on the very

first page of the first chapter of the Kosmos, which Mendelssohn may well

have read in 1845: “May the immeasurable diversity of phenomena which

crowd into the picture of nature in no way detract from that harmonious

impression of rest and unity, which is the ultimate object of every literary or

purely artistic composition.” (Cosmos, I, 62.) Thus the genius of one poly-

math may well have touched that of another.

TABLE 1-1. Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Humboldt Cantata (1828)

Chorus Bass recit. Chorus Tenor recit. Tenor &

chorus Bass &

tenor

Chorus

& arioso recit.

Chords Chords

F u g a t o

Double

fugato

with recall

D major G minor D minor A major E major D major

CHAPTER 2 Willkommen!

Text by Ludwig Rellstab

Chorus

Wilikommen! rufen wir euch froh entgegen,

der Gruß der Freundschaft ist's, der euch erklingt.

Es waltet über diesem Fest ein Segen,

der uns mit hoher Weihe Kraft durchdringt.

Mit Stolz und Rührung muss es uns bewegen,

das Heil, das des Beherrschers Huld uns bringt.

So mög’ ihm denn des Dankes Gruß ertönen,

dem Schirmer alles großen Guten, schönen

Welcome! We gaily call to you,

it is friendships' greeting ringing out to you.

A blessing rules over this festival,

ordained with the power to reach out to us.

With pride and emotion we are bound to be moved

by the salvation brought to us by the ruler's benevo-

lence.

So, then let the thankful greeting ring out to the

protector of all that is good and beautiful.

Recitative

Aus alter grauser Nacht des Chaos

entwindet mühsam sich der Elemente Kraft;

fest stellte sich die Erde; starr und trotzig

bot sie dem Sturme stolze Gipfel

und warf des Ufers Felsenbrust dem Meer entgegen.

Feu'r Luft und Wogen bekämpften sich voll Wut

Out of the dreaded night of chaos

the power labors to wrest itself from the elements;

The earth stood firm; rigid and defiant

she presented the storm with proud peeks

and thrust the shore's cliff-breast towards the ocean.

Fire, air, and waves fought a raging battle.

Aria

Es bricht der Sturm die mächt'gen Blöcke aus dem

Lager

und donnernd stürzen sie zu Tal hinab,

die Woge schäumt voll Ingrimm an den Damm der

Berge

und wühlt sich tiefe Klüfte aus,

und furchtbar dringt des Feuers wilde Kraft

zerstörend ein bis zu der Tiefe Schoß

The storm breaks mighty blocks loose

and they thunder down into the valley below.

The waves foam full of wrath at the mountains' bar-

rier

and carve themselves out deep chasms.

And dreadful is the wild force of the fire as its

destruction

penetrates to the womb of the deep.

Chorus

14 Cantata

Laut tobt des wilden Kampfes Wut,

die Zwietracht bringt Zerstörung,

es drohen Flammen, Sturm und Flut

mit grimmiger Verheerung.

Was Gott erschuf in weiser Macht,

Sinkt wieder in die alte Nacht!

Loud is the fury of the savage battle,

discord causes destruction.

Flames, storm, and flood

are threatening grim devastation.

What God created in the power of his wisdom,

is sinking back into dark night!

Recitative

Halt ein! – tönt einer Wunderstimme Klang,

und plötzIich ist der Elemente Zorn gefesselt.

Sturm und Wogen ruhn;

Zur stillen Glut senkt sich das Flammenmeer

Cease! - the sound of a wonderful voice rings out

and suddenly the elements' anger is fettered.

Storm and waves hold still;

the sea of flames sinks down to peaceful embers.

Arioso

Da bricht des Lichtes wunderbare Klarheit

aus Ätherträumen segensreich hervor,

hellestens kundig allen wird die Wahrheit,

versöhnt ist jetzt der Elemente Chor.

Gemeinsam wirkt der Kräfte eifrig Streben,

denn Eintracht nur kann wahres Heil ergeben.

Then the wonderful clarity of light, full of blessings

breaks through the ether dreams.

And shining bright the truth is clear to all,

the chorus of the elements is now reconciled.

Together the powers' keen striving has effect,

as only concord can bring forth true salvation.

Duet and Chorus

Jetzt wirken und schaffen verschwisterte Kräfte

und bilden imd bauen die herrliche Welt.

Es pranget die Erde, es schimmert das Feuer

und liebliche Lüfte bewegen die Flut.

Hoch wölbt sich der Äther und blinkende Sterne

zieh'n goldener Kreise sanft strahlende Bahn.

Now the related powers take effect and work to form

and build the most marvelous world.

The earth is resplendent, the fire gleams,

and sweet breezes move the flood.

The ether arches up high and twinkling stars gently

draw golden circles in their shining path.

Recitative

Und wie der große Bau der Welt sich ordnet,

so bildet sich's auch in des Menschen Brust!

Es wohnt die wilde Kraft der Erde

in seiner Seele, die verderblich wirkt,

wenn nicht ein großes, leuchtend hohes Ziel

in Einheit schlichtet unsrer Kräfte Zwist.

Denn mag der Trieb nach allen Seiten schwellen:

zu einem Stamm gehören alle Zweige,

und der Erkenntnis segensreicher Baum

wird prangend in der vollen Blüte steh'n.

Und segnend wird der Himmel ihn beschützen.

And as the mighty building of the world is formed,

so, too it is formed in the human breast!

The savage power of the earth lives

in the soul with a ruinous effect,

unless a shining high goal overcomes the quarrel

of our powers with unity.

For although the shoots swell on all sides:

every branch belongs to the trunk,

and the tree blessed with knowledge

will be resplendent in full bloom

and heaven will protect it with its blessing.

Willkommen! 15

Chorus

Ja segne Herr, was wir bereiten,

was die vereinte Kraft erstrebt,

dass in dem flücht'gen Strom der Zeiten

das Werk fest gleich den Felsen steht.

Und wie sich's hebt und türmt in Würde,

Macht und Herrlichkeit,

so wird es nur dich selber loben,

denn deiner Größe ist's geweiht.

Willkommen!

Oh Lord, bless what we are doing,

what the united power strives for,

so that in the fleeting stream of time,

the work may stand solid as a rock.

And as it rises up and towers above in honour,

power, and glory,

so will it praise only you, for it is consecrated to your

greatness.

Welcome!

Part II

Culture and Society

in the New World

CHAPTER 3 Faith and the Conquest

José Gabriel Brauchy

The Spanish priest and journalist Jose Maria Blanco White (1775-1841) pro-

moted an important debate in Europe about the Catholic Church’s domination

of Spanish society. Drawing upon the Spanish experience, he also advocated

the independence for the colonies.

With Blanco’s major works, A letter upon the mischievous influence of the

Spanish Inquisition: as it actually exists in the present (1811), Slave trade

report: moral, political and Christian remarks on this trade (1814)

(Bosquexo del comercio en esclavos: y reflexiones sobre este tráfico consid-

erado moral, política y cristianamente); and The life of the reverend Joseph

Blanco White written by himself; with portions of his correspondence (1845),

along with Alexander von Humboldt’s The Spanish America in 1800

(L’Amérique espagnole en 1800), this paper attempts a reading of how

Blanco and Humboldt understood the use of faith in the Spanish conquests

and the limits and ambiguities of their own arguments about the achievement

and consequences of the conquering civilization.

Conquest in the name of faith

The bishop of Chiapas, Friar Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566), was the

first Catholic chronicler to denounce violence against indigenous peoples.

Las Casas raised a key point on the conquest and colonization process: the

servitude of indigenous peoples and the political and theological legitimiza-

tion of the principles of the discovery of the New World. On the one hand, he

recognized indigenous peoples as vassals of the king, a condition established

by baptism. But at the same time, by legitimizing their religious conversion,

he integrated them into the Catholic Church’s celestial order.

20 Culture and Society in the New World

As Eduardo Subirats says (1994), Las Casas’ theological-political argu-

ment against violence and advocacy for the salvation of indigenous peoples

was constructed around the fundamental constitutive principle of the Spanish

colonization, that is, the Christian ideal of propagation of the faith, conver-

sion and salvation (the Spanish chimera).

Las Casas used three arguments to legitimize the colonization. One is the

strong rhetorical denunciation of the cruelty of the conquerors. Las Casas

built a theological and jurisdictional framework for a radical, democratic lib-

eration of indigenous peoples. He reformulated conquest and colonization

and transformed the conversion principle, previously associated with vio-

lence, into a new process: conversion was the ultimate means of protection of

indigenous peoples against conquerors.

Las Casas called for punishment of the oppressors of the indigenous peo-

ples. He argued that they should not be given to individual Spaniards in com-

mission (1542) because they belonged to the Crown. Las Casas called on the

king to establish laws to incorporate the indigenous peoples into the King-

dom as subjects and free vassals, to create inviolable constitutional impedi-

ments to their removal from the Kingdom. By doing so, Las Casas did not

question the underlying principle, or the concept of discovery. He redefined

discovery, as a messianic enterprise, as an act in the spirit of “Orbis Cris-

tianus.”

Neither give them as vassals, nor entrust, nor give them as serfs, nor in com-

mission, no in deposit nor by any other title (ni dadlos a nadie por vasallos ni

encomendados, ni dadlos enfeudo, ni en encomienda,ni en depósito ni en otro

ningún título) (my translation, “Christianity and defense of the Indian Ameri-

can,” p. 30).

Las Casas’ second reason for supporting the incorporation of indigenous

peoples as free vassals into the Crown was the need for their peaceful reli-

gious conversion. However, such a peaceful conversion only changed the

external aspect of the conquest; it did not touch its internal principle.1

The predication and foundation of their faith and their conversion through

knowledge of Christ (La predicación y fundación de la feen ellas y su conver-

sión de conocimiento de Cristo) (my translation, p. 31).

Las Casas alerted the Crown to the avarice and greed of the Spaniards,

who did not allow the priests to enter the towns of indigenous peoples who

had been converted. He denounced the violence as he understood the strate-

gic importance and use of the indigenous people.

1. Eduardo Subirats.

El continente vacío. La conquista del Nuevo Mundo y la conciencia

moderna

. Madrid: Anaya t Mario Muchnik, 1994.

Faith and the Conquest 21

Emancipation in the Name of Reason

Both Humboldt and Blanco raised new questions about the violence directed

against indigenous peoples. They denounced the connection between the

instrumental use of the indigenous people and religious conversion. Hum-

boldt strongly criticized the Jesuits for their responsibility in the violent reli-

gious conversion of indigenous peoples. For him, the real interest of the

Jesuits was not to protect them but to set the stage for the conquest of their

souls. He described the despotism of Spanish soldiers who in their entradas

destroyed all resistance, imprisoning indigenous peoples far from their home-

towns; although this practice was forbidden, it was the best way to assure the

expansion of the Jesuit Order.

Although this violent means to conquer souls was prohibited by Spanish law,

it was still accepted by the civil governments and considered necessary by

religious authorities for the expansion of the Jesuit mission…These principles

that degrade humankind undoubtedly were not shared by the entire society

that has made their steps to civilization, but society that in the New World

remains exclusively in the hand of priests. But the entradas, the spiritual con-

quest with bayonets was an inherent vice of the regime that resulted the rapid

expansion of their missions. (Ce moyen violent de conquérir des âmes,

quoique prohibé parles lois espagnoles, était toléré par les gouverneurs civils,

et vanté comme utile à la religion et à l’aggrandissement des missions par-

lessupérieursde la Compagnie…Ces principles, qui dégradent l’humanité

n’étaient point partagés sans doute par tous les membres d’une société qui,

dans le Nouveau Monde et partout où l’éducation est resté exclusivement

entre les mains des moines, a rendu des services aux lettres et à la civilisation.

Mais les entradas, les conquêtes spirituelles à l’aide des baïonnettes, étaient

une vice inhérent à une régime qui tendait à l’aggrandissement rapide des

missions) (my translation L’Amérique espagnole, p. 83-84).)

In June of 1810, Blanco published his most critical essay on the Spanish

American colonies: An examination of the work entitled Essay on the King-

dom of the New Spain (Examen de la obra intitulada Essai sur le Royaume de

la Nouvelle Espagne) in which he presented a partial translation of and

response to Alexander von Humboldt’s The Spanish America in 1800

(L’Amérique espagnole en 1800) for a Spanish-speaking audience.

Blanco’s paper acknowledged that Humboldt’s essay raised several

issues: the brutal exploitation and perpetual enslavement of indigenous peo-

ples and the chiefs’ revolts in the Spanish American colonies. He argued that

slavery had no commercial nor historical justification. But the most impor-

tant contribution of Humboldt was, according to Blanco, his view of the colo-

nial social structures built on religious dogmatism and despotism.

22 Culture and Society in the New World

Blanco recognized the ideological dimensions of Humboldt’s work in

providing an extensive description of the Spanish American colonies. For

Blanco, Humboldt’s analysis went far beyond the traditional priests’ chroni-

cles that consistently ignored the internal composition of the colonies:

It goes beyond the miserable volumes of ecclesiastical history written by fri-

ars and other ignorant church scribes…by writers who ignored the internal

state of the colonies or who abstained from publishing their news due to polit-

ical constraints.(va más allá de los miserables volúmenes de la historia

eclesiástica, escritos por frailes, y otros eclesiásticos ignorantes…de escri-

tores que ignoraban el estado interno de las colonias, o se abstuvieron de pub-

licar sus noticias,contenidos por consideraciones políticas.) (my translation,

El Español 30 de julio 1810- 240-144).

Blanco said that both religious dogmatism and despotism were the two

supports of the social organization of the Spanish America colonies, along

with the legal modalities on the protection of indigenous peoples.

Later in Blanco’s A letter upon the mischievous influence of the Spanish

Inquisition: as it actually exists in the present (1811), he attacked religion

even more directly. In the context of the revolution in Spain (1808-1814) he

argued that there could be nothing more barbarous than to oblige the studious

youth of a nation to choose between immorality and ignorance. With such a

statement, Blanco distinguished between a well-informed and enlightened

people, and the veneration of religious principles.

I must in truth confess to you that I should consider the fruits of the glorious

Revolution of Spain as for the most part lost if, after liberating herself from

the French, the Inquisition were again to be established, even on the same

footing as it has stood in recent years. (6)

With such an argument, Blanco anticipates the distinction between

Catholicism and Enlightenment secularism of the contemporary debate.

Spain does not know what a critical Enlightened epistemology means,2 that is

to say, Enlightenment as criticism and reflexive knowledge with an herme-

neutical dimension and social content (Subirats).

In an article he wrote for the African Institute, Slave trade report: moral,

political and Christian remarks on this trade (1814) (Bosquexo del comercio

en esclavos: y reflexiones sobre este tráfico considerado moral, política, y

cristianamente) Blanco argued against the justification of slavery by refer-

ence to the supposed barbarism of African people. He rejected the assumed

authority of Europeans to go hunting in Africa and thus went beyond the abo-

litionist essays. He carefully traced the reasons to challenge the paradigm of

2. Eduardo Subirats

. Después de la lluvia. Sobre la ambigua modernidad español

Madrid: Temas de Hoy, 1993; Francisco Sánchez- Blanco.

La mentalidad ilustrada

Madrid: Taurus, 1999.

Faith and the Conquest 23

civilization versus barbarism and more importantly questioned Las Casas and

the principle that legitimized the conquest. This article is an invitation to

reopen the debate on the European emancipation project or Enlightenment.

For both Humboldt and Blanco, progress is based on knowledge, that is to

say, the instrumental reason (everything that responds to the criteria of effi-

ciency–means-ends), the systematization of what is useful for the enrichment

of a society, and the arts. In a synthesis of Western history, tracing the

progress from early times (barbarism) to societies with organized civil struc-

tures, Africa was, for Blanco, an example of the internal limits of civilization.

Africa had contact with the civilized world (Europe), but this contact did not

benefit for the continent itself; instead, it meant:

To plunder and to suppress its knowledge, and if it can be said in one new

word…we could say, to barbarize it. (para depravarla y oscurecer sus enten-

dimientos, y si puede usarse una palabra nueva…diremos, que para barba-

rizarla) (my translation, p. 43-44).

Blanco argued that Cuba’s claim to increase the slave trade was immoral;

he questioned the Royal License of 1789 to import slaves to Cuba and regret-

ted the suppression of the 1811 bill that outlawed the slave trade. Although

his arguments are constructed within the tradition of denunciation of violence

against indigenous peoples (Las Casas), Blanco recognized the deep contra-

dictions of this tradition. For him, any sort of paternalism was questionable

because it retarded the progress of peoples.

Addressing the internal state of the Spanish American colonies, Blanco

criticized the fragility of their organization and blamed Spain for this. Under

the prolongation of exploitation of indigenous peoples lies the abuse of

authority and injustice: his denunciation of slavery is both applicable in

Africa and in the colonies.

Blanco acknowledged Humboldt’s comments on the state of the popula-

tion of the Spanish America colonies and his denunciation of the conversion

violence. He advocated the rights of the vassals in the name of a secular rea-

son. His teleological-political argument for the progress of indigenous peo-

ples was constructed in a fundamental constitutive principle of that reason,

that is, civilization. However, he did not understand that underneath Hum-

boldt’s critical testimonies on the experience of the native towns confronting

modern civilization lay another colonialist will. Humboldt’s contribution to

the study of what is called contemporary ethnology (Labastida),3 was always

accompanied by a compromise with the colonial perspective seeking to max-

imize the utility for the Spanish American colonial empire.

3. Jaime Labastide.

Humboldt, ciudadano universal

. Ciudad de México: Siglo XXI,

1999.

24 Culture and Society in the New World

Bibliography

Blanco White, José María. Cartas de España. Ed. Antonio Garnica. Sevilla:

Universidad de Sevilla, Secretariado de Publicaciones, 2001.

— Escritos autobiográficos menores. Ed. Manuel Moreno Alonso. Huelva:

Servicio de Publicaciones, Universidad de Huelva, 1999.

— Bosquejo del comercio de esclavos y reflexiones sobre este tráfico consid-

erado moral, política y cristianamente. Ed. Manuel Moreno Alonso.

Sevilla : Alfar, 1999.

— The Life of the Reverend Joseph Blanco White Written By Himself; With

Portions Of His Correspondence. Ed. John Hamilton. London: John

Chapman, 1845.

— Bosquexo del comercio en esclavos: y reflexiones sobre este tráfico con-

siderado moral, política y cristianamente. Londres : Ellerton y Hender-

son, 1814.

— A Letter Upon the Mischievous Influence of the Spanish Inquisition: As It

Actually Exists in the Present. London : Printed for Johnson and Co.,

1811.

Casas, Bartolomé de Las. Cristianismo y defensa del indio americano. Ed. F.

Fernández Buey. Madrid: Libros de la Catarata, 1999.

Humboldt, Alexander von. Alemanes en las regiones equinocciales: libro

homenaje al bicentenario de de la llegada de Alexander von Humboldt a

Venezuela, 1799-1999 Ed, José Rodríguez. Caracas: Alfalil Ediciones,

1999.

— L’Amérique espagnole en 1800

— Alexander von Humboldt, Minerva. Ensayo político sobre el reyno de

Nueva España, sacado del que publicó en francés Alexandro de Hum-

boldt. Madrid: Imprenta de Nuñez, 1818.

Labastide, Jaime. Humboldt, ciudadano universal. Ciudad de México : Siglo

XXI, 1999.

Pons, André. Blanco White y España. Oviedo : Instituto Feijóo de Estudios

del Siglo XVIII, Universidad de Oviedo, 2002.

— “Blanco White abolicionista. El bosquejo del comercio de esclavos, I-II.”

Cuadernos hispanoamericanos 559 (1997) : 63-76.

— “Blanco White et la crise du monde hispanique, 1808-1814”. Diss. Paris

III-Sorbonne Nouvelle, 1990.

Pratt, Mary Louise. Imperial eyes. Travel writing and transculturation. Lon-

don and New York: Routledge, 1992.

Subirats, Eduardo. El continente vacío. La conquista del Nuevo Mundo y la

conciencia moderna. Madrid: Anaya y Mario Muchnik,1994.

— Después de la lluvia. Sobre la ambigua modernidad española. Madrid:

Temas de Hoy, 1993.

Sánchez-Blanco, Francisco. La mentalidad ilustrada. Madrid: Taurus, 1999.

CHAPTER 4 Humboldt en la Nueva

España

Jaime Labastida

La presencia de Alejandro de Humboldt en la Nueva España, en los primeros

años del siglo XIX, marca un claro punto de inflexión en las investigaciones

científicas que se realizan en nuestro país, por el rigor de su trabajo, por la

variedad de sus objetos y, sobre todo, por el método que despliega. Podría

estudiarse la influencia que ejerció su obra sobre los científicos, los políticos

y los economistas de la Nueva España, primero y de México, después, de

acuerdo con dos criterios, que no se oponen sin embargo: la influencia directa

que su presencia tuvo en algunos de ellos (particularmente en el campo de la

minería) y, luego, la recepción de su obra (publicada o no): se abre así, de

súbito, un abanico de interpretaciones posibles.

Me gustaría subrayar que una de las diferencias importantes entre el tra-

bajo realizado por Humboldt y el que desplegaron, a lo largo de la segunda

mitad del siglo XVIII los científicos hispanos que visitaron diversos sitios de

la América española, estriba en que todos esos trabajos (entre los que cabe

contar los de José Celestino Mutis y Francisco José de Caldas en el Nuevo

Reino de Granada; los de Martín de Sessé y José Mariano Mociño en el inte-

rior de la Nueva España y en sus límites septentrionales o los de Alejandro

Malaspina en el Océano Pacífico), fueron para uso exclusivo de los funciona-

rios de la Corona y se guardaron con celo en los Archivos. Por el contrario, la

obra de Humboldt estuvo a la disposición del mundo culto y de los científicos

de la época: Humboldt no reparó en gastos y pagó de su peculio la edición de

una obra de magnitud pocas veces igualada, en la que se dan la mano el rigor

científico y la belleza y la pulcritud tipográfica: los treinta títulos que forman

el Voyage au régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent se pueden com-

parar tan sólo con la gran Encyclopédie de Denis Diderot1.

Humboldt llega a la América española en 1799 y recorre los vastos terri-

torios que hoy integran seis países de lo que conocemos con el nombre de

26 Culture and Society in the New World

América Latina: Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, Cuba y México.

Abandonará América cinco años después, en 1804. Jamás volverá. Sus prim-

eras indagaciones estarán centradas en casi todas las ciencias naturales. Le

interesa no sólo el estudio de los volcanes, sino el de los perfiles de las mon-

tañas, de manera que, incluso los paisajes que forman parte del gran Atlas

pintoresco, son cuadros en que se unen la ciencia y el arte: son paisajes

científicos o dibujos rigurosos, en los que se miden de modo trigonométrico

los ángulos y las anfractuosidades de las cordilleras. Herboriza (se ha calcu-

lado que Bonpland y él recogen tal vez la sexta parte de la flora del planeta);

se sabe: no sólo recolectan la especie, sino que la clasifican, le otorgan nom-

bre científico de acuerdo con el sistema binario de Linneo y la sitúan en la

altura, la latitud y la longitud en que la hallan. El conjunto de esas amplias

investigaciones permite a Humboldt escribir un libro por varios rasgos nota-

ble, el primero de los treinta volúmenes que integran el Voyage..., es decir, el

Essai sur la Géographie des plantes.2

Eso no es todavía bastante. Humboldt determina las latitudes y las longi-

tudes de cuanto sitio visita. Así, ratifica o rectifica (casi siempre lo segundo)

las anteriores determinaciones. Estará sólo tres días en el puerto de Acapulco:

será tiempo suficiente para hacer las excavaciones que le permitan dar cuenta

de que las mismas capas sedimentarias se encuentran en toda la superficie del

planeta: tanto en uno como en otro hemisferio; lo mismo al norte que al sur

del Ecuador (por ello mismo, le dará a Georges Cuvier el esquema de las

capas sedimentarias que a éste le permiten redactar su Ensayo sobre las rev-

oluciones en la superficie del globo). Por esto, lo que descubre de las capas

sedimentarias destruirá para siempre las tesis sin base de De Buffon, De

Pauw y de todos aquellos que dieron pie a lo que Antonello Gerbi llama La

disputa del Nuevo Mundo.3

Hace mapas, pero de una precisión y un rigor tales, que aún hoy nos cau-

san asombro. Nada de esto es aún suficiente: los mapas de Humboldt poseen

1. Los treinta volúmenes empezaron a publicarse a partir de 1805. El último de los

volúmenes vio la luz en 1836. Todos los volúmenes fueron publicados en París, en francés,

en diversas imprentas (Schoell, Dufour, Maze y Gide). Todos reconocen como autores a

Humboldt y Bonpland. Pero lo cierto es que Bonpland, excelente compañero de viaje y

magnífico investigador de campo, no fue tan activo, en cambio, como trabajador de gabi-

nete: sus aportaciones se reducen a la botánica, en donde, sin embargo, Segismund Kunth

redactó varios volúmenes. Así, pues, casi todos los textos fueron escritos por Humboldt,

salvo aquellos en los que participaron otros científicos, más aptos que el propio Humboldt

en algún campo específico. A éstos, Humboldt les proporcionó la materia prima que obtuvo

en el viaje. Así, por ejemplo, Jean Lamarck escribió una memoria de carácter biológico; a

su vez, Jabbo Oltmanns corrigió y calculó nuevamente las observaciones astronómicas de

Humboldt: los dos volúmenes fueron redactados por él.

2. Chez Levrault, Schoell et Compagnie, París, año XIII de la Revolución, 1805. Hay

una reciente edición española del

Ensayo sobre la geografía de las plantas

, con Prólogo de

José Sarukhán, Siglo XXI Editores, México, 1997.

3. Ver Antonello Gerbi,

La disputa del Nuevo Mundo,

traducción de Antonio Alatorre,

Fondo de Cultura Económica, México, 1960.

Humboldt en la Nueva España 27

una característica especial, puesto que sirven para establecer escalas y com-

paraciones universales (por esa causa, un gran historiador moderno de la

ciencia los ha llamado isomapas, o sea, mapas en los que se vacía una infor-

mación congruente, que guarda la mayor semejanza entre sí4). Se interesa en

la electricidad y la respiración de los animales: diseca gimnotos eléctricos (de

los que se provee en el pequeño poblado de Calabozo, en Venezuela).

Todavía lo animan los experimentos de Galvani y desconoce la pila eléctrica

de Volta, que éste ha de inventar en el curso del viaje de Humboldt por

América. Examinará la laringe y el hueso hioides de cocodrilos, monos y

pájaros. Diseca una serpiente de cascabel que encuentra en Cumaná y halla

en su vientre un verme desconocido. Colecciona simios de las selvas del

Orinoco; además de su nombre vulgar, les otorga otro, científico; los lleva a

Europa; los describe y dibuja; si mueren, los diseca: simia leonina, simia

melanocephala, simia satanas, simia ursina.5 También hace una visita a la

famosa cueva del Guácharo: le interesa conocer el ave que proporciona el

aceite a Venezuela.6 El primer impacto que produce su viaje en la Europa

culta, que lo sigue a través de las publicaciones periódicas, se debe a la auda-

cia del mismo: desciende a las minas; atraviesa los Andes a pie, seguido por

las grandes bestias domésticas que cargan su preciso instrumental científico:

telescopio, microscopio, sextante y barómetro, teodolito e higrómetro. Se

hace llevar aguas arriba del Orinoco, en un viaje que es a un mismo tiempo

distinto y similar al que siglo y medio más tarde emprenderá, en Los pasos

perdidos, el novelista cubano Alejo Carpentier. Asciende al Chimborazo con

su instrumental científico a cuestas (sin ropa ni botas para la nieve); en todas

partes mide los gases y, con un cianómetro, el azul del cielo. En una de las

márgenes del Orinoco, encuentra el cementerio de un pueblo extinguido.7

Europa lo celebra como explorador atrevido y valiente, antes que como

científico. En Colombia, en el lomo de las cordilleras andinas, advierte, no

sin asombro, que en la América prehispánica floreció una civilización de la

que sólo tenía una fugaz noticia. Confirma el dato al arribar al Ecuador. Más

4. Ver Walter F. Cannon,

Humboldt or Baconianism? A Defense of American Science in

the First Half of the 19th Century

, ponencia presentada al Department of the History of Sci-

ence, agosto de 1969 (traducción de J. A. Shelley y Jaime Labastida, Revista de la Univer-

sidad de México, UNAM, noviembre de 1971).

5. En

El Humboldt venezolano,

recopilación de Miguel S. Wionczeck, con prólogo, notas

y traducción de Jaime Labastida (Banco Central de Venezuela, Caracas, 1974), se incorpo-

ran muchos artículos y memorias sobre diversos aspectos, que denuncian los intereses de

Humboldt.

6. Humboldt le da el nombre científico de

Steatornis caripensis

, pues la cueva está cerca

de Caripe.

7. Para todos estos asuntos, ver Charles Minguet,

Alexandre de Humboldt, historien et

géographe de l'Amérique espagnole (1799-1804),

Maspero, París, 1969; Hanno Beck,

Alex-

ander Von Humboldt

, traducción de Carlos Gerhard, FCE, México, 1971. También

El Hum-

boldt venezolano

op. cit.

; por último, Jaime Labastida,

,Humboldt, ese desconocido

, Sep-

Setentas, México, 1975 y

Humboldt, ciudadano universal

, Siglo XXI Editores, México,

1999.

28 Culture and Society in the New World

tarde, en Perú, ve en diversos sitios las ruinas de la civilización incaica; por

último, al llegar a la Nueva España, le asombra el espectáculo grandioso a la

vez que trágico de las civilizaciones de Mesoamérica (a las que engloba,

empero, en un solo concepto: el de cultura mexicana8).

En Venezuela, Cuba y la Nueva España, Humboldt empieza a cobrar con-

ciencia de los problemas sociales y se interesa cada día más por los proble-

mas políticos y económicos (de ello dan sobrada prueba sus dos Ensayos

políticos: uno, el que ofrece sobre el reino de la Nueva España -1808-, y otro,

el que dedica a la isla de Cuba -publicado en el tercer volumen de su Relation

historique..., diez y siete años más tarde -1825-; además de las múltiples

observaciones que contiene la propia Relation historique...9). Humboldt

nunca abandona, desde luego, su preocupación por las ciencias que el día de

hoy se llaman duras (puede advertirse con claridad, en tanto que el ensayo

sobre Cuba, en su primera edición española, se abre con un mapa preciso de

la isla; y en los planos y los mapas de la Nueva España). Pero no es menos

cierto que sus preocupaciones poco a poco se amplían y abarcan, desde

entonces, además de los aspectos naturales, todos los temas sociales: desde lo

militar, lo histórico, lo lingüístico, lo económico, lo demográfico, hasta lo

arqueológico y lo político.10 Se puede afirmar que Humboldt, sin abandonar

jamás su claro interés por la astronomía, la meteorología, la orografía, la

botánica, la mineralogía, la hidrografía o la zoología (ciencias que van del

cielo al centro de la tierra; de los astros y la atmósfera a los seres vivientes y

la estructura subterránea); sin abandonar todo lo que es competencia de las

ciencias naturales, se siente cada día más inclinado a prestar su atención a las

ciencias históricas y sociales. Ese interés humboldtiano nace, a mi juicio, a su

paso por los países andinos; pero se intensifica en Cuba y la Nueva España.

Así, la vasta obra americana de Humboldt se puede examinar desde diver-

sos ángulos. Por lo general, se destaca en ella apenas lo que sirve para la glo-

ria particular de un país americano, de manera que se le convierte en el héroe

intelectual, respectivamente cubano, venezolano, peruano, colombiano o

mexicano (aunque en México, a partir de las tesis denigrantes de Juan Ortega

y Medina, se tienda a denostarlo11). Desde este enfoque, la tarea científica de

Vistas de las cordilleras y monumentos de los pueblos indígenas de América

, traduc-

ción, notas y prólogo de Jaime Labastida, Siglo XXI Editores, México, 1995.

Essai politique sur le Royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne

, Schoell, París, 1808-1811 y

Relation historique du Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent

, volumen III,

Smith et Gide, París, 1825 (el

Essai politique sur l'île de Cuba

va de la página 345 a la 501).

Cabe aclarar que Humboldt publicaba sus libros por pliegos que después reunía en volu-

men; de allí que las fechas de publicación de varios de los tomos abarque tres o más años.

10. Ver

Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba, con un mapa

, traducción de D. J. B de V. y

M., Casa de Jules Renouard, París, 1827. El título más notable en este sentido es, sin duda,

Relation historique..

(los tres volúmenes fueron editados en fechas muy distantes entre

sí: el primero en 1814, en la Imprenta de Dufour; el segundo, en 1819, en la Imprenta de

Maze y el tercero en 1825, en la Imprenta de Smith y Gide, los tres en París).

Humboldt en la Nueva España 29

Humboldt sólo parece adquirir relevancia en virtud del objeto (nacional) de

su investigación. Pero hay otro aspecto que también se pone en relieve y es el

que se relaciona con los objetos particulares de sus libros: la historia, por un

lado; la geografía o la botánica, por el otro; en fin, la cartografía o la vulca-

nología: así, es el objeto de su estudio (y no el método), lo que destacan

algunos historiadores de la ciencia.

En todos esos trabajos, la obra de Humboldt es vista como si se tratara de

una construcción científica sin fisuras, homogénea, sin un solo corte en su

interior; en suma, se la examina desde el ángulo sincrónico. Queda en la som-

bra el lento proceso diacrónico que le condujo a sus conclusiones. Por el con-

trario, creo que, a la luz que arrojan los tres gruesos volúmenes de su

Relation historique..., se puede advertir cómo hay un proceso, un cambio

gradual de actitud en sus intereses. Por lo demás, todo lo que Humboldt real-

iza en los cinco años de su viaje, el conjunto de los materiales que recoge, se

debe ver como un trabajo de campo que, en el curso de los treinta siguientes,

habrá de ser digerido y examinado por el sabio prusiano, con la ayuda de sus

amigos, los mejores científicos de la época: de Pierre Simon de Laplace a

Joseph Gay-Lussac, de François Arago a Claude Louis Berthollet, de Jean

Lamarck a Georges Cuvier, de S. Kunth a Jabbo Oltmanns. Por esta causa,

los treinta volúmenes del Voyage...12 deben ser vistos como un trabajo de

equipo o como una vasta colaboración interdisciplinaria, un esfuerzo edito-

rial artístico y científico a la vez. Lo que asombra es que esta vasta tarea se

deba al esfuerzo y, desde luego, a los recursos económicos de un solo hom-

bre. Humboldt sufragó de sus rentas, hasta agotarlas, la edición del Voyage...

(veinte volúmenes in folio y diez en gran in quarto, con el mejor papel, en las

mejores imprentas, todos encuadernados en piel, con grabados a color, obra

de grandes artistas). Si gastó la totalidad de su herencia, hasta arruinarse, al

publicar estos treinta títulos, diré que también pagó de su bolsa a dibujantes y

grabadores que hicieron láminas de flores, simios, peces, mariposas, molus-

cos, aves, códices, mapas, pirámides y monumentos arqueológicos que llenan

las páginas de libros, admirables por su belleza y precisión.

Cuando Humboldt arriba a la Nueva España dice que, "Entre las colonias

sujetas al dominio del rey de España, Mégico ocupa actualmente el primer

lugar, así por sus riquezas territoriales como por lo favorable de su posición

para el comercio con Europa y Asia. No hablamos aquí sino del valor político

del país, atendido su actual estado de civilización que es muy superior al que

se observa en las demás posesiones españolas."13 Además de advertir el alto

11. Juan A. Ortega y Medina, "Estudio preliminar" a

Ensayo político sobre el reino de la

Nueva España

, Porrúa, México, 1966.

12. El primer volumen se publicó en 1805 (

Géographie des plantes

, del que ya di noticias);

en 1836 el último, la

Histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Continent et des progrès de

l'astronomie nautique aux XV et XVI siècles comprenant la découverte de l'Amérique

(Gide).

30 Culture and Society in the New World

grado que en la Nueva España habían alcanzado las investigaciones científi-

cas (que se hacía expreso en instituciones del más alto nivel, como el Real

Seminario de Minería, el Jardín Botánico y la Real Academia de Artes de San

Carlos, o sea, las instituciones fundadas por Carlos III, las modernas, las

opuestas a las escolásticas como la Universidad, por aquel entonces Real y

Pontificia), Humboldt se da cuenta del nivel de desarrollo alcanzado por las

altas culturas de Mesoamérica, indaga por la población del reino, somete a

crítica y sujeta al mismo principio las estadísticas de la producción minera, el

comercio interior y exterior, la producción agrícola y el estado de los cami-

nos. En suma, Humboldt reduce cuanto dato obtiene a los patrones exactos y

constantes que permitan valorarlo en sí mismo y en su evolución histórica.

Así, se valdrá de un instrumento teórico, rico y preciso: la Economía política

moderna; la Economía política inglesa, la ciencia fundada por Adam Smith y

Robert Malthus, a los que una y otra vez cita de manera elogiosa.14 Pero nada

de eso es, a mi juicio, lo que asombra más. Lo que en verdad resulta decisivo

es ver que el sabio prusiano afina, de modo cada vez más acerado y llevado

por su implacable celo por el rigor, su instrumento teórico.

¿Qué instrumento teórico, del que no se habrá de desprender jamás, será

éste? Lo revela en el Cosmos y lo llama "un empirismo razonado:"15 "La nat-

uraleza considerada racionalmente, es decir, sometida en su conjunto al tra-

bajo del pensamiento, es la unidad en la diversidad de los fenómenos, la

harmonía entre las cosas creadas (que difieren por su forma, su constitución

propia y las fuerzas que las animan), es el Todo (to pan), penetrado por un

soplo de vida." Más: "No se trata de reducir el conjunto de los fenómenos

sensibles a un pequeño número de principios abstractos, que tengan por base

la sola razón. La física del mundo, tal como aquí intento exponerla, no tiene

la pretensión de elevarse a las peligrosas abstracciones de una ciencia pura-

mente racional de la naturaleza. Es una geografía física, unida a la

descripción de los espacios celestes y de los cuerpos que llenan estos espa-

cios. Extraño a las profundidades de una filosofía puramente especulativa, mi

ensayo sobre el Cosmos es la contemplación del universo, fundado sobre un

empirismo razonado."16 Humboldt se aparta de quienes se afanan por recoger

tan sólo los hechos, sin integrarlos en un cuerpo sólido de doctrina, en un

marco teórico que les otorgue coherencia, como de quienes realizan un tra-

bajo especulativo (la referencia casi ofensiva a Hegel es de suyo evidente:

13.

Ensayo político sobre el Reino de la Nueva España

, traducción de Vicente González

Arnao, edición facsimilar de la hecha en París, en Casa de Rosa, en 1822, Miguel Ángel

Porrúa, México, 1985. Prólogo de Jaime Labastida. La cita viene de las págs. 8-9.

14. Juan A. Ortega y Medina, por razones que ignoro, hace de Humboldt ¡un fisiócrata!

15.

Cosmos

Essai d'une description physique du Monde

, traducción M. H. Faye y Ch.

Galuski, Guérin, París, 1866-1867. El prólogo fue escrito por Humboldt, en francés, para

esa edición.

16.

Cosmos

op. cit.

, págs. 3-4 y 35-36 del primer tomo.

Humboldt en la Nueva España 31

acababa de publicarse la Enciclopedia de las ciencias filosóficas, cuya prim-

era sección es la "Naturaleza"17).

Uno de los asuntos más importantes a los que Humboldt le dedicó su aten-

ción, al menos en el contexto en que deseo situar sus investigaciones ahora,

es lo que realizó acerca de las altas culturas mesoamericanas; más concreta-

mente, sobre el sistema calendárico de los antiguos nahuas. En la ciudad de

México vio los códices que fueron de la colección Boturini. Su asombro es de

tal modo vivo que de inmediato empieza a revolver los archivos y a leer

todos los libros de historia que puede; trae ante sus ojos los más importantes

monumentos mesoamericanos: hace que sea desenterrada, otra vez, la Coatli-

cue, que la autoridad virreinal había sustraído a la atención del público;

reproduce las pirámides de Mitla y de Xochicalco; por encima de todo, exam-

ina con atención el calendario de los antiguos mexicanos, tal como lo halla

plasmado en la así llamada Piedra del Sol. Su interés, despierto en la Nueva

España, cobra nuevo ímpetu al volver a Europa. Allá, rebusca en los archi-

vos. En Roma, en los del Vaticano y Veletri (donde rescata el Códice Borgia);

en Viena reencuentra el Vindobonensis; en Dresden, el Códice que lleva ese

nombre y reproduce varias de sus láminas; en suma, llama otra vez la aten-

ción de los sabios europeos sobre las antiguas altas culturas del Nuevo Conti-

nente y reanuda una tradición que se había perdido en la época del

racionalismo. Añado que su interés no se plasmó en observaciones precisas,

sino que reprodujo varias láminas (unas a color; en blanco y negro otras),

realizadas en Italia, Prusia y Francia por grandes grabadores europeos. Todo

cuanto halló en Europa o se llevó de aquí fue objeto de su curiosidad (eso

pasó con el Códice de su nombre, depositado en el Gabinete del Rey de Pru-

sia).

Debo decir que sus investigaciones naturales y el ejemplo de su viaje, en

el aspecto estrictamente científico, fueron un impulso decisivo para el joven

Charles Darwin (quien lo cita con respeto y aun con entusiasmo18). Humboldt

despertó, por lo mismo, el interés del benemérito Lord Kingsborough en

Inglaterra, así como de los antropólogos y arqueólogos alemanes. Si toda

Europa está llena de monumentos egipcios y griegos; si los obeliscos egip-

cios llenan las plazas de Roma y de París, lo cierto es que Alemania posee, al

lado de ejemplos de esas culturas, gran cantidad de piezas arqueológicas

mesoamericanas. El impulso inicial por estas culturas amerindias lo dio Ale-

jandro de Humboldt. Podría decir que hay una clara línea de investigación

antropológica y arqueológica alemana, que arranca de Humboldt y que cul-

17. Georg Friedrich Wilhelm Hegel,

Enciclopedia de las ciencias filosóficas

, traducción de

Eduardo Ovejero y Maury, Ediciones Libertad, Buenos Aires, 1944.

18. Ver Charles Darwin, Carta a J. A. Hooker, del 10 de febrero de 1845. Sarukhán, por lo

demás, se ocupa ampliamente de este asunto en el prólogo a

Geografía de las plantas

, ya

citado.

mina en los trabajos de Eduard Seler y Konrad Theodor Preuss. Es necesario

señalar una línea de investigación rigurosa que va de Bernardino de Sahagún

y llega a Humboldt y de éste a nuestros días. ¡Asombroso! El año que se con-

memoró el V Centenario del nacimiento del fraile agustino y el bicentenario

del arribo de Humboldt a tierras de América fue el mismo: 1999.

Humboldt es un investigador de primer orden en este campo, el de la

antropología y la comparación razonada de las antiguas altas culturas de uno

y otro hemisferio, terreno que apenas empezó a explorarse en su tiempo.

Humboldt es, por esta causa, al lado de Sahagún, uno de los pilares fuertes de

la antropología científica. Me atrevo a decir que el desarrollo de la investi-

gación sobre las culturas amerindias debe ser indicado por un antes y un

después; o sea, un AH (antes de Humboldt) y un DH (después de Humboldt).

Me explico. No me refiero sólo al hecho, evidente, de cómo Humboldt

acelera el proceso de investigación y lo decanta. Si antes de él, a todos los

investigadores los detiene un prejuicio (digo, el de no contradecir las Sagra-

das Escrituras), Humboldt rompe con todas estas ataduras. Bernardino de

Sahagún, Andrés de Olmos, Joseph de Acosta, Carlos de Sigüenza o Lord

Kingsborough se preocupan por hacer compatibles el hallazgo del Nuevo

Mundo con lo que ha sido establecido en las Sagradas Escrituras. Humboldt,

en cambio, sigue un método luminoso: el de las comparaciones universales.

Ya dije: Humboldt compara la lengua y el calendario de los nahuas con las

lenguas y los calendarios de los pueblos del Antiguo Continente. Su intento

es válido en nuestros días, cuando vemos que la mayor parte de los investiga-

dores cierra el abanico y permanece en lo que se debería llamar concepción

endógama de las culturas amerindias, como si el desarrollo de todos los pueb-

los del mundo no siguiera un curso en lo fundamental uniforme. Los investi-

gadores modernos asumen una idea cerrada: los conceptos que usan son sólo

válidos para este continente y esta cultura; ni siquiera hacen comparaciones

entre la mitología de un pueblo y otro. Se limitan a describir mitos

mesoamericanos. Humboldt no procede así. Por el contrario, sobre la base del

calendario nahuatl, intenta una comparación llena de luz entre las civiliza-

ciones de este y del otro lado del Atlántico. Esta es la causa de que Paul

Kirchhoff haya dicho, no sin razón, que estas investigaciones de Humboldt

eran un reto, aún no superado.19

¿En qué sentido estimo que la aportación de Humboldt a las ideas nahuas

del tiempo no ha sido superada? En un sentido, tal vez por encima de otros:

Humboldt advierte que la idea que del tiempo poseían los pueblos mesoamer-

icanos era indisoluble de su idea del espacio. Lo diré de otra manera: Hum-

boldt advierte que los nahuas medían simultáneamente el tiempo y el espacio.

19. Paul Kirchhoff, "La aportación de Humboldt al estudio de las antiguas civilizaciones

americanas: un modelo y un programa",

Ensayos sobre Humboldt

, UNAM, México, 1962.

Humboldt en la Nueva España 33

Puedo aún decirlo de otro modo: los amerindios no habían escindido en dos

conceptos el tiempo y el espacio. ¿Cómo capta Humboldt el hecho? Porque

ve que las medidas del espacio son también medidas del tiempo. ¿De qué

modo lo advierte? Al examinar el zodíaco del pueblo nahuatl y advertir que

en él se plasman los animales que indican las casas del Sol. Los pueblos

mesoamericanos carecían del concepto abstracto de tiempo; no medían el

tiempo considerado en sí mismo. Dije en otro lugar que los pueblos

mesoamericanos veían el tiempo con los ojos: podrá preguntarse si es posible

tal cosa. Respondo que sólo si se ve cómo pasa el Sol, a lo largo del año, por

las casas del cielo; si se ven y se dibujan los pasos o las huellas de los pies del

Sol en la bóveda celeste: así se divide el cielo en segmentos espaciales que

corresponden a la superficie de la tierra: el espacio sagrado de la ciudad

guarda una estricta correspondencia con la bóveda celeste. El concepto

heleno de templo, que se apoya en el verbo temnw, nos explica bien el

asunto. Temnw significa cortar, dividir. ¿Qué se corta? Se trata en verdad de

la delimitación sagrada: se establece el límite o la frontera, el recinto donde

reside el dios. Para los nahuas, ese recinto, ese templo no era, como el templo

griego o el cristiano, un lugar cerrado: era el gran espacio abierto del centro

ceremonial. El concepto decisivo es el de gnwmwn, el instrumento

astronómico que permite medir (sin que haya posibilidad de ningún error,

pues se trata de una máquina solar precisa) el movimiento del Sol por

equinoccios y solsticios (por sus casas). Si los egipcios y los griegos con-

struyeron sus relojes solares con varillas de diversos tamaños, los amerindios

usaron una máquina solar de asombrosa precisión: la ciudad ceremonial era

un organismo por el que se veía cómo el Sol se ponía o elevaba en un sitio

determinado el 21 de diciembre (solsticio de invierno) y en otro, en el

extremo opuesto del centro ceremonial, el 21 de junio (solsticio de verano).

El Sol se situaba a la mitad de aquella enorme ciudad en los equinoccios de

primavera (21 de marzo) y otoño (21 de septiembre). Mesoamérica dispuso

de calendarios de una extrema precisión.20 Esos calendarios solares no fueron

el fruto, a mi juicio, de un cálculo mental abstracto, sino de una observación

directa. La corrección del calendario ritual se hacía de conformidad con lo

que establecía el año trópico. El año trópico de los pueblos mesoamericanos

(como, en general, el de los pueblos que viven en el hemisferio norte) ter-

mina en el solsticio de invierno. Tras el 21 de diciembre se hacía la necesaria

intercalación de días vanos (o nemontemi): un pequeño período de 4 o 5 días

(un pequeño mes), que precede al inicio del calendario ritual.

Esto es lo que, en el fondo, establece con claridad meridiana el sabio pru-

siano, al examinar el calendario a través de la Piedra del Sol. Humboldt no

sólo mostró el orden de los días y los meses (por series periódicas), sino que

20. Ver Munro S. Edmonson,

El calendario mesoamericano

, UNAM, México, 1995.

34 Culture and Society in the New World

advirtió el modo como podían coincidir el calendario ritual y el solar (el año

trópico, que se determina por el movimiento aparente del sol entre los dos

trópicos -el de Cáncer, en el hemisferio norte y el de Capricornio, en el hem-

isferio sur). Humboldt comprende que el pueblo nahua necesita medir con

rigor el movimiento del Sol para así establecer el tiempo de la siembra y la

cosecha. Por esto, concluye que el calendario mexicano era el de un pueblo

agrícola, como lo fue también el egipcio. Humboldt dice, con toda razón, que

los pueblos nómadas miden el tiempo por las lunaciones, mientras que los

pueblos agrícolas se rigen de acuerdo con el movimiento aparente del Sol: los

nahuas eran sedentarios y medían el tiempo por el Sol y el cambio de las est-

aciones.

Humboldt también examinó el mito de Los Cinco Soles, que se conecta

con el calendario y el nacimiento de un tiempo mítico a la vez que histórico.

Se trata siempre del nacimiento de un pueblo y, por lo mismo también, del

nacimiento de una ciudad (del centro ceremonial que determinará el mov-

imiento riguroso del Sol que se mueve cerca, aquí, porque anda escondido

entre las nubes, a su vez llenas de agua seminal, o metido en las fauces del

Monstruo de la Tierra, en el inframundo, repleto de agua). El nacimiento

mítico del cosmos ha de coincidir con el nacimiento del pueblo y la ciudad en

donde el pueblo realiza sus sacrificios y ceremonias. Entendamos el con-

cepto. El centro ceremonial era el ombligo y en la explanada, ya abajo del

teocalli, el tlahtoani realizaba el sacrificio ritual (¿debo decir que, según el

lingüista Émile Benveniste, la palabra sacerdos significa en su origen el que

vuelve sagrado, por la muerte, a la víctima propiciatoria? El sacerdote es un

hombre que lleva sobre sus espaldas un estigma; no puede ser tocado: es

tabú, como lo era el tlahtoani nahuatl: tocarlo produce la muerte). El hombre

nahuatl tenía prohibido matar: por la guerra florida obtenía los cautivos, las

tortillas frescas para el comal del dios, como lo recuerda Miguel León-Porti-

lla. En la gran explanada, el pueblo asiste, como testigo sobre quien recae la

responsabilidad, al asesinato de que allá arriba es objeto el prisionero en la

pirámide trunca donde se halla la casa del dios. La pirámide es un cerro, el

punto mítico de contacto entre el cielo y la Tierra. Como los árboles y las

plantas, la pirámide nace de la Tierra y se une a ella por sus cimientos. Para

mantener el lazo mítico, el monolito tiene en su base el relieve de un dios, por

caso, a Mictlantecuhtli, Señor del Inframundo o de la región subterránea; o a

Tlaltecuhtli, el Señor de la Tierra. Estos tres espacios sagrados (la superficie

terrestre, el inframundo y el cielo) entran en estrecho contacto entre sí: el

ombligo es el centro de la Tierra y al tiempo el centro de la ciudad. Alrededor

del centro, el agua y el Sol giran (y producen el signo ritual del nahui ollin).

De la bóveda celeste cae el agua, semen divino, licor que embriaga y

fecunda: sangre y vida. Las pirámides son seres vivos que, como las plantas,

Humboldt en la Nueva España 35

necesitan de un espacio para respirar: ese espacio lo otorga el viento, que sep-

ara a los padres, el cielo y la Tierra. Todo cuanto digo, me lo hizo notar Hum-

boldt. Mi proposición desarrolla sus tesis. Racionalista como era, Humboldt,

no podía comprender una visión mítica de la vida y del cosmos, pero en su

tesis está, en germen, lo que aquí he dicho.

Ahora bien, creo que es necesario preguntar cuál Humboldt, de entre los

varios que su misma obra contiene, influyó (y cómo lo hizo) en los sabios

novohispanos, primero, y en los científicos y los políticos del México inde-

pendiente, luego. El barón prusiano entró en contacto con los ilustrados de la

Nueva España, en el año escaso que radicó en ella: los ilustrados hallaron en

él a un interlocutor de primer nivel. ¿A quiénes cita, con quiénes convive?

Diré de entrada que, para él, no existe diferencia sensible entre españoles cri-

ollos y peninsulares ni advierte síntoma alguno de los graves gérmenes que

incubarán la posterior (ya inminente) guerra de independencia. Al contrario,

dice en la Introducción al primer volumen de la Relation historique...:

“Desde que abandoné América, una de esas grandes revoluciones que agitan

de tiempo en tiempo a la especie humana ha estallado en las colonias españo-

las; parece que ha de preparar nuevos destinos a una población de catorce

millones de habitantes, al propagarse del hemisferio austral al hemisferio

boreal; desde las riberas del río de La Plata y Chile hasta el norte de México.

Odios profundos, provocados por la legislación colonial y sostenidos por una

política desconfiada, han hecho correr la sangre en países que gozaban desde

tres siglos atrás, no diré que de la felicidad, pero sí de una paz nunca inter-

rumpida.” Luego añade, con dolor no fingido (puesto que evoca a su amigo

Carlos Montúfar): “Ya han perecido en Quito, víctimas de su devoción por la

patria, los ciudadanos más virtuosos y más esclarecidos.”21

Humboldt percibe en la América española la presencia de una legislación

incorrecta, junto a una política desconfiada (obvio que frente a los españoles

criollos, ya que son éstos los que desatan la guerra de independencia). Eso es

todo. En el Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España, que dedica al

rey Carlos IV, no se hace en ninguna parte mención de los peligros posibles;

tampoco en los diarios de viaje. Lo que llama la atención del barón prusiano

es que las ideas modernas llegan con mayor facilidad a los puertos que al

interior del continente. Se ve que Humboldt, antes de 1810, no percibe

ningún germen de la independencia; que, vistos desde un ángulo diacrónico,

sus críticas políticas empiezan a perfilarse en los tres volúmenes de la Rela-

tion historique... (aunque elementos de crítica, económica sobre todo, se

perciban en el Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España, de 1808 a

1811).

21. Alexander Von Humboldt,

Relation historique du Voyage au régions équinoxiales du

Nouveau Continent

, volumen I, Dufour, París, 1814 (sigo la edición facsimilar hecha por

Brockhaus, Stuttgart, 1970, pág. 36).

36 Culture and Society in the New World

Así, aquellos ilustrados a los que cita con respeto son, todos, peninsu-

lares: los químicos y mineralogistas Manuel Andrés del Río y Fausto de

Elhúyar; el arquitecto Manuel Tolsá; el pintor Rafael Ximeno y Planes; los

intendentes de Puebla, Manuel de Flon y de Guanajuato, Juan Antonio Riaño;

los obispos de Valladolid de Michoacán, Antonio de San Miguel y Manuel

Abad y Queipo... Lo que decide su juicio, favorable o desfavorable, es el

carácter de sus ideas: si son modernos o atrasados; si liberales o conserva-

dores, no el hecho de que sean criollos o peninsulares: sabe que tanto unos

como otros son de nacionalidad española. En la capital de la Nueva España

deja tres documentos de primera importancia: el mapa del vasto territorio

que, a petición de Elhúyar, hizo dibujar para el uso de la Real Escuela de

Minas (el original lo conservó consigo; luego permitió que en Estados Uni-

dos se le hiciera una copia; finalmente lo publicó en su Atlas géographique et

physique du Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne, 181222); apéndice al Tratado

de Orictognosia, de Manuel Andrés del Río23 y las Tablas geográficas políti-

cas del Reyno de la Nueva España, cuyo manuscrito es conservado en el

Archivo General de la Nación, de México.24

¿Qué destaco aquí? Un hecho decisivo. Humboldt cita a sus pares, sin

duda; pero el primer escritor que en la Nueva España cita a Humboldt, hasta

donde mis conocimiento alcanzan, es el obispo de Michoacán, Manuel Abad

y Queipo, en uno de los escritos que le dirige a la Corona española para

defensa de los campesinos de la Nueva España.25 ¿Qué cita Abad del barón

de Humboldt? ¿Acaso algún pasaje del Ensayo...? Imposible: aún no había

sido publicado. La cita tiene carácter económico y ha sido tomada del

manuscrito de las Tablas geográficas políticas del reyno de la Nueva España,

que obraban en poder del virrey José de Iturrigaray, un texto al que Abad

tuvo acceso directo. Corría el año de 1807 y, como ya dije, el manuscrito de

Humboldt fue publicado, en su versión original, 195 después, en el Bicente-

nario de su viaje al continente americano. La obra política de Humboldt, en

particular, el Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España, no tuvo, por

22. La primera edición la hizo Dufour, en París, en 1812. Hay edición española reciente

en Siglo XXI Editores, México, 2003, con Introducción de Elías Trabulse y Apéndice de

Jaime Labastida.

23. “Introducción a la pasigrafía geológica", apéndice al

Tratado de orictognosia

, de Man-

uel Andrés del Río, Imprenta de Mariano Zúñiga y Ontiveros, México, 1805 (hay edición

facsimilar reciente en Alexander Von Humboldt,

Tablas geográficas políticas del reyno de

Nueva España

, Siglo XXI Editores, México, 2003.

24. La primera edición facsimilar de las

Tablas

... fue hecha en 1999, en tiraje de 100

ejemplares, por el Archivo general de la Nación. La edición de Siglo XXI es más amplia e

incluye las cartas de Humboldt sobre Nueva España y México, además del Diario de viaje

(de Acapulco a Veracruz), así como la "Introducción a la pasigrafía geológica", en facsímil.

25. Abad y Queipo cita a Humboldt en el "Escrito presentado a D. Manuel Sixtos Espi-

nosa, del consejo de estado...", en Madrid, el año de 1807 (

Colección de los escritos más

importantes que en diferentes épocas dirigió al gobierno

D. Manuel Abad Queipo, Obispo

electo de Michoacán, En la Oficina de Mariano Ontiveros, México, 1813 (el escrito va de la

página 95 a la 112).

Humboldt en la Nueva España 37

lo tanto, la más mínima influencia sobre el curso de los acontecimientos san-

grientos que, a partir de 1810, se desarrollaron en los territorios americanos

que se hallaban sujetos al dominio de España. El Ensayo político sobre el

Reino de la Nueva España fue publicado en español en 1823, pero con

severos cambios, ya consumada la independencia, en París.26

El segundo investigador que se apoya en Humboldt es José María Luis

Mora: le interesa el Humboldt economista y político. La mención que Mora

hace de Humboldt es profusa, particularmente en Méjico y sus revoluciones,

editado en París en 1836. Allí, el Dr. Mora utiliza los juicios de Humboldt

sobre el estado de las minas, la población del país y el conocimiento de las

obras revolucionarias de los filósofos franceses.27 Pero lo cita igualmente, a

propósito del estado que guardaban las artes en la Nueva España, en sus

Obras sueltas, también editadas en París el año de 1837.28

El tercero es Lucas Alamán quien, en su carácter de Ministro de Rela-

ciones Exteriores, invita a Humboldt a residir en México; lo cita luego en su

Historia de Méjico, donde levanta una crítica que tendrá amplia repercusión:

"El gobierno de Madrid, desestimando el recelo y precaución con que hasta

entonces se había procedido, evitando que los extranjeros tuviesen cono-

cimiento de las cosas de América, permitió que el barón de Humboldt visi-

tase Venezuela, Nueva Granada, Perú y Méjico. Sus observaciones fueron no

sólo astronómicas y físicas, sino también políticas y económicas, y su Ensayo

político sobre Nueva España hizo conocer esta importante posesión a la

España misma, en la que no se tenía noticia exacta de ella; a todas las

naciones, cuya atención despertó y a los mejicanos, quienes se formaron un

concepto extremadamente exagerado de la riqueza de su patria, y se figuraron

que ésta, siendo independiente, vendría a ser la nación más poderosa del

universo."29

Es sintomático que tanto liberales como conservadores vean en Humboldt

a la autoridad política y económica de máximo nivel: acaso sea un índice de

la contradicción interna de su pensamiento.

26.

Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva-España

, traducido al español por Vicente

González Arnao, Casa de Rosa, París, 4 volúmenes, 1822 (hay edición facsimilar reciente,

Miguel Ángel Porrúa, México, 1985, con Prólogo de Jaime Labastida).

27. José María Luis Mora,

México y sus revoluciones

, Porrúa, México, 1950, especialmente

en los dos primeros volúmenes (en los que se refiere a los temas citados).

28. José María Luis Mora, Obras sueltas, segunda edición, Porrúa, México, 1963, pág.

128 y ss. Mora se refiere a un pasaje de Vues des cordillères... en el que Humboldt habla

de Tolsá y de la estatua ecuestre de Carlos IV (Lámina III, "Vue de la grande Place de

Mexico").

29. La carta de Alamán es del 21 de julio de 1824 (en la ya citada edición de

Tabla s

geográficas políticas

..., pág. 189). Ver, para la cita siguiente,

Historia de Méjico, desde los

primeros movimientos que prepararon su independencia en el año de 1808 hasta la época

presente

, Imprenta de Lara, México, 1849, I, pág. 141 y ss. (Modernizo la ortografía y con-

centro la cita.)

38 Culture and Society in the New World

A partir de la segunda mitad del siglo XIX, otro Humboldt empieza a ocu-

par un lugar destacado en nuestra historiografía: es el Humboldt historiador,

lingüista y antropólogo, el autor de Vues des cordillères et monumens des

peuples indigènes de l'Amérique.30 En ese campo destaca, antes que ninguno,

Joaquín García Icazbalceta, dueño de una edición princeps, en dos

volúmenes, del título citado. Luego, Manuel Orozco y Berra y Alfredo Chav-

ero, en el tiempo inmediatamente posterior,31 tienen conocimiento amplio de

la obra, vasta y múltiple, de Humboldt y no se limitan al Essai politique sur

le Royaume de la Nouvelle-Espagne. Por ejemplo, Orozco y Berra, en su His-

toria antigua y de la conquista de México, cita lo mismo el Essai politique

que el Examen critique de la l'Histoire de la Géographie du Nouveau Conti-

nent o las Vues des cordillères... Por otra parte, en Apuntes para la historia de

la geografía en México, Orozco y Berra utiliza constantemente la obra

política, geográfica y económica de Humboldt, a quien cita no menos de 44

ocasiones32.

Por último, destaco la atención que a la obra del barón prusiano le con-

cedió Alfredo Chavero. En Historia antigua y de la conquista, afirma: “Hum-

boldt estudia los jeroglíficos que encuentra en los museos de Europa, viene y

examina nuestros monumentos, y su poderoso genio abarca, ya no los relatos

de los cronistas, sino la comparación y la historia de las civilizaciones;” nos

enseña que los estudios de las antigüedades mexicanas deben apoyarse en

“fuentes primitivas”; así, “abrió nuevos caminos a nuestros estudios.”33

Humboldt fue un científico de dimensión universal, tal vez el más impor-

tante de los científicos de la primera mitad del siglo XIX (antes de Darwin,

fueron las tesis y el método de Humboldt los que influyeron más sobre los

hombres de ciencia). Es mezquina la tesis que le reprocha haber plagiado a

los sabios novohispanos o haber silenciado sus aportaciones, cuando lo que

hizo fue discriminar tan sólo sus fuentes de información. El mejor homenaje

que se le debe hacer hoy, en el siglo XXI, es ahondar en sus huellas y desarr-

ollar, con rigor, lo que él apenas empezó a desbrozar.

Humboldt no fue un espía, que hubiera puesto en las manos de Thomas

Jefferson, el presidente de Estados Unidos, el mapa que 43 años más tarde

30. La primera edición de estos dos volúmenes se hizo en 1810. Hay edición española en

Siglo XXI Editores, México, 1995 (traducción, notas y Estudio preliminar de Jaime Labas-

tida).

31. Diré que el ejemplar del que traduje

Vistas de las cordilleras

... fue propiedad de estos

enormes historiadores de México: en sus guardas se conservan sus

ex libris

32. Manuel Orozco y Berra,

Historia antigua y de la conquista de México

(primera edición,

Tipografía de Gonzalo A. Esteva, México, 1880; sigo la edición preparada por Ángel María

Garibay y Miguel León-Portilla, Porrúa, México, 4 volúmenes, 1960). Los

Apuntes para la

historia de la geografía en México

han sido reproducidos facsimilarmente por la Fundación

Miguel Alemán, México, 1993.

33. Alfredo Chavero,

Historia antigua y de la conquista

, tomo I de

México a través de los

siglos

, bajo la dirección de Vicente Riva Palacio, México, 1884, págs. LVII-LVIII.

Humboldt en la Nueva España 39

serviría para que México fuera invadido. Lo que Humboldt entregó a Jeffer-

son lo había entregado a las autoridades novohispanas y lo publicó sin restric-

ciones luego, para uso de todos los hombres de ciencia.34 Humboldt debe ser

estudiado, antes que admirado; ser objeto de análisis serios, antes que de diti-

rambos por parte de sus partidarios o de diatribas por parte de sus enemigos.

34. Mi ensayo “Humboldt, México y Estados Unidos. Historia de una intriga,” en el

Atlas

(

cit

.).

CHAPTER 5 A ‘Romantic’ Encounter

with Latin America

Elizabeth Millán-Zaibert

In a curious German text from 1796, an impassioned plea (not unrelated to a

certain revolutionary enthusiasm that marked this period of German thought)

was made to unite science and poetry. The text’s title, “The Earliest Program

for a System of German Idealism,” is misleading, for the text does not really

set out to deploy German Idealism, but it rather calls, in piecemeal fashion,

for a move away from mechanistic models of understanding natural and

social reality – invoking a new mythology that will join science and art, law-

fulness and freedom.1 According to the text, “the highest act of reason is an

aesthetic act,” and so “the philosopher must possess as much aesthetic power

as the poet.”2 Those individuals lacking in aesthetic sense will remain limited

beings, “in the dark when it comes to anything beyond graphs and charts.”3 In

other words, those people who do not know how to handle ideas will be lim-

ited to the mechanistic realm of the quantifiable. With its focus on the inti-

mate relation between poetry and philosophy, and the move to provide

culture with an aesthetic point of orientation, this short, pithy piece can be

read as a kind of romantic manifesto.

It would seem, at first glance, that no reputable scientist would want to be

associated with the goals of such a manifesto, for scientists strive to orient

culture via laws of nature, and laws are subject to strict rules, and put

together into theories (not myths) supported by the data of those despised

“graphs and charts” to which the author of the text makes reference. In con-

1. The misleading title was provided by Franz Rosenzweig, who found and published the

manuscript in 1917. The text was found in the handwriting of Hegel, yet scholars still dis-

agree about the identity of the text’s author (Hegel, Hölderlin, and Schelling are each via-

ble candidates).

2. “Earliest Program for a System of German Idealism,” in

Theory as Practice. A Critical

Anthology of early German Romantic Writings

, translated and edited by Jochen Schulte-

Sasse “et al”. (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1997): 72-73, p. 72.

3. Ibid., p. 73.

42 Culture and Society in the New World

trast, art is the product of freedom and comes into being precisely as it moves

beyond established laws, beyond the quantifiable – one does not measure

beauty: one appreciates it. What connection could there be between a call to

move beyond the “charts and graphs” of the empirical scientists and the seri-

ous work of a scientist such as Alexander von Humboldt? In what follows I

shall argue that there is an important connection.4

The best way to explain this connection is to explore the link between

Humboldt’s work and a philosophical movement that highlighted the aes-

thetic and historical dimensions of reality. I refer to early German Romanti-

cism, a movement that flourished in Jena and Berlin between the years of

1794 and 1808, which included thinkers such as brothers August Wilhelm

and Friedrich Schlegel, Friedrich von Hardenberg (Novalis), Friedrich

Schleiermacher, Dorothea Mendelssohn Schlegel, and Caroline Schlegel

Schelling. In order to analyze the relation between Romanticism and Hum-

boldt’s work, I will focus upon the connections between some features of his

approach to understanding the world and the central insights of Friedrich

Schlegel, the leading philosopher of the early German Romantic Movement.

The romantic connection that I shall explore will shed light on Humboldt’s

contribution to the development of “Naturphilosophie”, a contribution that

has too long been overlooked by philosophers in Europe and the United

States.

In Latin America there is no such neglect of Humboldt’s work, but rather

a long tradition of taking Humboldt seriously, not only as a scientist but as a

humanist whose vast knowledge of the region helped to promote progress

there and also led to a more enlightened image of Latin America in Europe.

As a result of Humboldt’s serious engagement with the land, people, and

political structures of Latin America, he has been heralded by intellectuals

there as the first great thinker of modernity, a father of the independence

movements, and (somewhat problematically) as the “scientific discoverer” of

America.5

Humboldt’s long relation with Latin America began when he and his trav-

eling companion, the French botanist, Aimé Bonpland were given permission

by the Spanish Crown to explore the Spanish colonies of the New World. On

June 5, 1799, they sailed from Spain in a ship called the “Pizarro”, stopped

off at the Canary Islands, and arrived in Cumaná, Venezuela on July 16,

1799.6 They explored the coast and then penetrated inland, to the Orinoco and

4. In his introduction to the edited collection of Humboldt’s writings,

Alexander von

Humboldt: Über die Freiheit des Menschen

(Frankfurt a.Main: Insel, 1999), Manfred Osten

also makes a connection between this text and Humboldt’s work in order to analyze the

central role that the idea of freedom played in shaping Humboldt’s thought.

5. See, for example, Leopoldo Zea, “Humboldt en la modernidad”, “Cuadernos Ameri-

canos” 4, Nr. 76 (1999): 11-15; Ibid., “Humboldt y el otro descubrimiento”, “Cuadernos

Americanos”

6, Nr. 78 (1999): 11-19.

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 43

Rio Negro rivers, collecting data as they went. In Caracas, Humboldt met

with individuals who would prove to be critical political and intellectual fig-

ures of the period, such as Andrés Bello and Simón Bolívar. Humboldt and

Bonpland’s travels took them to Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico,

and to the United States (where Humboldt met Thomas Jefferson and began a

lifelong friendship with him). They returned to Europe (Bordeaux) on August

3, 1804, and Humboldt began work on his narrative of the five-year voyage

to the equinoctial regions of the earth, a project that was to consume his time

and his finances for most of the rest of his life. The published work consisted

of 30 folio volumes, with the last volume published in 1834.7

Humboldt was widely admired by influential figures of Latin America

during his own lifetime. As early as 1815, Simón Bolívar praised Humboldt’s

“encyclopedic theoretical and practical knowledge” of Venezuela (in his

“Carta de Jamaica”).8 Long after Humboldt’s death, this admiration is still

very much alive. Recently, the prominent Mexican philosopher, Leopoldo

Zea, contrasted Humboldt’s views of the inhabitants of the Spanish colonies

to those of his contemporaries. Zea uses these contrasts to convincingly show

that Humboldt, unlike other prominent European thinkers of the period, such

as Cornelius de Pauw or Comte de Buffon (the first of the anti-Americans),

was able to overcome a view of non-Europeans as necessarily inferior. Zea

argues that in overcoming racially hierarchical views, Humboldt was able to

arrive at an appreciation of diversity that was ahead of its time. Humboldt’s

open, accepting attitude towards the cultures and peoples he encountered in

the New World was the result of what Zea calls a “romantic attitude”:

“Humboldt was one of those to whom Hegel referred when he spoke of those

who were fed up, tired of the historical museum that Europe had become. For

precisely this reason, Humboldt is a Romantic.9”

To call Humboldt a Romantic merely because of his being “fed up” with

Europe is to do a disservice both to Humboldt’s innovative scientific

approach and to early German Romanticism. I agree with Zea that Humboldt

is a Romantic (and he most certainly would have been not only bored, but

6. The “Pizarro”

was supposed to dock in Havana, Cuba, but an outbreak of typhoid

fever on board made it necessary to land at Cumaná.

7. “Voyages aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801,

1802, 1803, et 1804”

8. In “Selected Writings of Simón Bolívar”, “Reply of a South American Gentleman of

this Island [Jamaica]”. This document is generally referred to as “La carta de Jamaica”,

and is one of Bolívar’s earliest writings on political and international affairs. Given the gen-

eral tone of disdain towards the leaders Europe, it is significant that he cites Humboldt in

reporting on various statistics regarding the lands of the New World. Humboldt was gener-

ally perceived by the “criollo”

leaders of the emerging Latin American nations as one of the

few Europeans who appreciated their culture.

9. “Humboldt es uno de los hastiados de los que hablaba HEGEL, cansado del museo

histórico que era ya Europa. Humboldt es por eso mismo, un romántico” (“Humboldt y el

otro descubrimiento” in “Cuadernos Americanos”, 6, Nr. 78 (1999), p. 12).

44 Culture and Society in the New World

angered by views typical of many Europeans of the period), but I shall show

that he is a Romantic for reasons far deeper than any ennui he may have had

with the historical museum that Europe had (or had not) become.

In what follows I shall argue that Humboldt is a Romantic because of the

particular way in which he approached his understanding of “all” living

forces, human as well as plants, nations as well as individuals.10 Humboldt

privileged the living, changing elements of nature and the method he devel-

oped to capture nature in its change, was one that involved moving “beyond

charts and graphs,” that is, beyond the merely quantifiable aspects of nature.

The scientific method of Humboldt included an aesthetic-historical approach

to the phenomena of nature. I shall make the case that it precisely these

aspects of Alexander von Humboldt’s work make him and his approach

“romantic.”11 My interest in bringing to light Humboldt’s connections to early

German Romanticism stems from my conviction that it is precisely the

romantic aspect of his thought that paved the way for his open, appreciative

attitude toward the cultures he encountered in America, a land described by

most of his contemporaries as a degenerate, sinister place, nothing more than

a natural and cultural wasteland.

Humboldt and the Break from Eurocentrism

Humboldt certainly did not see America as any sort of wasteland. He spent an

important portion of his life in the New World collecting data and plant and

mineral samples to send back to Europe for further investigation, and he was

impressed with the wealth of biodiversity he encountered there. Yet it is criti-

cal to keep in mind that his conception of his work’s importance was not lim-

ited to helping the cause of science understood as the mere amassing of data,

but always also included the cause of “human” organization and progress.

Unfortunately, Humboldt’s dedication to the alleviation of conditions which

gave rise to social inequalities has been overlooked by some contemporary

scholars. Consider, for example, the claim made by Mary Louise Pratt:

“Humboldt’s eye depopulates and dehistoricizes the American landscape

even as it celebrates its grandeur and variety.”12

10. I borrow this way of describing Humboldt’s task from an essay on history by his

brother, Wilhelm von Humboldt. In “On the Historian’s Task”, Wilhelm emphasizes the

importance of paying due attention to all living forces: “All living forces, men as well as

plants, nations as well as individuals, mankind as well as individual peoples, have in com-

mon certain qualities, kinds of development, and natural laws” in, “On the Historian’s

Tas k ” in

The Theory and Practice of History: Leopold von Ranke

, edited with an introduc-

tion by Georg G. Iggers and Konrad von Moltke (Indianapolis: The Bobbs-Merrill Co.,

1973), p. 17.

11. Humboldt’s connections to Romanticism are traced by Robert Richards in,

The

Romantic Conception of Life: Science and Philosophy in the Age of Goethe

(Chicago: Univer-

sity of Chicago Press, 2002).

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 45

Humboldt did indeed celebrate the grandeur and variety of the American

landscape, yet it is simply false to claim that his eye depopulated and dehis-

toricized that landscape. In his hallmark work on America, “Voyages aux

régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent”, Humboldt was primarily inter-

ested in providing an account of nature, yet, never without concern for those

who lived amidst the scenes he was describing. In his “Essai sur la géogra-

phie des plantes”, Humboldt explores the issue of how the appearance of

nature affects the customs and sensibility of the people of a given region.

This text provides abundant counterexamples to Pratt’s claim that Hum-

boldt’s eye depopulates landscapes. Moreover, in his political essays, concern

for human political structures and the inequalities suffered by the Americans

under colonial rule are the central issues. In his “Political Essay on the King-

dom of New Spain”, he described Mexico quite trenchantly (and not without

risk of punishment from the Spanish Crown) as “the land of inequality”.

There is no hint in any of Humboldt’s work that he wants to “dehistori-

cize” anything. Quite the contrary, Humboldt incorporated history into his

scientific approach in a comparative way that allowed him to free his obser-

vations of the cultural (and racial) bigotry that plagued the work of most of

his contemporaries. In the “Political Essay”, rather than subsume all he finds

in the New World to what he already knows, e.g., the indigenous “barbaric”

ways under the European “civilized” ways, that is, rather than using the term

‘European’ as the universal standard by which to measure the degree of civi-

lization that the American cultures possessed, Humboldt “compared” the

American and European cultures, without appealing to European culture as

the standard. He looked critically at “both” Europe and America. For exam-

ple, Humboldt argues that in order to judge the worth of the indigenous cul-

tures of New Spain (or Mexico, as the region came to be known after the

colonial period), we must first make a proper comparison:

How shall we judge, from these miserable remains of a powerful people, of

the degree of cultivation to which it had risen from the twelfth to the sixteenth

century and of the intellectual development of which it is susceptible? If all

that remained of the French or German nation were a few poor agriculturists,

could we read in their features that they belonged to nations which had pro-

duced a Descartes and Clariaut, a Kepler and a Leibniz?13

Humboldt was well aware that in order to understand the indigenous cul-

tures and to judge their merits, present quantifiable data was not enough, we

must be presented with a proper sampling of evidence of their past achieve-

12. “Humboldt and the Reinvention of America” p. 592 of

Amerindian Images and the

Legacy of Columbus

, edited by René Jara and Nicholas Spadaccini (Minneapolis: Univer-

sity of Minnesota Press, 1992): 585-606.

13. Alexander von Humboldt,

Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain

, translated by

John Black, edited by Mary Maples Dunn (Norman, Oklahoma: University of Oklahoma

Press, 1988), p. 54.

46 Culture and Society in the New World

ments. A proper sampling to make a comparison with European intellectual

culture would have to include the work of some of the leading intellectuals

and scientists of the pre-colonial era, yet as most of the remains of the Indig-

enous culture have been destroyed, it is hasty for the Europeans to assume

that there were no intellectual figures or scientists of note. Furthermore, the

Indigenous people who survived the colonization have been oppressed, their

character has been changed. Humboldt writes:

As to the moral faculties of the Indians, it is difficult to appreciate them with

justice if we only consider this long oppressed caste in their present state of

degradation. The better sort of Indians, among whom a certain degree of intel-

lectual culture might be supposed, perished in great part at the commence-

ment of the Spanish conquest, the victims of European ferocity...All those

who inhabited the “teocalli” or houses of God, who might be considered the

depositories of the historical, mythological and astronomical knowledge of

the country were exterminated. The monks burned the hieroglyphic paintings

by which every kind of knowledge was transmitted from generation to gener-

ation. The people, deprived of these means of instruction, were plunged in an

ignorance so much the deeper as the missionaries were unskilled in the Mexi-

can languages and could substitute few new ideas in the place of the old.14

Humboldt was not willing to simply assume the superiority of the Euro-

pean culture based on a comparison with the scant historical evidence of the

contributions of the Aztec civilization left in the wake of the devastation

caused by the Spanish “conquistadores”. The charts and graphs drawn by

most scientists looking at the indigenous cultures were not prepared with suf-

ficient attention to the historical factors which may have accounted for the

indigenous inhabitants “seeming” to be behind the Europeans in terms of

intellectual contributions. Humboldt emphasizes the need to look beyond

present empirical evidence to the historical circumstances that give rise to

present data: if the leading intellectuals of a group are killed off , their schol-

arly contributions destroyed, with no teachers available to pass on knowl-

edge, certainly it is unjust to conclude that the group is inferior, at most they

are uneducated, and as Humboldt indicates, the blame for the lack of educa-

tion in New Spain fell squarely on the Spaniards, “not” on the native Ameri-

cans.

In our multicultural times, it seems a matter of course that a scientist, be

she a natural or a social scientist, would not assume cultural superiority, yet

this was not the case at the turn of the eighteenth century (and still by no

means always the case even in our own times). Humboldt’s attention to the

history of the indigenous cultures as a necessary condition for making a

meaningful comparison of European and American cultures is a remarkable

14. Ibid., p. 53.

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 47

move, for it reveals an openness to acknowledging that the cultures of a con-

tinent that had been consistently labeled by Europeans as the dwelling place

of beasts and barbarians, “deserved” more attention than they had received:

the unfamiliar was not uncritically to be associated with the inferior.

The respect Humboldt expressed for the Spanish-American region and its

culture may very well have fueled the anti-colonial sentiment that was

already building and which led to the independence movements of the early

1800s.15 Humboldt saw a connection between scientific study and political

change:

A reforming government ought, before every other object, to set about chang-

ing the present limits of the intendancies. This political change ought to be

founded on the exact knowledge of the physical state and the state of cultiva-

tion of the provinces of New Spain.16

Humboldt linked the social inequality he observed in the region of New

Spain to inequalities in land distribution, and he did believe (perhaps too

optimistically), that a proper understanding of the territory in terms of its

dimensions, and its richness, would enable political leaders to make more

informed decisions on how to divide the territories of the region and how best

to use the land to improve the lives of all of the inhabitants. Humboldt did not

see himself as a narrow specialist, concerned only with amassing data on,

say, the mineral deposits of New Spain, he wanted his observations to be used

to improve the lives of the inhabitants of the region. One central strand of

Humboldt’s ‘romantic’ science is the attempt to bring distinct disciplines into

conversation with one another.

As we shall see, just as the early German Romantics were not afraid to

bring philosophy into the company of poetry, indeed, they saw the associa-

tion as necessary for both disciplines, Humboldt saw great potential in the

relation between science and social/political issues. Pratt’s (mis)reading of

Humboldt as “depopulating/dehistoricizing the landscape” is symptomatic of

a general misunderstanding of his intellectual project and of its place in the

history of ideas. Humboldt was committed to providing a historical context

for understanding nature and to discussing its impact on human beings. To

“depopulate and dehistoricize” “any” landscape would go against the very

romantic method Humboldt endorsed. Now a few words on “romantic

method” are in order.

15. For more on this, see, Michael Zeuske, “¿Padre de la Independencia? Humboldt y la

transformación a la modernidad en la América española” in “Cuadernos Americanos”

(1999): 20-51.

16. Ibid., p. 27.

48 Culture and Society in the New World

Romantic Method

The early German Romantics employed unconventional forms for the expres-

sion of their ideas in order to challenge the general view of philosophy as

something that should be modeled on the sciences.17 A central goal of the

Romantics’ project was to bring philosophy into closer contact with poetry

and history, odd bedfellows in the wake of Kant’s “Critique of Pure Reason”,

a work that celebrated philosophy’s relation to the ahistorical sciences.

In Schlegel’s “Letter on the Novel”, which is arguably his most detailed

statement on the meaning of the term ‘romantic,’ he claims that “romantic

poetry rests entirely on historical grounds.”18 As we learn in “Athenäum

Fragment 116”, “romantic poetry is a progressive universal poetry,” it is an

ideal, a poetry that is progressive because it is always in a state of becoming,

never reaching completion. Historical grounds bring romantic poetry into

conversation with the tradition of which it is a part. And like poetry, philoso-

phy is also in need of history for orientation. Schlegel never tired of empha-

sizing this point, and he even went after Kant, the great critical philosopher

himself, scolding Kant for his neglect of history and insisting that no critique

can succeed without a history of philosophy.19

Humboldt also makes abundant references to tradition and history as

guides, yet as guides not for the poet or philosopher, but for the scientist. He

draws an analogy between (A) what can be accomplished with his holistic

approach to nature, that is, his view that we must “recognize in the plant or

the animal not merely an isolated species, but a form linked in the chain of

being to other forms whether living or extinct”20 and (B) that which is accom-

plished with historical composition21, that is, by placing the object of study

into the historical context that will enable us to understand it:

In interrogating the history of the past, we trace the mysterious course of

ideas yielding the first glimmering perception of the same image of a Cos-

17. “Das Athenäum” (1798-1800), a journal edited by Friedrich and August Wilhelm

Schlegel became the most important literary vehicle of early German Romanticism. All ref-

erences to Schlegel’s work in German are to

Friedrich Schlegel Kritische Ausgabe

(

), in

35 volumes, edited by Ernst Behler,

et al

. (Paderborn: Ferdinand Schönigh, 1958 ff.). The

“Athenäum Fragments”

as well as selections of the “Critical Fragments and Ideas”

have

been translated by Peter Firchow in

Friedrich Schlegel, Philosophical Fragments

(Minne-

apolis: University of Minnesota Press, 1991), and I have used, with minor modifications,

his translations.

18.

2, p. 334.

19. See for example,

II, p. 165, Nr. 1;

II, p. 364;

XII, p. 286;

XVIII, p. 21,

Nr. 35; KA XVIII, p. 21, Nr. 36;

XIX, p. 346, Nr. 296. In these passages, Schlegel

claims that a critique of philosophy cannot succeed without a history of philosophy, that an

age which calls itself a critical age, must not leave the age itself uncriticized, that, in short,

Kant’s critical project did not go far enough.

20. Alexander von Humboldt,

Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe

translated by E.C. Otté (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), p. 42.

21. Ibid., p. 49.

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 49

mos, or harmoniously ordered whole, which, dimly shadowed forth to the

human mind in the primitive ages of the world, is now fully revealed to the

mature intellect of mankind as the result of long and laborious observation.22

Humboldt held that we must have some historical orientation point in

order to understand nature. Just as a complete understanding and so appreci-

ation of indigenous culture is impossible in the wake of the devastation of the

historical records, an understanding and appreciation of nature is not possible

if we dissect each part of nature and cease to see it as a “harmoniously

ordered whole.” The incorporation of historical analysis into his scientific

method enables Humboldt to present nature in terms of its living, changing

forces rather than as something to be interrogated as if it were a dead mass of

quantifiable material. Humboldt’s approach to understanding the world

around him, whether Aztec culture or Andean mountain peaks, was never one

of those scientists “in the dark when it [came] to anything beyond charts and

graphs.” What lies beyond the realm of the merely quantifiable? And why is

it important for the scientist to go beyond this? For the merely empirical sci-

entist, of course, nothing lies beyond the merely quantifiable, that is all we

have. Yet, Humboldt was quite critical of the merely empirical approach to

nature:

It is the special object of [Cosmos] to combat those errors which derive their

source from a vicious empiricism and from imperfect inductions. The higher

enjoyments yielded by the study of nature depend upon the correctness and

the depth of our views, and upon the extent of the subjects that may be com-

prehended in a single glance.23

The “higher enjoyments” are not yielded to the scientist who looks only

for quantifiable facts in nature. Our experience of beauty or the sublime puts

us in touch with something “measureless to man.” Let us consider the Ávila

in Caracas, a mountain Humboldt knew well: when we experience it as beau-

tiful, we are taken beyond the merely physical characteristics of the mountain

(its composition, its height, its location, etc.). The beautiful Ávila is some-

thing that cannot be measured by the scientist’s instruments, yet, only under

the influence of the vicious empiricism referenced by Humboldt would a sci-

entist discount its importance. An aesthetic understanding of nature was criti-

cal for Humboldt, both to understand nature as a whole and to understand our

own human finitude:

The earnest and solemn thoughts awakened by a communion with nature intu-

itively arise from a presentiment of the order and harmony pervading the

whole universe, and from the contrast we draw between the narrow limits of

our own existence and the image of infinity revealed on every side whether

22. Ibid., p. 24.

23. Ibid., p. 39.

50 Culture and Society in the New World

we look upward to the starry vault of heaven, scan the far-reaching plain

before us, or seek to trace the dim horizon across the vast expanse of the

ocean.24

Human experience of the tension between the infinite and the finite is

something that Schlegel also emphasized. It is precisely this tension that

gives rise to his claim that poetry and philosophy must come together, that

“whatever can be done while poetry and philosophy are separate has been

done and accomplished. So the time has come to unite the two.”25 The beauty

of art enables us to experience something whose meaning cannot be

exhausted by thought and hence helps us to comprehend or grasp Being

(although never exhaustively). Because philosophy is a kind of longing for

the Absolute and art is an instrument that helps us to approximate the Abso-

lute, Schlegel claims that philosophy is completed in and as art. This insight

takes us to the heart of early German Romanticism. With the Romantics, aes-

thetic tools such as allegory, wit, irony, and the use of unconventional literary

forms (esp. the fragment) take on philosophical relevance. The bulk of Schle-

gel’s work focuses upon the problem of the limits of our knowledge and the

limitless of the Absolute, which in its very limitlessness propels us beyond

our finite limits.26 Schlegel characterizes the human condition in terms of a

feeling of longing for the infinite, a longing for something that we as finite

humans, can never possess, but which guides our search for knowledge and

leads to the insight that the search is all we can hope for, not the possession.

Romantic Anti-foundationalism and Schlegel’s

‘Living Seed’

Schlegel’s move to unite philosophy and poetry changed the very conception

of philosophy itself and its methods. One upshot of the romantic method for

philosophy was that teleological and foundational approaches were rejected:

Schlegel’s philosophical method granted more freedom to its subject matter

than teleological or foundational approaches could. Hence Schlegel avoided

problems like the ones described by Wilhelm von Humboldt:

Historical truth is, generally speaking, much more threatened by philosophi-

cal than by artistic handling, since the latter is at least accustomed to granting

freedom to its subject matter. Philosophy dictates a goal to events. This search

for final causes, even though it may be deduced from the essence of man and

nature itself, distorts and falsifies every independent judgment of the charac-

teristic working of forces. Teleological history, therefore, never attains the liv-

ing truth of universal destiny because the individual always has to reach the

24. Ibid., p. 25.

25.

2, “Ideen“

Nr. 108, Firchow, p. 104.

26. Wilhelm von Humboldt,

On the Historian’s Task

, op. cit

, p. 15.

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 51

pinnacle of his own development within the span of his fleeting existence;

teleological history can, for that reason, never properly locate the ultimate

goal of events in living things but has to seek it, as it were, in dead institutions

and in the concept of an ideal totality.27

If philosophers are guilty of freezing living reality in their move to sub-

sume changing, living reality under fixed, final causes, then the adjective

‘philosophical’ will indeed suggest a move away from change and life to the

fixed, stable, or dead categories used to capture reality. The ideal of such

philosophical methods is “some state of perfection,” which, as we saw above

was disavowed in Schlegel’s emphasis on infinite becoming. As already

stated, romantic poetry is an ideal, a poetry that is progressive because it is

always in a state of becoming, never reaching completion. This view of the

inherent incompleteness of poetry holds also for the romantic view of philos-

ophy, and of knowledge itself.

Romantic philosophy is anti-foundationalist, and an understanding of the

implications of this particular breed of anti-foundationalism enables us to

appreciate a major contribution that the early German Romantics made to

philosophy: their model of philosophy did not sacrifice living, changing real-

ity to fixed, teleological categories, all in the name of systematic unity, but

rather left the system open, incorporating change and flux into the very frame

of philosophy itself. There is no concept of an ideal totality operative in the

‘romantic’ conception of philosophy. Romantic philosophy is not guilty of

what Wilhelm von Humboldt accuses most philosophy, that is, of an inability

to locate the goal of events in living things, fixated, as most philosophers are,

by the concept of an ideal totality, which leads away from living things and

toward dead institutions. There is also the danger, when a philosopher deals

in teleological systems, of placing a cultural prejudice within the closed sys-

tem itself, that is, of measuring all by a supposedly “universal” standard that

is all too local. This may very well have been the cause of many a charge of

inferiority that plagued and continues to plague interpretation of other cul-

tures.

Romantic philosophy does not rest on firm foundations from which it

spins a deductive web of certainty. In place of a closed, grand deductive sys-

tem that would provide the first and last word on the foundations of knowl-

edge, the romantic conception of philosophy breaks with the view that

philosophy must rest upon any foundation at all. In this conception of philos-

ophy, there is no attempt to keep uncertainty out of the picture, but rather a

humble acceptance of the provisional nature of all of our claims to knowl-

edge. It is worth emphasizing that anti-foundationalists need not abandon a

conception of objective truth: romantic skepticism about foundations led to

27.

12, p. 328.

52 Culture and Society in the New World

reflections about our epistemological limitations, but not to any rejection of

objectivity or truth. Admitting epistemological limitations need not lead us

down the path of denying the existence of a mind-independent reality. So, the

“romantic approach” that I am attributing to Humboldt does not amount to

relativism. Humboldt and the early German Romantics, with their emphasis

on the critical roles that history and art have to play in educating humanity,

do not shirk from critique, inquiry or deliberation (as the relativist, with his

easy “anything goes” attitude often does).

Schlegel’s insistence that it impossible to do philosophy without doing the

history of philosophy is intimately connected to his anti-foundationalism. He

writes:

Our philosophy does not begin like the others with a first principle – where

the first proposition is like the center or first ring of a comet – with the rest a

long tail of mist – we depart from a small but living seed – our center lies in

the middle.28

A philosophy based on first principles would provide a perspective from

the outside, that is, from a point that established all that followed from it.

Such a position is foundational, and the first principle or foundation stands

outside of the matter that it serves to explain. The first principle would be

fixed, static and would presumably explain all the changing, living matter in

the world. Schlegel’s reference to a “small but living seed” is not an unimpor-

tant metaphor. His particular breed of anti-foundationalism commits him to

something like life as the framework for understanding reality. Schlegel him-

self describes his philosophical method as genetic or synthetic as opposed to

deductive or syllogistic.29 Schlegel’s genetic method is historical, he wants to

understand philosophy, poetry, and reality in terms of their relation to what

came before, in terms of their genesis. This commitment to life, to the

organic, to a “living seed” also shapes Humboldt’s approach to understanding

reality, though he uses a slightly different metaphor to describe his commit-

ment.

Humboldt and the Breath of Life

Evidence of Humboldt’s focus on the living, the organic, the developing is

found in most of his writings, both scientific and political, yet because of

space limitations, I shall focus here upon his final publication, “Cosmos”,

which is what I take to be the culmination of his romantic view of nature.

Humboldt’s romantic method enabled him to approach nature (in all of its

“living” manifestations) not only quantitatively but also qualitatively.

28.

12, p. 307.

29. Alexander von Humboldt,

Cosmos

, op.cit

, p. 7.

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 53

Humboldt’s own description of his life’s work provides good evidence of

his romantic approach:

Although the outward relations of life, and an irresistible impulse toward

knowledge of various kinds, have led me to occupy myself for many years –

and apparently exclusively – with separate branches of science, as, for

instance, with descriptive botany, geognosy, chemistry, astronomical determi-

nations of position, and terrestrial magnetism, in order that I might the better

prepare myself for the extensive travels in which I was desirous of engaging,

the actual object of my studies has nevertheless been of a higher charac-

ter...The principal impulse by which I was directed was the earnest endeavor

to comprehend the phenomena of physical objects in their general connection,

and to represent nature as one great whole, moved and animated by internal

forces.30

Humboldt makes explicit reference to an underlying unity in the multi-

plicity of nature and the connections between his study of nature, politics,

history, and the general progress of humankind. He goes on to emphasize the

“mutual dependence and connection” existing between the various classes of

phenomena, and speaks of “chain of connection” that links all natural

forces.31 For both Humboldt and Schlegel, ‘holism’ is defined in terms of the

denial of deducibility. Both thinkers a posit a whole (reality) which must be

postulated as something related to, yet not reducible to the sum of the indi-

viduals which comprise it. For Schlegel, nothing is known in isolation, but

always as part of a greater whole with which it interacts (but “not” from

which it is deduced). Likewise, for Humboldt, “one sole and indissoluble

chain binds together all nature.”32

Humboldt calls for a rational consideration of nature, that is, a nature sub-

mitted to the process of thought, finding a “unity in diversity of phenomena,

a harmony blending together all created things, however dissimilar in form

and attributes; one great whole, animated by “the breath of life” [lebendiger

Hauch].”33 This breath of life is something that would be suffocated by a sci-

entific method shaped only by empirical, quantitative methods. Wilhelm von

Humboldt also emphasizes the importance of developing a method that

would maintain nature’s “breath of life”:

Even a simple depiction of nature cannot be merely an enumeration and

depiction of parts or the measuring of sides and angles; there is also the breath

of life in the whole and an inner character which speaks through it which can

be neither measured nor merely described.34

30. Ibid., p. 23.

31. Ibid., p. 27.

32. Ibid., p. 24.

33. Wilhelm von Humboldt,

On the Historian’s Task

, op., cit

p. 7.

34. Alexander von Humboldt,

Cosmos

op.cit.

, p. 24.

54 Culture and Society in the New World

A commitment to the living, changing aspects of reality, be those

described in Humboldtian terms as a “breath of life”, or in Schlegelian as a

“living seed”, informs the method that both thinkers use. The way in which

Alexander von Humboldt fused history, aesthetics, and science is similar to

the way in which Schlegel fused history, poetry, and philosophy. This fusion

was not the result of an arbitrary whim, but rather the consequence of a com-

mitment to “living” nature. Humboldt was dedicated to unveiling nature to

human understanding, yet did not see the unveiling process as a mere interro-

gation of natural phenomena so that facts could be collected and recorded.

The collection and recording of facts was only part of the scientific method.

If the goal is to find a “unity in diversity of phenomena, a harmony blend-

ing together all created things…one great whole, animated by the breath of

life,” more than the charts and graphs of the empirical scientist are needed.

The aesthetic-historical method of the Romantic protects the breath of life

that animates the whole of nature. For Humboldt, the study of nature never

amounted to merely an enumeration and depiction of parts or the measuring

of sides and angles, for he was not a scientist wedded to strictly empirical

methods, tied to the charts and graphs that would be suitable if nature were

like a grand wind-up clock, but which were ill suited to maintain the “breath

of life” animating all of nature, the living seed, the organic life forces that the

romantic method was suited to capturing, however provisionally.

Conclusion

For more on this see “Lectures on Transcendental Philosophy” (delivered in

Jena 1800-01) and the private lectures Schlegel delivered in Cologne (1804-

05), KA 12 . Manfred Frank gives a thorough analysis of Schlegel’s position

on the relation between philosophy and poetry in his “Unendliche

Annäherung. Die Anfänge der philosophischen Frühromantik“ (Frankfurt

a.Main: Suhrkamp, 1997).Both Humboldt and Schlegel see the task of under-

standing truths about the phenomena of nature as one that will ever come to

an end: it is an infinite task, comprised of empirical, quantitative methods,

but also, and just as importantly, of methods borrowed from art and history.

Humboldt, the romantic scientist, did not find any tension between purely

quantitative approaches to natures and qualitative (aesthetic-historical) ones.

Humboldt’s romantic method freed science of the vicious empiricism which

would petrify living organisms, and it did this by putting the charts and

graphs of the scientist into dialogue with history and art, thereby introducing

freedom and change into the scientific approach to nature. Humboldt’s

respect for freedom and change was widespread. It should, therefore, come as

no surprise that he was one of the first Europeans to respect the cultures of

A ‘Romantic’ Encounter with Latin America 55

Latin America, and that he would be admired by the very thinkers who intro-

duced freedom and political change into the lands of the Spanish Empire.

CHAPTER 6 La Arquitectura Inca

César W. Astuhuamán Gonzáles

La integral formación de Alexander von Humboldt le permitió analizar diver-

sos aspectos de la realidad cultural y natural de América Latina. Uno de los

objetivos de su viaje de exploración científica a América era elaborar, lo que

actualmente se considera, una Arqueología comparada de las antiguas altas

culturas de Europa, Asia y América (Labastida 1999), para lograrlo aplicó

rigurosamente el método comparativo derivado de su racionalismo empirista;

buscó las diferencias, identificó las semejanzas entre dichas culturas y trató

de explicarlas. El interés de Humboldt por los monumentos prehispánicos de

América se debe a la importancia histórica que éstos encierran.

Al igual que los actuales arqueólogos, Humboldt estaba interesado en los

creadores de la cultura material, que describió e ilustró, no en el objeto en sí

mismo. Se diferencia de los viajeros y exploradores que le precedieron por

sus objetivos y el método científico que utiliza, en él se integran el espíritu

científico y romántico, el viajero, filósofo y naturalista. Y aunque en su

tiempo no existía la Arqueología como disciplina, tal como hoy la conoce-

mos, Humboldt debería ser considerado como el fundador de la Arqueología

científica en América, su análisis y planteamientos acerca de la domesti-

cación de plantas y animales (Moseley 1993), y la Arquitectura Inca así lo

demuestran. Humboldt no sólo describió los asentamientos Incas dispuestos a

lo largo del Qhapaq Ñan (Gran Camino Inca), muchos de los cuales se

encuentran actualmente destruidos, también estableció relaciones entre ellos,

definiendo tipos de sitios y la jerarquía entre ellos. Así mismo comparó los

asentamientos Incas con aquellos que él pudo observar en el Viejo Mundo,

como la ciudad romana de Herculano, y estableció semejanzas entre ellos.

También propuso una secuencia expansiva del Estado Inca en el Norte del

Perú, a partir de la ubicación altitudinal del Qhapaq Ñan y los asentamientos.

58 Culture and Society in the New World

Nuestra investigación arqueológica en la Sierra de Piura, Norte de Perú, coin-

cidió espacialmente con la región que hace dos siglos Humboldt exploró.

Los Asentamientos Inca Registrados por Humboldt

en 1802

Las referencias escritas acerca de la exploración de Humboldt en la Sierra de

Piura y el Perú se encuentran en forma dispersa en distintas publicaciones del

autor, pero principalmente en su diario de viaje, esta información ha sido

recientemente objeto de análisis desde diversas perspectivas (Hampe 1999;

Astuhuamán 1999, Nuñez and Petersen 2002, Zevallos 2003). Gracias a

dichos datos ha sido posible reconstruir el itinerario de Humboldt y contrastar

sus reportes con nuestras propias observaciones en el campo.

A partir de los fríos páramos de Pasto, Humboldt y sus compañeros

empezaron a observar los impresionantes vestigios del Imperio Inca, espe-

cialmente el camino y los asentamientos, estos últimos (conocidos como tam-

bos, casas o palacios del Inca) se encontraban de trecho en trecho a lo largo

del Camino Inca, el cual Humboldt siguió en gran parte. En Ecuador obser-

varon, describieron e ilustraron los siguientes asentamientos: Callo, la Casa

del Inca Huayna Capac o aposentos de Mulahalo, Paredones del Inca, Cañar,

Latacunga, entre otros (Nuñez and Petersen 1971, 35 – 36, 167 – 169).

Humboldt, acompañado de Aime Bonpland y Carlos Montufar, ingresó al

Perú por la Sierra de Piura el 1º de Agosto de 1802 (Gráfico N° 1), cruzando

el río Calvas que divide políticamente a Perú y Ecuador, recorrió las provin-

cias de Ayabaca y Huancabamba hasta el 14 de Agosto. Durante estas dos

semanas realizó importantes observaciones geográficas, botánicas,

astronómicas y arqueológicas.

Durante su estadía en la sierra piurana registraron sitios Inca de diferentes

características: Aypate, Chulucanas (Caxas), Guamaní, Xicate, Huan-

cabamba, entre Chulucanas y Huancabamba identifican nueve sitios. Pero

algunos de ellos, como Socchabamba, Yanta y Mandor, no se han conservado

hasta el presente, constituyendo la información que Humboldt escribió en su

diario de campo el único registro existente. Dejemos que sea el propio Hum-

boldt quien nos transmita sus impresiones acerca de estos asentamientos:

Socchabamba:

Dos leguas al norte de Ayabaca, sobre las ruinas de un palacio de los incas en

Socchabamba sobre un terreno algo desigual, los fundamentos de una casa de

140 pies [39.2 m.] de largo con 14 departamentos del mismo tamaño (Hum-

boldt and Vegas [1802] 1991: 17).

La Arquitectura Inca 59

Aypate:

Al este de Aypate está situada sobre la Cordillera una planicie llamada la

plaza del Inga, con ruinas de un palacio y de todo un pueblo Peruano... Este

palacio al este de Aypate está ciertamente situado en el camino que va del

Azuay a Cajamarca y quizás al Cuzco. (op. cit. p. 18).

FIGURE 6-1. Mapa de Piura. Fuente: Vallejos 1925.

Yanta:

Cerca de Yanta, en los bordes sieniticos del Río Santa Rosa, las ruinas

bastante conservadas de un palacio de los Incas (op. cit. p. 18).

Chulucanas:

Los baños del Inca, situados en medio del valle de Chulucanas a ambos lados

del Río. Son algo de lo más bello. Son las más grandes ruinas de todas las que

he visto. Ocupan más de 200 a 300 toesas [400 a 600 m.] de diámetro, no

solamente a lo largo del valle, sino que suben por las colinas vecinas... A la

izquierda del río se ve un barrio de una ciudad, donde se reconoce muy bien la

distribución de las calles y las casas. Yo lo he copiado de un dibujo del

ciudadano Bonpland (Gráfico N° 2). Se reconoce a lo largo del río una

muralla con una zanja y dos entradas que corresponden a las calles princi-

pales. Las casas están distribuidas en 8 cuadrados, que están separados por

cuatro calles cruzadas y que encajan un gran edificio que habría sido el del

soberano. Cada cuadrado está constituido de 12 pequeñas casas simétrica-

mente colocadas, pero cada una de las cuales no parece haber sido sino un

solo departamento…El gran edificio del medio tiene dimensiones más exten-

60 Culture and Society in the New World

didas y piedras mejor talladas. Se distingue allí 4 grandes casas oblongas, sep-

aradas por 4 pequeños cuadrados que ocupan las esquinas, de manera que

todo forma 96 + 8 = 104 casas, colocadas sobre la pendiente de una colina...A

la derecha del río se descubre un edificio que de lejos parece un anfite-

atro...Más cerca del río que los últimos baños se descubre sobre una colina los

bellos restos de un edificio que tiene las piedras maravillosamente bien talla-

das. (op. cit. pp. 20- 22)

FIGURE 6-2. Plano de un sector de Chulucanas (Caxas). Fuente: Bonpland 1802.

Uno de los acompañantes de Humboldt, Carlos Montufar, reporta en su

diario que:

...el día 7 [de agosto] dormimos en el paramo de Chulucanas, y el 8 fuimos al

pueblo de Guancabamba, atrabesando por siete caserias del Ynga que están

en el camino la primera que es la mejor esta en el paramo mesmo y la llaman

los baños de Ynga, tiene mas de quatro quadras de ancho y otras tantas de

largo, todos los edificios son de piedra, un pequeño rio atrabiesa por enmedio

de las caserias... (Montufar [1802] 1889, 15).

Guamaní:

El edificio en la cima del Guamaní (de hermoso pórfido como todo lo prece-

dente) es muy espacioso y tiene todavía más de 4 pies [1.3 m.]. A pesar del

frío que hace en Guamaní (tuvimos 7 1/2°R [9.4°C]) la posición de ese pala-

cio es muy bella, pintoresca. Se encuentra en la cima de los Andes y se goza

allí de una vista inmensa sobre los llanos de Piura y Lambayeque, bordeados

por el horizonte del mar pacífico... El páramo de Guamani divide las aguas

entre el mar del sur y el océano Atlántico. (Humboldt and Vegas [1802] 1991,

24-25).

La Arquitectura Inca 61

Xicate:

... las ruinas están en un país cálido, como las de Xicate, a 900 toesas [1800

m.s.n.m.]... pero el mejor conservado de todos es el edificio de Xicate

saliendo de la Angostura de Guamaní, en un valle profundo. El tiene todavía

más de 12 pies [4 m.] de alto, se ve allí las divisiones de los departamentos,

las ventanas, los nichos... (op. cit. pp. 19-24)

Huancabamba:

En el mismo gran pueblo de Huancabamba se ve los restos de un palacio de

los Incas que debe haber sido de los más espaciosos, pues no hay casas indias

o españolas en el pueblo y en los alrededores no se descubre piedras talladas

que se haya sacado de ese palacio. La iglesia situada sobre una colina recor-

tada y rodeada de una muralla, sí contiene esas piedras... (op. cit. p. 24).

Mulamachay

La tradición, aunque confusa, indica que es esta casa la que ha dado lugar a la

Justicia de los Incas cerca de la caverna de Mulamachay al Sud Este de Huan-

cabamba hacia Sondorillo. Los indios habían construido un palacio en Huan-

cabamba durante la ausencia de los Incas... El Inca se vio forzado a pasar la

noche sobre el Machay, que no es sino un peñasco... Ya sea por temor de que

el soberano pudiera pasar un día nuevamente por Mulamachay, se construyó

allí una bella casa, de la cual se ve todavía las murallas y a la que se le denom-

ina Horca o Justicia de los Incas. (op. cit. pp. 24-25)

Mandor:

Los Incas tenían con esto sus tambos o palacios para pasar las noches. Se ve

las ruinas de estos tambos en Mandor (donde las piedras están unidas con

arcilla)... (op. cit. p. 27)

Luego de explorar la sierra de Piura, Von Humboldt y sus acompañantes

registraron los sitios Inca ubicados hacia el Sur: Ingatambo, Huambos, Tam-

billo y Cajamarca, los restos de este último fueron estudiados minuciosa-

mente e ilustrados, en especial los restos del Cuarto del Rescate de Atahualpa

y conoció a sus propietarios (op. cit. pp. 53-57).

Los Asentamientos Inca Registratdos en el Presente

Desde 1994 hasta el 2004 realizamos diversas prospecciones arqueológicas

en la Sierra de Piura, inicialmente era el trabajo de campo para sustentar la

tesis de licenciatura (Astuhuamán 1998); durante el mes junio de 1999

exploramos el posible Camino Inca desde el sur de Ecuador (Calvas) hasta

Cajamarca (San Felipe); hemos continuado investigando en la región hasta el

mes de setiembre del 2004. En todas las temporadas de trabajo exploramos

los asentamientos Inca que se encuentran a lo largo del camino y registramos

62 Culture and Society in the New World

información en los sitios que Humboldt observó en 1802. A continuación

presentamos nuestro reporte con la finalidad de contrastar sus datos con nues-

tras observaciones.

Socchabamba:

La comunidad de Socchabamba se localiza políticamente en el Distrito Aya-

baca, Provincia de Ayabaca. Los lugareños refieren que los bloques de roca

labrada del asentamiento fueron utilizados para edificar las paredes de la

escuela del lugar y esparcidas cuando se allanó el terreno para construir una

cancha deportiva.

La descripción proporcionada por Humboldt permite sugerir que posible-

mente se trate de colcas o depósitos dispuestos en una o dos hileras, en el

primer caso formado por 14 recintos, en el otro por siete, esto último es lo

más probable. Cada depósito, asumiendo que eran de planta cuadrada, midió

2.80 m. de lado.

Aypate:

El cerro Aypate se ubica en una cadena montañosa desde donde se domina las

subcuencas de los ríos Quiroz y Macará, que integran la cuenca del Chira.

Altitudinalmente las evidencias se registran entre los 2640 y 2930 m.s.n.m.

Políticamente se ubica en el Distrito de Ayabaca, Provincia de Ayabaca.

Las evidencias se encuentran en las faldas, planicie y cima del cerro. La

planicie constituye la plaza Inca, alrededor de la cual se disponen el

acllahuasi, la kallanka y el usnhu, todas ellas típicas edificaciones estatales

presentes en las capitales provinciales Inca. Dirigiéndose a la cima del cerro

se encuentran el templo del sol y los adoratorios. El Camino Inca conduce

desde el portazgo o conjunto de depósitos hasta desembocar en la plaza. La

extensión del asentamiento supera el kilómetro cuadrado.

Yanta:

Está localizado en la margen derecha del río Santa Rosa, subcuenca del

Quiroz, en la comunidad de Yanta, Distrito de Ayabaca, Provincia de Aya-

baca; altitudinalmente se encuentra entre los 1195 y 1200 m.s.n.m.

En la actualidad el asentamiento no se conserva, pero los ancianos del lugar

refieren que habían "huaquillas" (posiblemente montículos), en las proximi-

dades se localiza una cueva donde se hallan osamentas humanas y abundante

material cerámico Inca, parte del cual se exhibe en el Museo Arqueológico de

Ayabaca.

Chulucanas o Caxas:

Este impresionante asentamiento se extiende en ambas márgenes del río Rey

Inca ocupando un área de más de dos kilómetros cuadrados (Gráfico N° 3), la

margen derecha pertenece a la comunidad de Baños-Caxas (Chulucanas) y la

La Arquitectura Inca 63

otra a la comunidad de La Quinua, ubicadas políticamente en las Provincia de

Huancabamba. Se encuentra comprendido altitudinalmente entre los 2725 y

2850 m.s.n.m.

FIGURE 6-3. Reconstrucción hipotética de Caxas. Dibujo: C. Campos 2003.

En la margen izquierda del río Rey Inca se localizan el portazgo, el acllahuasi

(cuyo plano fue dibujado por Bonpland y se puede contrastar en la foto que

ilustra el Gráfico N° 4), kallankas, conjuntos de depósitos y kanchas residen-

ciales; en la otra margen se encuentra el templo del sol, la plaza, el usnhu y

también kanchas. Las edificaciones anteriores caracterizan a una capital pro-

vincial. El Camino Inca pasa a un costado del portazgo y frente al acllahuasi.

FIGURE 6-4. Foto del acllahuasi de Caxas. Fuente: Bleyleben 1970.

Guamaní o Huancacarpa:

Geográficamente se sitúa en las faldas del cerro India Haragana o Buitrera, el

cual constituye el punto de división tripartita de las cuencas del Quiroz, Piura

y Huancabamba. Altitudinalmente, el asentamiento se extiende entre los 3400

y 3450 m.s.n.m.. Políticamente se encuentra en tierras de la Comunidad de

Huancacarpa Alto, en el Distrito de Huancabamba, Provincia de Huan-

cabamba.

Está conformado por dos conjuntos de recintos dispuestos en forma de U, dos

conjuntos de kallancas que encierran grandes espacios, una gran plaza y dos

conjuntos de depósitos situados frente a frente sobre una llanura.

Xicate o Tambo de Jicate:

Geográficamente se ubica en la margen izquierda de la quebrada Angosturas,

próximo a su unión con otra quebrada, en la cuenca del río Huancabamba.

Altitudinalmente se halla a 2725 m.s.n.m. Políticamente se encuentra en ter-

renos de la Comunidad de Jicate Bajo, Distrito y Provincia de Huancabamba.

Tambo de Jicate es una típica Kancha Inca, integrada por tres recintos ubica-

dos alrededor de un patio y cercados por un muro perimétrico, todos ellos edi-

ficados sobre un conjunto de terrazas dispuestas escalonadamente.

Huancabamba:

La actual ciudad de Huancabamba se encuentra entre los 1900 y 1975

m.s.n.m., debajo de ella se encuentra sepultada una importante capital de pro-

vincia Inca, era considerada por los cronistas una “cabecera de provincia”.

La iglesia de Huancabamba se halla bastante elevada con relación a la plaza

del pueblo. Detrás del altar principal se aprecian cimientos elaborados con

rocas de granito rosado, semejante a la cantería típicamente Inca. Según los

ancianos del pueblo se encuentra roca labrada en las bases de los pilares de la

iglesia y de casas antiguas. Creo que la iglesia San Pedro de Huancabamba se

edificó sobre el Templo del Sol Inca, descrito por Humboldt, pues muchas de

las iglesias coloniales fueron edificadas sobre templos prehispánicos. Sólo las

excavaciones permitirán determinar en que otras partes de la actual ciudad de

Huancabamba se hallaban las otras edificaciones Inca descritas por los croni-

stas, ahora sólo se observan restos de andenes en las proximidades del mer-

cado (Hocquenghem 1994).

Mulamachay o Mitupampa:

Mitupampa se localiza en las faldas del Cerro Saquir en el caserío de Mitu-

pampa, distrito de Sondorillo, al Sur de la ciudad de Huancabamba, entre los

2800 y 2947 m.s.n.m.

Este importante asentamiento es una capital provincial Inca, ocupa por lo

menos una extensión de 5 hectáreas y se encuentra próximo a un conjunto de

peñascos o farallones. Es integrado por una plaza, el ushnu, una pequeña kal-

lanka, el acllahuasi y varios conjuntos de kanchas (recintos alrededor de

patios).

La Arquitectura Inca 65

Esta variabilidad de los asentamientos Inca había sido reportada anterior-

mente por los cronistas y continúa siendo analizada, pues a lo largo del Impe-

rio del Tahuantinsuyo no se construyeron dos sitios idénticos, éstos varían de

acuerdo a su importancia, función, ubicación tamaño, edificaciones que lo

integran y otros factores. Tempranamente un agudo observador como Cieza

de León ([1550] 1973) distinguía los siguientes tipos de asentamientos:

Cabeceras de Provincias, Templos, Pucaras, Postas.

Guamán Poma ([1606] 1987) distingue los siguientes tipos de asentam-

ientos: Ciudad con Tambo Real, Pueblo con Tambo Real, Tambo Real sin

Pueblo y Tambillo. . . Esta tipología expresa a la vez una jerarquización de

los asentamientos. Menciona además la existencia de "otros Cusco", posible-

mente de mayor jerarquía que las Cabecera de Provincia mencionadas por

Cieza.

Hyslop (1990) ha reconocido los siguientes tipos de asentamientos Inca:

Cusco, "otros Cusco", Centros Administrativos Ceremoniales, Tambos,

Asentamientos Militares, Alojamiento de Chasquis y Depósitos.

Respecto a los principales centros Incas, basándonos en información etno-

histórica y arqueológica, planteamos la siguiente tipología y los niveles

jerárquicos que representan:

•El Cusco, capital del Imperio, era el paradigma de las capitales provinciales Inca. Le

corresponde el nivel más alto de la jerarquía, que denominaremos Nivel 1.

•Los siguientes niveles están integrados por las capitales provinciales, que a partir de la

información etnohistórica hemos clasificado en:

•Los "Otros Cusco", mencionados por Guaman Poma (Quito, Tomebamba, Huánuco

Pampa, Hatun Colla y Charcas) y el “Nuevo Cuzco” referido por Cieza (Inkawasi)

constituyeron el Nivel 2 de la jerarquía. Creemos que Caxas constituye también “Otro

Cusco.”

•Las “cabeceras de provincia", eran las principales capitales provinciales, represen-

tarían al Nivel 3. Cieza ([1553] 1977, 75) denomina cabeceras o cabezas de provincias

a aquellas que tenían mayor cantidad de edificaciones y depósitos, eran más elabora-

das que las de otras capitales, éstas últimas estaban bajo su jurisdicción y sus habi-

tantes acudían a tributar allí. Cieza indica que las cabeceras eran: Vilcas, Xauxa,

Bombon (Pumpu), Caxamalca, Guancabamba, Tomebamba, Latacunga, Quito, Caran-

qui, Hatuncana, Hatuncolla, Ayaviri, Chuquiabo, Chucuito y Paria.

•Las capitales provinciales que no constituyeron "cabeceras de provincia" ni “otros

Cuzco” conformaron el Nivel 4, serían los casos de Mitupampa (Mulamachay),

Aypate y Calvas.

Los niveles jerárquicos por debajo del Nivel 4 son más difíciles de ser

determinados debido a los criterios que se utilicen para definir los tipos de

asentamientos, en cada provincia Inca existía una variedad de ellos, algunos

de los cuales mantenían relaciones jerárquicas entre sí, especialmente los

situados a lo largo del Camino Inca.

66 Culture and Society in the New World

En los niveles inferiores de la jerarquía se sitúan los tambos, como Jicate

o Yanta, que además de las funciones de hospedaje cumplían tareas adminis-

trativas. Otro tipo de asentamientos, que está vinculado al mantenimiento del

orden y la seguridad en las provincias, lo constituyen los asentamientos mili-

tares como Huancacarpa, situados estratégicamente en los confines del Impe-

rio Inca o en las divisorias de las cuencas hidrográficas. Los conjuntos de

depósitos, p.e. Socchabamba, controlados por personal administrativo, con-

stituyen otro tipo, estos depósitos pudieron o no estar asociados a tambos.

Planteamientos de Humboldt Acerca de la

Arquitectura Inca

Luego de describir, comparar y analizar los asentamientos Inca en la sierra

del Ecuador y la sierra norte de Perú, Humboldt define la esencia de la Arqui-

tectura Inca: “Sencillez, simetría y solidez; he allí los tres rasgos característi-

cos que distinguen de una manera ventajosa a todos los edificios peruanos”.

Ésta es la más breve pero exacta definición que se haya planteado hasta la

actualidad, destacando la perfección técnica de las edificaciones Inca antes

de la elegancia y apreciándose la predilección de Humboldt por la Arquitec-

tura Neoclásica (Hampe 1999).

Adelantándose a su tiempo, Humboldt realizó el primer estudio de

patrones de asentamiento en América, es decir delineó las características de

la distribución de sitios contemporáneos entre sí en una región, elaborando

una jerarquía y tipología de sitios a partir de la comparación entre los “pala-

cios de los Inca”. La presencia de nueve asentamientos entre Chulucanas

(Caxas) y Huancabamba, provocó la siguiente reflexión en él:

Este gran número de edificios en una tan pequeña distancia prueba bastante

que el nombre de Palacio de los Incas es bastante vago. ¿Es posible que este

soberano haya llevado el lujo hasta este punto?. Las más grandes construc-

ciones, como las de los baños [Caxas] de Guamaní [Huancacarpa] y de Huan-

cabamba serán solamente palacios de los Incas, rodeados de otras casas en

forma de aldeas o ciudadelas; las otras construcciones dispersas, como la 1ra,

3ra, 6 – 8va. eran, según yo creo, habitaciones de grandes señores peruanos

que gobernaron estas provincias. (Humboldt and Vegas [1802] 1991, 20).

En base a los criterios de ubicación altitudinal y aglomeración de edifica-

ciones, mencionados en su diario, Humboldt establece una tipología de asen-

tamientos Inca para la sierra de Piura: palacios rodeados de ciudades,

palacios rodeados de aldeas, habitaciones dispersas y fortalezas.

Estas generalizaciones que Humboldt plantea, acerca de los asentamien-

tos Inca en la Sierra de Piura, están sustentadas en la observación in situ y

además en la comparación con otros asentamientos ubicados al norte o al sur

La Arquitectura Inca 67

de la sierra piurana y con aquellos del Viejo Mundo. Así cuando describe las

“casas” que integran el acllahuasi de Caxas (Chulucanas), prefiere utilizar el

término habitaciones, a semejanza de las de Herculano (Humboldt 1968,

251). También cuando describe el Templo del Sol de Caxas, lo compara con

el palacio de Sanssouci (Humboldt and Vegas [1802] 1991, 21).

El aporte de Humboldt no se limita a la descripción de asentamientos, que

ya de por sí es un gran aporte pues muchos de ellos no se conservan hasta la

actualidad y su registro es el único que tenemos, sino que intenta establecer la

función que tuvieron dichas edificaciones. Así luego de describir el ushnu de

Caxas, reflexiona: “Para una fortaleza es bastante pequeña, sobre todo en el

interior. ¿Era un adoratorio?” (op. cit. p. 23). De este modo se aproxima a la

función que el estado actual de conocimientos le asigna a dicha edificación

(Hyslop 1990).

Humboldt destaca también la homogeneidad de los asentamientos Inca

que registró durante su exploración:

Al examinar atentamente cualquier edificio del tiempo de los incas, se

observa el mismo tipo en todos los otros que se hallan en las alturas de los

Andes sobre una extensión de 7,000 Kms., desde mil a cuatro mil metros de

altura sobre el nivel del mar. Se podría decir que un solo arquitecto ha con-

struido tan gran número de monumentos. (Nuñez and Peterson 1971, 169).

Tras describir Xicate (Tambo de Jicate) refiere que “...La construcción es

tan uniforme en las casas que uno se repite describiéndolas” (Humboldt and

Vegas [1802] 1991, 24).

El proceso de expansión de los Incas, desde el Cuzco hacia el Norte tam-

bién es planteado por Humboldt, quien propone lo siguiente: “Dad una lista

de las ruinas de los palacios de los Incas con su elevación en toesas [1 toesa =

2 m.] y formad una carta geográfica de su posición, lo que dará muchas luces

sobre la marcha de la conquista de los Incas” (op. cit. pp. 19–20). Luego de

analizar las evidencias del gobierno y administración de los Incas en los

Andes, ante quienes tuvo una posición crítica, concluye que:

El Inga no vino sino descendiendo del Cuzco para la conquista de Quito, sigu-

iendo la ruta de Cajamarca a Huambos, en el valle del Río Chotano siguió

este río hasta su embocadura en el Chamaya, de allí remontó por Pomahuaca

a Zaulaca, Huancabamba, Chulucanas, al Cerro al este de Olleros, de Loja al

Azuay. Esta ruta está trazada todavía por las ruinas del camino y de los pala-

cios del Inca (op. cit. p. 44).

En esencia los planteamientos de Humboldt acerca de la Arquitectura

Inca, son confirmados por nuestras recientes investigaciones arqueológicas.

Por el registro, análisis y sus planteamientos acerca de los asentamientos Inca

en la Sierra de Piura, Humboldt debería ser considerado como el fundador de

la Arqueología científica en América, y la revaloración de los sitios Inca que

68 Culture and Society in the New World

él observó en 1802 permitiría la creación de La Ruta de Humboldt y que

podamos contemplarlos unos siglos más.

Bibliography

Astuhuamán Gonzáles, César W.. 1998. Asentamientos Inca en la Sierra de

Piura. Lima: Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. E.A.P. de

Arqueología.

Astuhuamán Gonzáles, César W., 1999. Humboldt y la Arquitectura Inca.

Runamanta; Revista de Antropología de la Universidad Nacional Feder-

ico Villarreal 1: 131-138.

Cieza de León, Pedro. [1550] 1973. La Crónica del Perú. Lima: Ediciones

PEISA.

Cieza de León, Pedro. [1553] 1977. El Señorío de los Incas. Lima: Editorial

Universo.

Ette, Ottmar. 1999. “Para mayor enojo de nuestros guías indios”; Alexander

von Humboldt, Claude Lévi-Strauss y el precio de la conquista científica

[online]. Potsdam [cited 2 February 1999]. Available from World Wide

Web (http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/romanistik/humboldt/frames/inh53).

Guaman Poma de Ayala, Felipe, and John Murra, Rolena Adorno, eds.

[1606] 1987. Nueva crónica y buen gobierno. Madrid: Historia 16.

Hampe Martinez, Teodoro, 1999. El virreinato del Perú en los ojos de Hum-

boldt (1802): una visión crítica de la realidad social. Boletín del Hum-

boldt Club del Perú 1: 61 – 79.

Hocquenghem, Anne Marie, 1994. Los españoles en los caminos del

Extremo Norte del Perú en 1532. Boletín del Instituto Francés de Estu-

dios Andinos 23 (1): 1-67.

Humboldt, Alexander von. 1968. Sitios de las cordilleras y monumentos de

los pueblos indígenas de América. Buenos Aires: Solar Hachette.

Humboldt, Alexander von, and Manuel Vegas Velez, ed. [1802] 1991. Hum-

boldt en el Perú; Diario de Alejandro de Humboldt durante su perma-

nencia en el Perú (agosto a diciembre de 1802). Piura: CIPCA.

Hyslop, John. 1990. Inka settlement planning. Austin: University of Texas

Press.

Labastida, Jaime. 1999. Alejandro de Humboldt y la Antropología [online].

Potsdam [cited 2 February 1999]. Available from World Wide Web

(http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/romanistik/humboldt/frames/inh53).

Montufar, Carlos, 1889. Biaje de Quito a Lima de Carlos Montufar con el

Baron de Humboldt y don Alexandro Bompland. Boletín de la Sociedad

Geográfica de Madrid 25: 1-19.

Moseley, Michael Edward. 1993. The Incas and their ancestors: The Archae-

ology of Peru. London: Thames and Hudson.

Nuñez, Estuardo, and Georg G. Petersen, eds. 1971. El Perú en la obra de

Alejandro de Humboldt. Lima: Librería Studium.

Núñez, Estuardo and Georg Petersen, eds. 2002. Alexander von Humboldt

en el Perú. Diario de viaje y otros escritos. Lima: Banco Central de

Reserva del Perú/Goethe Institut Inter Nationes.

Zevallos Ortiz, Raúl, 2003. Ayabaca y la Sierra de Piura en los ojos de Hum-

boldt. Comunidad;Tierra-Hombre-Identidad 5.

CHAPTER 7 Arrogance and squalor?

Lima’s Elite

Paul Rizo-Patrón

Peru has always attracted the curiosity of foreigners. And it could not be oth-

erwise, given its remoteness from the Old World and the news that it was the

cradle of exotic and refined civilizations that flourished autonomously, with

no apparent contact with those Europeans had known. The fame of the riches

that filled Europe after Peru’s discovery and conquest in the sixteenth century

had certainly awakened an even greater curiosity. The booty of Inca Atahua-

lpa, the intricate pre-Hispanic state system, the splendor of its constructions,

and the rich gold and silver mines that began to be exploited soon after the

arrival of the Spaniards contributed towards building the reputation of a

country of inexhaustible wealth. That is when the expression “vale un Peru”

(namely, “it is worth a Peru”) was coined to refer to something extremely

valuable or costly. However, the magnetism that it exerted on foreign schol-

ars was attributed not only to its precious metals or the curiosities of its his-

tory, but also to the variety of its flora and fauna, to its diverse climates and

starkly contrasting geography, and to the native populations of numerous lat-

itudes – almost an absolute novelty for the few travelers who began to arrive

in the country from the sixteenth until the nineteenth century. In sum, it was a

fascinating subject of study for the most diversified interests and disciplines.

And as Charles Minguet points out, some had perhaps an excessive expecta-

tion as to what they were to find in many aspects of our reality.1

There were travelers who combined their ethnographic, zoological, botan-

ical, climatologic, mineralogical and orographic interests with secret mis-

sions to obtain information on the existing political, social and economic

order. This was the case of some of the eighteenth-century French and Span-

ish expeditionaries such as Frézier, Le Bachelier, La Condamine and – along

1. See Minguet, Charles.

Alejandro de Humboldt. Cartas americanas

. Caracas, Biblioteca

Ayacucho, 1980.

70 Culture and Society in the New World

with the last mentioned – the Spaniards Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa.

This was also very likely the case of some of the travelers who arrived at the

beginning of the nineteenth century not only from France, but also from

England, the United States, Germany, and even Russia.2

A True Explorer

The scientific interest of Baron Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) was

clearly genuine. Few visitors had his intelligence and exceptional education.

His overwhelming curiosity was also uncommon. As a product of the ratio-

nalism of the Age of Enlightenment, he had created a deep impression on the

great Goethe, who said in a letter to his friend Eckermann, cited by Teodoro

Hampe, “his knowledge and living wisdom are unequaled.” However, his

knowledge was fundamentally of a scientific nature, derived from the obser-

vation of natural phenomena, and the rigorous analysis and interpretation of

the experience accumulated by him and by the great scholars of Western Civ-

ilization who preceded him.3

Humboldt’s journey to Spanish America, as well as the publication of

these observations in several detailed works and the compilation of the

majority of his treatises in 30 volumes entitled (in French) Voyage aux

régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802,

1803 et 1804, par Alexander de Humboldt et Aimé Bonpland are a conse-

quence of that same curiosity. This rigorous work established his reputation

as one of the great European scientists of his time. Oddly enough, the journey

that as we know lasted from 1799 to 1804 was begun in the frigate Pizarro, a

name that should have perhaps motivated a more prolonged stay and further

studies than the circumstances (or Humboldt’s own immediate purposes)

allowed him to make in the lands discovered by the famed Spanish conquis-

tador.4

Humboldt obtained the necessary permission from the indolent King

Charles (Carlos) IV, who undoubtedly was more concerned with the events

that were throwing Europe into confusion since the French Revolution than

with the eagerness of this young German researcher, who had been preceded

2. For the voyagers who traveled to Peru from the XVI through the XX centuries see

Núñez, Estuardo.

Viajes y viajeros extranjeros por el Perú

. Lima, P.L. Villanueva, 1989.

3. Cited by Hampe Martinez, Teodoro in “Humboldt y sus contactos latinoamericanos

durante el proceso de la Independencia”. Presentation in the Congress “Humboldt y la

América Ilustrada”. Lima, Instituto Riva Agüero-Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú,

November of 2002. Hampe Martínez is also the author of “El virreinato del Perú en los ojos

de Humboldt (1802): Una visión crítica de la realidad social,” in

Iberoamerikanisches

Archiv. Zeitschrift für Sozialwissenschaft und Geschichte

, vol. 26, Nº 1-2. Berlin, 2000, pp.

191-208.

4. Humboldt, Alexander von.

Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent fait

en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 et 1804, par Alexander de Humboldt et Aimé Bonpland.

parts, 30 volumes. Paris, 1807-1839.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 71

by many others in his projected voyage to the Spanish King’s domains. He

was going to be accompanied by his friend Aimé Bonpland, a French physi-

cian and botanist, who would frequently act as the draftsman of the expedi-

tion. Although his basic concern was zoology, geology, climatology,

astronomy and botany, both researchers could not but be impressed by the

ethnological and social reality of the marginalized and oppressed groups, and

also by the growing tension felt everywhere. This was true with respect to

both the European and the mixed or indigenous population due to the imposi-

tions of the colonial system, which apparently had become more rigid as a

consequence of Bourbon reformism.5

It is not my intent here to discuss the experiences of these scientists as

they traveled through Havana, Caracas, Santa Fe, Popayán, Quito or Mexico,

with the exception of references made by Humboldt himself to compare them

with the social, economic and political reality of Peru, and often to the latter’s

disadvantage. One thing is certain: he scarcely dedicated four months to this

country and somewhat more than two to Lima, the capital of the viceroyalty.

Just considering the time he later spent in Mexico, the comparison is unfavor-

able to Peru. Here, Humboldt and Bonpland only traveled along part of the

coast, that is, from the north to the center, and also only through a portion of

the highlands – in the north – barely touching the banks of the Marañón river

and the mountain borderland. They did not travel along the central highlands,

or the southern coast, or through the Andean south (including Arequipa,

Cuzco and Puno). What most influenced Humboldt’s perception of the

divorce between the capital and the interior of Peru was not only the geo-

graphical location of Lima on the other side of the Andes, facing the Pacific,

or the way of life of its inhabitants, but, I would venture to affirm, the restric-

tive and relatively limited time he spent in Peru.6

It is an undisputed fact that the location of the other capitals visited by

Humboldt and Bonpland, in relation to the size of their respective countries,

allowed them to be in greater contact with their entire territories. In the case

of Mexico, the capital of New Spain occupied a central position in that vice-

royalty, as had the old Tenochtitlán, the center of Aztec power at the arrival

of the Spaniards. Not having visited Cuzco and other regions of the interior

of Peru, Humboldt therefore could only have a biased and incomplete vision

of the Peruvian geography and other physical realities, and of the character of

Ibid

. For Spanish Bourbon Reformism see Fisher, John R.

Government and Society in

Colonial Peru. The Intendant System 1784-1814

. London, Athlone Press, 1970; Fisher,

John R., Allan J. Kuethe and Anthony McFarlane.

Reform and Insurrection in Bourbon New

Granada and Peru

. Baton Rouge, Luisiana State University Press, 1990; and O´Phelan

Godoy, Scarlett

Un siglo de rebeliones anticoloniales: Perú y Bolivia 1700-1783

. Cuzco,

Centro de Estudios Rurales Andinos “Bartolomé de las Casas”, 1988 (among the best

reputed treatises on the subject).

6. Núñez, Estuardo y Georg Petersen.

Alexander von Humboldt en el Perú. Diario de viaje

y otros escritos

. Lima, Fondo Editorial del Banco Central de Reserva del Perú, 2002.

72 Culture and Society in the New World

its inhabitants and the relation of Lima’s population (which I shall call the

“Limeneans”) with the viceroyalty in general.7

Humboldt’s Informers in the ‘City of the Kings’

Let us now see what types of inhabitants of Lima did Humboldt meet that

contributed directly to his perception of the Peruvian capital’s reality. Pro-

vided with the recommendations given to him by the Viceroy of Nueva Gran-

ada, don Pedro Mendinueta, and by the Governor of Jaén de Bracamoros, the

cultivated don Ignacio Checa y Barba (to whom Humboldt had written a let-

ter on January 18, 1803, containing some of his most acute and acid expres-

sions about Lima), the German researcher, and Bonpland as well as the Quito

aristocrat Carlos Montúfar who was accompanying them, were able to meet

some of the most important figures of Lima, the City of the Kings.8

High government officials

Most prominent among them was, without a doubt, the Viceroy Gabriel de

Avilés y del Fierro, a peninsular-born Spaniard (as was the norm for all the

viceroys of Peru). He was the second son of the first Marquis of Avilés, and

like his father, had pursued a military career. Soon after arriving in Peru early

in 1780, as a cavalry colonel, to help organize the disciplined militias of the

Viceroyalty, he participated in the expedition to repress the Túpac Amaru

movement in the Cuzco region and the Altiplano. Upon his promotion to

brigadier, he was appointed general sub-inspector of the vice-regal troops and

governor of the city and prison of Callao. Later when promoted to field mar-

shal, and having inherited the title of Marquis, he was made Captain General

of the Kingdom of Chile, and also President of the Royal Academy of Santi-

ago (taking the place of Ambrosio O'Higgins, Marquis of Osorno that had

come to Peru as Viceroy in 1796). In 1799, he became Viceroy of Río de la

Plata (or Buenos Aires) until his appointment as Viceroy of Peru at the death

of 0’Higgins. He arrived at the Peruvian capital on November 6, 1801.9

Avilés had, in fact, become the most important authority of the country

only eight months before the arrival of Humboldt in Peru. Despite having

married the Peruvian-born doña Mercedes del Risco y Ciudad, widow in first

marriage of the Marquis of Santa Rosa, his was the view of a peninsular

7. Ibid.

8. Ibid., especially pp. 198-200 (for Humboldt´s letter to the Viceroy of Nueva Granada,

don Pedro de Mendinueta, on November 7 of 1802) and pp. 214-215 (for Humboldt´s letter

to don Ignacio Checa y Barba, Governor of Jaén de Bracamoros, on January 18 of 1803).

Most of Humboldt´s acquaintances in Lima are mentioned by Miro-Quesada Sosa, Aurelio.

“Amistades de Humboldt en Lima” in

Veinte temas peruanos

, pp. 251-268. Lima, P.L.

Villanueva, 1993.

9. Milla Batres, Carlos (ed.).

Diccionario Histórico y Biográfico del Perú. Siglos XV-XX

Vol. I (A-B), pp. 321-322. Lima, Editorial Milla Batres, 1986.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 73

Spanish officer. Due to his position and the participation he had had in the

repression of the great Andean rebellion of the 1780s he had little tolerance

towards the aspirations and idiosyncrasies of the inhabitants under his rule. If

Humboldt heard anything from the Viceroy about the nature of Peruvians in

their mixed composition, it must not have been a favorable observation –

although, I must admit, this is a speculative remark that I relate directly to the

investiture of Avilés and the harshness he showed throughout all his tenure.10

The next character in rank that Humboldt and Bonpland met while in Peru

was don Manuel Antonio de Arredondo y Pelegrín, Marquis of San Juan

Nepomuceno and Knight of the Order of Charles III. Of Spanish origin like

Avilés – from Asturias in this case – he also participated in the repression of

the southern Andean uprising, and took charge of the process against Túpac

Amaru’s relatives. Arredondo was made Regent of the Royal Audiencia of

Lima (highest court of justice) since 1786, and was designated honorary Min-

ister of the Council of Indies in 1794. He became President of the Audiencia

and provisional Commander of the Viceroyalty from March to November

1801, in the period in between the death of O’Higgins and the arrival of

Avilés, who was to become Viceroy. As well as the latter, Arredondo took no

notice of the formal prohibitions, marrying a Peruvian-born lady. In his case,

it was a recurrence, as he had earlier married doña Juana Josefa de Herce y

Dulce¸ a lady form Ayacucho, widow of the second Marquis of Torre Her-

mosa, who had made her will in Cañete in 1779. He inherited from her large

landed estates (among them, the haciendas of Cuiva, Montalbán and Ocucaje,

South of Lima) that eventually came into the possession of a nephew, as he

had no children. In 1804, he applied for an authorization to marry another

Peruvian-born lady, doña Juana de Micheo y Jiménez de Lobatón (daughter

of a Basque immigrant that had been a Knight of Santiago, she was related to

the most distinguished local aristocracy and was the widow of the Regent of

the Audiencia of Chile, don José de Rezabal y Ugarte), who died late that

year before Arredondo had been granted the marriage license.11

Other noblemen

Humboldt met and was in contact with some other titled persons in Lima.

The first was his host, the Baron Timoteo (some called him Thaddeus) de

Nordenflycht¸ who was almost a fellow countryman, and perhaps his best

source of information in town, and who also had his own scientific interests.

According to some, he was born in Latvia, and to others, in Sweden. He stud-

ied in Freiburg and arrived in Peru in 1790 to install a chemical laboratory in

Lima, and contribute with his knowledge to reinvigorate the mining activity

10. Ibid.

11. Lohmann Villena, Guillermo.

Los Ministros de la Audiencia de Lima (1700-1821)

Sevilla, 1974, pp. 6-8.

74 Culture and Society in the New World

of the viceroyalty. Notwithstanding his little success in this field, he was a

very respected man in the country (“an educated and exceptional character,”

according to Humboldt himself).12 He married doña Josefa Cortés y Azúa,

born in Chile and sister of the naval officer don Eugenio Cortés y Azúa, heir

of the Marquisate of La Cañada Hermosa de San Bartolomé. Apparently,

Nordenflycht died in Madrid, in 1815, having left succession in Peru.13

Another nobleman with whom Humboldt was in contact was the Marquis

of Medina, don Joaquín Valcarce, a peninsular-born Spaniard who had served

in the Chilean army and in the Arauco frontier before coming to Peru in times

of the Viceroy Amat. After becoming major sergeant of the disciplined regi-

ment of dragons of Lima, he marched on Cuzco in 1780 with Avilés to fight

against Túpac Amaru at the command of 2,310 men who formed the columns

that encircled the rebellious Indian chief in Tungasuca and Sangarara. He was

promoted to brigadier of the army in 1794, when he was given the title of

Marquis of Medina. His last promotion was to the position of governor and

president of the Audiencia of Chile, which he did not assume due to the pre-

vailing climate of separatist unrest in the Chilean territory after 1810. He

married a Peruvian-born lady, doña Josefa Remírez de Laredo y Encalada, a

sister of the Count of San Javier and Casa Laredo, but had no descendants.14

Aside from the aforementioned European holders of nobility titles, there

is no question that through them, and in an apparently more indirect manner,

the German researcher met the Marquis of Montemira, don Pedro José de

Zárate y Navia Bolaños, also Count of Valle Oselle and Knight of the Order

of Santiago. He was one of the Peruvian-born nobles that enjoyed great pres-

tige because of his ascendancy, and the position and functions he held under

the Spanish system (he was Colonel of the regiment under which Valcarce

served during the repression of the Túpac Amaru movement), and because of

his marriage to doña Carmen Manrique de Lara y Carrillo de Albornoz, a

daughter of the Marquises of Lara. However, Montemira´s was by no means

one of Lima´s most important fortunes.15

Apparently, Humboldt also met the famous don José Baquíjano y Carrillo

de Córdoba, Count of Vistaflorida, a Limenean who had just arrived from

Spain and had been entrusted with the criminal jurisdiction of the Audiencia

12. See Milla Batres, Carlos (ed.).

Diccionario Histórico Biográfico del Perú. Siglos XV-

. Vol. VI (M-O), pp. 304-305. Lima, Editorial Milla Batres, 1986.

13. Rizo-Patron Boylan, Paul.

Linaje, dote y poder. La nobleza de Lima de 1700 a 1850

Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2000. The family connection with the Mar-

quises de la Cañada Hermosa de San Bartolomé is mentioned in table 16 and in p. 255.

14. Miro-Quesada Sosa, Aurelio, op. cit., pp. 260-261. Valcarce´s biography can be found

in Mendiburu, Manuel de.

Diccionario Histórico Biográfico del Perú

. Vol. 11, Lima, I.E.

Palacios, 1931; pp. 150-151.

15. Montemira and his family are included in Rosas Siles, Alberto. “La nobleza titulada

del Virreinato del Perú”, in

Revista del Instituto Peruano de Investigaciones Genealógicas

Vol. 21. Lima, 1995, pp. 171-173.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 75

of Lima on July 1, 1802. Although at a time he had been one of the wealthiest

men of the viceroyalty, both he and the Marquis of Montealegre de Aulestia

(don José Mariano Sánchez Boquete y Román de Aulestia) were known for

having dilapidated their respective fortunes in their passion for gambling.

Humboldt might have met Sánchez Boquete through his brother in law, the

peninsular José de la Riva Agüero y Basso della Rovere, administrator of the

tobacco revenues, and got from him and Baquíjano the unfavorable impres-

sion caused by their gambling vice.16

Another compulsive gambler was presumably the Biscayan Caballero

don Gabino Gaínza, a Knight of the Order of San Juan, and also a frequent

acquaintance of the German scholar. It seems he married in Guayaquil doña

Gregoria Rocafuerte (a sister of Vicente Rocafuerte, who later became Presi-

dent of Ecuador). Gaínza was progressively promoted in the military ranks

until Abascal entrusted him with a mission to Chile, for which “he did not

have the necessary intelligence.”17 His proclivity to be extremely conciliating

enraged the Viceroy, who had him brought back to Lima under arrest to face

trial. Upon being released by a benevolent court in 1816, he returned to Spain

and was finally appointed senior Political Chief in Guatemala in 1820. The

German scientist makes mention of the Administrator of the Mining Court,

the Spaniard don Isidro de Abarca y Gutiérrez Cossio, who at the end of the

eighteenth century was the Count (consort) of San Isidro (husband of his

Limenean relative doña Rosa Gutiérrez Cossio y Fernández de Celis). How-

ever, Abarca made his will in 1791, so we do know for sure whether he was

still alive in 1802 and was the same administrator that Humboldt met that

year.18

Intellectuals and men of distinction

Among the people indirectly related to nobility titles whom Humboldt seems

to have met was Manuel del Villar Martínez. He was a Madrid-born Knight

of Charles III, who married doña Joaquina de Salazar y Gabiño, sister of the

Countess of Monteblanco and Montemar.19 Another acquaintance was José

Gregorio Paredes (1778-1839) considered “one of Peru´s men of literature

who deserve to be remembered for their integrity and moderation.” Born in

Lima, he was the son of don Gregorio Andrés de Paredes y Geldres de

Molleda, who in turn was brother and son of two of the Marquises of Salinas.

16. Puente Brunke, José de la.

José Baquíjano y Carrillo

. Colección Forjadores del Perú.

Vol.12. Lima, Editorial Brasa, 1995. Humboldt´s acquaintance with de la Riva is men-

tioned by Núñez in Núñez, Estuardo and Georg Petersen,

op.cit

., p. 251.

17. For Gabino Gaínza´s biography see Mendiburu, Manuel, op. cit., Vol. 5, pp. 316-321.

18. The Counts of San Isidro are treated by Rosas Siles, Alberto, op. cit., pp. 451-456.

19. Swayne Y Mendoza, Guillermo.

Mis Antepasados

. Lima, Tipografía Peruana S.A.,

1951, p. 539-540 (for the marriage of Manuel del Villar to doña Joaquina de Salazar y

Gabiño, third daughter of the first Count of Monteblanco, and younger sister of the second

Countess, who was the consort of the sixth Count of Montemar).

76 Culture and Society in the New World

José Gregorio Paredes was also a mathematician and physician, and later, a

sympathizer with the cause of Independence. During the Republic he

assumed responsibilities of great importance until his death after the fall of

the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation.20 Another gentleman with aristocratic

connections was the functionary in charge of weighing silver at the Lima

Mint, don Santiago de Urquizu, who Aurelio Miró Quesada identifies as the

“Urquiza” mentioned by Humboldt. He was a mathematician and university

examiner alongside José Gregorio Paredes. Don Santiago – also according to

the same source – would have been a son of the Judge don Gaspar de Urquizo

Ibañez, cousin of the Marquises of Corpa.21

Hipólito Unanue (1755-1833) was the most prominent among the intel-

lectuals of Lima that Humboldt visited and consulted. Of middle class origin,

Unanue was born in Arica, and was a graduate in medicine at the University

of San Marcos. He was the tutor of the son of Agustín de Landaburu, builder

and manager of Lima’s bull ring, and eventually inherited the properties of

his ward. In 1792, Unanue succeeded in founding the anatomic amphitheater,

and later, at his request, the royal school of medicine of San Fernando was

created in 1808. He contributed to the organization of the Sociedad de

Amantes del País (a patriotic circle founded in 1790), which participated in

the publishing and temporary success of the Mercurio Peruano.22 Another of

Humboldt’s acquaintances was Juan José de Aguirre, a Limenean who

between 1786 and 1806 was the general physician of Peru, later succeeded by

Unanue. Others were the Peruvian-born José Manuel Dávila (it is not clear

from the study of Miró-Quesada whether he refers to the Limenean physician

José Manuel Dávalos, or to the also Limenean physician José María Dávila)

and Miguel Tafur, an examining judge of the Medical School from 1801 to

1804 and later General Physician of the army and congressman before his

death in 1825. Also among that group of intellectuals was the Spaniard Juan

Tafalla, a botanist of the King who had arrived in Lima to found the botanic

garden of the city.23

20. Mendiburu, Manuel, op. cit., Vol. 8, p. 342, who includes the remark on Paredes´

“integrity and moderation”.

21. Miró-Quesada Sosa, Aurelio, op. cit., pp. 262-265. For the Judge Gaspar de Urquizu,

see Lohmann Villena, Guillermo, op. cit. p. 137. For the Marquises de Corpa and their con-

nections, see Rizo-Patrón Boylan, Paul. op. cit., pp. 155-261.

22. Miró-Quesada Sosa, Aurelio, op. cit., pp. 261-262. The

Sociedad de Amantes del País

has been studied by Walker, Charles. “The Patriotic Society,” in

The Americas

, 55:2, Octo-

ber 1998, pp. 287-290.

23. All of these names are given by Miró-Quesada Sosa, Aurelio. op. cit., p. 261. Most of

their biographies can be found in Mendiburu, Manuel de,

op. cit

.: for Aguirre, see Vol. 1, p.

184; for Tafur, Vol. 10, p. 276; and for Tafalla, also Vol. 10, p. 276.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 77

Naval and other officers

Humboldt met several naval officers in Lima and Callao. In the first place,

Tomás de Ugarte y Liaño, a Spaniard who arrived as brigadier of the Royal

Navy (1799) to design the ports of the South Sea, from Chiloé to the north

coast of the Province of Veraguas. He was in charge of the creation of the war

and navy audit, the majority of department orders, secretariats, board of naval

stations, etc., throughout all that extension of the coast. In 1802, he was the

first commander of the naval station of Callao, and in 1803, he became chief

of the Spanish naval fleet. He returned to Spain the following year. Ugarte

was accompanied in his functions by the Spaniards José Ignacio de Col-

menares and Antonio Cuartara, who also came into contact with Humboldt,

as well as the naval lieutenant José de Moraleda, who had arrived with those

Spanish naval officers from Cadiz in 1801. Moraleda was later appointed

Director of the Nautical School, participating some time later in the correc-

tion of the maps of several Peruvian highland provinces (Huamalíes, Tarma,

Jauja, Canta, Huarochirí and Chancay). Other acquaintances made by Hum-

boldt include Pedro Dionisio de Gálvez, a senior accountant of the Audit

Office, and businessmen such as Matías Larreta, “an able and educated”

member of the Sociedad de Amantes del Pais, both of whom were Span-

iards.24

Some of the clergymen seen by Humboldt

The German explorer came into almost immediate contact with several mem-

bers of religious orders, because of their intellectual renown and local influ-

ence. The most important was the priest of the order of the Jerónimos, don

Diego Cisneros, who before coming to Peru around 1778 had been confessor

to doña María Luisa de Parma, then Princess of Asturias (later Queen consort

to King Charles IV of Spain). He built a house on Estanco Viejo Street, later

called Padre Jerónimo. According to Mendiburu he had a bookshop on Pozu-

elo Street. He was advisor to the Viceroy Teodoro de Croix and used his

influence to have Toribio Rodríguez de Mendoza appointed Rector of the San

Carlos School. As honorary member of the Sociedad de Amantes del País, he

was associated with the above-mentioned José Baquíjano and Hipólito

Unánue, as well as with José María Egaña, the Public Prosecutor José de

Arriz y Uceda, and others, all of whom Humboldt most likely met. Cisneros

died in 1812, when Abascal was Viceroy of Peru.25 Other clergymen that the

German expeditionary visited were father Francisco Romero, a Spanish

24. Núñez, Estuardo y Georg Petersen, op. cit., pp. 242-243. Moraleda has deserved a

biographical entry in Mendiburu, Manuel de, op. cit., Vol. 8, p. 6, as well as Larreta, in Vol.

6, p. 409.

25. For Cisneros, see Mendiburu, Manuel de, op. cit., Vol. 4, pp. 159-166. José Fernando

de Abascal y Sousa was Viceroy of Peru from 1806 to 1816.

78 Culture and Society in the New World

priest of the order of the Agonizers, who held the prime mathematics chair

during those years, and was also a distinguished cosmographer; and father

Narciso Girbal y Barceló, a Gerona-born priest of the Santa Rosa de Ocopa

Propaganda Fide School, and parish priest of Cumbaza. He was known for

his outstanding missionary zeal and his journeys through the Marañón and

Ucayali rivers, where he came into contact with several ethnic groups in the

jungle. He returned to Spain, where he died in 1827.26

Lack of concern in the fate of fellowmen? Absence of

fortunes?

With the possible omission of a few others, the above mentioned were the

persons who opened possibilities for Humboldt and Bonpland in the local

society, but at the same time they may have instilled their own prejudices in

them. Without counting the consorts and in-law relations, the above-men-

tioned individuals include 18 Europeans and 8 or 9 Peruvian-born persons. It

is evident that such Europeans would have felt closer to London than to the

interior of the country – in Humboldt's own words, “Lima is more separate

from Peru than from London.”27 It is also understandable that given the geo-

graphic location of the City of the Kings, many local intellectuals had the

same feeling, considering that the sources of knowledge were mostly in

books coming from Europe rather than from such rugged and forbidding ter-

ritory as that of Peru. If Humboldt and his companions had traveled along the

center and south of the country, especially Cuzco, they might have had an

entirely different impression.

With respect to the state of the local fortunes, which in the German scien-

tist’s view were depressed as compared with those in Cuba, Venezuela, and

especially Mexico (“only in Mexico can we speak of millionaires”), it is true

– as is maintained by many – that the viceroyalty of Peru was no longer

enjoying its former prosperity, when most of the precious metal sent to

Europe came from its territories, and when it had a monopoly control over

the Spanish South America. The administrative space had been cut down,

first in 1739, creating the viceroyalty of Nueva Granada, and then in 1776,

creating the viceroyalty of Río de la Plata. New ports started to compete with

the importance of Callao and Lima. Nevertheless, it is also true, that the mer-

chants of Lima had been able to adapt themselves to the new circumstances,

and overcome such drawbacks, as Marcel Haitin, Alberto Flores-Galindo and

26. These names are given by Núñez in Núñez, Estuardo and Georg Petersen, op. cit., pp.

250-252. Mendiburu also offers biographical notes on Romero (Vol. 9, p. 476) and Girbal

(Vol.6, pp. 49-53).

27. This lapidating expression, written by Humboldt in a letter to don Ignacio Checa, the

Governor of Jaén de Bracamoros, can be found in Núñez, Estuardo and Georg Petersen, op.

cit., p. 215.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 79

Cristina Mazzeo indicate.28 Today we have evidence of some millionaire for-

tunes in Peru at the end of the eighteenth century up to 1820 decade. The

Marquises de Corpa of the de la Puente family and their heirs, the Sancho-

Dávilas, the Carrillo de Albornoz, and possibly the Lavalles were owners of

considerable assets and credits. The merchants Abadía and Arizmendi were

also reputed millionaires,29 while Felipe Urbano de Colmenares, Marquis of

Zelada de la Fuente, the Tagle and the Ortiz de Foronda families, and some

others, had properties worth several hundred thousand (if not over a million)

pesos.30

In an article in which I try to offer an image somewhat different from the

presumed poverty of the Peruvians at the end of the vice-regal period, my

attention is directed to the extensive entail system that affected Peruvian

landed estates and large farms, especially the ones in the surroundings of

Lima, which has blurred the appraisal of many fortunes. This is not only an

expression of lack of commercial or financial dynamism, but also of deep-

rooted customs of aristocratic origin, just as it may be said today without any

doubt that many more holders of nobility titles and of noble knighthood

orders existed in Peru than in other parts of the Spanish empire (except for

peninsular Spain itself). The stagnation or immobility of many fortunes does

not mean that they did not exist. I must admit, however, that the lack of

liquidity resulting from the well-rooted entail system might have contributed

to making fortunes less apparent than in other places. In this sense, Humboldt

may have been right.31

Final balance

The impression I get from the circle of acquaintances that Humboldt had in

Lima – aside from officers of the stature of Avilés or Arredondo (both penin-

sular-born Spaniards) or aristocrats, such as Valcarce (the Marquis de

Medina) and the Peruvian-born Zárate (Marquis de Montemira) and Baquí-

jano (Count of Vistaflorida) – is that the German scientist did not have suffi-

28. See Haitin, Marcel.

Late Colonial Lima. Economy and Society in an Era of Reforms

and Revolution.

Berkeley, University of California, 1983; Flores Galindo, Alberto.

Aristocracia y Plebe. Lima, 1760-1830”

. Lima, Mosca Azul, 1984; and Mazzeo, Cristina

Ana

. El comercio libre en el Perú. Las estrategias de un comerciante criollo: don José

Antonio de Lavalle y Cortés, 1777-1815

. Lima, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú,

1994.

29. The Marquises de Corpa and the Sancho-Dávilas are included in Rizo-Patron Boylan,

Paul, op. cit., pp. 155-261, while the Carrillo de Albornoz family is in pp. 76-78. The

Lavalles, as well as the merchants Abadía and Arizmendi, are mentioned as millionaires by

Anna, Timothy E.

The Fall of the Royal Government in Peru

. Lincoln, Nebraska, University

of Nebraska, 1979; p. 10.

30. For the Colmenares, Tagle and Ortiz de Foronda Rizo-Patron Boylan, Paul. “La aris-

tocracia al final de una era. Precisiones conceptuales y estimaciones patrimoniales”, in

Histórica

, Vol. XXII, # 2, 1998, pp. 289-308.

31. Ibid.

80 Culture and Society in the New World

cient contacts with most of the major nobles or merchants of the city. Paredes

and Urquizu, outstanding intellectuals, belonged to secondary and impover-

ished branches of noble lineages. Perhaps, they voiced their resentment to

Humboldt, in regards to the succession laws and customs that had relegated

their respective branches. The German scientist may have assumed that their

cases reflected a more general reality, supposition that may have contributed

to his affirmation about family disputes.

In his accounts about Lima, we only find mention of three or four titles

out of nearly 60 that existed in the viceroyalty at the end of the Spanish

domain.32 When Humboldt visited Peru between August and December 1802,

many of the titled nobles could have been at their landed estates in the valleys

around Lima (e.g. the Sancho-Dávilas, in Carabayllo; or the Carrillo de

Albornoz, in Chincha) or in the interior of the country. Otherwise, they were

simply living “indoors” – as many high-class Limeneans still do today, in the

sense of only admitting into their circle whom they deem best. Only then do

they allow foreigners to perceive a refined and sometimes lavish reality, not

visible to those just passing by (or stopping for a short time) in a city so full

of contrasts like Lima.

In the same way, it is possible that the sentiment referred by Humboldt as

“cold patriotism” could not be expressed otherwise, if – as has been seen- the

main persons he met were technically “foreigners” (Europeans or peninsular

Spaniards). On the other hand, even the members of the Sociedad de Amantes

del Pais, such as Unanue or José de Arriz, and young patriots, like José Gre-

gorio Paredes, could not demonstrate any form of patriotism that might be

“scented” as separatist or revolutionary at the very core of the vice-regal

power and under the authoritarian rule of Viceroy de Avilés, who not long

before had been a fierce repressor of the Túpac Amaru movement. The mere

fact of being members of circles like the Sociedad de Amantes del País

speaks for their “patriotism,” reason why Humboldt´s statements denying

such a possibility seem prejudicial and contradictory.33

No matter how brilliant the observations of the German scientist in the

field of natural phenomena, it seems evident that, despite the elements of

truth they contained, his impressions on the human and social field were

incomplete and tainted with subjectivity. On one hand, we have to consider a

natural disenchantment regarding the legendary versions of Peru’s riches and

splendor, so widespread in Europe. Reality was unable to compete with such

fables. The same can be said of other travelers who visited Lima a few years

32. For nobility titles in Peru, see Rosas Siles, Alberto, op. cit.; Atienza, Julio de.

Títulos

nobiliarios hispanoamericanos

; Madrid, Aguilar, 1947; and Rizo-Patron Boylan, Paul.

Linaje, dote y poder...

33. Núñez, Estuardo and Georg Petersen,

op. cit

., p. 215, for Humboldt´s expression on

the seemingly lack of patriotism of Peruvians. For the

Sociedad de Amantes del País

(or

Patriotic Society, as the author calls it), see Walker, Charles, op. cit.

Arrogance and squalor? Lima’s Elite 81

later, such as the Russian Admiral Vasilii Golovnin, the French Comte Cam-

ille de Roquefeuil, among others, even though some continued praising

Lima’s grandeur.34 On the other hand, there is the biased influence of his

European contacts in Lima. Additionally, Humboldt must have been nega-

tively affected by the fogginess of Peru’s central coast and its uncertain cli-

mate through most of the year. His short stay in the capital, which did not

allow him to meet other noblemen and merchants of fortune or to understand

the extensive entail system, no doubt contributed towards his disdainful

assessment of Lima. Finally, the absence of some romantic enthusiasm,

which he did enjoy elsewhere in the Americas, might have conditioned his

perceptions. According to Fanny Calderón de la Barca, after meeting in Mex-

ico the young María Ignacia Rodríguez y Osorio Barba (1778-1851), called

la Güera (the blond one), Humboldt fell under the fascination of this Latin

American version of Madame de Staël, as “neither mines nor mountains,

geography nor geology, petrified shells nor alpenkalkstein, had occupied him

to the exclusion of a slight stratum of flirtation.” Madame Calderón de la

Barca concludes that en face such a beauty as la Güera’s “it is comforting to

realize that even the great Humboldt nods [is seduced].”35 Unfortunately, in

Peru he did not have the time nor luck with equivalent sirens.

34. Abridged accounts of these and other voyagers can be seen in Núñez, Estuardo.

Viajes

y viajeros…

35. Calderon de la Barca, Madame (Fanny) (Introduction by Sir Nicolas Cheetham).

Life

in México.

London, Century, 1987, p. 88.

CHAPTER 8 The National Imagination

in New Granada

Margarita Serje

On January the first in 1887, an extensive article devoted to Alexander von

Humboldt appeared on the Papel Periodico Ilustrado, a well known journal

published in Nueva Granada. It was one of the many chronicles that appeared

throughout the century complaining about “the ingratitude of foreigners who

forget to acknowledge the merits of people” in their work. In this particular

case the author refers to the fact that,

Humboldt called Santafé [the City we know nowadays as Bogotá] ‘the Athens

of South America,’ no doubt because this city seemed to him the most culti-

vated among those he had visited this far in America, and although he cer-

tainly thought that this country was still in a very primitive state, he must

have been surprised when he found more than a dozen notably instructed men

in this capital, forged in a spirit similar to his and devoted as he was to the

study of the Natural Sciences. But in spite of the fact that such a title

honoured and favoured them, he never mentioned in his writings the names of

these men, even when he took great advantage of their local and practical

knowledge as they provided him generously and gracefully with an enormous

amount of information and data about the country, its topography, mines, pro-

duction, climates, etc.

The author proceeds to recall two important theses by Francisco Jose de

Caldas, a criollo1 scientist and politician, who was known as El sabio Caldas:

“a method for measuring altitude through boiling water, without the use of a

barometer, and the Geography of Plants, two concepts, which were first and

exclusively invented by Caldas. Humboldt took advantage of these inven-

tions, without acknowledging or citing this fact in his works.

1. I will use Spanish term, since the English word

creole

refers to the cultural outcome of

a race mixture, while in Latin America,

criollo

refers to the white pure blooded descendants

of the Spanish colonists.

84 Culture and Society in the New World

Apart form the obvious reflections about the politics of knowledge, espe-

cially when it is produced at the frontiers of the empire in a language not rec-

ognized as legitimate for the production of knowledge, as was the case for

Castilian already in the nineteenth century; what I would like point out is the

link between the aesthetic and scientific representation of Nature and of the

American landscape developed by Humboldt and the set of political repre-

sentations which inscribed the consciousness of the new nations. I will argue

that Humboldt’s dramatic depiction of the tropical American landscapes

more than a “reinvention of America” (Pratt 1992), was actually a re-enact-

ment of the notions the criollos had developed about their “new world” and

about the way they had occupied its territory. This re-enactment was per-

formed by disembedding landscapes and peoples from their own historical

and geographical continuity to place them in the context of modern natural

(Universal) history.

By the nineteenth century, a new sensibility emerged in Europe celebrat-

ing all that seemed remote in space and time. The colonial frontier was then

displaced: it was moved to the confines where capital had not yet arrived.

From then on the forests, deserts and mountains – les pays affreux – which

came to represent the archetype of pristine wilderness, became an object of

desire: they became the privileged place for the experience of nature (Roger

1997). Perhaps one of the cornerstones of this new sensibility was Hum-

boldt’s American experience. Based upon his vision, a new understanding of

nature was born which founded a particular way of imagining the nature and

the nature of things in the “equinoctial regions of America.”

Several authors have pointed out the influence and the sequels that Hum-

boldt’ passage had on the forging of an image of America right at the moment

when the struggles for the independence were soaring and new nations were

being imagined and created. ne of the most suggestive arguments has been

proposed by Marie Louise Pratt: “Alexander von Humboldt reinvented South

America first and foremost as nature. Not the accessible, collectible, catego-

rizable nature of the Linneans, however, but a dramatic, extraordinary nature,

a spectacle capable of overwhelming human knowledge and understanding”

(op. cit. 120). In this process of reinvention, she argues, “three images in par-

ticular (…) combined to form the standard metonymic representation of the

‘new continent’: superabundant tropical forests (the Amazon and the

Orinoco), snow-capped mountains (the Andean Cordilleras and the volca-

noes of Mexico), and vast interior plains (the Venezuelan llanos and the

Argentine pampas).” (op. cit. 125)

It is important to stress how, in this process of “reinventing” America,

Humboldt inscribed on the scenic images of the American tropics a set of

colonial notions about landscape, culture, and history, granting them scien-

The National Imagination in New Granada 85

tific and aesthetic legitimacy. One of his most important developments was

indeed the Geography of Plants (which he apparently developed based on

Caldas’ previous work). This thesis gave him celebrity and an important

place in the field of natural sciences. In it he proposes his well known law

according to which it is possible to homologate the distribution of vegetable

associations according to latitude with its distribution according to altitude in

the tropics. In this apparently simple law “a very complex explicative system

is put in motion, since the physical parameters (temperature, humidity, etc.),

themselves determined by their spatial situation (altitude or latitude), deter-

mine the character of vegetation, which in turn exerts an influence upon ani-

mals and humans beings” (Drouin 1993, 69). The diagram illustrating the

distribution of plant associations by altitudinal strata was abundantly repro-

duced and it has become both an icon and a model of mountain ecology. (see

figure 1)

The homology upon which this law is based, actually systematizes and

gives scientific legitimacy to the vision the criollos had about the nature and

geography of the viceroyalty. Colonial order had been imposed in America

through cartographical knowledge. The map represented both the point of

departure and the model for the appropriation of the new territories. Maps,

and their superior point of view, imposed the logic of an urban order and a

strictly hierarchical organization of space (consecrated in the Ordenanzas by

Felipe II in 1573) based on a new classification of landscapes. This classifi-

cation responds to the way in which the abrupt Andean territory, when

reduced to a two dimensional surface, is represented as a stratified sequence

of planes. This type of visualization implied that slopes were not considered

relevant spaces; they were looked upon rather as residual areas. In fact the

topographical locations for settlement that were privileged by Europeans

were the high plateaus in the cordilleras, where both the flatlands and temper-

ate climates prescribed by the Ordenanzas could be found. Slopes and their

gradients represented for the colonizers a huge obstacle, not only to occupy

them but also to escalate them. Castilian technology had no experience or

precedents for the management of abrupt slopes, which made for them the

construction of roads and paths, and needless to say of settlements or of agri-

cultural plots, nearly impossible.

This fact was particularly important in the area of what constitutes today

Colombia, since the cordillera divides into three ranges where only a few

temperate climate – a plateau areas can be found. The colonial occupation

was concentrated on those few flat spots, and it is there where the main cities

are situated. The colonization of slopes did not take place until the last

decades of the nineteenth century, and they present up the present serious

obstacles for the construction of roads and highways (Carrizosa 2001).

86 Culture and Society in the New World

The Andean landscape was thus classified and segmented according to a

horizontal logic. The hierarchy of the stratified horizontal planes had a very

strong religious and eschatological significance in European tradition. It rep-

resented the hierarchical order of the Chain of Being, expressed by “the three

regions of air. Above the lower air that we breathe is the middle air, a region

of intense cold from which storms and tempests emerge (…). This deadly

region could not have existed before the Fall: it marks the limit of Satan’s

conquest in the order of nature and his present headquarters in human life

(…) above this was the region of the upper air, a temperate domain of ‘per-

petual spring’, the traditional locale of the earthly paradise (…) thought of as

on a mountain, above all hills …” (Frye 1965, 44-45).

Each one of these strata was considered to have its own temperament

according to a specific combination of the four principles: heat, cold, humid-

ity and dryness. The idea of temperament synthesizes both the physical and

the moral properties of each one of them, and constituted the basis of the

qualification which was given to the different altitudinal levels. The notion of

the Andean topography segmented in altitudinal strata was the foundation of

both Caldas’ work on the Levelling of the species of Quinchona and Hum-

boldt’s Geography of Plants (see figures 2-3).

Based on this temperament theory, virtual barriers were established

between tierras calientes – the hot, humid and unhealthy tropical lowlands,

and the altiplanos, the high plateaus, which were cool, temperate and healthy,

as described in a well known classification of the parishes in New Granada

(de Oviedo, 1771). This opposition between the lowlands and the highlands

became a basic assumption and almost a paradigm for the scientific knowl-

edge of the region.

This vision is radically different form the vertical way in which Andean

aboriginal societies conceive their territories. Ethnographical and archaeo-

logical evidences have documented their settlement pattern which has been

conceptualized as “vertical control model,” or as “strategy of vertical man-

agement” (Murra 1975, Langebarck, 1985). Besides the fact that the words

management, control, or model, are not quite accurate to describe the experi-

ence and the relationship indigenous groups in the Andes have historically

established with their environments, it is possible to generalize that indige-

nous settlement patterns were in pre-colonial times, and in many cases still

are, based in the simultaneous use of several altitudinal levels.

This vertical use grants these groups access to the enormous variety of

ecological niches which results from the variations in altitude, the exposure

to winds and rain and the different types of soils found in the slopes of the

cordilleras. J. Murra (op.cit.) shows how each social group in the Andes,

whether it was a small political unit as the Chuyapo in Guanaco, or a huge

The National Imagination in New Granada 87

and powerful kingdom, as the Lupaca in Lake Titicaca, would secure access

to as many altitudinal levels and ecological niches as possible. In this way,

the domestication of the most important products for the Andean economies

implied an adaptation to the different altitudinal levels: such is case of prod-

ucts like maize, coca, beans, or chillies which can be harvested in all climates

from sea level up to almost 9,000 feet above sea level; potatoes, between

3,000 feet and 9,000 feet, or maniocs, tomatoes and cacao, up to 6,000 feet.

In what constitutes today Colombian territory, pre colonial societies occu-

pied the slopes intensively with an implantation logic completely different to

the European one. Spanish colonists privileged the use of whatever flat space

they could find for their settlements, both for cities and food production,

rejecting the slopes. To multiply them they invested huge amounts of

resources in drying lakes, marshes, water meadows and alluvial soils. The

occupation of the Andes by the Indians responded to a different logic: they

used slopes extensively with varying intensiveness according to gradients,

with a very strong vertical continuity linking the highlands with the lowlands.

This type of occupation is practiced today by several Andean societies inhab-

iting the cordilleras in Colombia. Such is the case of the Kogui, Ijka, Wiwa

and Kankuamo groups in La Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, or the Uwa,

Inga, Kamentsá groups in the slopes of the oriental cordillera facing the

Amazon (Reichel-Dolamtoff 1985, Langebaeck op.cit, Osborn 1995,

Ramírez 1996). Ethnography has shown how the vertical organization of the

land for these societies is expressed in the fact that the basin of the rivers

which flow down from the snow peaks to the lowlands and plains is a distinc-

tive element of identification for these groups. The vertical system of basins

and micro-basins is the central referent for both their social and spatial orga-

nization. In the case of the Uwa, for instance, every clan or social group is

named and identified with the basin of one of the main rivers of the cordil-

lera, and it constitutes the territory granted to this group for the use of certain

forest products. (see figure 4)

In his introduction to Vues des Cordillères et Mouments Indigènes, Hum-

boldt expresses explicitly not only a “natural” distinction between the bio-

geographical strata: the highlands, tierra fría, with cold and temperate cli-

mates and the lowlands, the hot lands – tierras calientes – but also a cultural

distinction between the two which has survived almost intact to our days, and

has become paradigmatic for the ethnographical and social knowledge of the

region:

Lors de la découverte du Nouveau Monde, ou, pour mieux dire, lors de la

première invasion des Espagnols, les peuples américains, les plus avancés

dans la culture, étoient des peuples montagnards (...) Les facultés se dévelop-

pent plus facilement partout où l’homme, fixé sur un sol moins fertile et force

88 Culture and Society in the New World

de lutter contre les obstacles qui lui oppose la nature, ne succombe pas a cette

lutte prolongée (...) Dans la partie équinoxiale de l’Amérique où des savanes

toujours vertes sont suspendues au-dessus de la région des nuages, on n’a

trouvé des peuples policés qu’au sein des cordillères: leurs premiers progrès

dans les arts y étoient aussi anciens que la forme bizarre de leurs gouverne-

ments qui ne favorisent pas la liberté individuelle. (Von Humboldt 1816, 32-

33)

The cultural distinction between highlands and lowlands is based on the

assumption that civilization may only be developed in regions with temperate

climates. In the introduction to Cosmos, Humboldt states that: “it is to the

inhabitants of a small section of the temperate zone that the rest of mankind

owe the earliest revelation of an intimate and rational acquaintance with the

forces governing the rational world. Moreover, it is from the same zone

(which is apparently more favourable to the progress of reason, the softening

of manners and the security of public liberty) that the germs of civilization

have been carried to the regions of the tropics” (Von Humboldt 1997, 36).

Thus, in the equinoctial regions of America, civilization may only be found

in the highlands, propitiated by its cold and temperate climates. This para-

doxical deterministic limit that Humboldt imposes to his otherwise possibilis-

tic vision is what turns the natural homology he presents in his Geography of

Plants into a cultural one. The hot and feverish climates of the plains and

rainforests determine a sort of incapacity inherent to the societies in the low-

lands to “ascend” to civilization. The proof of this lack of civilization is evi-

dent in the fact that these groups have no agriculture, and as Humboldt

affirms, they simply “surround their huts with bananas, jatrophas and a few

other edible plants” (Von Humboldt 1816, 36).

From the European point of view, even before the American Encounter,

savages living in the forests represented the first and most primitive era of

Human History: that of the state of Nature, which may also be understood as

the first stage of economic and productive organization: the natural economy

which characterizes the groups known as “hunter-gatherers.” According to

this classification, the hunter-gatherer’s activities are limited to taking advan-

tage of the natural abundance offered by the environment. This is particularly

so in the rain forests, where all these groups have to do is simply harvest the

enormous profusion of resources the jungle has to offer. That is why, in

words of Rousseau, “the body of the savage, which is the only instrument he

possesses” (Rousseau 1996, 82) gives him the right to own only the product

of his work, that is, they can only own what they hunt, fish or gather. By the

same token, no property of the land is acknowledged to them. This is why

America (the whole continent) was considered a huge area of wastelands,

The National Imagination in New Granada 89

lands which nobody owned because they had never been exploited or culti-

vated.

The right to claim property of the land can only be recognized according

to the amount of work invested to achieve its technical transformation. This

transformation is obviously understood in terms of the European farming tra-

dition: the plough and the geometrical organization of fences and divisions

for the beds, plots and patches. These were necessary for a type of exploita-

tion of the land oriented towards the production for the modern market, that

is, a price regulated system whose central objective is to maximize gain and

profit (Polanyi 2001), which may not be considered as the sole universal, nat-

ural form of market. Besides, agricultural development in Europe was

adapted to the sunlight conditions of high latitudes. This is why it is based on

monocultures extended in horizontal surfaces that act like a panel to capture

the oblique sun rays.

Tropical Amerindian agriculture, on the other hand, has been invisible

until recently to the western eye because it is based on different principles.

Production here is not necessarily oriented towards modern markets, but to

market systems guided by other principles such as reciprocity or redistribu-

tion. It is adapted to the perpendicular sunrays in the equatorial zone. That is

why indigenous agricultural plots present a vertical organization which

reproduces the multi-strata structure of the tropical rainforest. (see figure 5).

They are often organized by creating a series of diverse plant association

spots that resemble a spiral staircase - to maximise sunlight - which in many

cases reflect the structure of the social relations existing between human and

non-human beings (Descola 1986). This kind of agriculture “has a strong

structural similarity with the rain forest, which allows for the protection of

soils from erosion, facilitates photosynthetic efficiency and significantly

diminishes the possibility of plagues and diseases” (Van der Hammen 1992,

16). Its efficiency is also noteworthy: “Having a high productivity level,

requiring a low labour investment, it offers an enormous variety of products

perfectly adapted to the variations of soils and climates, protected form all

sorts of epidemics and parasites” (Descola op.cit., 237). But, since its config-

uration presents a chaotic image, which María Clara Van der Hammen

describes as an “organized chaos,” this agricultural system has been misread

as monte: wilderness.

Besides, the rainforests themselves are a product of the societies which

inhabit them. Ethnology and archaeology in the Amazon have illustrated the

process of its production as an environment, showing how biodiversity is in

great measure a result of indigenous intervention. The “jungle” is the result

of a series of social practices which determine which species are valued and

favoured and are thus reproduced, selected, and preserved, while others are

90 Culture and Society in the New World

ignored. Indigenous groups in Amazonia, both the horticulturalist groups

who live in malocas by the rivers, and the nomadic hunter-gatherers living in

the interior, have developed several distinctions and classifications of spaces

in the rain forest which reflect the relationship they establish with those areas

and the type of intervention they perform on them. This constitutes a type of

land management which Laura Rival has come to describe as “wild gardens

and cultivated forests” (Rival, 1998). The nomadic groups for instance, the

so-called hunter-gatherers who are usually considered the most primitive

amongst the primitives, have developed a series of techniques, documented

by ethnography (Cabrera, Mahecha and Franky 1999, Politis 1996) that

reveal their complex approach to the different areas in which they classify

their territory. These techniques include selective pruning and clearing, care

and replanting of seeds, sprouts and young plants, and the concentration of

particular species in certain areas in order to attract prey or animals whose

presence will in turn help reproduce specific trees or plants. Their interven-

tion fosters complex chains of relationships which are an active factor of the

forest’s diversity. Besides, these nomadic groups create “wild gardens” near

their fishing or hunting areas with a complex multistrata structure. According

to Philippe Descola, “the sophistication of their techniques is hardly discern-

ible to a nonchalant observer, incapable of measuring the amount of knowl-

edge and experience required for the creation of a forest plot” (Descola

op.cit., 233) and, I would add, the extent of the decisions that have to be

made to achieve it. All these practices go far beyond the passive taking

advantage of the natural abundance of the rainforest which is how the con-

cept of hunter-gathering is understood in common sense.

Rainforests are not, therefore, “virgin” or “pristine”, as many conserva-

tion environmentalists would have it, but rather, they are social products.

They constitute the landscapes developed by indigenous societies and their

modes of production. However, the culture of jungle peoples, both in the

sense of the care of the land and in the sense of social organization, has been

ignored and systematically rendered invisible. They have been classified as

groups situated in the realm of nature as opposed to culture. In the European

tradition since Greek times, the nomadic management of space has been

invisible. According to its view, occupied and appropriated space can only be

space ordered by geometry and discipline. François Hartog describes in Le

Miroir d´Herodote how, for this Greek historian, civilized space could only

be “delimitated, measured and surveyed, distributed and controlled” (Hartog

1991, 77). In this way, the jungles and forests, the plains and savannas occu-

pied by primitive in-state-of-nature peoples, can only be barren wastelands:

vast, empty wildlands. The cultural corollaries of Humboldt’s Geography of

Plants naturalize one of the cornerstones of the colonial order of things: its

The National Imagination in New Granada 91

geopolitical imagination. The natural/cultural homology it introduced, in its

altitudinal version, condemns the hot feverish lowlands to the state of peren-

nial barbarism; while it claims that ascending to civilization is only possible

in the highlands. In its latitudinal version, this same homology implies that

civilization is natural to the “temperate zone” (which generally coincides

with what we call today “the North”), and the tropical regions of the planet

are forever destined to backwardness and savagery. This natural/cultural

homology, which was both aesthetisized and legitimated scientifically by

Humboldt´s work, was re-appropriated by the eminent criollos of the New

Granada, and it became the basis for the foundational myths upon which the

new nations and their consciousness was forged. These myths, as I intend to

argue, after a long historical continuity, are still based on Humboldt’s estheti-

cal dramatization of nature.

Some of the most influential politicians in nineteenth century New Gran-

ada were also noted geographers (Sanchez, 1999). The academic propositions

made from this double viewpoint, were crucial for the creation of a founda-

tional image that was to guide both the National Project in Colombia, and its

constitution as a national State. The vision they proposed was, and in many

aspects still is, the basis for the construction of the official National Geogra-

phy, and most importantly, it constituted a paradigmatic model that shaped

the modern conception of the national territory, its populations and its nature.

This model has had a long lasting historical continuity, and it constitutes one

of the myths of the Nation.

The central notion of this geographical narrative is that of the prodigious

and exuberant nature with which the Nation has been endowed: The extreme

profusion of natural and mineral resources, where a continuous re-elabora-

tion of the myth of America as land of plenty, as a promising frontier, may be

found. Caldas, who was both a man of science and one of the leaders of the

movement for the liberation from Spanish rule, proposed an idealized repre-

sentation of the wealth and exuberance of Nature in New Granada. He high-

lights its privileged position in between the two oceans, with three branches

of cordilleras and their tropical position resulting in an enormous variety of

soils and climates, the existence of vast and extended plains (los Llanos) and

forests and mountains covered by snow peaks, crossed by huge rivers suited

for navigation, and filled with immense natural and mineral resources still to

be discovered and exploited.

This great diversity situates this nation in a privileged position to

“observe, and even to touch, the influence of climate and food upon the phys-

ical constitution of men, and upon its vices and virtues” (Caldas 1849, 7). In

spite of its aura of innocence, this aesthetizised and romantisized vision of

the nature of the country was far from it. It constituted the stage for a human

92 Culture and Society in the New World

geography based on Humboldt’s homology of the “Geography of Plants”.

One of the main preoccupations for the criollo elites was how to make sense

and establish order and hierarchy among the various social groups that colo-

nial domination had produced: the different “castes” resulting from the multi-

ple race mixtures. It was no longer the Indian, the African and the Spanish

(themselves already representing their three constitutive cultures), but a large

population that came to be known the libres de todos los colores (free peoples

of all colours): mulattoes, mestizos, cuarterones, zambos among others (see

figure 6). This was a rebellious growing social group, showing great indepen-

dence from the ruling classes. The question of how to place them in the new

social order was a crucial one.

Based on the fact that in Nueva Granada “latitude has no rule” since in the

tropics it is the “inches in the barometer” that account for variations both in

vegetation and in the human condition, Caldas postulates a theory of social

order. This order, “the expression of a higher principle”, is based on the oppo-

sition between the highlands and the lowlands: “Indians and mulattoes in the

hot zones under the abrasive sun, live almost naked, having only a hammock

and some banana trees which require no cultivation…while the castes that

live in the cordillera are whiter and have better manners” (Caldas op.cit.,

132).

The homology between the temperate latitudes and the highlands in the

cordilleras, which is the central premise of the Geography of Plants, acquires

in his work an important new dimension: it becomes the basis to homologate

the groups inhabiting the cordilleras with Europeans; giving in this way a sci-

entific basis to the superiority of the Andean criollos. Based on this geo-

graphical categorization, he distinguishes three hierarchical social castes

related to the altitudinal strata: the wild lands, jungles and savannas inhabited

by “hordes of barbarians”, the hot lowlands populated by the free peoples of

all colours, who are subdued by the harmful influence of a torrid morbid cli-

mate, and the elevated peoples in the cool temperate Andean high – plateaus.

The bio-geographic stratigraphy is thus transformed into caste stratification.

This constitutes the first corollary of the prodigious and exuberant tropical

nature.

A second corollary was the fact that at the same time, the diversity of nat-

ural resources and the potential of the bio-geographic stratigraphy repre-

sented the “Most Important Theatre for the development of vapour,

commerce, mining and immigration in order to transform this desert into a

powerful and opulent Nation” as was expressed by an editorial in the journal

El Pasatiempo, 12 October 1853. Natural profusion awaits to be penetrated

and exploited.

The National Imagination in New Granada 93

In order to make this vision possible the colonial division of labour had to

be preserved. The bio-geographic stratification gave institutional and scien-

tific legitimacy to a new reading of the social hierarchy: “the white popula-

tion living in the haut plateaus” had the vision and the industrious capacities,

“the blacks, and the mestizos and mulattoes, disseminated in the coasts and

the bottom of the ardent valleys” were meant for work in the plantations, in

the mines and in navigation, jobs which “demand strong and vigorous races.”

As for the “hordes of savages,” they were considered just as the jungles and

marshes, an obstacle of nature to be surmounted in order to achieve progress

(Samper 1859). It is not specifically the phenotypical variations in skin

colour (which were probably difficult to pin down among the “free peoples of

all colours”) that are transformed here into social stratification, it is a geo-

graphical characterization, that is both natural and cultural, which accounts

for the assumed labour (and capital) potential of the different regional

groups. It underlies the conception of diversity in Colombia and the “charac-

ter” of the different geographical units which configure the country as país de

regiones (land of regions). National identity in Colombia – and this consti-

tutes the third corollary of this foundational myth – is based upon the exist-

ence of multiple regional identities. The principal marker of these regional

identities is given indeed by the position each region occupies in the social

and bio-geographical stratigraphy.

This vision, which is deeply embedded in common sense, has had multi-

ple concrete political consequences throughout history. One of them was the

fact that it legitimized the central position the Andean white elites acquired in

the new republic. A passionate conflict between the regional criollo elites

arose by the time of the Independence wars with Spain. It started as a con-

frontation among the land owners and merchants of Andes and the Carib-

bean. In most analyses of this conflict, it has been argued that the problem

resided in the fact that when the time came to build a new republic there was

not one single united criollo elite endowed with a national vision, but a group

of regional elites with different projects and identities (Múnera 1996). What I

suggest is that the issue was not the lack of national vision, but the quite the

contrary, the imposition of this singular vision of the nature of the country

and its geopolitical imagination.

Cartagena, in the Caribbean coast, wanted independence not just from

Spain but from Santa Fe, the capital of the Viceroyalty. A huge movement of

blacks, zambos, mulattoes and in general the “free peoples of all colours” was

ignited there, radicalizing the demands for autonomy. An Andean state was

created to face what was seen as the disorder and anarchy of the negros de

tierra caliente (blacks in the hot lowlands), within the horizon of the recent

revolts of the “blacks” in Haiti. It was legitimized by a national discourse

94 Culture and Society in the New World

based on the positive image of the Andean criollos opposed to the negative

image of the Caribbean identity, and in general to the negative image of the

inhabitants of the lowlands: “free peoples of all colours” and savages. In a

similar way, in Venezuela, the National Project was for the criollos the means

to “contain the blacks” and to give continuity to “the peaceful colonial con-

cert” (Carrera Damas 1983). The conflict of interests between the regional

criollo elites in Venezuela was resolved, as it was in Colombia, by a consen-

sus about “the removal of the masses of free peoples of all colours from the

scene.” The project put forward by the criollos to reinstate end re-found the

colonial structure of internal domination, was based upon the set of notions

about the nature of the country and the nature of its inhabitants, which in turn

were based on this bio-geographical and social stratigraphy.

The “fear of the people”, inspired by Indians, blacks, zambos, mulatoes

and all the other colours, is at the base of the “democracy without people”

that has characterized politics in the countries of the “Great Colombia” since

the nineteenth century (Zambrano, 1989). The exclusion of the savages in the

lowlands was explained by Simón Bolívar himself: “In the midst of primitive

nature, crossed by mythological rivers whose banks are populated by a heter-

ogeneous fauna of monsters and ferocious animals that dispute men the

dominion of the jungles, one cannot in one day improvise the formation of

proper citizens, that are conscious of the high functions of electing a govern-

ment and of being elected as such, which is the basis of a true democracy”

(Bolivar 1971, 102).

The political consequence of the ideas about the geography of civilization

has also found an expression in the development, and the conflicts, of the two

traditional parties in Colombia: the liberal and the conservative. By 1848,

before these parties assumed their British inspired names, they were called

respectively the Mountain and the Valley Parties. The first one identified

itself with the topographic stratigraphy of castes proposed by Caldas, with

the Andean centralism and with the moral and religious values of the Spanish

tradition; it was the cradle of the conservative party. The party of the Valley

identified itself with the illustrated, laissez faire project put forward by the

pushing, autonomous mixed elites of the lowlands. They were allied with

groups of emergent free artisans “of all colours” in the regions most involved

with metropolitan trade.2 The horizontal regional distinction implicit in these

political parties was forged around the differences of race and class: the lib-

eral party was associated with the blacks, the mulattoes and the free peoples

of all colours (Rojas 2002). The colonial principles of the stratigraphic depic-

tion of the landscape are present in this distinction.

2. Charles Cochrane, an officer of the British Navy, describes the composition of the two

parties and their passionate debates in his

Journal of Residence

and Travels in Colombia

(Cochrane 1825, 81-84).

The National Imagination in New Granada 95

The image of the rich and abundant nature depicted by Humboldt, and

recreated as a theatre for commerce and civilization by the politician geogra-

phers of the New Granada is still relevant in the contemporary political arena

in Colombia. In recent a special edition of Colombia’s most read journal, El

Tiempo, a supplement appeared showing Colombia’s strengths and advan-

tages for the Free Trade Agreement between the Andean Countries and the

US. Some of the most renowned economists made an analysis of the aspects

that permit an optimistic view of the economic future. They all reiterate the

fact that the problems we have had to face “are not only public disorder, but

an amazing and abrupt geography”, and they don’t fail to mention the abun-

dant and exuberant wealth this geography conveys: “Our richest and most

abundant resource is, no doubt, nature. We have got soils, and water, diverse

sources of energy, lots of minerals, the second biodiversity in the planet and

an excellent geographical location in the tropics, near the biggest market in

the world”. One wonders at the persistence of this representation which has

been for two centuries the tip of an iceberg whose submerged portion is

deeply embedded in the principles of the natural and social homology elabo-

rated by Humboldt in his Geography of Plants.

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CHAPTER 9 Entre Caos y Cosmos:

Odette Casamayor Cisneros

En su Ensayo Político sobre la Isla de Cuba, publicado por primera vez en

París en 1826, Alejandro de Humboldt deja plasmada su visión de la isla car-

ibeña, entonces colonia española. Sus interpretaciones de la naturaleza y la

sociedad criollas han suscitado, ya en el siglo XX, interesantes y en ocasiones

controversiales opiniones entre los intelectuales cubanos.

Esta situación se inscribe dentro de una articulación más general – que no

es precisamente armónica ni simple – entre el pensamiento humboldtiano y

las élites intelectuales de la América hispana, por un lado, y el saber cientí-

fico europeo, por el otro. Ello forma parte de aquella “conexión real del saber

americano con Europa y la fundamentación transcultural de la existencia de

un sólo tipo de modernidad occidental sobre bases clásicas en Europa y en las

culturas eurocriollas de América Latina” que Michael Zeuske reconoce que

se producen con Humboldt.1

Nuestra intención, con esta investigación, es presentar esta articulación,

precisamente a través de la obra y posiciones ético-estéticas de Fernando

Ortiz (1881-1969), Alejo Carpentier (1904-80) y José Lezama Lima (1910-

76).

Puntos Comunes

Legitimidades

En el acercamiento de Ortiz, Carpentier y Lezama a la obra de Alejandro de

Humboldt ha de reconocerse, primeramente, la satisfacción que estos autores

1. Zeuske, Michael, “¿Humboldteanización del mundo occidental ? La importancia del

viaje de Humboldt para Europa y América Latina,” Ponencia inaugural presentada en el

coloquio internacional “Humboldt y la América ilustrada (200 años después),” organizado

por el Instituto Riva-Agüero (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), Lima, 11-3 Nov.

2002.

100 Culture and Society in the New World

encuentran en el reconocimiento que hace el alemán de la naturaleza y el

hombre americanos. En efecto, Humboldt aportó en su época una visión

novedosa de las Américas, en la cual estas tierras no sólo dejaban de ser anal-

izadas con desdén en razón de supuestas degeneración o inmadurez, sino que,

además, se les otorgaba legitimidad, ofreciéndoles cabida en la gran tradición

clásica, al mismo tiempo que se les reconocía cierta autonomía natural con

respecto a Europa. Tanto la autonomía como la legitimidad clásica son exten-

didas a otras esferas, alcanzando el mundo social y moral.

Si, retomando a José de la Luz y Caballero (1800-62), Fernando Ortiz

vuelve a encomiar a Humboldt llamándole “Segundo descubridor de Cuba” y

reclama un homenaje que en su opinión aún en 1929 le estaba debiendo Cuba

al viajero alemán, es porque estima en alto grado la legitimidad que aporta

Humboldt a la naturaleza cubana y el reconocimiento que hace del nivel de

“civilización” de la sociedad criolla de principios del siglo XIX. Cuando

Humboldt critica el sistema esclavista y los errores del gobierno colonial, ello

no hace más que coincidir con las principales ideas – aunque por razones

diferentes – de la élite intelectual y económica criolla, encabezada entonces

por hombres como Francisco Arango y Parreño (1765-1837) o José de la Luz

y Caballero, quienes trabaron relación con el alemán. Ortiz, en el largo

ensayo que precede la edición que hace en 1930 del Ensayo político sobre la

isla de Cuba, recalca el carácter patricio de estos hombres, para quienes el

status colonial y la dependencia de España constituían el principal freno al

progreso de la isla. También, criticaban la esclavitud del negro, aunque úni-

camente como otro obstáculo al libre desarrollo socioeconómico y no porque

reconociesen la igualdad racial. A semejanza de estas importantes personal-

idades de la historia colonial, pero un siglo después, Ortiz (a quien se le dice

también “tercer descubridor de Cuba”) se halla igualmente en plena cruzada

contra el atraso económico y social de su país. Es ya el autor de algunas obras

que se atacan a ciertos males sociales de la República de 1902, principal-

mente de orden moral y criminal. En tanto que positivista, discípulo de Lom-

broso, ha publicado en 1906 Los negros brujos y en 1916 Los negros

esclavos, ambos libros integran la serie que intitula “Hampa Afrocubana,”

donde las prácticas rituales de origen africano son presentadas bajo la per-

spectiva criminalística, consideradas como elementos de la “mala vida

cubana.” Es cierto que el pensamiento de Ortiz cambiaría con el tiempo y que

sus concepciones racistas cederían paulatinamente lugar a la teoría de la tran-

sculturación,2 pero en todo momento una gran pulsión humanista dominó su

trabajo, pulsión que persigue el progreso de la nación.

Como también es el progreso el fin último de las teorías ético-estéticas de

Alejo Carpentier. El novelista no es un moralista en el mismo sentido en que

lo es Ortiz. Exigirá también, por supuesto, la educación, la instrucción y el

Entre Caos y Cosmos: 101

progreso económico de su pueblo, aspectos que en su opinión garantizan el

derecho a pertenecer al “mundo civilizado.” Mas intentará demostrar además

la legitimidad de esta pertenencia a través de sus teorías sobre el barroco y lo

real maravilloso. Tampoco sus ideas permanecen inalterables con el tran-

scurso de los años, pero, en lo esencial, se trata de concepciones en las que la

Historia es siempre impulsada por la acción concreta de los hombres. Es este

el motor secreto de la vida humana, para Carpentier, quien cree además que

en América tales fenómenos resultan más evidentes que en cualquier otra

parte del mundo. Constantemente interpelado por la diferencia y la con-

tinuidad entre América y Europa y habiendo consagrado buena parte de su

obra de ficción y ensayística a determinar y demostrar el sitio que ocupan

América en general y Cuba en particular dentro de la civilización occidental,

Carpentier no puede evitar admirar la obra humboldtiana, en tanto “divulga-

dora” europea de las realidades americanas. No carece de interés el dato,

aportado por el propio Carpentier, de que la idea de la novela Los pasos per-

didos surgiese en 1949 durante su viaje a través del Orinoco, acompañado de

la lectura de El Orinoco ilustrado del padre José Gumilla y de Viaje a las

regiones equinocciales del Nuevo Continente de Humboldt.3 Y en este

dejarse llevar por la mirada de Humboldt, puede sin dudas descubrirse la

importancia que en la obra de Carpentier pudo haber tenido la ordenación

histórica que tienta el científico alemán a partir de los hechos naturales. El

escritor cubano confiesa también haber reconocido durante la travesía a

través del Orinoco las descripciones hechas antaño por Humboldt y Gumilla,

y se “maravilla” (palabra y gesto claves en Carpentier) tal y como hiciese

diez años antes al regresar a La Habana, tras una larga estancia en Europa.

Desde el principio del artículo “La Habana vista por un turista cubano,” el

creador del término de lo real maravilloso revela su extrañeza ante la realidad

que redescubre. Se llama a sí mismo turista en su propia tierra, que se

maravilla ante su multiplicidad y aprende a “considerar La Habana con un

respeto ajeno a todo sentimiento íntimo y personal de cariño,” divirtiéndose

en “hallar analogías auténticas” con lugares europeos.4 Curiosamente, su

descripción de la entrada en la Bahía de la Habana desde el barco que lo traía

de Europa no se aleja demasiado de la visión de Humboldt en 1800, quien

“

La transculturación expresa mejor las diferentes fases del proceso transitivo de una

cultura a otra, porque éste no consiste solamente en adquirir una distinta cultura, que es lo

que en rigor indica la voz angloamericana

acculturation

, sino que el proceso implica tam-

bién necesariamente la pérdida o desarraigo de una cultura precedente, lo que pudiera

decirse una parcial

desculturación

, y, además significa la consiguiente creación de nuevos

fenómenos culturales que pudieran denominarse de

neoculturación

”, F. Ortiz,

Contrapun-

teo cubano del tabaco y el azúcar,

La Habana, Ciencias sociales (col. “Pensamiento

cubano”), 1983, p. 90. (Destacado por el autor).

3. Carpentier,

Entrevistas,

La Habana, Letras cubanas, 1985, p. 484.

4. Carpentier, “La Habana vista por un turista cubano,”

Conferencias

La Habana, Letras

cubanas, 1987, p. 182.

102 Culture and Society in the New World

calificaba entonces la vista de La Habana, a la entrada del puerto, como “una

de las más alegres y pintorescas de que puede gozarse en el litoral de la

América equinoccial.”5 Por su parte Carpentier descubre, al penetrar la bahía,

la “espectacularidad” de la ciudad y decide que la entrada al puerto “parece

obra de un habilísimo escenógrafo.”6 Prosigue el novelista elogiando una

vista que según él no defrauda las ilusiones románticas del turista: la de los

castillos coloniales, que ya habían sido motivo de exaltación para Humboldt.

¿Qué propicia entonces las coincidencias entre ambas descripciones?: tal vez

la perspectiva europea de donde parten. Y no se pretende aquí volver a las

inextinguibles y estériles discusiones acerca del grado de cubanía – por

nacimiento o cultura – de Alejo Carpentier, sólo se constata lo que innegable-

mente compartían tanto Humboldt como el novelista cubano: el pensamiento

clásico occidental.

También, la descripción que hace Humboldt de algunos parajes insulares

adquiere para José Lezama Lima una especial significación, que no deja de

señalar en su ensayo “Recuerdo de Humboldt.” Incluso, no es difícil recono-

cer ciertas coincidencias entre las notas que toma el alemán a la vista de los

Jardines y Jardinillos de la Isla de Pinos y algunas imágenes más o menos

famosas de la poesía de Lezama, donde la luz es venerada como elemento

principal de la cubanía geográfica. En el poema “Noche insular: jardines

invisibles,” por ejemplo, “la luz vendrá mansa y trenzando/el aire con el agua

apenas recordada,” ésta será también “delicadeza suma” y gozará de una

“calidad tranquila,” mientras “la mar violeta añora el nacimiento de los

dioses.”7 Por su parte, Humboldt había reconocido ya la importancia de la luz

solar en los ilusionismos que le inspiran los Jardines y Jardinillos, que le

agradan particularmente por lo cambiante que a sus ojos se torna el paisaje,

por los juegos ópticos que la luz provoca, los cambios de color y brillo. Habla

entonces de “espectáculo engañoso” y de la inmovilidad de “la superficie

ondeante de las llanuras,” de “masas inertes [que] parecen como suspendidas

en el aire.”8 No ha de olvidarse, en este punto, que también Lezama valoraría

en alto grado la ligereza, la suspensión, la permanente metamorfosis, y que

concebía “lo cubano” precisamente como algo “inefable […] un airecillo,

una ternura, un estar y no estar.”9 Para quien la imagen poética constituyese

un elemento esencial de su pensamiento, y para quien la insularidad era tan

importante que había llegado incluso a plantear la urgencia de ocuparse de

5. Humboldt,

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba,

La Habana, Fundación Fernando

Ortiz, 1998, p. 6.

6. Carpentier, “La Habana vista por un turista cubano”, Op. cit

p. 187.

7. Lezama Lima, “Noche insular: jardines invisibles,”

Poesía completa,

Madrid, Alianza

Literaria, 1999, p. 82-4.

8. Humboldt,

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

Op. cit.,

p. 226-7.

9. Lezama,

Cartas (1936-1970)

, Madrid, Orígenes S.A. (col. “Tratados de testimonio”),

1979, p. 181.

Entre Caos y Cosmos: 103

una Teleología Insular,10 la búsqueda de dichas imágenes en los primeros dis-

cursos y textos sobre la isla fue siempre una tarea principal. En este sentido,

las divagaciones poéticas del científico alemán ante la naturaleza cubana no

debieron pasarle inadvertidas. Lezama no puede sino admirar el hecho de que

el sabio europeo, tan impregnado de cultura clásica, fuera sensible y capaz de

aceptar en cierto modo el mundo en plena mutación (que fuesen las

sociedades americanas o el paisaje de los Jardines y Jardinillos). Para los

intelectuales como Lezama, Ortiz y Carpentier, tan preocupados por la cul-

tura cubana – a sus ojos tan joven y en pleno y constante devenir, la posición

de Humboldt, en tal sentido, es perfectamente encomiable.

Además de esta identificación poética, Lezama, junto a Carpentier y

Ortiz, comparte el humanismo humboldtiano, su fe en el progreso humano.

Sobre todo en lo que respecta a Cuba se suma al aplauso general y en su

ensayo agradece el reconocimiento de universalidad y de civismo que a veces

hace Humboldt de la isla y sus habitantes. A semejanza de Ortiz, Lezama

Lima recalca los orígenes aristocráticos de Humboldt y ve en el hecho de que

un célebre noble europeo frecuentase gustosamente el patriciado intelectual

de las diferentes ciudades americanas que visitó, una muestra del “potencial

de refinamiento o expresividad de esas sociedades en ciernes.” Lezama enza-

lza sin ambages la legitimación que según él hace Humboldt de la diferencia

y la futuridad americanas: “Humboldt sabía que esa calidad de sabiduría [se

refiere a la sabiduría que atribuye a la alta nobleza europea] no la podía

encontrar por tierras americanas, pero intuía en esas sociedades incipientes,

ebulliciones de nuevas síntesis, distribuciones espaciales sutiles y poderosas,

dimensiones cargadas de una novedad sorpresiva para las otras sociedades.”

Ejemplifica Lezama la sensibilidad que atribuye a Humboldt con el hecho de

que, a un tiempo de ser capaz de conversar sobre sus descubrimientos cientí-

ficos con un rey moribundo, consigue delectarse con “los golpes de ingenio

de nuestras criollas.”11 Por otra parte, el cumplido del alemán hacia las damas

de la alta sociedad cubana, de quienes exaltaba la gracia, tampoco había esca-

pado en su momento a Ortiz.

Coincidencias cosmológicas

Aunque seguramente de una manera inconciente, la perspectiva cosmológica

de Alejandro de Humboldt se encuentra sin dudas a la base de la atracción

que tanto sobre Ortiz, Lezama o Carpentier ejerciese el pensamiento del via-

10. “Ya va siendo hora de que todos nos empeñemos en una Economía Astronómica, en

una Meteorología habanera para uso de descarriados y poetas, en una Teleología Insular, en

algo de veras grande y nutridor”, Lezama Lima, A

rchivo de José Lezama Lima. Miscelánea,

Iván González-Cruz (ed.), Madrid, Editorial Centro de Estudios Ramón Areces, S. A.,

526-7.

11. Lezama Lima, “Recuerdo de Humboldt,”

Tratados en La Habana,

S.l., Universidad

central de Las Villas, 1958, p. 202.

104 Culture and Society in the New World

jero alemán. En su obra Kosmos, la identificación que éste hacía entre las

leyes que rigen la naturaleza y aquellas que según él determinaban el mundo

moral, es claramente expresada:

Yo creo que la descripción del universo y de la historia de los hombres se

encuentran situadas en un mismo grado de empirismo; pero que sometiendo

los fenómenos físicos y los acontecimientos al trabajo del pensamiento, y

remontando hasta sus causas por la vía del razonamiento, uno es penetrado

cada vez más por esa creencia antigua según la cual las fuerzas inherentes a la

materia y las que rigen el mundo moral ejercen su acción bajo el imperio de

una necesidad primordial, y siguiendo movimientos que se renuevan periódi-

camente, aunque a intervalos desiguales. Son esa necesidad presente en las

cosas, ese encadenamiento oculto aunque permanente, ese regreso periódico

en el desarrollo progresivo de las formas y de los acontecimientos, quienes

constituyen la naturaleza obediente a una primera impulsión determinada.12

Aunque estaba convencido de la superioridad de los valores de la cultura

europea y no concebía el futuro del universo al margen de los mismos, con

sus viajes e investigaciones empíricas Humboldt emprende la búsqueda y

concepción de una comprensión diferente del mundo e intuye que su meollo

puede hallarse tal vez en ese encadenamiento oculto aunque permanente y

necesario, responsable de la progresión cíclica de todos los fenómenos, fue-

sen estos naturales o morales. Mas precisa también, en su brillante Kosmos,

que no se trata de reducir la totalidad de los elementos sensibles a un pequeño

número de principios abstractos únicamente basados en la Razón, sino de la

contemplación del universo entero fundada sobre una especie de “empirismo

razonado.”

El científico alemán creyó descubrir en los grandes fenómenos naturales

la misma lógica interna que veía en las composiciones históricas. Con esta

forma de concebir el desarrollo histórico coincide en ciertos textos, por su

parte, Alejo Carpentier. La visión cíclica de la Historia en El reino de este

mundo y en El siglo de las luces, entre otras obras, es en este sentido muy

esclarecedora. En El siglo de las luces, incluso, el personaje de Esteban

piensa en repetidas ocasiones en las analogías entre el paisaje y el mundo

vegetal y animal que conoce durante sus viajes por el Caribe y la Historia.

12. “Je crois que la description de l’univers et l’histoire des hommes se trouvent placées

au même degré d’empirisme; mais en soumettant les phénomènes physiques et les événe-

ments au travail, on se pénètre de plus en plus de cette antique croyance, que les forces

inhérentes à la matière et celles qui régissent le monde moral exercent leur action sous

l’empire d’une nécessité primordiale, et selon des mouvements qui se renouvellent péri-

odiquement, bien qu’à des intervalles inégaux. C’est cette nécessité des choses, cet

enchaînement occulte, mais permanent, ce retour périodique dans le développement pro-

gressif des formes, des phénomènes et des événements, qui constituent la

nature

obéissant

à une première impulsion donnée.” Jean Paul Duviols, Charles Minguet,

Humboldt. Savant

citoyen du monde,

Paris, Gallimard (col. “Découvertes Gallimard. Invention du monde”),

1994, p. 128-9. (Nuestra traducción).

Entre Caos y Cosmos: 105

Bañándose en lo que llama el “prodigioso Mar de las Islas,” intuye que “la

selva de coral hacía perdurar, en medio de una creciente economía de las for-

mas zoológicas, los primeros barroquismos de la Creación,” que se trataba de

“una figuración cercana – y tan inaccesible, sin embargo – del Paraíso Per-

dido.”13 Aún más, estos parajes marinos se convierten en la imaginación de

Esteban en escenario donde se reproducen ciclos vitales, históricos, que ni

siquiera escapan a la parafernalia bíblica; y hay de tal suerte un Acontec-

imiento protagonizado por un pez enorme, “desusado, de otras épocas” que

irrumpía en la calma matinal con solemnidad de “Leviatán traído a la luz” o

existe el “Gran Teatro de la Universal Decoración,” imagen de la lucha con-

stante de todas las especies por la sobrevivencia. De estos combates quiere

escapar precisamente el protagonista que, frustrado, huye de la Revolución

francesa y sus repercusiones caribeñas, y por eso, “para olvidarse de la época,

marchaba solo, a la otra banda” de las angostas islas, donde conseguía al fin

sentirse dueño absoluto, en perfecta paz. Así permanecía Esteban, “desnudo,

solo en el mundo […] dicha total, sin ubicación ni época.”14

La actitud del personaje de Carpentier parece dar concreción a ciertos

pensamientos de Humboldt, para quien:

El viajero que recorre el globo, como el historiador que remonta el curso de

los siglos, tiene ante sí siempre el mismo paisaje desolador que le ofrecen los

conflictos de la especie humana. Por ello, testigo de las disensiones perma-

nentes de los pueblos, el hombre que aspira al goce apacible del alma, prefiere

volver la mirada hacia los resortes misteriosos de la fuerza fecundadora de la

Naturaleza, o sino, abandonándose a ese instante innato, presente en su

corazón, el hombre eleva los ojos, captivado por una intuición sagrada, hacia

el firmamento, donde los astros, en inalterable armonía, continúan su revolu-

ción eterna.15

Carpentier representa la Historia como una espiral orientada hacia el

futuro, una repetición cíclica de acontecimientos que hacen avanzar el mundo

a través de las revoluciones, siempre hacia un estadío superior de civiliza-

ción. Como Humboldt, sabe que cada ciclo no es exacta repetición del ante-

rior. Un motor secreto impulsa constantemente el movimiento ascendente de

esta espiral, una esencia que nos acerca sin dudas de aquella necesidad oculta

y permanente a la que hiciera referencia Humboldt. Él intuye la presencia de

13. Carpentier,

El siglo de las luces

, La Habana, Unión, 1993, p. 211.

14. Ibid., p. 214-6.

15. “Le voyageur qui parcourt le globe, comme l’histoiren qui remonte le cours des siè-

cles, a devant lui toujours le même tableau désolant des conflits de l’espèce humaine. C’est

pourquoi, témoin des dissensions permanentes des peuples, l’homme qui aspire aux paisi-

bles jouissances de l’âme aime à plonger ses regards sur les ressorts mystérieux de la force

fécondante de la Nature; ou bien, s’abandonnant à cet instinct inné qui est dans son cœur,

l’homme élève ses yeux, saisi d’une intuition sacrée, vers le firmament, où les astres, dans

une inaltérable harmonie, poursuivent leur révolution éternelle.” Jean Paul Duviols, Op.

cit., contracubierta. (Nuestra traducción)

106 Culture and Society in the New World

esa necesidad en la naturaleza, tal y como Carpentier niega en su momento la

exigencia surrealista de hurgar o inventar la esencia cósmica en otros mun-

dos, alegando que es en la mismísima realidad en la que ha de buscársele. Es

así como surge su teoría de lo real maravilloso, de la maravilla vital presente

en la realidad.

Asimismo, es también a través del estudio científico de la naturaleza y la

vida social que Fernando Ortiz consigue desentrañar las fuerzas motrices de

la nación cubana, aquello que en su opinión sería capaz de garantizar el pro-

greso de su país. Analiza sin descanso la isla y sus hombres, principalmente

su cultura, buscando explicaciones que permitan comprender la realidad

nacional y mejorarla. En 1940 publica incluso una obra admirable, Contra-

punteo cubano del tabaco y el azúcar, donde todo el universo laboral, pro-

ductivo, económico, político, cultural y social asociado al tabaco y al azúcar,

productos principales de Cuba, es examinado bajo una perspectiva que

reconoce y se preocupa esencialmente de los procesos constitutivos de la

nación, es decir, de lo que él llama la transculturación. “El tabaco y el azúcar

son los personajes más importantes de la historia de Cuba,” dice Ortiz desde

las primeras páginas de su libro, “y las sorprendentes diferencias entre ambas

producciones se reflejan en la historia del pueblo cubano desde su misma for-

mación étnica hasta su contextura social, sus peripecias políticas y sus rela-

ciones internacionales.”16 Por demás, es precisamente en Contrapunteo

cubano del tabaco y el azúcar que el concepto de la transculturación es pre-

sentado, recibiendo en las páginas introductorias el aval de Bronislaw Mali-

nowski. Ortiz hace del tabaco un símbolo de una cubanía más auténtica, de

cierto refinamiento, de un humanismo más elevado pues representa según él

el trabajo individualizado, libre, no alienado (del campesinado cubano

blanco, fundamentalmente), en tanto que el azúcar deviene bajo su pluma el

elemento importado, ignominioso pues conlleva la utilización de mano de

obra esclava (africana y “atrasada”), cultivo y producción inhumanos, bastos,

masivos (latifundio), que trae además como consecuencia la subordinación

económica de alguna metrópoli (España o los Estados Unidos). Tabaco y

azúcar se convierten, de la suerte, en expresión de las tensiones principales

que Fernando Ortiz descubre en el seno de la nación cubana. A través de su

presencia e imbricación en la vida nacional, analiza el problema del subde-

sarrollo y de la dependencia cubanos.

Por su parte, Lezama, a diferencia de Ortiz y de Carpentier, no conseguirá

hallar la presencia de las fuerzas cósmicas, que rigen por igual el mundo nat-

ural y el moral, en la realidad que le circunda. Mas, igualmente convencido

del porvenir glorioso de la isla de Cuba, encontrará también una “necesidad

oculta” justificando la existencia del hombre y su futuridad. Es la imagen que

16. Ortiz, Op. cit.,

p. 3.

Entre Caos y Cosmos: 107

organiza y rige el mundo, garantizando su armonía y pervivencia: “Es un

espacio desconocido y un tiempo errante que no se aposenta sobre la tierra.

Sin embargo, paseamos en ese aquí y transcurrimos en ese ahora, y logramos

reconstruir una imagen. Es la sobrenaturaleza,”17 dice el autor de Paradiso.

La sobrenaturaleza que ha de ser descubierta por el hombre en la naturaleza y

sociedad reales, las mismas que Humboldt, Carpentier y Ortiz estudian con-

cienzudamente, buscando cada uno respuestas al desorden cósmico.

Disensiones

Ante el ‘inexplicable’ caos cubano

En varias ocasiones, cuando Carpentier quiere representar su concepción

de la Historia en tanto que espiral orientada hacia el futuro, utiliza con acierto

la imagen del caracol. No es sólo el aspecto del caracol lo que mueve al nov-

elista a introducir tal identificación en su prosa, sino también el papel de

mediador que funge entre lo amorfo y lo perfectamente definido, entre lo

infinito y lo concreto. Dice aún Esteban en El siglo de las luces:

El caracol era el Mediador entre lo evanescente, lo escurrido, la fluidez sin ley

ni medida, y la tierra de las cristalizaciones, estructuras y alternancias, donde

todo era asible y ponderable […] Fijación de desarrollos lineales, volutas leg-

isladas, arquitecturas cónicas de una maravillosa precisión, equilibros de

volúmenes, arabescos tangibles que intuían todos los barroquismos por

venir.18

La espiral es entonces línea cimbreante hacia el porvenir, una lógica den-

tro del caos. Lógica que Carpentier calificaría con demasiadas prisas de bar-

roca, pero una lógica racional, en fin de cuentas. Y ello, porque incluso si

esta lógica se alimenta de todo tipo de apocalipsis revolucionarias, de

ciclones y carnavales, incluso si esta concepción de la evolución humana ase-

meja a un torbellino infinito y total, es sólo en ella donde, para Carpentier, el

universo entero encuentra plena armonía. De ahí, que, cuando tropieza con

las críticas que Alejandro de Humboldt hiciera en su momento a la desorga-

nización urbana de la villa de La Habana: (“El europeo que experimenta una

mezcla de impresiones tan halagüeñas olvida el peligro que le amenaza en

medio de las ciudades populosas de las Antillas […] Las calles son estrechas

en lo general, y las más aún no están empedradas. […] Durante mi mansión

en la América española, pocas ciudades presentaban un aspecto más

asqueroso que la Habana, por falta de una buena policía. […] Allí, como en

nuestras ciudades más antiguas de Europa, un plan de calles mal hecho no

17. Lezama Lima, “Confluencias,”

Confluencias,

La Habana, Letras Cubanas, 1988, p.

419.

18. Carpentier,

El siglo de las luces

, Op. cit., p. 215.

108 Culture and Society in the New World

puede enmendarse sino muy lentamente.”19), el novelista salte en defensa de

ese mismo caos. Donde el científico alemán encuentra un caos injustificable,

que ha de ser eliminado si los cubanos desean proseguir su marcha tranquila

hacia el progreso total, Carpentier cree descubrir, al contrario, un elemento

más aportando fuerza y particularidad a la nación. Esta visión no se restringe,

por demás, a la realidad cubana. Es una perspectiva que Carpentier utiliza

para interpretar toda la realidad americana, y de la que surgen sus teorías per-

sonales sobre el barroco americano o aquella otra del “tercer estilo de las

ciudades que no tienen estilo.”

Es precisamente en uno de los ensayos en los que Carpentier se regodea

exaltando el barroquismo americano, “La ciudad de las columnas”, publicado

en 1964, donde se refiere a la crítica que hace Humboldt al mal trazado de las

calles habaneras. Para el novelista cubano no se trata de un defecto sino del

testimonio de una “gran sabiduría” dictada por “una necesidad primordial –

tropical – de jugar al escondite con el sol, burlándose de superficies,

arrancándole sombras, huyendo de sus tórridos anuncios de crepúsculos.”

Los vocablos valen por sí solos: tropical, escondite, burla, sombras, huídas.

Son de las palabras que se pasean a su antojo por toda la literatura sobre el

barroco. Más lejos, Carpentier continuará con “reverberaciones,” “poli-

cromías,” y pasará a ocuparse de la enumeración – tan típica de su prosa – de

los elementos arquitectónicos de su Habana barroca. Para el autor, en fin, el

mal trazado de las calles, en lugar de exacerbar los sentidos, acaba paradóji-

camente por ofrecerle una “impresión de paz y frescor que difícilmente hal-

laríamos en donde los urbanistas concientes ejercieron su ciencia.”20

Así, en lo aparentemente caótico – que sea la ciudad laberíntica, explosi-

vas y sangrientas revoluciones, bullangueras noches de carnaval – se disim-

ula, para Carpentier, una armonía soterrada y firme. De este modo, en el caos

que recusa Humboldt habría un orden que escapa a la mirada del sagaz cientí-

fico. Y el autor cubano eleva justamente ese orden camuflado a nivel de cate-

goría esencial para la comprensión de los pueblos americanos. Otro tanto

hace, a su modo, Ortiz, pues es quizás esta una de las consecuencias de su

concepto de la transculturación, con el que pretende comprender, organizar,

categorizar el caótico mestizaje. En Lezama, tanto desorden es regulado por

la “sacrosanta” imagen, actuando desde el interior mismo de las cosas y los

fenómenos de la vida natural y social. Concibe el mundo como una esfera

perfecta en la que todo tiene una razón de ser, donde todo participa en la

magia de la existencia porque es “cantidad hechizada” que no muere ni desa-

parece jamás, está eternamente destinada a la resurrección. El ouroboros es

uno de sus mitos predilectos, la serpiente que se muerde la cola y que garan-

19. Humboldt,

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

, Op. cit.,

p. 6-7.

20. Carpentier, “La ciudad de las columnas,”

Ensayos,

La Habana, Letras Cubanas, 1984,

p. 42.

Entre Caos y Cosmos: 109

tiza la perennidad de la vida. Hay también aquí el círculo, la voluta barroca,

impensables para Humboldt. Por eso, como Carpentier, celebra en La Habana

una “ciudad no surgida en una semana de planos y ecuaciones.” Reconoce el

autor de Paradiso que su villa “tiene un destino y un ritmo. Sus asimila-

ciones, sus exigencias de ciudad necesaria y fatal, todo ese conglomerado que

se ha ido formando a través de las mil puertas, mantiene todavía ese ritmo.

Ritmo de pasos lentos, de estoica despreocupación ante las horas, de sueño

con ritmo marino, de elegante aceptación trágica de su descomposición por-

tuaria porque conoce su trágica perdurabilidad. Ese ritmo – invariable lección

desde las constelaciones pitagóricas – nace de proporciones y medidas. La

Habana conserva todavía las medidas del hombre. El hombre le recorre los

contornos, le encuentra su centro, tiene sus zonas de infinitud y soledad

donde le llega lo terrible.”21

Estas disensiones que separan a Carpentier, Ortiz y Lezama de Alejandro

de Humboldt apuntan hacia un elemento esencial de la perspectiva a través de

la cual el científico alemán estudió las realidades de la América hispánica del

siglo XIX. Esto es, aunque Humboldt las utiliza como material de base para

la elaboración de sus teorías cosmológicas, será siempre – ¿y cómo, en su

caso, podría ser de otro modo? – el pensamiento clásico europeo el factor

estructurante de toda su actividad de observación y comprensión. Se refirió

Michael Zeuske a un “abrir ventanas en los muros griegos de la estética

clásica;”22 mas estas aperturas que se entreabren a voluntad, no significan la

liberación absoluta del espíritu frente a realidades diferentes. Choca, en el

fondo, el espíritu, con esquemas esenciales. Tampoco Carpentier, Ortiz o

Lezama escapan a tales esquemas. Al contrario, su sujeción al pensamiento

clásico europeo exige de ellos que adapten al máximo, en los mínimos

detalles y hasta las últimas consecuencias, este pensamiento a la realidad

insular. Por eso, para ellos, el caos – real, insoslayable, irremediable – ha de

codificarse, comprenderse y convertirse, forzosamente, en germen de un

desarrollo posible. Si la imagen del porvenir americano que Humboldt alca-

nza a hacerse está construida según los patrones de la idea de nación europea

que él puede admirar, Ortiz, Lezama y Carpentier parten por su lado en

búsqueda de un concepto diferente de nación, en el que lo caótico propio de

su tierra y de su pueblo encuentre lógica cabida. Por eso no puede tampoco

excluírseles del clasicismo occidental, porque persiguen la comprensión

lógica del desorden, porque añoran el progreso, porque veneran la sacra

nación.

21. Lezama Lima, “Sucesiva o las coordenadas habaneras,”

Tratados en La Habana

, Op.

cit.,

p. 245.

22. Zeuske, Michael, Op. cit

111

CHAPTER 10The Scientist and the

Patrician: Reformism in Cuba

Alfonso W. Quiroz

The first sights of Havana allured the arriving explorer Alexander von Hum-

boldt, aboard a small sail ship, at the dawn of the nineteenth century. Culti-

vated gentle hills, besprinkled by majestic palm trees, and pleasant tropical

smells, heralded the full presence of the bay and its fortified city. Two stone

fortresses, facing each other across the bay's inlet, and an imposing fortified

castle on the rocky eastern shore, guarded the spacious harbor. The "Havan-

nah," one of America's busiest ports, was crowded with tall ships that formed

a forest of masts and sails at the shallow anchorage zone.1 A rowing boat took

the visitor from the moored ship to the customs landing point. From there he

would be driven in one of the city’s typical two-wheel horse carriage through

several intersections of narrow streets, and onto the most important public

square, the Plaza de Armas.

Protected by the venerable waterfront garrison of La Real Fuerza, the

Plaza de Armas was the center of the Spanish official dominion in the island

of Cuba. The Captain General, supreme military and political authority, gov-

erned from an arched stone palace of a solid late baroque style on the

square’s southern side. On the western side of the square stood the Post

Office (Casa de Correos) a model of balanced late baroque, almost neoclassi-

cal architecture and later also the site of the royal treasury accounting office

Alexander von Humboldt, Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of

the New Continent During the Years 1799-1804

, by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé

Bonpland, trans. from the French by Helen Maria Williams (London: Longman, Rees,

Brown & Green, 1826; reprint New York: AMS Press, 1966), vol. 6, part 2, 817, and vol. 7

(

Political Essay on the Island of Cuba

), 7-8. See also other subsequent editions, in English

and Spanish:

Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba

, trans. by J. B. de V. y M. [José López de

Bustamante] (Paris: Jules Renouard, 1827);

The Island of Cuba

, trans. and ed. by John S.

Trasher (New York: Derby & Jackson, 1856); Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba

(Havana: Cultural S.A., Colección de Libros Cubanos, 1930); Ensayo político sobre la Isla

de Cuba (Havana: Oficina del Historiador de la Ciudad de La Habana, 1959), 38-39;

Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba, ed. by Miguel Angel Puig-Samper, Consuelo Naranjo

Orovio, and Armando García González (Madrid: Ediciones Doce Calles, 1998), 107.

112 Culture and Society in the New World

(Intendencia de Hacienda). The building of the merchants’ and landowners’

guild and tribunal (Consulado) was situated on the square's eastern side.2

After his safe landing in Havana on December 19, 1800, Humboldt’s

impressions of the port and city moderated. Since he had left Coruña, Spain,

in June 1799, toward Venezuela on an adventurous voyage that braved storms

and war at sea, the specter of deadly tropical disease haunted Humboldt and

his traveling companion, Aimé Bonpland.3 In Havana, Humboldt noticed the

unhealthy, foul smelling, and often-unpaved and muddy conditions of the

city’s streets. The spontaneous sprout of populous suburbs, the arrabales,

outside the city walls compounded the effects of recurring epidemics of yel-

low fever (vómito negro), an often-fatal disease for Europeans and natives

inhabiting crowded coastal areas. Humboldt also described the most impor-

tant buildings in Havana’s main squares as “less remarkable for their beauty

than the solidity of their construction.”4

An important military presence was noticeable in Havana at the time. Out

of a total population of forty thousand people living within the walls of the

city, and an additional thirty or forty thousand housed in the suburbs, there

were approximately five or six thousand regular soldiers and militia volun-

teers sporting a motley collection of uniforms.5 The erection of the Plaza de

Armas’s main official buildings, under construction between 1773 and 1793,

was part of a larger military strategic design. The older garrisons and walls of

stone encircling Havana had been reinforced with new fortresses, at a consid-

erable expense, during the reign of the enlightened Bourbon Charles III

(1759-1788). The Spanish monarch was determined to protect the strategic

and valuable Spanish island colony against foreign invaders. The ten-month

long British occupation of Havana in 1762 had triggered a reaction by the

Spanish colonial masters who endeavored to improve the city's defenses,

trade, port facilities, and overall appearance. Under the administration of

Governor Felipe de Fondesviela, marqués de la Torre (1771-1776), the mili-

tary public works gained momentum. Military engineers were commissioned

2. Néstor Carbonell y Emeterio S. Santovenia, El Ayuntamiento de la Habana. Noviem-

bre 16 de 1519, Noviembre 15 de 1919. Reseña histórica (Habana: Imp. Seoane y Fernán-

dez, 1919), 105-106. Maria Sánchez Agusti, Edificios públicos de La Habana en el siglo

XVIII (Valladolid: Universidad de Valladolid, 1984), 43-52; 61; Juliet Barclay, Havana:

Portrait of a City (London: Cassell, 1993), 43-45.

3. Humboldt and Bonpland fell ill with high fever at the end of their exploration of th

Orinoco basin in Venezuela and before heading for Cuba on November 24, 1800: L. Kellner,

Alexander von Humboldt

(London: Oxford University Press, 1963), 50.

4. Humboldt,

Personal Narrative

, vol. 7, 9.

5. Allan J. Kuethe, Cuba, 1753-1815: Crown, Military, and Society (Knoxville: Univer-

sity of Tennessee Press, 1986), 141-146. Humboldt estimated 44,000 people living within

Havana’s walls and 44,000 more living in arrabales of Jesús María and La Salud. Accord-

ing to the 1792 census there were 51,307 inhabitants in “Habana y arrabales”; Ramón de

la Sagra,

Historia económico-política y estadística de la isla de Cuba o sea sus progresos

(Habana: Imp. Viudas de Arazoza y Soler, 1831), 4: But the census of 1774 informed a total

of 75,618 inhabitants, ibid., 3]

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 113

to erect the most important buildings including those that graced Havana's

main square of power.

The Prussian scientist of French Huguenot ancestry—one of the most

original and enlightened minds of his generation—was very well received in

Cuba by the colonial authorities, including the Captain General, and the Cre-

ole intellectual and social elite. Scientific expeditions were admired and

awaited with expectation and thirst for knowledge in the Spanish colonies.

Major Spanish scientific expeditions had achieved practical botanical, medi-

cal, and policy objectives—despite customary secrecy—since the 1730s.6

Humboldt’s scientific travel to several Spanish American colonies

between 1799 and 1804 took place, fortuitously, at the tail end of an era of

extensive colonial reforms, and a few years prior to the catastrophic loss of

most of the Spanish possessions in the Americas. French and Portuguese

authorities, suspecting covert spying motives, had hindered Humboldt’s pre-

vious projects to explore other parts of the colonized world. Spanish highest

authorities, on the contrary, facilitated Humboldt’s improvised expeditionary

plans to Spanish America. During a visit to Madrid in 1799, before launching

his private Spanish American expedition, Humboldt obtained official and pri-

vate references and permissions thanks to an active exchange with enlight-

ened court bureaucrats, diplomats, and scientists. These included the minister

of state Mariano Luis de Urquijo, and the Cuban-born aristocrat Gonzalo de

O'Farrill y Herrera, both renowned for their liberal views. Urquijo assisted

Humboldt in obtaining a personal interview with king Carlos IV (1788-

1808).7 The king granted Humboldt a vast royal endorsement that opened

many doors for Humboldt in Spanish America. Previous collaboration of the

Spanish crown and Madrid's scientific establishment with foreign European

6. Such were the cases of the expeditions of Jorge Juan and Antonio de Ulloa (1735-

1746), Spanish companions of the French scientific explorer Charles Marie La Condamine;

Hipólito Ruiz and José Antonio Pavón (1777-1788); José Celestino Mutis (1783); Martín

Sessé and José Mariano Mociño (1785-1803); Alejandro Malaspina (1789-1794); conde de

Mopox y Jaruco (1797), among others; as well as the 1803-1810 massive vaccinating expe-

ditionary campaigns that, under the direction of Francisco Javier Balmis and José Salvany

Lleopart, brought from Europe to Spanish America and the Philippines the first smallpox

vaccine serums (discovered by English physician Edward Jenner in 1798) in the blood sys-

tem of young orphans for arm to arm vaccination. In all there were approximately 44 scien-

tific-technological expeditions financed by the Spanish crown between 1735 and 1805. See

Iris H.W. Engstrand, Spanish Scientists in the

New World: The Eighteenth-Century Expedi-

tions

(Seattle: University of Washington Press, 1981), 3-6, 161-162; Rafael E. Tarragó,

"Sources About the Vaccination Expedition of Charles IV in the Andes: A Gesture of

Enlightened Despotism," 45th SALALM Conference (2000), and

The Scientific Expeditions

of the Spanish Bourbons and the Beginnings of Modern Science in Spanish America

; Arthur

P. Whitaker, ed., Latin America and the Enlightenment (New York: Appleton-Century,

1961), 12-17.

7. “Estudio introductorio,” in Humboldt,

Ensayo político

, ed. by Puig-Samper et al., 31-

32. See also Karl Bruhns, ed., Life of Alexander von Humboldt compiled in commemora-

tion of the centenary of his death, translated from the German by Jane and Caroline Las-

sell] (London: Longmans, Green, and Co., 1873), 245-246.

114 Culture and Society in the New World

scientists eased the granting of official support to Humboldt in Madrid and

the Spanish colonies. An overall liberal and enlightened climate in Madrid,

and among certain Creole circles in the colonies, contributed to the initial

success of Humboldt’s expedition.8

With characteristic energy and enthusiasm Humboldt engaged in diverse

scientific endeavors in Havana. His measuring instruments were housed at

the residence of the conde de O'Reilly. There he proceeded to establish the

exact longitude of Havana with the aid of Spanish Navy officers and other

local astronomers and scientists.9 Humboldt also made geographical mea-

surements in the nearby towns of Guanabacoa, Regla, and Bejucal. The busy

and militarized Havana contrasted with its beautiful agricultural and natural

hinterland much admired by Humboldt during his initial three-month stay in

Cuba.

Among the many prominent acquaintances he made in Havana, Humboldt

met landowner, statesman, and civilian patrician Francisco Arango y Parreño

(1765-1837). A mutual bond of respect and deference was soon established

between the two intellectuals. Both were in their early thirties when they first

met. Portraits show Arango as a grave, slender figure dressed in rigid dark

colors and official decorations, his short black hair carefully groomed for-

ward, exuding a stately confidence and pride. Whereas Arango’s gaze is

oblique but profound, the painted portraits of the handsome Humboldt depict

a playful and direct stare, an easy smile, carefree blond hair, a relaxed yet

assured pose, and a stylishly informal, light colored dressing.

Arango traveled with Humboldt to the valley of Güines, south east of

Havana, in a geological and botanical excursion. Arango hosted the scientist

in his modernized estate La Ninfa, a sugar mill complex with several hundred

slaves, in the irrigated lands of Güines.10 Together with Matanzas and Trin-

idad, east and southeast of Havana, Güines was the frontier of the growing

sugar economy. Other innovative landowners in the valley, the conde de

Mopox y Jaruco (owner of Río Blanco), Nicolás Calvo de la Puerta (La

Holanda), and the marqués del Real Socorro, also hosted and informed Hum-

8. See cases of Tadeo Hänke in the 1790s, Baron von Nordenflicht some years later, and

others: Arthur P. Whitaker, ed.

Latin America and the Enlightenment

(Ithaca: Cornell Uni-

versity Press, 1961), 15-16, 31; Engstrand, Spanish Scientists in the New World, 47-48; on

Humboldt's and other German scientific connections with the Real Gabinete de Historia

Natural and Jardin Botánico of Madrid, see “Estudio introductorio,” in Humboldt, Ensayo

político, ed. by Puig-Samper et al., 29-30; Bruhns, ed., Life of Humboldt, 246.

9. Fernando Ortiz, "Introducción bibliográfica al libro `Ensayo político sobre la isla de

Cuba' de Alejandro de Humboldt," Serie Histórica 7 (1969), 19 (based on the reliable

information of bibliographer Vidal Morales published in the magazine El Figaro in June

1897); Bruhns, ed. Life of Humboldt, 290.

10. Francisco Ponte Domínguez, Arango y Parreño, el estadista colonial (Havana: Ed.

Trópico), 154; José López Sánchez, Humboldt y su época. En homenaje al Bicentenario de

Alejandro de Humboldt (La Habana: Academica de Ciencias de Cuba, Museo Histórico de

las Ciencias "Carlos J. Finlay", 1969), 17-19.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 115

boldt and Bonpland.11 The expanding economic activities and sugar wealth in

Cuba stirred Humboldt to collect statistical information on Cuba’s popula-

tion, production, technology, and trade.

Humboldt, praised Arango for the reliable data he provided and qualified

him as the “wisest of statesmen” and “pure and judicious.”12 Humboldt also

commented that even though hospitality dwindles when civilization

advances, some of the modern landowners in Cuba still retained their hospi-

table largesse.13 The encounter between Humboldt, Arango and other sugar

mill owners, and their learned exchange concerning the agricultural and com-

mercial potential of Cuba, enhanced Humboldt's confidence on the island’s

cosmopolitan leadership and future. Also, the dialog between the European

scientist and Cuban thinkers of the stature of Francisco Arango y Parreño

unveiled to the world, through Humboldt’s own accounts of his travels and

studies, an original enlightened, liberal, and practical tradition in an island

better known for its strategic military importance. The level of education and

enlightenment in Havana around 1800 compared very favorably to other

intellectual centers in Spanish America. In general, Humboldt’s accounts of

the intellectual environment he encountered during his voyages refuted ear-

lier biases of French philosophes against Americans.14

On March 6, 1801, Humboldt and Bonpland left Havana, traveled for a

second time to Güines, embarked in the local port of Batabanó to explore the

sparsely inhabited southern coast of the island and its keys, and arrived to

Trinidad's port. From Trinidad they left Cuba on March 15, 1801, to continue

their exploration of South American and Mexican lands. Humboldt returned

to Havana only in April 1804. This time he stayed in the island for six weeks.

He retrieved his botanical collection and obtained additional statistical data

gathered for him by Arango and other officials. He also visited Güines for a

third time and was invited to present a short mineralogical study of Guanaba-

coa's highlands to Havana's learned society Sociedad Económica de Amigos

del País in which Arango occupied a distinguished leading position.15 After

11. Joaquín de Santa Cruz y Cárdenas, conde de Santa Cruz de Mopox y Jaruco y San Juan

de Jaruco (1769-1807) led a scientific botanical expedition, organized in Madrid, to Cuba

in 1797: Engstrand, Spanish Scientists in the New World, 161. Nicolás Calvo de la Puerta y

O’Farrill was the most scientifically learned, innovative, and experimental Creole owner at

the time, Miguel Angel Puig-Samper qne María Dolores González-Ripoll, “Criollismo y

ciencia ilustrada en Cuba,” in Científicos criollos e Ilustración, ed. by Diana Soto Arango

et al., 13-28 (Madrid: Ediciones Doce Calles, 1999), 20-21.

12. Humboldt, The Island of Cuba, 197, 214, quoted by William Whatley Pierson, "Fran-

cisco Arango y Parreño," Hispanic American Historical Review 16 (1936): 431-478; 452.

13. José López Sanchez, Humboldt y su época. En homenaje al Bicentenario de Alejandro

de Humboldt (La Habana: Academia de Ciencias de Cuba-Museo Historico de Ciencias

"Carlos J. Finlay", 1969), 14-20.

14. 2. See Cornelius de Pauw’s article “Amérique” in Supplement à lÉncyclopedie (Paris,

1776) and Récherches philosophiques sur les Americains (Berlin, 1768 and London, 1770)

[Reprint: Upple Saddle River, NJ: Gregg Press, 1968]. See also Antonello Gerbi, The Dis-

pute of the New World (Pittsburgh: Unversity of Pittsburgh Press, 1973).

116 Culture and Society in the New World

Humboldt left Cuba for the last time, he did not lose contact with Arango and

Cuban matters and issues.

Overshadowed by the stately Plaza de Armas, the less conspicuous Plaza

San Francisco was a busy space of trading activities. The sober early eigh-

teenth-century church of San Francisco commanded over the square's open

space often used as deposit area for merchandise. In an unpretentious two-

story building known as the house of Armona, overseeing the square and the

harbor, the city council had its official meetings until the council moved its

headquarters, in the 1790s, to the new Palacio de Gobierno.16 It is from this

council of native Creole power that early efforts at autonomous decision-

making pioneered the Cubans' secular task of finding effective ways, and

appropriate social bases, to govern themselves.

In 1788 the Havana city council had chosen a young legal expert, born in

Havana and member of a distinguished Creole family, don Francisco Arango

y Parreño, as its official legal representative (apoderado) in Madrid. With

this responsibility on his shoulders, Arango pursued a relentless civilian

quest for modernizing the economic and institutional foundations of Cuba.

Through remarkable individual efforts, driven by confidence in progress and

his commitment to defend the interests of Creole producers, he gained impor-

tant legal and economic policy victories. Arango y Parreño was a third gener-

ation descendant of elite immigrants from the regions of Navarre and

Asturias in Spain. The youngest and brightest of nine children in his family,

Francisco obtained the best education available in Havana at the time: sec-

ondary studies at the Seminary College of San Carlos and a degree of Bache-

lor in Civil Law from the University of Havana. To complete his professional

studies he went to Madrid where he graduated as a lawyer from the Real Aca-

demia de Santa Bárbara in 1789.

Even before obtaining his highest credentials in law, Arango acquired

useful experience in litigation. He developed a deft negotiating strategy

15. Alexander von Humboldt, "Noticia mineralógica del cerro de Guanabacoa," Havana, 7

April 1804, manuscript copy in Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País (31 April 1804),

published in Patriota Americano, vol. 2 (1812), 29, in Humboldt, Ensayo político, ed. by

Puig-Samper et al., 399-402. During his second visit to Cuba, Humboldt was invited by

Captain General Someruelos to carry out a discreet mineralogical study of the Cerro de

Guanabacoa dated 7 April 1804. Although Humboldt was not present, his paper was read

at the Sociedad Patriótica and its text copied to the minutes of the session of 13 April 1804,

Actas SEH, libro 3, pp. 122-125. Humboldt continued to have correspondence with the

Sociedad thereafter. When his book was sold in Havana, members present in the session of

14 February 1828 discussed “la venta pública que se hace en esta ciudad de la obra titu-

lada Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba por el barón de Humbolt [sic], considerándose

una y otra cosa como muy perjudiciales a la Isla,” Actas Educación, Libro 2 (1827-1840),

f. 19.

16. Manuel Pérez-Beato,

Habana antigua. Apuntes históricos

. Tomo I: Toponimia

(Habana: Seoane, Fernández y Cia., 1936), 335-336; José María de la Torre, Lo que fuimos

y lo que somos o la Habana antigua y moderna (Habana: Imprenta de Spencer y Cia.,

1857), 170.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 117

coated with learned politeness. A peculiar personal trait—his resolute mod-

ern convictions—often positioned him at odds with the societal and family

customs and traditions of his time. In 1786 his influential uncle, the grave Dr.

Manuel Felipe Arango, designated Francisco, his favorite and youngest

nephew, as ultimate inheritor of the honorary distinction of Havana's council

standard-bearer (alferez) but only if he married señorita Dionisia de Palacios.

Francisco, lacking amorous feelings for Dionisia, never fulfilled his uncle’s

wish.17 Instead he married, later in life (1817), young Rita Quesada y Vial, the

Chilean-born daughter of general Francisco Quesada y Silva, conde de Dona-

dio, and had five children with her.18 Having failed to comply with his uncle's

will, the municipal honorary distinction—held officially by Francisco from

1803 until his death in 1837—was transferred to his eldest brothers and their

successors in accordance to a fair and generous family agreement forged by

Francisco.19 Paradoxically, Arango believed that honors should be acquired

by merit rather than privilege.20

Although Francisco's father, Miguel Ciriaco Arango, brothers and rela-

tives, and the most conspicuous fellow elite members of his time, served in

the regular veteran and militia armed forces and obtained prestigious military

honors and posts, Francisco, like a growing number of young men of his gen-

eration, did not follow a military career. Moreover, in 1835 he politely

declined a royal invitation to complete the requirements to fund a nobility

title, marqués de la Gratitud, proposed by Havana's city council on behalf of

his life-long services. In thus refusing the royal favor he argued, among other

excuses, lack of personal properties.21

Arango was a man of the Spanish Enlightenment. He strove for rational

civilian progress, inspired by the novel ideas of free trade developed by the

Scottish economist Adam Smith.22 As a precursor of liberal economic policy

17. Further information on Dionisia Palacios is scant. In 1834 Dionisia was still single

and living in Havana, according to a legal request filed against a landowner who owed Dio-

nisia and her sister interest payments on a lien of 2,600 pesos charging his property in

Güines, “Da. Dionicia y Da. Ma. Dolores Palacios [de Millet] contra D. Santiago Satre

sobre pesos,” Habana, 23 Aug. 1834, ANC, Escribanías (Escribanía de Guerra), año 1834,

leg. 89, exp. 1446.

18. Soon after marrying Rita, Arango described her as “mi pacosica y excelente com-

pañerita. He encontrado hasta ahora más de lo que en ella busqué, que no fue carne por

cierto sino virtudes y discreción,” Arango to José Ignacio Echegoyen, Madrid, 22 enero

1817, copy in “Dn Francisco de Arango y Parreño con Dn. Ignacio Echegoyen sobre un

compromiso celebrado para calificar ciertas cuentas,” ANC, Escribanías, Escribanía de

Gobierno, año 1818-1822, leg. 195, exp. 11.

19. "Partida de entierro [de españoles] de Francisco Arango y Parreño," (copy) 22 March

1837, Ultramar-Cuba-Gracia y Justicia, leg. 1626(2), exp. 15, ff. 1-1v, AHN; "Convenio

entre hermanos (Antonio, Ignacio, Ciriaco y Francisco Arango y Parreño)," (copy) 1 Aug.

1803, ibid., ff. 9-10; Ponte, Arango, 19, 170-171.

20. Anastasio Carrillo y Arango, “Elogio histórico de excelentísimo Sr. D. Francisco de

Arango y Parreño ... por encargo de la Sociedad Patriótica de la Habana,” (1837) in

Fran-

cisco Arango y Parreño, Obras de don Francisco Arango y Pareño

, 2 vols. (Havana: Ministe-

rio de Educación, 1952), vol. 1, 34.

118 Culture and Society in the New World

in the Spanish American colonies, Arango criticized the mercantilist and bul-

lionist foundations of the Spanish Empire that privileged the extraction of sil-

ver from the colonies. Colonial agricultural and industrial production needed

promotion. For Cuba, the production and commercialization of sugar,

tobacco, cattle byproducts, and brandies claimed encouragement and free-

dom from monopolies, excessive taxation, and monetary and labor con-

straints. Trade with different markets, especially that of the United States,

and not only with the Spanish metropolis, had to be pursued.23 This modern-

izing project took form quite early in Arango's public career and was system-

atized in his essays and official petitions between 1789 and 1792.24

Humboldt, true to his liberal economic views, agreed with the economic prin-

ciples that inspired Arango and, like other foreign observers of the time,

praised the effects of economic reform in Cuba.

Arango envisioned the historical opportunity opened to Cuba in the latter

part of the eighteenth century. Before the costly wars with England in 1796

and 1805, the Spanish Crown had sought to centralize and improve the col-

lection of colonial revenues with certain success. This financial Bourbon

reform was the most effective compared to other attempts at rationalizing and

updating the imperial system in Spanish America.

Arango's strategy to obtain royal concessions incorporated the argument

that promoting Cuban trade was convenient for the Spanish treasury’s

income. Concurrently Arango made special donations, services, and favors to

the metropolitan government.25 The destruction brought about by revolution

21. “Exposición a la Reina sobre las diligencias que se mandaron practicar para la conc-

esión de un título de Castilla,” Havana, 9 July 1835, Arango, Obras, vol. 2, 655-657.

Adverse personal financial circumstances had almost forced the sale of Arango’s beloved

estate

La Ninfa

in the 1820s. Forty four years after Arango’s refusal his widow, Rita Que-

sada, recovered the pending title for her grandson, Domingo Arango y Herrera, citing the

grandson's improved fortune, “Expediente promovido por Da. Rita de Quesada en rec-

lamación de título de marqués de la Gratitud,” 20 Aug. 1879, Ultramar-Cuba-Gracia y Jus-

ticia, leg. 5851, exp. 28, docs. 1, 2.

22. Ramiro Guerra, prologue to Arango,

Obras

, vol. 1, 11-23; Anastasio Carrillo y Arango,

Elogio histórico del excelentísimo Sr. D. Francisco de Arango y Parreño ... por encargo de la

Sociedad Patriótica de La Habana,

ibid., 25-73 (first published, Madrid: Imp. de Manuel

Galiano, 1862); Pierson, "Arango y Parreño,” 451-478, mentions also the early influence of

Antonio Genovesi (1712-1769) on Arango's economic thought; Ponte Arango Parreño; a

Spanish translation of Adam Smith's

Wealth of Nations

(1776) was published in Madrid in

the 1780s (?), see Whitaker, ed., Latin America and the Enlightenment, 17.

23. “Instrucción que se formó D. Francisco de Arango cuando se entregó de los poderes

de la Habana y papeles del asunto;” and “Primer papel sobre el comercio de negros,” in

Francisco Arango y Parreño, Obras del Excmo. Señor D. Francisco de Arango y Parreño

(Havana: Imprenta de Howson y Heinen, 1888), vol. 1, 3-13.

24. “Primer papel sobre el comercio de negros” (Madrid, 1789); “Discurso sobre la agri-

cultura de la Habana y medios de fomentarla” (Madrid, 1792), in Arango, Obras (1930),

vol. 1, 79-84, 114-162.

25. 5. Regencia del Reino to don Francisco de Arango, Cádiz 29 April 1813: “sobre la

oferta que hizo de 400 barriles de aguardiente de caña para socorrer a los valientes defen-

sores de la libertad e independencia nacional … rasgo generosos de patriotismo,” ANC,

Asuntos Políticos, leg. 14, year 1813, no. 24.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 119

in the French colony of Saint Domingue (Haiti) also prompted Arango to

push for a technological overhaul of Cuba’s sugar industry under the spur of

favorable sugar prices. He also pressed for incentives that could attract the

capital and technical know-how fleeing from the French colony.26 Humboldt

noted the benefits of technology and French immigration by 1800.

Through his official dealings Arango obtained important official conces-

sions for the Cuban elite during his official representation in Madrid between

1788 and 1794. These concessions included a 1794 royal decree authorizing

the establishment of a merchant and agricultural guild and tribunal—

Havana's Consulado de Agricultura y Comercio—of which he was named

perpetual syndic (síndico perpetuo). Arango also planned and was granted

permission to carry out an elaborate trip of pragmatic investigation, accom-

panied by the Cuban count of Casa Montalvo, that led them to Cádiz, Portu-

gal, England, Barbados, and Jamaica on his way back to Cuba in 1794.

The exploratory trip in search of leading-edge technology and productive

techniques lasted nearly 11 months. Arango's itinerary and activities during

the trip showed his eagerness to get acquainted with the most advanced ideas

on political economy, colonial administration, and technology of the time

with special emphasis on the sugar industry. In London and Jamaica, posing

relevant questions, he learned first hand the working of English commercial,

economic, technical, and legal innovations, and slave trading interests.

Reaching the southern coasts of Cuba the ship carrying Arango and Montalvo

foundered and almost caused the drowning of the inquisitive travelers.

Important samples, instruments, and experimental machines collected during

the trip were lost. However, Arango’s technical and organizational advice,

resulting from his research in the British and French Caribbean colonies, con-

tributed to seminal technical experimentation and the reorganization of the

Cuban sugar economy. Humboldt witnessed and praised such improvements

and added some technical contributions of his own for a more efficient use of

fuel.

Arango’s personal business and legal practice in Cuba advanced consider-

ably since the 1790s. He represented local landowners and his family in legal

disputes over land boundaries, debts, and honorary distinctions before

Havana's notaries and the court of Santo Domingo.27 His own landed property

increased through family inheritance, professional income, and business

profits. He inherited the sugar mill (ingenio) El Retiro, near Regla and

Havana, and its slaves, owned by his father Miguel Ciriaco since at least

26. Describe technical changes.

27. In 1786 Arango defended his family's right over the post of alférez real of the

Havana's city council before the Audiencia of Santo Domingo. See also “Dor. Dn. Carlos

del Rey y Dn. Francisco de Arango y Parreño sobre medida y deslinde de la Hacienda

Guanacaje,” ANC, Escribanías, Escribanía de Gobierno, año 1801, leg. 127, exp. 10.

120 Culture and Society in the New World

1769.28 Arango’s major investment was, however, in the state-of-the-art sugar

mill complex La Ninfa in the province of Güines. After purchasing this prop-

erty in 1795, Arango intended it to be a showcase of technical improvement.

Irrigation works were upgraded and more slaves bought. This property had

approximately 30 caballerías of land producing around 40,000 arrobas of

sugar mascavado and 500 barrels (pipas) of brandy (aguardiente refino) per

year, a network of irrigation channels, a sugar mill with steam engines, a cof-

fee grove, 300 slaves, and plots to produce food crops for the slaves. It was

valued at 450,000 pesos.29 Humboldt visited this and other innovative estates

and based part of his study of sugar production in Cuba upon this field expe-

rience in Güines.

Arango’s economic and official activities have overshadowed his civic

efforts at expanding and enriching Cuba’s social organization and civiliza-

tion. In collaboration with reformist colonial authorities Arango contributed

to the formation of the first significant associations, publications, and orga-

nized currents of opinion in Havana. Before 1790 the levels of culture and

civility in Cuba were low. Customs were “relaxed,” card games, the passion

of common citizens as dominant, officials were customarily corrupt and rent-

seekers, and the clergy lazy. There were no newspapers except the official

government gazette, no libraries, and basic educational institutions were very

scarce.30 An embryo of Cuban civil society was encompassing wider sectors

of the urban population. A growing public space for cultural and political

negotiation and bargaining in this Caribbean hub of international exchanges,

contributed decisively to preserve the island from the social and political

instability rampant in the rest of Spanish America throughout the first half of

the nineteenth century.31

To accomplish his modernizing and stability-searching goals and personal

objectives Arango got deeply involved in the murky waters of colonial poli-

tics during a crucial historical period. At his return to Cuba in 1795, after

28. “Dn. Juan Bosmeniel con Dn. Miguel Ciriaco Arango sobre deslinde,” ANC, Escriba-

nias, Escribania de Antonio Daumy, año 1769, leg. 855, exp. 12. Miguel Ciriaco had legal

disputes over the property and boundaries of this estate.

29. José Ignacio Echegoyen to Captain General, Havana 21 Sept. 1819, in “Dn Francisco

de Arango y Parreño con Dn Ignacio Echegoyen sobre un compromiso celebrado para cali-

ficar ciertas cuentas,” ANC, Escribanías, Escribanía de Gobierno, año 1818-1822, leg.

195, exp. 11, ff. 128-133. Investment in “La Ninfa” was possible by earlier profits in a

business partnership with count Mopox y Jaruco for the importation of wheat from the

U.S.A.; Ponte, Arango, 131.

30. Antonio Bachiller Morales, Apuntes para la historia de las letras y de la instrucción

pública en la isla de Cuba (Havana, 1861), vol. 3, 5, cited by Ponte, Arango, 37-38.

31. Consider argument by Jorge I. Domínguez,

Insurrection or Loyalty: The Breakdown of

the Spanish American Empire

(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1980), 254-

255. Examples of associative advances in this period: Sociedad Economica, masonry, other

cultural and educational associations; cultural contests; Papel Periodico, currents of opin-

ion; Beneficencia Publica, charity, philantropists. Academia Cubana de Literatura. Junta

de Fomento, education.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 121

serving efficaciously in Madrid as Havana’s council legal representative, he

joined the efforts by the enlightened and singular Captain General Luis de las

Casas (1790-1796)—kin of one of the richest Creole families and owner of a

sugar mill in Güines presented to him by the grateful Creole elite—towards

essential changes in the Cuban economy and society.32 As syndic of the Con-

sulado, Arango distinguished himself as a guide of the fledgling merchant-

planter guild that was opposed by entrenched merchant interests of the

monopolistic consulados of Cádiz, Barcelona, Mexico City, and Veracruz.

Arango clearly led the new enterprising faction of the Havana elite

increasingly involved in the production and exportation of sugar. Soon, how-

ever, Arango encountered local opposition in Cuba from high ranking corrupt

bureaucrats, judges, and the militaristic older elite. Arango’s official inspec-

tion of the official tobacco manufacturing monopoly and the resulting liberal

report recommending its extinction (1804-1806) and, later, his reformist and

moralizing policies toward the accounting office (Hacienda, 1824-1825),

caused alarm among corrupt peninsular bureaucrats.33 In 1806 authorities in

Madrid received nasty reports against Arango from the official head of the

tobacco monopoly, Rafael Gómez Roubaud.34 Also, Spain’s dominant minis-

ter, Manuel Godoy, Príncipe de la Paz, disliked Arango's reformist proposals

due to his personal interests in receiving a percentage of the taxes on Cuban

trade.35

In 1808 the capture of Ferdinand VII and his deposed father Charles IV

by Napoleon unleashed a calamitous political confusion that led to the forma-

tion of local self-government assemblies (juntas) in Spanish America and

Spain. Arango, with the knowledge and approval of Captain General marqués

de Someruelos, had a leading role in one such type of movement toward

founding a Junta Superior de Gobierno in Havana, on 22-27 July, 1808, to

govern locally until the legitimate monarch was restored in Spain. This action

caused him some official trouble. The Junta movement failed because

Arango, acting as the city council’s standard-bearer (alferez) prior to a coun-

cil’s meeting, considered that not enough neighbors of Havana had signed the

petition for a Junta presented to the city council. Arango opined that without

at least 200 signatures no further step toward the formation of the junta

32. Hugh Thomas,

Cuba or the Pursuit of Freedom

(New York: Da Capo Press, 1998), 72-

75; Manuel Moreno Fraginals, El Ingenio, 12-13.

33. “Informe ... al Sr. D. Rafael Gómez Roubaud, Superintendente Director General de

Tabacos en la isla de Cuba, sobre los males y remedios que en ella tiene este ramo,”

Arango,

Obras,

vol. 1, 388-492. On rivalry between Gómez Roubaud and Arango y Parreño

in 1810-1811, see BNJM, C.M. Morales, vol. 79, nos. 109-142, including Suplemento al

Diario de La Habana, no. 700.

34. Pierson, “Arango y Parreño,” 473-474, based on AGI, Ultramar, leg. 175, no. 738

(Gómez Roubaud to Soler).

35. Ibid., 473, note 34; Carrillo y Arango, “Elogio Histórico,” 44, note 7; Ponte, Arango y

Parreño, 168-169, 178, 188.

122 Culture and Society in the New World

should be taken. Only 72 notable Havana neighbors had signed the petition.36

After this incident Arango was stood against the radical independence from

Spain. Arango's participation in this affair was considered illegal by his

opponents who conspired, in 1812, against Arango's selection to represent

Cuba in the Cortes of Cadiz.37

Modernization with stability, two often-contradictory objectives, occu-

pied the attention of moderate enlightened thinkers such as Arango. As long

as there were liberties for individuals, Arango believed, formal independence

was of little importance.38 In a time when radical options often meant

extremely costly wars and destruction, reformers preferred a constitutional

monarchy as an alternative to brutal civil war and absolute military power.

Arango struggled all his life for the improvement of Cuba's rights but within

a Spanish monarchy that could have developed into a modern constitutional

monarchy. These were political objectives not too far removed from those of

European enlightened moderates.39

Once the charges of Arango were dismissed he traveled, despite a diges-

tive illness, to Spain in 1813. Pressing Cuban interests against the abolition

of slavery and for freer trade demanded his presence in Cadiz. Arango

opposed a proposal aimed at the emancipation of slaves in Spain and all its

colonies led by the Spanish delegates Canga Argüelles and Guiridi Alcocer.

However, the Cortes’s constitution of 1812, projects, and measures were

undone by the restoration of Ferdinand VII in 1815. Arango with new tasks

to lobby before the court in Madrid remained in Spain until January 1818.

During his absence from Cuba between 1813 and 1818, Arango left the

administration of his properties in Güines to his friend Juan Ignacio Eche-

goyen. Echegoyen had the difficult task of dealing with La Ninfa’s production

and its creditors, as well as handling the delivery and sale of its products.

Arango paid for his expenses in Spain from the product of shipments of

brandy to La Coruña and Santander arranged by Echegoyen. Arango criti-

cized and distrusted the merchants of Cadiz who he described as “unos moros

con peluca que solo con la muleta del monopolio saben andar o moverse.”40

Arango’s family in Havana also received income from his properties. More-

36. “Certificación de testimonio del acuerdo del Ayuntamiento celebrado en [22] de julio

de [1808] y asistentes al del [27]”; “La petición original de los 73 [sic] vecinos sobre Junta

su fecha 26 de julio 1808,” BNJM, C.M. Morales, vol. 78, nos. 1-3.

37. In 1812 the conde Casa Barreto, in probable concert with deposed superintendente

Gómez Roubaud, accused the junta movement and especially Arango y Parreño and former

mayor Andrés de Jáuregui, for the movement's “ilegalidad por trastornar la forma de gobi-

erno y las fatales consecuencias que podía producir, ya por el riesgo de una separación de

la Metrópoli, y ya por una resolucion del pueblo quien trnaquilo entonces iba a despertar,”

ibid. no. 9.

38. Ponte, Arango, 274.

39. See for example David Hume, History of England.

40. Arango to Echegoyen, Chiclana 11 Feb. 1814, ANC, Escribanías, Escribanía de Gobi-

erno, año 1818-1822, leg. 195, exp. 11, ff. 63-67v.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 123

over, Arango entrusted Echegoyen the construction of a schoolhouse he

intended to donate to the town of Güines.41 Arango’s commercial creditors

and consignors (Drake, slave traders Hernández & Chaviteau, Inglada &

Echendia, Ferrer, Lombillo) in Cuba took advantage of Arango’s absence to

alter customary exchange commissions and conditions in the sale of Arango’s

sugar and coffee in the U.S.A. and Europe. Increasing debts and problems

with the U.S. market (embargo) in 1814, placed Arango in increasing finan-

cial difficulties. By 1819 La Ninfa had accumulated such sizable commercial

and internal administrative debts that almost forced its sale.

During his long sojourn in Spain Arango continued lobbying for more lib-

eral trade conditions for goods and slaves, tobacco production, property

rights of land, and public education, among many other issues.42 Arango

influenced in the decision to establish the Junta de Fomento, a local govern-

ment institution planned to foster productive industries and education in

Cuba.43 In 1818, Arango’s greatest victory, the introduction of free trade with

any nation, was implemented. In 1819, after years of dispute concerning land

titles and property rights over traditional land concessions (mercedes), a royal

decree officially recognized thousands of Cuban subjects as small and

medium landowners. Arango, the Junta de Fomento, the merchant guild, and

the new elite of sugar planters played an important role in the legal struggle

for modernized property rights against official restrictions to the cutting of

trees and transformation of rural properties.

The leverage obtained by the Cuban-born in matters of land property in

the island was counterbalanced, however, by their credit dependence on

mostly peninsular and foreign merchants, agents, and moneylenders.44 In

time landowners felt the credit pinch. Arango’s own business dreams suf-

fered a rude awakening in 1818. After bad harvests and sugar market prob-

lems his agent, José Ignacio Echegoyen, presented him with a hefty bill for

41. Arango to Echegoyen, Chiclana 20 Feb. 1814, ibid., ff. 67v-68. The total cost of the

school house in Güines was 15,000 pesos. Arango instructed that a marble stone should be

place on top of the school entrance with the inscription “Escuela gratuita de primeras

letras/ Establecida en 1814/ Por Dn. Franco. Arango y Parreño.” The school was finished

in 1817.

42. Arango to Echegoyen, Madrid 14 July 1815, ibid. ff. 85-87v: “Permanezco aqui por

que no debo abandonar en este momento el negocio de negros en todas sus relaciones, el de

comercio extranjero, el de tierras, el de educación, y otros no menos graves e interesantes a

nuestro país a quien debo hacer este último sacrificio: sin descuidar entre tanto los medios

de proveerte de negros y otros auxilios.”

43. The Lancasterian educational project Arango pressed for Cuba stalled because of

preference in Madrid and Havana for religious education: “El plan de estudios de que me

ocupaba y te hablé no puede tener efecto por el deceo que aquí hay de restablecer los Jesu-

itas, y la pretensión que ha hecho ese Ayuntamiento [de La Habana] para que se les remi-

tan allá,” Arango a Echegoyen, Madrid 5 Jan. 1816, ff. 87v-91.

44. Duvon C. Cornbitt, “Mercedes and Realengos: A Survey of the Public Land System in

Cuba,” Hispanic American Historical Review 19 (1939): 263-285;

Francisco Pérez de la

Riva, Origen y régimen de la propiedad territorial en Cuba

(Habana: Imp. “El Siglo XX”-

Academia de la Historia, 1946), 7-8, 139-153.

124 Culture and Society in the New World

administrative fees (70,000 pesos) and debts outstanding (62,000 pesos) that

led to a long judicial process.45 To repay debts Arango considered in 1821-

1823 putting his properties up for sale but could not find buyers.46

Enhanced trade, encouraged by official liberal concessions, and its coun-

terpart, intensified slavery, promoted by Arango and the sugar landowners to

solve a serious labor scarcity in Cuba, had contradictory effects on the Cuban

economy and society. Since the 1790s new business opportunities had

attracted Spanish and other European and North American merchants, ship-

pers, slave traders, capitalists, moneylenders, speculators and adventurers to

the island. Steam engines, tools and inputs, and qualified operators from

abroad contributed to the technological transformation of sugar plantations.

Imported jerked beef, rice and beans, and cheap clothes improved somewhat

the meager living conditions of slaves. Imported wheat and finer food and

spirits, quality clothes, and other luxury imports changed the outer appear-

ance and consuming habits of urban colored freedmen, artisans, middle

classes, and elite men and women. Liberal and enlightened ideas spread

among educated Cubans.

Slavery and the slave trade, however, stood as a thorn at the side of

Arango’s modernizing project and quest. As a sugar producer and landowner

Arango had considered mainly the economic advantage of slavery for Cuba.

He despised the slave trade but struggled to maintain it long enough to supply

Cuba with badly needed slaves.47 He favored humane treatment of slaves,

exaggerated the Spanish customs of treating slaves more kindly than in the

French or British colonies, and pressed for legislation protecting slaves

against abuses. He treated his own slaves with concern and paternalism.48

Only later in his life he began to reconsider the social and cultural conse-

quences of slavery. Eventually he proposed the gradual abolition of slavery

and promoted white immigration from Spain to address the problem of labor

scarcity in Cuba. He also urged for the education of the black population,

45. “Dn Francisco de Arango y Parreño con Dn [José] Ignacio Echegoyen sobre un com-

promiso celebrado para califica ciertas cuentas,” ANC, Escribanías, Escribanía de Gobi-

erno, año 1818-1822, leg. 195, exp. 11.

46. Ponte, Arango, 269-270. Arango tried to sale most of his properties in 1821-1823 but

did not find purchasers. He was able to sell his cafetal Valiente to several small owners,

including a free black (Matías Campos) by installments that were not paid on time prompt-

ing Arango to sue his debtors: “El Exmo. Sr. D. Francisco de Arango y Parreño contra Da.

Maria de Regla de la Calle sobre cobro de 1,044 ps.” Havana, 16 July 1826, ANC, Escrib-

anías, año 1826, leg. 849, exp. 15696.

47. “Por pura curiosidad te pregunté las resultas de esa expeculación; pero ni quería ni

quiero ser comerciante de carne humana,” Arango to Echegoyen, 22 Jan. 1817, ANC,

Escribanías, año 1818-1822, leg. 195, exp. 11, f. 94v. See also Arango,

Obras

, vol. 1; vol.

48. “Aquí tengo ya trescientos sombreros para los negros y allá fueron sesenta docena de

platos para que unos y otros se los hagas repartir en mi nombre. Que sepan que acá tam-

bién los tengo presentes,” Arango to Echegoyen, Cadiz 8 October 1813, ANC, leg. 195,

exp. 11, f. 63.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 125

much neglected in the island, despite a prevalent mean-spirited attitude—

even among Arango’s conspicuous relatives such as Anastasio Carrillo

Arango—against free people of color in the 1820s. The slave trade had been

officially abolished in Cuba in 1820 by effect of an 1817 treaty between the

government of Spain and England. However, illegally introduced slaves con-

tinued to arrive in larger and larger quantities as a result of an increasing

demand by sugar growers in Cuba.

Humboldt’s Essai politique sur l'Ile de Cuba can be read, in parts, as a

debate between the Prussian scientist and Arango over the issue of slavery.

An early and brief version of this essay was first published in French in

1807.49 An updated and expanded edition of the essay was printed in the

1820s and soon translated to Spanish and English.50 In this political economic

study Humboldt condemned the institution of slavery in Cuba and the rest of

the Caribbean. Humboldt’s objective data and his detached liberal stance

allowed him to write, in Arango’s spirit, optimistically about the future of

Cuba. But progress in Cuba, according to Humboldt, was contingent to the

introduction of necessary reforms he believed prominent Cuban leaders like

Arango were contemplating. Among these reforms—Humboldt firmly

averred—the most urgent was the extinction of slavery, a serious obstacle to

the peaceful evolution of Cuban civil society.

When the Spanish translation of Humboldt’s work arrived to Cuba for the

first time in 1827, distinguished members of Havana’s city council took mea-

sures to limit its circulation. The alleged reason for this action was its nega-

tive perspective on slavery.51 The rounding-up of approximately two hundred

brand new copies of the essay did not impede Arango to carefully read Hum-

boldt’s work and respond to it with written comments that revealed the basic

difference between the two thinkers with regards to slavery at a mature stage

of Arango’s stance on the issue. Humboldt emphasized a peaceful solution to

the problem of slavery through gradual but effective legislation that would

increase the number of slaves obtaining their freedom. He agreed in part with

Arango that slaves probably had some minor legal rights in Cuba (such as

more possibilities for purchasing their liberty and to request a new owner if

mistreated) inexistent in other parts of the Caribbean. But Humboldt pointed

out that comparisons between more or less “humane” attitudes in different

so-called civilized societies missed the fundamental point of the human right

to freedom. Arango felt personally addressed by Humboldt’s latter argument

and found it necessary to rectify that he never intended to justify slavery in

49. 6. Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland,

Voyage aux regions équinoxiales du

Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799, 1801, 1803 et 1804

(Paris: Schell, Dufour, Maze et Gide,

1807).

50. An expanded and updated French edition was published in 1826; its Spanish and

English versions appeared, respectively, in 1827 and 1829.

51. 8. Puig et al, “Estudio introductorio” in Humboldt,

Ensayo político

(1998), 91-92.

126 Culture and Society in the New World

Cuba through such interested comparisons. Arango felt frustrated in his long

struggle to enact a code of law regulating more precisely the rights of slaves

against abuses that were very difficult to police.

Moreover, Humboldt tried to prove through statistical estimates that Cuba

could afford the abolition of slavery—through an effective ban of the slave

trade that would reduce considerable financial costs due to the inflationary

effects of the illegal slave trade—without losing economic momentum.

Arango shared Humboldt’s condemnation of the shameless illegal slave

trade, the “abominable trade,” and accepted the fact of increasing profitabil-

ity of technologically modernized sugar estates and mills in the 1820s with

smaller number of slaves, and the advantages of cheap free labor. Arango,

however, did not disagree with Humboldt’s assertion that the problem of sla-

very in Cuba and the Caribbean:

no podrá conseguirse por medios pacíficos, si[n] la participación de las

autoridades locales, sean congresos coloniales, sean reuniones de propietarios

designados con nombres menos temidos por las antiguas metropolis … En los

países de esclavos donde el hábito de mucho tiempo inclina a legitimar las

instituciones más contrarias a la justicia, no se puede contar con la influencia

de los conocimientos, del cultivo de la razón, de la dulcificación de las cos-

tumbres, sino en cuanto todos estos bienes aceleran el impulso dado por los

gobiernos, y facilitan la ejecución de las medidas que una vez se adoptan. Sin

esta acción directora de los gobiernos y de las legislaturas no se debe esperar

una mudanza pacífica.52

A final parallel between Humboldt and Arango and their legacy is fitting.

Both were enlightened, moderate liberals, and interested in economic and

political economic matters. Both had traveled to explore (Humboldt scientifi-

cally; Arango seeking technological and economic methods of modern agri-

cultural production). They crossed each other’s paths in Havana and Güines.

They were both optimistic about reform, progress, and the economic poten-

tial of Cuba. However there was a fundamental difference with regards to

their particular views on slavery. Humboldt thought it necessary to directly

abolish slavery through peaceful and legal means. Arango was eclectic about

this matter: initially he sought to improve the condition of slaves while seek-

ing to extend slavery in Cuba. Arango had extended family connections and

sugar planting interests to take care of. Both Humboldt and Arango faced

toward the end of their lives the regression of liberal conditions and militari-

zation in their own lands. Both, however, contributed to the foundation of a

reformist liberal tradition, unique in Spanish America, which through succes-

sive reformist intellectuals and leaders addressed thereafter in the most ratio-

nal ways, despite irrational opposition, the fundamental problems of colonial

52. 9. Humboldt,

Ensayo político

(1998), 310-311.

The Scientist and the Patrician: Reformism in Cuba 127

Cuba. This was an enlightened collaboration between a scientist and a civil-

ian patrician of great significance for Cuba in the threshold of its modern

economic and social transformation.

129

CHAPTER 11 Celebrity in American

Society and Science

Michael F. Conlin

The publication of Alexander von Humboldt’s first volume of Cosmos in

1845 began the remarkable transformation of the Prussian scientist and

explorer from a respected naturalist to celebrity intellectual, or in contempo-

rary parlance, a public intellectual. In the minds of most antebellum Ameri-

cans, Humboldt embodied the prestige of European science. Though not a

discoverer or a theoretician, Humboldt was the most influential scientist of

the period, at least to laypeople. Humboldt’s reputation as an explorer, scien-

tist, and international ambassador of goodwill appealed to free Americans of

all walks of life, from mechanics to aspiring scientists and from men of let-

ters to cotton planters. In the 1840s and 1850s, American newspapers care-

fully followed Humboldt, keeping their readers informed of the great

philosopher’s health and activities. At the same time, the American public

frequently compared scientists in the United States with Humboldt (and the

Americans did not always measure up). Of course, Humboldt also had great

influence on the American scientific community. Meeting Humboldt became

a rite of passage for prominent Americans visiting Europe, especially for

aspiring scientists in pursuit of advanced degrees. Even distinguished scien-

tists sought Humboldt’s endorsement so that their work would be illuminated

in his reflected glory.

In the 1840s and 1850s, Humboldt was a scientific celebrity in the United

States, so much so that American newspapers and periodicals recorded his

every move, translating his letters, commenting on his health, and swelling

with pride when he endorsed any aspect of American science or culture. It

would be difficult to overstate the praise lavished on Humboldt by American

newspapers and periodicals. “Alexander von Humboldt,” Frank Leslie’s

Illustrated Newspaper of November 21, 1857 breathlessly observed, “occu-

pies, by universal consent, the foremost place in the intellectual and scientific

130 Culture and Society in the New

world.” The January 1858 volume of Emerson’s Magazine agreed: “No man

has, perhaps, ever during his lifetime enjoyed, in the degree that M. Hum-

boldt has the esteem and admiration of his age.” Humboldt’s celebrity was

confirmed after his death on May 6, 1859. The Boston Daily Advertiser of

June 11, 1859 eulogized him by declaring that “the first half of the nineteenth

century” was the “Age of Humboldt.”

In the 1840s and 1850s, American editors described Humboldt in a short-

hand that revealed his ubiquitous celebrity: the New Orleans Picayune of

November 20, 1849 simply referred to the “celebrated Prussian philosopher,”

the Charleston Mercury of May 21, 1853 to the “veteran physicist” [sic] and

Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of January 29, 1859 to the “venerable

naturalist.” Despite the fact that Humboldt spent most of his time in Berlin so

that his travels in the antebellum era were literary more than corporeal, the

Boston Evening Gazette of May 21, 1850 asserted in matter-of-fact fashion

that “Humboldt is a great attraction wherever he goes.”

Of course, it was the publication of Cosmos and its translation into

English that first brought Humboldt to the attention of antebellum Ameri-

cans. The reviewer for the Louisville Courier of March 29, 1850 heralded

Cosmos as “having no rival in any language” and deserving a place in “every

respectable library in the world.” The Louisville Courier recommended Cos-

mos “to all who love science, or who feel an interest in a physical description

of the Universe.” Many Americans, including Senator Daniel Webster took

that reviewer’s advice. Cosmos was one of the Massachusetts Whig’s favorite

works. (Peterson 1987: 401)

The important elements in Humboldt’s celebrity status as reported by

American newspapers and periodicals, included his erudition, his vitality

despite his advanced age, and his generosity. Antebellum Americans

regarded Humboldt as the “Einstein” of his day. The Providence Daily Jour-

nal of April 30, 1851 called Humboldt the “Nestor of scientific men.” Emer-

son’s Magazine of January 1858 lauded Humboldt as “the Nestor of the

modern world of science” and “the prince and dean of contemporary sci-

ence.” Emerson’s Magazine gushed that “the whole world knows the great

name [of Humboldt], and the authority of him who bears it is without rival in

all the branches of human knowledge.” So extensive was Humboldt’s celeb-

rity that Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of August 14, 1858 reported on

the death of his New World traveling companion, Aimé Bonpland, a French

botanist.

Americans took great delight that Humboldt was still actively engaged in

scientific inquiry despite being an octogenarian. The Boston Daily Advertiser

of June 11, 1859 decided that Humboldt’s age was an advantage rather than a

hindrance in his scientific pursuits. The Boston Daily Advertiser reported that

Celebrity in American Society and Science 131

Humboldt spent his time “keeping pace” with the progress of science, which

“his advancing years” and his power of “scientific deduction” allowed him to

gain an unsurpassed accumulation of knowledge. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated

Newspaper of November 21, 1857 marveled that Humboldt’s suite “is filled

with contributions from every quarter of the globe, and with volumes in

every language, which have been presented to the great savant by their

authors.” Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper hoped “that Alexander von

Humboldt may long be spared [death] to occupy the proud position of the

greatest of living men.”

Some antebellum Americans regarded Humboldt’s long career as a distin-

guished scholar as the archetype of a productive life. Ballou’s Pictorial

Drawing-Room Companion of January 10, 1857 asserted that Humboldt’s

career “is a noble example of a well-spent life, and his remarkable longevity,

notwithstanding his severe mental toil, is an encouragement to students.” In a

public lecture given in the Smithsonian lecture hall in 1859, Paul A. Chad-

bourne, professor of chemistry and botany at Williams College, believed that

the lives of Humboldt, Isaac Newton, and Georges Cuvier demonstrated the

salutary effect of science “to engage, exercise, improve, and complete the

faculties of the mind.” (Chadbourne 1860: 7-8)

Other antebellum Americans believed that Humboldt’s long career was

more illustrative of his field of study than any special qualities of his own.

The United States Magazine of October 1851 observed: “It is agreed that phi-

losophers, and men of quiet reasoning, astronomers, naturalists, &c., are

long-lived; while poets, novelists and men of excitement are short-lived. Wit-

ness a Humboldt and a Dick living to extreme old age, while a Byron and a

Sue perish before the midday of their power.” Of course, Humboldt must die

some time. Convinced of Humboldt’s greatness, antebellum Americans

hoped that science could survive his death. The Boston Daily Advertiser of

June 11, 1859 trusted that science would not falter with “the extinction of her

greatest luminary.”

Humboldt’s willingness to advise aspiring scientists and comment on cur-

rent events was well known in the Antebellum United States. Indeed, Ameri-

cans revered him for his generosity almost as much as his erudition and his

hard work. An American artist, who sought Humboldt’s advice on the flora

and fauna of Central America before going on a scientific expedition there,

reported to the Providence Daily Journal of April 30, 1851: “I found this

great philosopher the most amiable old man I have ever met –– in one word,

the friend of Man, as of Nature.” As evidence of Humboldt’s interest in help-

ing others, American periodicals reported on the crushing volume of corre-

spondence that the venerable scientist maintained. American estimates of

Humboldt have ranged between two thousand and six thousand letters each

132 Culture and Society in the New

year. Humboldt’s generosity was legendary. The Boston Evening Gazette of

May 21, 1850 recounted with manifest hyperbole: “A scientific society never

holds a meeting here without receiving some valuable communication from

Humboldt; and it always seems to be something new, something which he

seems to have reserved for that especial occasion, and never to have given to

the world before.” In an October 27, 1853 letter, Matthew Fontaine Maury,

Director of the National Observatory, informed Francis Lieber, that he found

Humboldt to be “a most charming & picturesque old man.” (Francis Lieber

Papers)

Trading on Humboldt’s celebrity as the leading intellectual of the day,

Americans adduced his endorsement, real or imagined, to support everything

from dubious scientific contentions to politicians. The Charleston Mercury of

May 21, 1853 reported Humboldt’s debunking of the purported magnetic

basis for spiritualists’ apparent ability to rotate tables. Advocates of dubious

claims found that linking Humboldt’s name to their assertions was an effec-

tive rhetorical strategy in the antebellum United States. The Savannah Daily

News of July 19, 1851 reported that the Washington Union had been taken in

by a false story that Humboldt had seen Sirius rise and fall suddenly. The

Louisville Courier of September 28, 1848 adduced Humboldt’s “keen

insight” regarding the “character of General [Zachary] Taylor,” the Whig

candidate for president in the Election of 1848. To counter Democratic

charges that Taylor was a hapless battlefield commander during the Mexican-

American War, the Louisville Courier cited Humboldt’s estimate that Taylor

was an outstanding general. The Louisville Courier ranked Humboldt as one

of two “military critics that are unrivalled in Europe.”

So great was Humboldt’s celebrity in the sciences that Americans, both

nonscientists and scientists alike, related American progress in science to

Humboldt. So successful was Joseph Henry in using the Smithsonian Institu-

tion to support the diverse range of the natural, physical and social sciences

that Scientific American of April 26, 1851 ranked the Smithsonian Secretary

with Humboldt as exceptions to the rule that there were very few scientists

able to acquire a profound knowledge of more than one science. Even high

school students and women were aware of Humboldt’s scientific celebrity.

The New Orleans Boy’s High School established the “Humboldt Nat. Hist.

Society.” (Thomas Kelah Wharton Diary) Jane H. Pease and William H.

Pease found in their account of “Antebellum Charleston” in the second vol-

ume of the Encyclopedia of American Cultural & Intellectual History that the

most intellectually engaged women in Charleston, S.C., read Humboldt.

Humboldt’s celebrity in the antebellum United States extended beyond

science. In 1850, the steamer Humboldt, part of the United States and Havre

line of mail steamers, was launched with great fanfare. Gleason’s Pictorial

Celebrity in American Society and Science 133

Drawing Room Companion of May 24, 1851 predicted, “this steamer, with

superior power [to the steamer which held the trans-Atlantic record] has a

chance of astonishing the world.” Frederick Henry Wolcott, a New York dry

goods merchant, noted in his diary on October 05, 1850 that “the Hum-

boldt… was launched today.” (Frederick Henry Wolcott Diary) In a revealing

coincidence of Humboldt’s virtual ubiquity in antebellum America, J.

Johnston Pettigrew, who met Humboldt in Berlin in 1851, reported in a Feb-

ruary 15, 1853 letter that returned to the United States aboard the steamer

Humboldt. (Pettigrew Family Papers) Regrettably, the steamer Humboldt

came to grief in 1857. Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper of March 21,

1857 reported that the Humboldt collided with the steamer Belfast on the

Mississippi River, and sank.

So great was Humboldt’s celebrity in the antebellum United States that

American scientists regularly alluded to Humboldt to explain their esoteric

work to the general population. Joseph Henry, the secretary of the Smithso-

nian Institution and a leading American physicist, defended the Smithso-

nian’s support of the seemingly unimportant science of terrestrial magnetism

on Humboldtian grounds. “Each branch of knowledge is connected with

every other,” Henry explained, “and no light can be gained in regard to one

side which is not reflected upon all.” (Smithsonian Institution 1859: 13-15,

21) As an example of this relationship, Henry cited the correspondence

between sunspot frequency and large magnetic disturbances, which implied

that magnetic storms caused sunspots. Humboldt used this classic example of

the interconnectedness of the physical world in the second volume of Cosmos

(1851). (Hufbauer 1991, 46)

Humboldt’s success in reaching the average American invariably set the

standard for other attempts at scientific popularization. In 1857, Louis Agas-

siz, professor of natural history at Harvard College, totaled twenty-five hun-

dred subscribers for his Contributions to the Natural History of the United

States. Heartened by this success, Agassiz boasted to Senator Charles Sum-

ner, Republican of Massachusetts, that “when my subscription list reaches

Europe my friends will not credit their own eyes. I do not think that Hum-

boldt himself could in all Europe put together such a subscription for so

expensive a work.” (Lurie 1960, 197-199)

Of course, Humboldt was enormously influential in the American scien-

tific community in the antebellum era. (Cannon 1978, 74-77) As Kurt R.

Bierman noted in his account of Humboldt in the sixth volume of the Dictio-

nary of Scientific Biography, he pioneered studying a variety of phenomena

in what today would be called climatology, botany, ethnography, geography,

geology, geomagnetism, meteorology, mineralogy, oceanography, and zool-

ogy on a continental and even on a global scale looking for quantitative

134 Culture and Society in the New

mathematical relationships and interrelationships through the use of accurate

measurement and “iso-maps.” Matthew F. Maury, director of the National

Observatory, and the various antebellum exploring expeditions took Hum-

boldt as their model. (Bruce 1987, 183) Moreover, the Smithsonian Institu-

tion sponsored Humboldtian research programs in meteorology,

geomagnetism, geography, ethnology, and other fields of inquiry. (Smithso-

nian Institution 1847: 190-207; Fleming 1990, 61-62, 69-70; Hinsley 1981,

37)In the antebellum era, it was a rite of passage for aspiring American scien-

tists to go to Europe to receive advanced training, unavailable in the United

States. For many budding American scientists, such as J. Johnston Pettigrew,

Benjamin A. Gould Jr., Oscar Lieber, and others, an audience with Humboldt

was an important part of this rite. In a May 26, 1851 letter, J. Johnston Petti-

grew, a South Carolina protégé of Matthew Fontaine Maury in the National

Observatory, described his visit with Humboldt, “the boast of German sci-

ence.” But the South Carolinian was more impressed by Carl Ritter, whom he

regarded as “a philosopher of commanding intellect and through information,

coupled with the most unassuming simplicity and absence of political rabid-

ness.” Perhaps, Pettigrew’s compliant about Humboldt’s politics was an allu-

sion to his opposition to slavery. Pettigrew was a proud slaveholder who

would later serve the Confederacy. Nonetheless, Pettigrew appreciated Hum-

boldt’s “kindness to myself and other young men similarly placed,” but “the

Courtier in him quite conceals the Philosopher, and the absence of affection

or even little vanity… I should not reckon among his virtues.” (Pettigrew

Family Papers; Wilson 1990, 44)

Most aspiring American scientists had better luck with Humboldt. Indeed,

they sought an introduction to Humboldt. In an April 1, 1848 letter, Edward

Everett assured Josiah Bigelow, a young physician, that he was sending let-

ters of introduction to Humboldt, William Whewell, and other scientists so

that the latter could “see all the Scientific world.” (Edward Everett Papers) In

most cases, Humboldt gave them letters of introduction to the leading scien-

tists of Europe. In 1845, Humboldt introduced Benjamin A. Gould Jr., a Mas-

sachusetts astronomer, to Carl Friedrich Gauss, the great mathematician.

(Bruce 1987, 21) In a March 11, 1850 letter to his parents, Oscar Lieber, a

young geologist from South Carolina detailed how Humboldt introduced him

to Charles Lyell, the uniformitarian geologist. (Francis Lieber Papers) After

Humboldt praised one of Lieber’s publications, John S. Preston wrote to the

geologist’s father on February 18, 1859: “In science, Humboldt’ dicta are of

more authority than the decrees of kings or the diplomas of learned societ-

ies.” (Francis Lieber Papers) At the same time, Humboldt wrote letters of

introduction for European scientists going to the United States. In a March 9,

Celebrity in American Society and Science 135

1854 entry in his Locked Book, Joseph Henry noted that Christian H. F.

Peters, a German astronomer, came to him with a letter of introduction from

Humboldt.

Even distinguished American scientists, such as Benjamin Silliman, Mat-

thew Fontaine Maury, and others, took delight in visiting Humboldt and

basking in his reflected glory. Benjamin Silliman, professor of chemistry at

Yale and editor of the American Journal of Science, reported to the United

States Magazine of May 15, 1854 of his 1851 meeting with Humboldt. Silli-

man was especially proud that the venerated Prussian philosopher “alluded in

a flattering manner to our progress in knowledge in the United States, and to

the effect which The American Journal of Science and Arts had produced in

promoting it.” Matthew Fontaine Maury’s attempt to compile a comprehen-

sive chart of ocean currents –– a Humboldtian project –– received a much-

publicized endorsement from Humboldt, which was printed in the Washing-

ton Union of December 3, 1847. Humboldt’s letter was the culmination of an

almost decade-long campaign by Maury. The Washington Union emphasized

the manifest utility of Maury’s work in reducing the time of navigation and

then copied an extract of Humboldt’s letter praising its scientific uses.After

visiting Humboldt in 1853, Maury parlayed his endorsement into receiving

the Kosmos Medal from the King of Prussia and glowingly reviews in the

United States. (Bruce 1987, 25, 183)

Of course it was not necessary to actually visit Humboldt to bask in his

reflected celebrity. Minor American scientists, such as Lorin Blodget, as well

used Humboldt’s endorsement of their work to attract attention and gain cred-

ibility. Of course, these scientists ostensibly sought Humboldt’s advice, but

they hoped to receive his commendation as well. Lorin Blodget, an American

climatologist in the employ of first the Smithsonian Institution and then the

U.S. Army Medical Department, sought Humboldt’s endorsement of his Cli-

matology of the United States and the Temperate Latitudes of the North

American Continent (1858). He received it in a September 7, 1856 letter from

Humboldt. (James D. B. DeBow Papers) The reviewer of Blodget’s book in

the North American Review of October 1858 approvingly quoted from Hum-

boldt’s endorsement.

Humboldt’s praise could help to rally support for esoteric scientific ven-

tures that might have otherwise languished. Humboldt’s endorsement of

James M. Gilliss’ 1849-1852 astronomical expedition to Chile, along with

the support of most of the American scientific societies, convinced a tight-

fisted Congress to appropriate five thousand dollars so that Gilliss, an astron-

omer in the National Observatory, could observe the transit of Venus to better

determine the Astronomical Unit, the distance between the earth and the sun.

(Rasmussen 1954, 104; Harrison 1955: 183-184; Bruce 1987, 180-181) In a

March 1850 letter, Johan Gottfried Flügel informed Charles Wilkes that

Humboldt observed, “it is uplifting to follow the magnificent development of

the scientific sense in the United States.” Humboldt was astonished that the

U.S. government would sponsor a 3-year expedition merely because a profes-

sor in Marburg advocated it, especially as the governments of Europe ignored

the call. (Charles Wilkes Papers)

Gilliss’ complaint illustrated that he, like many antebellum Americans,

regarded Humboldt as beyond comparison with any mere American scientist.

Humboldt’s celebrity reached beyond the American scientific community to

the broader reading public. Americans were convinced of his genius, his

work ethic, and his generosity. They followed his travels. They looked to him

as an authority on virtually all matters, large and small, scientific and non-

scientific. They longed for his endorsement of American science. And they

heralded him as the embodiment of European science.Indeed, Humboldt’s

celebrity grated on some scientists in the United States, despite the letters of

introduction and endorsement that he lavished on the American scientific

community. Although most American scientists thought well of Humboldt,

and some pursued Humboldtian research, his celebrity allowed several scien-

tists to use his name as a convenient put-down for overly ambitious or con-

ceited rivals. In the course of a dispute over credit for meteorological work

done in the Smithsonian Institution with Lorin Blodgett, Henry referred to his

erstwhile associate as “the second Humboldt” in a November 11, 1854 letter

to Alexander Dallas Bache1. (Joseph Henry Papers) In a May 8, 1854 letter

from James M. Gilliss, an astronomer in the National Observatory, to George

P. Marsh, Henry received the same treatment. Gilliss objected when Ben-

jamin S. Peirce, professor of astronomy at Harvard College, declared that

Henry was the Humboldt of American science in his 1855 presidential

address before the American Association for the Advancement of Science.

Gilliss protested: “The Humboldt indeed! A man whose knowledge is at best

a limited one on Electricity & Magnetism alone!” (George P. Marsh Papers)

Bibliography

Bruce, Robert V. 1987. The Launching of American Science, 1846-1876 Ith-

aca: Cornell University Press.

Cannon, Susan Faye. 1978. Science in Culture: The Early Victorian Period

New York: Dawson and Science History Publications.

Chadbourne, P. A. 1860. Lectures on Natural History: Its Relations to Intel-

lect, Taste, Wealth, and Religion New York.

Charles Wilkes Papers, Perkins Library, Duke University.

Edward Everett Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North

Carolina.

1. Thanks to the Marc Rothenberg and the rest of the staff of the

Joseph Henry Papers

for

bringing these quotes to my attention.

Celebrity in American Society and Science 137

Francis Lieber Papers, South Caroliniana Library, University of South Caro-

lina.

Fleming, James Roger. 1990. Meteorology in America, 1800-1870 Balti-

more: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Frederick Henry Wolcott Diary, New York Public Library.

George P. Marsh Papers, University of Vermont.

Harrison, John P. 1955. Science and Politics: Origins and Objectives of Mid-

Nineteenth

Century Government Expeditions to Latin America. Hispanic American His-

torical Review 35: 183-184

Hinsley, Curtis M. 1981. Savages and Scientists: The Smithsonian Institution

and the Development of American Anthropology, 1846-1910 Washing-

ton D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press.

Hufbauer, Karl. 1991. Exploring the Sun: Solar Science since Galileo Balti-

more: The Johns Hopkins University Press.

Huffman Wendell W. 1991. The United States Naval Astronomical Expedi-

tion (1849-52) for the Solar Parallax. Journal for the History of Astron-

omy 22: 214-216. J. D.B. DeBow Papers, Perkins Library, Duke

University.

Joseph Henry Papers, Smithsonian Institution Archives.

Lurie, Edward. 1960. Louis Agassiz: A Life in Science Chicago: The Univer-

sity of Chicago Press, 1960.

Peterson, Merrill D. 1987. The Great Triumvirate: Webster, Clay, and Cal-

houn New York: Oxford University Press.

Pettigrew Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection, University of North

Carolina.

Rasmussen, Wayne D. 1954. The United States Astronomical Expedition to

Chile, 1849-1852. Hispanic American Historical Review 34:104.

Smithsonian Institution. 1847-1859. Reports of the Regents of the Smithso-

nian Institution. Washington D.C.: Government Printing Office.

Thomas Kelah Wharton Diary, New York Public Library.

Wilson, Clyde N. 1990. Carolina Cavalier: The Life and Mind of James

Johnston Pettigrew. Athens: The University of Georgia Press.

Part III

Literature and the Arts

141

CHAPTER 12 Landscape Painting

Between Art and Science

Claudia Mattos

In 1807 the German naturalist Alexander von Humboldt published a small

book entitled Ansichten der Natur (Aspects of Nature), which resulted from

his more than five-year trip through the American continent.1 On the contrary

to the thirty volumes of his Voyage de Humboldt et Bompland, published

between 1805 and 1836 in Paris this small work from 1807 offered the reader

what Humboldt understood as the synthesis of his experience, obtained

through a collection of “Naturegemälde,” or “Paintings of Nature.” What

Humboldt desired to reveal to the reader was a synthetic view (“Totalein-

druck”), obtained by a detailed analysis of the multiple local phenomenon

(including the human dimension) that composed the physiognomy (“Phisiog-

nomie”) of each specific segments of our planet.2 For each of the climatic

segments that he explored during his trip through the American continent he

tried to compose a “painting,” or a “picture” that would have the power to put

that segment of nature before the eyes of the reader, as lively as it appeared to

him at the time of his voyage. Summarizing this intent, Humboldt wrote in

the introduction to the first edition:

Timidly I deliver to the public a group of works created in face of the great

objects of nature, the Ocean, the forests of Orinoco, the steppes of Venezuela,

1. Alexander von Humboldt arrived in Venezuela on the 16

of July 1799, after travel-

ling during five years through the continent. He visited Cuba, Colombia, Equator, Peru,

Mexico and the United States, returning to Europe on the 3. of August 1804.

2. The inclusion of human dimension in the “picture of nature” constructed by Hum-

boldt is of seminal importance, since it attributes a moral dimension to landscape. Follow-

ing Winckelmann, Humboldt believed that the natural formations proper to each region

were responsible for the moulding of the character of its habitants: “[…] knowledge of the

national character in the different parts of the world is closely related with the history of

Humanity and its culture. Since even if the origin of this culture is not only determined by

physical influences, its direction, the melancholic or gay character of men depends in great

part of climatic conditions.” Cf. Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, Stuttgart: Reclam, 1992,

p.75.

142 Literature and the Arts

the Peruvian and Mexican deserts. Some fragments were written in loco and

then fused into a Totality. The great panorama of nature, the proof of the joint

action of forces, and the renewal of the pleasure that an unmediated view of

the tropics delivers to men of sentiment, are the aims that I pursue.3

The book was therefore organised as a series of “ekphrasis” of nature, and

as such, referred to a classic rhetorical genre that was of great relevance for

literary and artistic production, at least since the Renaissance.4 This fact

places Humboldt’s work not only in the category of scientific discourse, to

which it certainly belongs, but also in that of an aesthetic discourse, present-

ing itself unequivocally as literature.5 Humboldt’s deliberate association with

the “Ekphrasis” tradition is clearly affirmed in one of the conferences he

delivered at the Singakademie in Berlin between 1827 and 1828, and known

today as the “Kosmos-Vorlesungen”.6 In this text, Humboldt offers a short

history of descriptions in literature, trying to demonstrate that these descrip-

tions had achieved its plenitude only in his own time, especially with French

authors such as Buffon, Bernardin de St. Pierre and Chateaubriand – even if

he quotes several examples from Antiquity to the Renaissance – when it

became a specific literary genre: “Under the French, these descriptions of

nature, especially of exotic nature, became a sub-genre of literature, a ‘poësie

descriptive’”.7 However, still according to his opinion, the French tended to

fall into an excess of subjectivity, harmful to the genre. Goethe, on the other

hand, was his ideal model:

Above all we want to mention the great master, in whose work prevails a pro-

found sentiment towards nature. In the ‘Werther’, as well as in the ‘Voyage’

[to Italy], or in the ‘Metamorphosis of Plants,’ all over, reverberates this

enthusiastic sentiment that touches us like ‘a soft wind blown from a blue

sky.’8

3. “Schüchtern übergeben ich dem Publikum eine Reihe von Arbeiten, die im Angesicht

grosser Naturgemälde, auf dem Ozean, in den Wäldern des Orinoco, in den Steppen von

Venezuela, in der Einöde peruanischer und mexikanischer Gebirge entstanden sind. Ein-

zelne Fragmente wurden an Ort und Stelle niedergeschrieben und nachmals nur in ein

Ganzes zusammengeschmolzen. Überblick der Natur im grossen, Beweis von dem Zusam-

menwirken der Kräfte, Erneuerung des Genusses, welchen die unmittelbare Ansicht der

Tropenländer dem fühlenden Menschen gewährt, sind die Zwecke, nach denen ich strebe.”

Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, op.cit., p.5.

4. On the importance of

Ekphrasis

for humanistic discourse, especially discourse on art

in the 14

and 15

Centuries, see: Michael Baxandall,

Giotto and the Orators

, Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 1971. On the Ekphrasis tradition see: Gottfied Boehm and Hel-

mut Pfotenhauer (ed.)

Beschreibungskunst – Kunstbeschreibung

, Munich: Fink, 1995.

5. For a detailed analysis of Humboldt’s discourse, placed between science and art, see:

Lúcia Ricotta,

Natureza, Ciencia e Estética em Alexander von Humboldt

, Rio de Janeiro:

Mauad, 2003.

6. Humboldt, Kosmos-Vorlesung (Vorlesung 16) in: Projekt Gutenberg www.guten-

berg.spiegel.de/anonymus/universm/universm.htm

7. “Bei den Franzosen bilden diese Schilderungen der Natur besonders der exotischen,

einen eignen Zweig der Litteratur, die

poësie descriptive

.“ Humboldt, Kosmos-Vorlesung,

op.cit.

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 143

In the postscript to a recent German edition of the Ansichten der Natur,

Adolf Meyer-Abich reiterates the importance of Humboldt’s encounter with

Goethe for his intellectual development, understanding Humboldt’s proposi-

tions in great part as an attempt to put in practice Goethe’s convictions

regarding science: “Humboldt can be thought as the completer of Goethe’s

researches on Nature,” he writes.9 This intense identification with Goethe’s

holistic point of view also explains the artistic quality to be found in Hum-

boldt’s works, since for the German poet true knowledge depended on an

intense collaboration between art and science: “Dich im Unendlichem zu fin-

den/ Musst unterscheiden und dann verbinden,”10 wrote Goethe in 1803, in a

passage dedicated to Luke Howard, a scientist who researched clouds. The

differentiation belonged to the scientist’s task, while the synthesis to the art-

ist. Based on analytic method, science was capable of discriminating minute

differences, but only art was capable of promoting a synthesis of dispersed

elements, revealing them united in an essential gaze.11 As Goethe’s disciple,

Humboldt consciously adopted a literary form for his Ansichten der Natur,

looking for a synthesis that would take the reader one step further than the

detailed descriptions present in the Voyage.

The present paper will not however discuss Alexander von Humboldt’s

literary style, or his uses of the lettered tradition. My intent is rather to stress

the importance that the aesthetic dimension of his work had for Humboldt, in

order to discuss his relation to another art genre, placed by him side by side

with literature in its capacity to implement the synthesis essential to knowl-

edge, namely, landscape painting. To understand what concept Humboldt had

of this genre is of seminal importance since it will have significant conse-

quences for the development of landscape painting, not only in Europe, but

above all in different parts of Latin America, including Brazil.

Speaking of the purpose of landscape painters in a central chapter of the

Ansichten der Natur entitled “Ideas on the physiognomy of plants,” Hum-

boldt poetically affirms: “under his hands [the painter’s hand], the huge mag-

ical picture of nature reveals itself, in few and simple traces, as in the written

work of men.”12 For Humboldt, as for Goethe, literature and painting were

8. “Vor allen aber erwähnen wir hier den hohen Meister, dessen Werke ein so tiefes

Gefühl für die Natur durchdringt. Wie im

Werther

, so in der Reise, in der Metamorphose

der Pflanzen, überall klingt dies begeisterte Gefühl an und berührt uns gleich wie ein san-

fter Wind vom blauen Himmel weht”. “Ein sanfter Wind von blauen Himmel weht”, is

quoted from Goethe. Humboldt, Kosmos-Vorlesung, op.cit.

9. Adolf Meyer-Abich, “Nachwort”, in: Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, op.cit., p.149.

10. Goethe,

Goethe Werke

, HA, vol. 1, p.349. A literal translation could be: “To find your-

self in the infinite, you must differentiate, and then unite.”

11. On the relations between art and science in Goethe see Werner Busch’s articles: “Die

Ordnung im Flüchtigen – Wolkenstudien der Goethezeit”, and “Der berg als Gegenstand

von Naturwissenschaft und Kunst. Zur Goethes Geologischem Begriff”, in: Sabine Schulze

(ed.)

Goethe und die Kunst

, Frankfurt and Weimar, 1994.

12. Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, op.cit., p.86.

144 Literature and the Arts

able to help the scientist to produce a synthesis. Although not all literature,

and not all paintings (we remember the critic he made to excess of subjectiv-

ity in the French for example). In some passages of his work Humboldt

makes clear that not all forms of landscape painting can serve as partner to

science. In the same “Kosmos”-Lecture quoted above, after the small history

of the descriptive genre in literature, Humboldt made some appointments on

the development of landscape painting, condemning the northern, as well as

the Italian landscape painting tradition:

At the time of the renaissance of Italian art we find the beginning of landscape

painting in the Holland school and under the disciples of Van Eyck. More spe-

cifically, Heinrich von Bloss tried first to reduce the size of the figures in

order to allow the landscape to grow in importance. Also in the big Italian

landscape paintings of the late period: Titian, Bassano, Carracci, there is no

precise imitation, especially in respect to exotic nature, and they also use cer-

tain objects in an affected and conventional way, for example, they give the

Tamara Palms, which immigrated from north Africa to Sicily and Italy, a

rough and strange appearance.13

There remains thus the following question: if for Humboldt not all types

of landscape painting could be of some utility to science, what was then the

model of landscape painting adopted by him? As occurs with so many

aspects of his work, it is possible to affirm that also in regard to this subject

Humboldt was guided by his master Goethe. Therefore, to understand his

point of view it will first be necessary to examine the poet’s position on the

theme. Under Goethe’s influence, Humboldt adopted a classic model of land-

scape painting, although distinct from that proceeding from the tradition

inaugurated by Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin. A model that tried to

accomplish a synthesis between the two main tendencies of landscape paint-

ing inherited from the seventeenth century: the ideal landscape, and the

“veduta”, originated in the north.14 Goethe became very interested in this new

conception of landscape painting, after having studied with no less than the

creator of this new genre, the German painter residing in Naples, Jakob Phil-

13. “Zur Zeit des Auflebens der italischen Kunst finden wir den Anfang der Landschafts-

malerei in der niederländischen Schule, u. bei den Schülern Van Eyk's. Namentlich hat

Heinr. von Bloss zuerst versucht die Figuren sehr zu verkleinern, um dadurch die Land-

schaft hervortreten zu lassen. - Auch bei den großen italischen Landschaften der spätern

Zeit Tizian - Bassano, Caracci findet sich keine genaue Nachahmung, besonders der exoti-

schen Natur, u. auch sie bedienten sich für gewisse Gegenstände, angenommener, conven-

tioneller Formen, z.B. geben sie die Dattelpalmen, die doch aus Nordafrika nach Sicilien

und Italien hinüber gewandert waren, ein eigen schuppiges, wunderliches Ansehen.”

Humboldt, Kosmos-Vorlesung, op.cit.

14. Ideal landscape was a kind of equivalent of pastoral poetry that aimed to create an

idyllic view of the natural world, as it supposedly existed in Antiquity.

Veduta

, on the other

hand, was understood as a faithful registration of a specific segment of nature, without ide-

alization, and it was practiced more frequently in the north, especially in Holland, along

the 17

century.

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 145

ipp Hackert (1737-1807),15 during his voyage in Italy. It is known that Hacket

also discussed his method and theoretical concepts in detail with Goethe, and

the poet considered them of such importance that he decided to publish these

ideas in 1811, as part of a biography he wrote on the artist.16 It is therefore

very probable that Goethe discussed Hackert’s positions on landscape paint-

ing with Humboldt, who he encountered for the first time in 1795 in Weimar.

How much Goethe was thinking of a painter like Hackert to collaborate with

his friend, and naturalist becomes evident in a passage of a letter sent by him

to Humboldt in April 1807, the year of Hackert’s death. He writes: “Our

excellent Hackert has suffered a stoke in Florence. He hopes to recover him-

self once more for the art. I would like to have someone like him at your side

in the tropical countries.”17 The reference to “”our” excellent Hackert”, also

leaves no doubt that Humboldt was familiar with the artist.

Goethe, Hackert and landscape painting

Taking into account Goethe’s conservative position with respect to visual

arts, the great value he attributed to History painting, and the systematic

opposition he made to the new romantic tendencies that were emerging in his

time,18 it is only possible to understand the great interest he showed towards

Philipp Hackert’s landscape painting if we consider his ideas on the relation-

ship between art and science. These are the same ideas that influenced Hum-

boldt in other aspects of his works, and that made it natural for him to adopt

Goethe’s point of view also with respect to the representation of landscape.

From early on Goethe cultivated an intense scientific activity parallel to

his work as poet and art theorist. His interest in science was reinforced in the

years around 1770, when he came into contact with the Suisse doctor Johann

Caspar Lavater (1714-1801), starting to collaborate in his collection of mate-

rial for a book on physiognomy, later published under the title of Physiogno-

mische Fragmente (Physiognomic Fragments).19

15. Hackert was born in Prenslau, and after studying in France he settled in Italy in 1768,

first in Rome, and then in Naples, where he became first painter to the Bourbon king Ferdi-

nand IV.

16. Goethe wrote a Hackert biography in 1811, which included the “Theoretical Frag-

ments on landscape painting” written by the artist shortly before his death in 1807. Hack-

ert’s orginal letters, which were edited by Goethe for his publication can be found in:

Norbert Miller and Claudia Nordhoff (ed.),

Lehrreiche Nähe. Goethe und Hackert

, Munich

and Vienna: Hanser, 1997.

17. “Unser trefflicher Hackert in Florenz hat vom Schlagflusse gelitten. Er hofft sich

wieder für die Kunst zu erholen. Seines gleichen hätte ich wohl in Ihrer Gesellschaft den

tropischen Ländern gewünscht” Correspondence between Goethe and Alexander von Hum-

boldt, in: www.bibliothek.bbaw.de/Goethe.

18. On Goethe’s relation to romantic artists such as Caspar David Friedrich and Philipp

Otto Runge, see: Frank Büttner, “Abwehr der Romantik, in:

Goethe und die Kunst

, op.cit.,

p. 456-482.

146 Literature and the Arts

Obsessed by the idea of demonstrating a correlation between the external

appearance of humans, and their character, Lavater collected portraits of

famous people throughout Europe, accompanied by a description of their per-

sonality.20 These portraits were traced preferably in silhouette (“Schatten-

rise”), and then submitted to a comparative method, in order to determine the

possible connections between certain physical appearances and traces of

character. Lavater’s methodology envisioned a “reduction” of human form to

its essential elements, captured in the silhouettes, and a comparison of the

obtained results.21 The book dedicated a whole chapter to silhouette, in which

he made the following commentary:

From the simple silhouettes I put together more knowledge about physiog-

nomy than from all other reports; through it I refined my sensibility to physi-

ognomy more than through the observation of nature that is always in

transformation; A silhouette summarises the dispersed attention, concentrates

it in simple contours and limits, making observation easier, light and exact;

the observation, and with it also comprehension.22

This form of proceeding fascinated the young Goethe who incorporated it

into his own scientific approach. As Carl Weizsäcker observes,23 Goethe

developed a method of investigation based on comparative morphology,

where form was not rooted in an abstract law, such as science in his time was

starting to do, but where law itself was to be derived from visible form. Using

such a method of morphologic description and form comparison, Goethe

expected to be able to see relations between the various instances of reality,

or, in other words, to visualize nature’s immanent order.

19. Other important personalities of the time, such as Füssli, Herder, Lenz, Merck, Sulzer,

and Gessner, were also involved in Lavater’s project. On Goethe’s relation to Lavater, see:

Ilsebill Berta Fliedl, “Lavater, Goethe und der Versuch einer Physiognomik als Wissens-

chart”, in:

Goethe und die Kunst

, op.cit., p. 192-203.

20. Goethe’s first contact with Lavater occurred because of this project. After Goethe had

became suddenly well known because of the publication of his first romance Götz von Ber-

lichingen in 1772, Lavater sent him a letter asking for a portrait accompanied of a descrip-

tion. A lively exchange of letters followed, and in 1774 Lavater arrived in Frankfurt a.M. to

pay a visit to Goethe and guarantee his direct collaboration in the project of his book.

21. Lavater developed his new anthropological method largely based on his readings of

Winckelmann, especially of his famous descriptions of the Belvedere statues, to which he

refers frequently in his

Physiognomische Fragmente

. The book contained, for instance, a

whole chapter dedicated to the Apollo Belvedere, in which, he delivered a “scientific”

analysis of the statues head, accompanied by a drawing of its silhouette. Cf. Pfotenhauer,

Bernauer and Miller (ed.),

Frühklassizismus

, op.cit., p.409-411.

22. “Aus blossen Schattenrissen hab’ich mehr physiognomische Kentnisse gesammelt, als

aus allen übrigen Porträten: durch sie mein physiognomisches Gefühl mehr geschärft, als

selber durch’s Anschauen der immer wandelnden Natur. – Der Schattenriss fasst die zers-

treute Aufmerksamkeit zusammen; concentriert sie bloss auf Umriss und Gränze, und

macht daher die Beobachtung einfacher, leichter, bestimmter; -- die Beobachtung und hie-

mit auch die Vergleichung.” Cf. Lavater,

Physiognomischen Fragmenten

, apud. Fliedl,

op.cit., p.193-94.

23. Carl Friedrich Weizäcker, “Einige Begriffe aus Goethes Naturwissenschaft”, in:

Goe-

the Werke

, op.cit., vol. 13, pp.539-555

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 147

Another observation about Goethe’s way of thinking is important to

understand his position as a scientist especially during and right after his trip

to Italy.24 Since, according to his point of view, there was an essential link

between men and the world – “mater never exists without the spirit, and spirit

never exists without mater”25 – to order the exterior world was to order the

interior world at the same time. To reveal nature’s order (in the goethean

sense of recognizing the links present in reality) was, therefore, the equiva-

lent of harmonizing the spirit with it. But how did this investigation of reality

take place?

Goethe understood science as knowledge about the form. Law, the spe-

cific order that rules a certain phenomenon in nature, should thus be looked

for in the physiognomy of the phenomenon itself. Sight becomes an essential

instrument for scientists who worked, as we said before, to separate what

they thought was different, and approximate what was seen as similar. How-

ever, since the essence of the phenomenon laid in itself, the final expression

of order, or of natural law revealed in this process could not be a part of sci-

ence that always proceeded in an abstract way, but could only be fully

exposed in art. This “image of nature” produced by art had an advantage over

nature itself, since its static character revealed a permanent view of nature in

which no casual elements associated along the course of its eternal transfor-

mation was present.26 Here we also find the origin of Humboldt’s idea of

“Naturgemälde” (Paintings of nature).

According to Goethe, in the modern world prevailed analytic science in

which “to comprehend the non human objects a dispersion of strength and

capacities, a fragmentation of unity, is almost inevitable”.27 This model, how-

ever, did not favour the integrating movement between art and science that

had been a distinctive mark of thinkers in Antiquity. From his point of view, a

fierce battle should be fought in order to re-conquer this antique harmony, so

essential to knowledge, to the moderns. And we could say that Goethe recog-

nised in Hackert’s landscape painting a privileged path to the accomplish-

ment of this task.

24. Goethe’s voyage to Italy is normally considered as a point in his carrier in the direc-

tion of a certain classicism, after the

Sturm und Drang

period. Cf. Herbert von Einem,

“Nachwort”, in:

Goethe Werke

, Munich: Beck, 1989., vol.11.

25. “Weil aber die Materie nie ohne Geist, der Geist nie ohne Materie existiert (…)”. Goe-

the, “Die Natur”, in:

Goethe Werke

, vol.13, p.48.

26. Here we can easily identify some affinity between Goethe and Lavater. The latter also

believed to be able to find a connection between character and physiognomy only in the

sensorial manifestation of the phenomenon, and was convinced that he would see these

manifestations with more clarity in the silhouette, than in the phenomenon itself.

27. “(…) zu Erfassung der mannigfaltigen aussermenschlichen Gegenstände eine Zertei-

lung der Kräfte und Fähigkeiten, eine Zerstückelung der Einheit fast unerlässlich ist (…)”

Cf. Goethe, “Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert”, in:

Goethe Werke

, op.cit. vol.12, p.100.

148 Literature and the Arts

Goethe’s interest in Hackert can only be fully understood along these

lines. He found in Hackert an artist that worked according to his own princi-

ple of analysis und synthesis, recognizing the (individual) characteristic ele-

ments of a landscape, and integrating them, through art, in a meaningful

totality – in a “Naturgemälde” – to use the concept developed later by Hum-

boldt. Trying to understand the special place that Hackert occupied in

Goethe’s aesthetic education, Wolfgang Krönig comments:

The revealing gaze, and a reproduction of the clarity and the order of

observed natural phenomenon – these characteristics of the best possibilities

implied in Hackert’s work, must have found a special eco in Goethe (…)

Hackert is not for him an artist that could be placed to the side or replace great

Italian figure painters, but an artist that makes the relation between art and

nature the centre of his work.28

In becoming Hackert’s disciple in Italy, Goethe desired to see landscape

with his eyes, that is, with the eyes of a “naïf” painter,29 capable of identifying

the essential forms of nature and delivering them in a synthetic image. For his

part, as a teacher Hackert reassured Goethe that there was a precise method to

be followed in order to learn the metier.30 The poet, therefore submitted him-

self happily and optimistically to these principles, and apparently also trans-

mitted these lessons on to Humboldt. The specific understanding of

landscape painting that followed from all these encounters was in the last run

what defined its privileged position side by side with literary descriptions, as

a faithful partner of science, in the context of Humboldt’s work.

28. König e Wegener,

Jakob Philipp Hackert. Der Landschaftsmaler der Goethezeit

, Colo-

nia, Weimar e Viena: Böhlau, 1996, p.25.

29. The word “naïf” here must be understood in the Schillerian sense, in which the poetic

“self” was still in diferct contact with the cosmos, where the rupture between self and world

had not yet occurred. Goethe wrote in his introduction to Hackert’s biography: “The

description of his life, from were we took the present passages, is written in a very simple

and sincere style, especially the bigger part from Hackert’s own hand, in a way that imme-

diately reminds everyone of the naivety (

Naivetät

) of Cellini and Winckelmann.” (“Die

Lebensbeschreibung, woraus wir den gegenwärtigen Auszug liefern, ist in einem sehr ein-

fachen, treuherzigen Styl verfasst, besonders der grössere Teil von Hackerts Hand, so dass

sie jeden gar bald an Cellinische und Winckelmannische Naivität erinnert.” Goethe, citado

em Krönig e Wegner, op.cit., p.21.

30. During his second stay in Rome, Goethe makes the following observation in his voy-

age diary: “Herr Hackert hat mich gelobt und getadelt und mir weiter geholfen. Er tat halb

im Schertz, halb im Ernst den Vorschlag, achtzehn Monate in Italien zu bleiben und mich

nach guten Grundsätzen zu üben; nach dieser Zeit, versprach er mir, sollte ich Freude an

meinen Arbeiten haben. Ich sehe auch wohl, was und wie man studieren muss, um über

gewisse Schwierigkeiten hinauszukommen, unter deren Last man sonst sein ganzes Leben

hinkriecht.” (“Sr. Hackert made me complements and critics, and continues to help me. He

has made me a proposition, somewhat joking, somewhat seriously, that I stay eight months

in Italy to train [my Hand] after good principles. After this period he guaranteed that I

would find pleasure in my work. I can also see very clearly what and how one should study

to overcome some difficulties, that otherwise, will remain for a whole life.”). Goethe, “Itali-

enische Reise”, in:

Goethe Werke

, op.cit., vol.11, p.351.

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 149

Hackert’s ‘theoretical fragments’ and Humboldt’s

‘pictures of nature’

Goethe’s first reference to Jacob Philipp Hackert appears in his voyage diary

under the date of 15th November 1786, thus before his trip to Naples.31 How-

ever, it was during this trip that he established closer contact with the painter.

Amazed by his capacity to capture the Italian landscape, he decided to

become his pupil. While in Caserta, near Naples Goethe wrote in his diary on

March 15th 1787:

‘He also conquered me completely, being patient with my shortcomings […].

When painting aquarelles, he always has three colours at hand, and since he

works from the background into the foreground, applying the paints one after

the other, he obtains a picture that no one can quite understand from where it

came.’32

In his last stay in Rome before returning definitively to Weimar, Goethe

met Hackert once more, giving continuity to his drawing lessons and visiting

the Galleries of the city in his company, in order to hear his commentaries on

the landscape paintings of Gaspard and Nicolas Poussin, Claude Lorrain, and

other ancient and modern artists. It is therefore unquestionable that Goethe’s

view on landscape painting was formed in great part under the impact of his

contact with Hackert. What above all fascinated Goethe was Hackert’s mas-

tery of the details of nature: the types of trees, the geography of landscape,

and the proper atmosphere of the places depicted, without being subservient

to reality, as was landscape painting in the north, and retaining all what was

essential, or in Goethe’s own terms, giving landscape a Form. Goethe wrote

during his second stay in Rome: “I was out with Mr. Hackert, who has a

unbelievable capacity for copying nature, giving at the same time a Form to

the drawing.”33

In Goethe’s understanding, by unifying the ideal landscape painting of

Italian tradition with the detailed observation practiced in the northern

“veduta” paintings, Hackert had found a form of extracting the ideal element

from the real landscape. That is, of putting its universal aspect in evidence.

As Norbert Miller comments: “[…] he learned with Hackert how to see ordi-

nary landscape as ideal, and to value the observation of characteristic details

as precondition to the apprehension of the whole.”34 It was this naïf way of

31. The reference is to a meeting during a stay in Frascati, in which drawings of the peo-

ple present were discussed in the group. Hackert appears as experienced painter who gave

counsel to the amateurs artists. Goethe, “Italienische Reise”, op.cit., p.160-162.

32. Goethe,

Italienische Reise

, op.cit.

33. Idem, entrance: Rom June 16th 1787.

34. Norbert Miller e Claudia Nordhoff (org.),

Lehrreiche Nähe. Goethe und Hackert

, op.cit.,

p.43.

150 Literature and the Arts

looking at the world, similar to the gaze of the ancients, that Goethe desired

to learn with Hackert.

FIGURE 12-1. Jacob Philipp Hackert, “View of the Vesuvius,” 1794, oil 62,7 x 88 cm,

private collection.

How much Hackert’s artistic principles correspond to what Goethe saw in

his work is a difficult question to answer. However it is certain that Hackert’s

methods and their visible results came very close to Goethe’s convictions

about Landscape painting, and they must have been perceived by the poet as

a concrete visualization of his dream to integrate science and art.

Remembering, on the one hand, the great ascendance that Goethe had

over Humboldt, and on the other hand the profound impression that Hackert

left in Goethe, it should not come as a surprise that we find numerous over-

lappings between the understanding of the landscape painter’s task exposed

in Hackert’s Theoretical fragments, and certain passages in the “Ansichten

der Natur.” It seems possible to say that, through his contact with Goethe,

Alexander von Humboldt inherited several theoretical principles put forward

by Hackert, transforming them into valuable instruments of research about

the physiognomy of the earth. In Humboldt’s hands, Hackert’s theoretical

positions became the fundamental principle that should guarantee a perfect

collaboration between scientist and artist.

One of the central points of agreement between the ideas developed by

Hackert and those exposed by Humboldt refers to their definition of the ele-

ments, which structured the general impression of a landscape in the “human

imagination,” as well as the specific methods applied to represent these ele-

ments. In his “Theoretical fragments” Hackert insisted that the essential ele-

ment of a landscape was its vegetation, recommending the attentive study of

trees as a central part of the education of a competent landscape painter.

However, acknowledging the infinite time necessary for an artist to get to

know, and draw all kinds of trees, Hackert proposes their division in three

prototype groups, following the form of their branches and leaves. These pro-

totypes should serve as aid to art students: “According to my principles the

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 151

trees could be divided in three categories, as I personally engraved and pub-

lished them. The artist and the dilettanti should train their hand on them, if

they would like to learn to draw.35”

FIGURE 12-2. Jacob Philipp Hackert, Title page of the book: “Principles to learn how to

draw landscape from nature,” 1802.

In the Ansischten der Natur, Humboldt seems to adopt Hackert’s idea

about the centrality of vegetation for imposing a general impression of nature

on the senses: “it is impossible to deny that the central element determining

this impression is the vegetation (“Pflanzendecke”)”, he would write in his

book. Humboldt also adopts the idea of a morphological classification of the

vegetation, considering the spontaneous tendency of some artist to bring

forth such a classification: “The painter (and here precisely the artist’s fine

sentiment towards nature plays a role) distinguishes in the background a

landscape with pines, or palm- bushes, from a beech-tree, but not this from

other foliage-tree forests.”36 In the sequence, Humboldt expands Hackert’s

classification of trees from three to sixteen prototype groups that should help

the artist to drive his natural sensibility towards efficient collaboration with

science37: “Sixteen plant forms fundamentally determine nature’s physiog-

nomy.” […] “How interesting and rich for the landscape painter would be a

work that would first present their individually to the eyes of the painter, the

sixteen principal forms described, and then present them in their mutual con-

trasts!”38

35. Goethe, “Hackert Biographie”, in: Johann Wolfgang Goethe Sämtliche Werke, vol.13,

Münchner Ausgabe, Munich and Vienna, 1986, p. 614.

36. “Der Maler (und gerade dem finen Naturgefühle des Künstlers kommt hier der Auss-

pruch zu!) unterscheidet in dem Hintergrunde einer Landschaft Pinien oder Palmenge-

büsche von Buchen-, nicht aber diese von anderen Laubholzwäldern!” Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, op.cit., p.77.

37. It is only natural that Humboldt expanded the number of tree-types, since he was

interested in including all the new tropical species in his classification.

152 Literature and the Arts

This passage still makes evident a certain hierarchy in the process of con-

struction of a landscape. The artist should initially capture its individual ele-

ments, in order to compose, in a posterior moment, using his notations, the

masses or the contrasting groups. These groups are responsible for the “total

impression”, or the character of the specific region studied. This same con-

ception of the process of execution of a landscape painting also appears later

in the Kosmos:

FIGURE 12-3. Spix and Martius, “Plants of Tropical America” Lithography from “Atlas

of the Voyage to Brazil,” 1823.

The sketches drawn before natural scenes can only lead to the representation

of the character of distant regions after regressing [from these regions], in fin-

ished landscapes. They will be executed in an even more perfect way if the

enthusiastic painter has drawn or painted outside, before nature, a great quan-

tity of isolated studies of tree tops, opulent branches carried with flowers and

fruits, tipped trunks covered with parasites, or orchids, cliffs, strips of river

margins, and parts of floret grounds.39

The careful construction of the landscape from solid knowledge of its par-

tial aspects is central to Hackert’s theory on landscape. According to him, the

attentive study of individual types was a guarantee of the richness and variety

of the vegetation in the finished picture. An artist that did not make an effort

to learn the different isolated forms of nature would, in a large composition,

always tend towards painting the same kind of trees. This is also Hackert’s

hardest critique regarding the great landscape painters of the Italian tradition:

The most important thing in a landscape composition is to guarantee that

everything is grand, such as in Nicholas and Gaspard Poussin, Carracci and

Domenichino. […] We can however reproach in these, the fact that their trees

38. Idem, p.77 and p.86. Drawings of individual species followed by drawings of these

species inserted in bigger groups, forming great masses of vegetation can be found fre-

quently in the

Flora Brasiliensis

of Spix and Martius.

39. Alexander von Humboldt, Kosmos, apud. Renate Löschner (ed.), Artistas Alemães na

América Latina, Berlin, 1978, p. 24.

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 153

are always the same, and that only rarely one can be differentiated from the

other.40

In the same sense, Hackert wrote on the artist’s learning process: “When

the artist’s hand becomes more or less trained, being able to take notes of all

the changes of form in the leaves and in the trees, then he should draw copy-

ing nature, without loosing much time with copies of drawings.”41

In the same way, the integration of the moral and physical aspects of land-

scape, proposed by Humboldt in his concept of “Naturgelmälde” (pictures of

nature), that is, the recognition of its historical dimension42, had already been

phrased in Hackert’s Theoretical Fragments, as determining the picture’s

final visual result. The integration of Nature and History in landscape paint-

ing is discussed in the Fragments under the title of “Moral Effect”, where the

author emphasises the pleasure one enjoys from the vision of a landscape

punctuated by human history: “Some landscapes give us exceptional pleasure

when they represent localities where great deeds, such as battles, or other

grand historical events took place.”

As Herbert von Einem argues43, Goethe saw human history as an integral

part of nature, and certainly approved and valued the presence of the human

dimension present in Hackert’s landscapes. It is possible that this question,

which occupied him especially during his stay in Italy, was theme for discus-

sion with his friend Alexander von Humboldt. For his part, Humboldt would

have given a more anthropological character to the subject when treating it in

his “Ansichten der Natur” some years later: “The knowledge of the natural

character of each different region of the world is intimately tied to human his-

tory and culture.” Not only the memorable historical events add to the land-

scape, as in Hackert’s conception, but also its character is determined by the

specific symbiosis installed locally between men and his habitat.

Evidently such ponderings were also in the mouth of many men of sci-

ence of the time, and could be traced directly back to Winckelmann, among

others. However I would like to suggest here that in many aspects the proce-

dures recommended by Hackert in his Theoretical Fragments helped Hum-

boldt to materialize the idea of a picture of nature (“Naturgemälde”) as an

essential path in the process of acquiring knowledge of the world, and of

humanity.

40. Goethe, “Hackert Biographie”, op.cit., p.617

41. Idem, p.615.

42. Meyer-Abich gives the following description of the concept of Naturgemälde in Hum-

boldt; “(…) it is no more and no less than the harmony of physical and moral Nature, or

from a modern point of view: the harmony between Nature and History.” In: Humboldt,

Ansichten der Natur

, op.cit., p. 159.

43.

Herbert von Einem, “Nachwort”, in: Goethe Werke, Munique: Beck, 1989, vol.11, p.59.

154 Literature and the Arts

The fact that it was Hackert’s works, and not those of the romantics for

instance, to served for Humboldt as model for the description of the painter’s

task, has its importance. It meant, among other things, as Werner Busch

notes,44 the naturalist’s adoption of a classical view of landscape, clearly

implied in the concept of “Totaleindruck” (“total impression”).45 Humboldt’s

preference for classical painting of the kind proposed by Hackert is also evi-

dent in the list of the artists, who collaborated with him in the illustration of

his books. For this task he called on men like Gottlied Schick, Bellman, or

Friedrich Wilhem Gmelin, all related in one way or another to Goethe’s artis-

tic circle in Weimar. Wilhem Gmelin, for instance, was even mentioned by

Meyer and Fernow in their introduction to Goethe’s Winckelmann und sein

Jahrhundert (Winckelmann and his century):

Under artist who draw monochromatic landscapes we find on Hackert’s side

the already mentioned Birman and Kniep, beside these, Gmelin (…). As

Hackert’s personal friend he learned his techniques with this master, proving

to have good knowledge of effect, posture, etc., while drawing nature with

fidelity.46

FIGURE 12-4. Spix and Martius, “Extraction and preparation of the turtle eggs at the

Amazon river” From “Atlas of the Voyage to Brazil,” 1823.

Alexander von Humboldt was also a reference figure to many artists who

travelled through Brazil, such as Johann Moritz Rugendas, Thomas Ender

and Carl von Martius, contributing to determine the form in which they cap-

tured the Brazilian nature47 in their work. Since these artists were frequently

in contact with the local Academy it is plausible to think of an influence of

44. Werner Busch, “Der berg als Gegenstand von Naturwissenschaft- und Kunst. Zur

Goethes Geologischem Begriff”, in:

Goethe und die Kunst

, op.cit., p. 485-518.

45. The idea is opposed to the non-classic concept of

vedute

painting. Humboldt’s classic

taste is also revealed by the fact that he chose François Gerard, a student of Jacques-Louis

David as his teacher during the time he was in Paris, after returning from America. Cf.

Löchner, op.cit., p.27.

46. Goethe, Meyer, Fernow, “Winckelmann und sein Jahrhundert”, apud.

Goethe und die

Kunst

, op.cit., p.508.

Landscape Painting Between Art and Science 155

the hackertian model on Brazilian landscape painting, intermediated by Alex-

ander von Humboldt.48 This would help to explain, for instance, the important

difference existing between North American landscape panting, strongly

impregnated by an aesthetic of the sublime, and the Brazilian production,

which maintains an intriguing relationship with the type of painting invented

by Jakob Philipp Hackert and his disciples.

47. It is certain, for instance, that Nicolau-Antoine Taunay maintained contacts with Spix

and Martius, who arrived in Brazil in 1817 as members of a Scientific expedition.

48. Luciano Migliaccio has also pointed out another possible path for the reception of

Hackert’s theory and practice regarding landscape painting. According to the author, the

Portuguese king, who immigrated with his court to Brazil in 1808, and was married to a

Bourbon princess, tried to adopt the pattern of patronage established by the King Ferdi-

nand IV in Naples with the direct help of his court painter J.Ph. Hackert. Luciano Migliac-

cio, “A paisagem clássica como alegoria do poder do soberano: Hackert na corte de

Nápoles e as origins da pintira de paisagem no Brasil”, in: Claudia Valladão de Mattos (ed.)

Goethe e Hackert: Sobre a Pintura de Paisagem. Quadros da Natureza na Europa e no Bra-

sil

, São Paulo: Ateliê Editorial, to be published in 2004.

157

CHAPTER 13 New Sites and Sounds

Adrienne Klein

A distinction must be made in landscape painting, as in every other branch of

art, between the elements generated by the more limited field of contempla-

tion and direct observation, and those which spring from the force of idealiz-

ing mental power.1

If Alexander von Humboldt valued this latter form of artistic response, he

would certainly be gratified by the work of contemporary artists who: draw

inspiration from his research, transcend mere observation and reporting, and

give us new ways of seeing. Artists who apply Humboldt’s “idealizing men-

tal power” to Humboldtian subject matter include Rachel Berwick, Mark

Dion, Daniel Velasco and Jose Restrepo. These artists directly reference

Humboldt’s two-century old work.

The work I will show is unified by two factors: one, Humboldt is central

to the content of the work and two; all of the work can be termed installation

art. Installation art encompasses work ranging from tableaux to new media

art to work that is site-specific, that is, influenced by the history or dimen-

sions or other characteristics of the gallery that contains it.

Daniel Velasco-Schwarzenberger

Daniel Velasco created an installation that consists of projections of images

and quadraphonic sound in a performance lasting 65 minutes. Visitors move

through fields of sounds and view imagery from the natural environment of

Cuba, where Velasco followed the path of Humboldt’s travels. Velasco makes

1. Alexander von Humboldt, in Hanno Beck, ed.,

Kosmos. Entwurf einer physikalischen

Weltbeschreibung,Studienausgabe

, Vol. 12 (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft,

1993 [1832]) p. 95; as.cited in Daniel Velasco, “Island Landscape: Following in Hum-

boldt’s Footsteps through Acoustic Spaces of the Tropics,”

Leonardo Music Journal

, Vol.

10, 2000, pp. 21-24.

158 Literature and the Arts

two points: first, that Humboldt is the most appropriate subject of this display

because of Humboldt’s appreciation of the natural world and progressive

views on the value of the cultures he encountered.

FIGURE 13-1. Daniel Velasco-Schwarzenberger, “Island Landscape,” 1999

His second point is his own advocacy of the nascent field of “acoustic

ecology, sensitizing (listeners) to environmental sounds and the need for their

preservation.”2 Velasco claims Humboldt as a forerunner of acoustic ecology

because “his way of thinking is influenced by his sense of listening.”3

Humboldt wrote in great, descriptive detail about the sound of water, vol-

canoes and animals. Among the phenomena he observed was the apparent

magnification of sound at night, the so-called “Humboldt Effect.” (A short

segment of Velasco’s audio work is played, consisting of field recordings

from Cuba and a text by Humboldt read by an actor).4

Mark Dion

Since the 1980s, Mark Dion has produced artwork that focuses on science

and its place in culture. His installations examine how the subjective under-

standing of nature becomes established as fact and critique Western systems

of classification. Dion’s work often focuses on early naturalists, such as

Baron Georges Cuvier, Alfred Russel Wallace and Alexander von Humboldt.

2. Daniel Velasco, “Island Landscape: Following in Humboldt’s Footsteps through

Acoustic Spaces of the Tropics,”

Leonardo Music Journal

, Vol. 10, 2000, pp. 21-24.

Ibid.

4. A brief audio extract of Daniel Velasco’s piece “Island Landscape” can be heard at

http://members.mcnon.com/zgue/artists/velascoeng.html

New Sites and Sounds 159

This is an example of one of many simulations of “wunderkammern” that

Dion has made. Wunderkammern, or Cabinets of Curiousity were personal

collections, precursors to museums, which were popular in sixteenth and sev-

enteenth century Europe. Francis Bacon recommended:

FIGURE 13-2. Mark Dion, “Cabinet of Curiosity,” The Wexner Center for the Arts,

Columbus, Ohio, 1997.

... a goodly, huge cabinet, wherein whatsoever the hand of man by exquisite

art or engine has made rare in stuff, form or motion; whatsoever singularity,

chance, and the shuffle of things hath produced; whatsoever Nature has

wrought in things that want life and may be kept; shall be sorted and

included.5

Dion, in his typical practice, borrowed for this piece from the collections

of the Carnegie Museum of Natural History and the Carnegie Museum of

Art. His borrowed materials were, at once, both authentic museum objects

and re-contextualized as props in a fictive tableau. This piece was, in part, a

performance. He trained staff to conduct a search for insect specimens in the

museum just as a naturalist might in a field site. The installation is an artifact

of the performance. The manikin wears the uniform of a naturalist in the trop-

ics. Behind are photographs made from the insects that were found and pre-

served.

Dion assembled a tableau that pictures Wallace’s field practice. We see a

hammock with mosquito netting and, on a crate serving as a side table, a

5. Francis Bacon, cited in Fulton H. Anderson,

Francis Bacon, His Career and Thought

USC Press, Los Angeles, 1962.

160 Literature and the Arts

copy of Malthus’ book “Principles of Population” sitting beside an unfin-

ished letter to Darwin. There is audible a sound recording of what sounds to

be malaria-induced ramblings by the naturalist.

FIGURE 13-3. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International exhibition,

Pittsburgh, PA, 1999

FIGURE 13-4. Mark Dion, installation in the Carnegie International exhibition,

Pittsburgh, PA, 1999.

This piece was part of an exhibition in Cologne, Germany, that Dion titled

“Alexander von Humboldt and Other Sculptures.” The installation included

books on and by Humboldt, plants Humboldt described and, in the large

aquarium, ten live red piranhas. It is essentially a tribute to Humboldt.

These representative pieces, a wunderkammern and tableaux celebrating

and parodying science practice, bring “together several of Dion’s favorite

binaries – the individual and the collective; art and science; imperialism and

naturalism; nature and culture – in order to show how they are, in fact, inex-

tricably linked.”6

6. Review of Mark Dion exhibitions at American Fine Arts, New York and the Aldrich

Museum, Ridgefield, CT, Martha Schwendener,

ArtForum

, June 2003

New Sites and Sounds 161

FIGURE 13-5. Image 5: Mark Dion, “The Delirium of Alfred Russel Wallace,” 1994

FIGURE 13-6. Mark Dion, Alexander von Humboldt (Amazon Memorial), 2000

Jose Alejandro Restrepo

Restrepo’s installations combine text, images and historical research. His

work is a critique of misperceptions of Latin America from abroad, histori-

cally and to the present day.

“Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not Hegel’s,” is seen here installed in Mont-

real’s Musée d’art contemporain in September 2004.

The installation consists of the title written large on the wall flanked by

two video monitors. Near the floor, the wall is marked off in 1-foot incre-

162 Literature and the Arts

ments to 25 feet in length, the length of an Amazonian crocodile. On the

video monitor to the left is a tight shot of a crocodile’s head. 25 feet to the

right the monitor displays the tip of the crocodile’s tail. On the wall are

quotes from texts by Hegel and Humboldt.

FIGURE 13-7. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not Hegel’s,” the

Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September 2004.

FIGURE 13-8. Jose Alejandro Restrepo: “Humboldt’s Crocodile is Not Hegel’s,” the

Montreal’s Musée d’art contemporain, September 2004.

As the title says, the contrast of the two Europeans’ views of Latin Amer-

ica is the subject. Hegel never stepped foot in the Americas but felt autho-

rized to express his opinion on its realities, projecting a view that native

New Sites and Sounds 163

American cultures as well as native American creatures were inferior. Hum-

boldt, of course, could write from a first hand, empirical examination. Hum-

boldt wrote a rebuttal to Hegel’s view, citing the Amazonian crocodile as an

example of a larger, superior species from the New World.

Rachel Berwick

Rachel Berwick’s art focuses on extinction. “May-por-é” is an installation in

which two Amazon parrots have been trained to speak an extinct South

American language.

FIGURE 13-9. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004

Berwick relates that Alexander von Humboldt was traveling along the

Orinoco River in what is now Venezuela when he happened upon a Carib

Indian tribe. When he asked his hosts why their pet parrots were speaking a

dialect different from their own language, the Indians told Humboldt that the

birds had belonged to the Mayporé tribe, whom they had recently extermi-

nated during tribal warfare. The birds were spoils of war. To Humboldt’s

amazement, the parrots were the last remaining speakers of the Mayporé lan-

guage.

Humboldt’s meticulously detailed journals don’t corroborate Berwick’s

version of the legend of the parrots. They do, however, contain Mayporé

words he heard on his travels, transcribed phonetically.

This was Rachel Berwick’s response to the story: she designed a 10 foot

in diameter aviary, covered in translucent polypropylene. The cylindrical avi-

ary is lighted inside and shown in a gallery with subdued lighting so that the

aviary shines from within like a lantern. Inside the aviary are two parrots and

rainforest plants that provide perches for the birds. There is a tape recording

164 Literature and the Arts

of the sound of flowing water. Because the walls are translucent, the viewer

only sees shadowy, ghost-like silhouettes of the birds. And the birds speak.

They pronounce the words of the Mayporé language, the only language they

know. They appear as ghostly shadows that speak a ghost language.

FIGURE 13-10. Rachel Berwick, “May-por-é,” 1998-2004

Berwick was intrigued by the idea that parrots could be the sole and

imperfect conduit through which an entire tribe’s existence could be traced.

Working with Humboldt’s notes and with the collaborative efforts of a bird

behaviorist, two linguists, and a sound engineer, she taught the parrots to

‘speak’ the Mayporé language. Berwick started this project in 1997. The

installation has since appeared in London, New York, New Haven, Istanbul

and Sao Paulo.

Berwick may have taken artistic license with the historic record. Hum-

boldt, in his journal, reports on repeated contacts with the Mayporé so they

were clearly not extinct at the time of his travels. Humboldt spends much

time phonetically recording words in all of the languages of the area, for

example: “The titi [a kind of monkey] of the Orinoco (Simia sciurea), well

known in our collections, is called bititeni by the Maypure Indians.”7

Humboldt does relate the story of a tribe called the Atures driven to

extinction. Further, he tells the story of a surviving pet parrot who preserves

the Ature language.

At the period of our voyage an old parrot was shown at Maypures, of which

the inhabitants said, and the fact is worthy of observation, that they did not

understand what it said, because it spoke the language of the Atures.8

7. Alexander von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland,

Personal narrative of Travels to the

Equinoctial Regions of America During the Years 1799-1804

, v. 2. Translated and edited by

Thomasina Ross. George Bell & Sons, 1907. Available online from The Project Gutenberg,

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/authrec?fk_authors=1995, Chapter 2-19, p. 180.

New Sites and Sounds 165

Berwick may have conflated the stories of several tribes that Humboldt

reported on. Her installation is, nevertheless, a beautiful evocation of these

encounters.

Interestingly, language is a skill that separates humans (representing cul-

ture) from animals (representing nature), yet Berwick’s parrots instruct us. It

is this sort of appreciation of nature in all its diversity that we find so progres-

sive and laudable in Humboldt.

Reviewing the four artists I have discussed:

Rachel Berwick takes a story told by Humboldt and seizes upon it as one that

furthers her conviction that we must not neglect the impending extinction of

species, languages and races. This is the thesis motivating her entire body of

work and her success here is composing the Humboldt / May-por-é story – a

particularly compelling story.

Similarly, Daniel Velasco wishes to focus our attention on natural envi-

ronments that are at risk. He documents them and presents them to us in a

sensory-rich, immersive environment. We may be transported by the images

and sounds to another realm, but it is a vicarious, aestheticized version of the

original, minus the hazards and heat. Velasco knows the limits of his ability

to reproduce an environment, but seizes upon this method to enlist our inter-

est or, better still, our activism.

Mark Dion honors Humboldt in his pantheon of enlightened scientist

explorers. His tableaux about Humboldt are part of a body of work that

names names: Charles Darwin, Rachel Carson, and Alexander Wilson among

others. Dion extols the work done by these pioneers, but of equal importance

to him is the examination of the subjective nature of museum display,

summed up nicely by the title of his 1997 exhibition “Natural History and

Other Fictions.”

Jose Alejandro Restrepo lives in South America and examines the con-

tinuing relevance of the historic European regard for his continent. Like Ber-

wick and Velasco, he has a message of advocacy and his art is a means to that

end.

As David McCullough wrote about Humboldt,

“…he began to see what nobody had understood before him; that life’s forms

and their grouping with one another are conditioned by physical factors in

their environment…he realized more fully that to classify and identify count

for little unless you understood how to relate such information to integrated

natural processes.”9

Ibid,

Chapter 2-24, p. 391.

9. David McCullough,

Brave Companions

, Simon & Schuster, 1992

166 Literature and the Arts

Relating to natural processes, the integration of ideas, synthesis – all add

up to original thinking that was Humboldt’s hallmark. It is no wonder that

contemporary artists continue to draw inspiration from him.

167

CHAPTER 14 Humboldt and the

Visual Arts in America

Amy H. Winter

The writings and theory of Alexander von Humboldt served as inspiration for

American art, from the celebrated 19th-century Hudson River School painter

Frederick Edwin Church, to the esoteric 20th-century surrealist artist and the-

orist Wolfgang Paalen. Direct evidence of Paalen’s knowledge of Humboldt

can be found in his eyewitness account of the 1940 eruption of the Mexican

volcano Paricutin that was modeled upon Humboldt’s, which drew in turn

upon a still-earlier eyewitness account. For Humboldt, the study of volcanic

manifestations was one of the objectives of his journey to the equinoctial

regions of America (1799-1804). The reader of his work will learn of his

ascent of Teide Peak in Tenerife and of other climbs to several volcanic sum-

mits in South and Central America. It is hard to imagine that the motif of vul-

canism that figured so highly in the works of his Romantic contemporaries

and was a prime model of the theory of the sublime, did not have some bear-

ing on his explorations.

It is well known that Church read Humboldt’s influential Cosmos: Sketch

of a Physical Description of the Universe in 1849 and sought to visually rep-

resent his theory that the unity, harmony and complexity of the natural world

were the result of a divine order. This theory that was the basis of the Roman-

tic worldview was related to – but not the same as – the theory of the sublime

that originated in the late 18th century and dominated philosophical and artis-

tic discourse throughout the 19th century. The Romantic poets and “natural

philosophers” (as they were called) who formulated the theory of the sublime

like Johann von Goethe and Friedrich Schelling, professed that the unifying

principle of the universe was found in the eternal World Spirit present in

every object and force of Nature, which man could never discern through

logic alone. Humboldt, a child of the Enlightenment as well as of Romanti-

cism, wished to balance this metaphysical doctrine with the reason and obser-

168 Literature and the Arts

vation of scientific method, and to supplant tyranny and slavery with

humanism and social progress by forming a bridge between the rational and

intuitive modes of understanding the universe. Touched by the Romantic

spirit of the age, Humboldt combined scientific rigor and meticulous obser-

vation with inspired description and an enduring passion for the transcenden-

tal beauty of what he observed – unflagging in his aesthetic appreciation

complemented by pure reason in order to grasp the true nature of the world.

Nature herself is sublimely eloquent,” Humboldt wrote, “The stars as they

sparkle in the firmament fill us with delight and ecstasy and yet they all move

in orbit marked out with mathematical precision.” This methodology that

unified observation with passion was of considerable importance to visual

artists.

Two papers in this conference have just revisited the subject of Humboldt

and Church. So I will not dwell on this topic, except to say that after reading

Cosmos, Church literally followed Humboldt’s path through the Ecuadorian

Andes in order to view nature as “one great whole, moved and animated by

internal forces” and “to seize...on the true image of the varied forms of

nature, available in the tropical world.” Church pictured the “sublime” land-

scapes of America in awe-inspiring paintings with much the same intention

as his German Romantic counterpart, Caspar David Friedrich.

The result of Church’s initial journey, The Andes of Ecuador, finished in

1855, was a monumental canvas of 4 feet by nearly 7 feet that combined

Church’s typically 19th-century concerns about science and religion. The

painting shows the infinite botanical detail of interest to artists and the terri-

fying depths of the abyss and overwhelming sense of unlimited space, which

were the essential elements in depictions of the “sublime” that dominated

19th-century artistic discourse in Europe and America.

This discourse was deeply embedded in the American psyche, tied as it

was to a religious character that was the bedrock of America’s founding.

Even today, that religious character continues to reassert itself in American

society, vying with the well-established evidence of science championed at

the start of the modern age by intellectuals like Alexander von Humboldt –

and later, following in his path, Wolfgang Paalen. Paalen’s insistent call for a

unified versus dualistic vision of reality, his focus on the physical universe,

his “Cosmic” metaphor for art, and his passionate argument for the impor-

tance of relating art to science all echo the values and tenets of Humboldt.

From 1942 to 1944 in Mexico City, Paalen published DYN, an influential

art review for the New York School, read by the emerging Abstract Expres-

sionists whose colleague, Robert Motherwell, served as assistant editor to

Paalen for the journal. Paalen’s essays therein discussed a modern “Cosmic”

Humboldt and the Visual Arts in America 169

art in terms of contemporary physics, using it as a model for his totally

abstract representations.

Humboldt’s ideas which anticipated the unifying theories of modern

physics can be cited as inspiration for the impressive canvases of Abstract

Expressionism by way of Paalen’s theory. Born in Vienna in 1905, but

equally bred in Berlin, Paalen was classically educated and heir to the

Enlightenment and Romantic ideas forged by giants like Humboldt and

Goethe – and the list of books in his library attest to this fact, along with his

writings which reference these and more. Like Humboldt, Paalen was moti-

vated by profoundly ethical, humanitarian and democratic values. Like Hum-

boldt, these values fueled his concern to move discourse into a modern and

scientific framework that eschewed the religious incantations of his genera-

tion. Humboldt accomplished this by his exhaustive researches of the natural

world and physical universe that surpassed the “natural philosophy” of his

contemporaries. Paalen did so by turning to the paradigm of physics for his

art and theory and calling for a “demystification” of artistic theory and prac-

tice that rejected science as compatible with its goals. Like Humboldt, he

advocated “a universe of wholes” and defined the sublime in terms of the

actual poetry of the universe revealed by science rather than by poetic meta-

physics.

In his essay on “Art and Science,” published in DYN in 1942 as World

War II was raging in Europe, Paalen wrote about dualism and the mystifica-

tion inherent in philosophy and related it to ethics and politics: “Traditionally

identified with metaphysics, philosophy...remained true to theological

method, which consist[ed] of explaining one unknown by two unknowns:

Thus when [metaphysics] does not know how to place a thing within reality,

it simply adds a lengthening-piece, a sham reality. Lengthening pieces: the

super-natural for a nature that is too tiny, the super-rational for a reason that is

too lean, a liberty with a double bottom, a morality extra-moral and partisan

for the right-thinking insiders of a consecrated ‘ism’ – in brief, if one is

unable to define a thing, one simply makes two things out of it.”

The artist, Paalen suggested, was the herald of the possibility of a new

ethic, who could stand alongside the scientist as navigator into territory

where the values of science and art were complementary – complementarity

being a basic principle of quantum physics. The findings of quantum physics

that Paalen prescribed as a new model for art verified the simultaneity and

multiplicity of experience, and showed that “reality is one and indivisible.”

They proved that, as with physical matter, the seeming separation between

interior and exterior perception, so critical to the artist and poet, was illusory:

“As no man can hold himself satisfied with the affirmation that light is

merely a number of vibrations...the poet speaks as truthfully as the scientist

170 Literature and the Arts

when he claims that light belongs to the realm of vision.” Paalen wrote at a

point in history where science had come to be regarded as infallible, and

technology (the child of science) had escalated the war and moved toward the

annihilating reality of the atomic bomb. It was not, he said, merely a matter

of “theoretical aesthetic rehabilitation” but an imperative that neither art nor

science be elevated to absolute truths – metaphysics – in their own right.

Thoroughly a man of his time, Humboldt’s lifelong endeavor to change

the terms of inquiry from “natural philosophy” to “natural history” are very

much paralleled in Paalen’s attempt to change the terms of art from “meta-

physics” to physics. His paintings from the early 1940s invent spatial meta-

phors and explore the possibilities of depicting a new concept of space.

Progressively, he turned to invention of other grammars of abstraction, visu-

ally different, but all metaphors based in the graphic mathematical languages

of astronomy, physics, and astrophysics. Code-like notations of dots, dashes,

and ellipses rhythmically play over or organize the surfaces of his canvases.

Like Viennese physicist Ernst Mach’s imperative of “scientific economy,”

from which he drew some of his ideas, Paalen’s forms display “conceptual

schemes as economical instruments” that “simplify” but do not reduce expe-

rience. Like Mach’s physics, “a shorthand method of relating and correlat-

ing...sense data with the help of mathematics,” his paintings unified

subjective content and objective form.

Still another model Paalen borrowed was the Nobel-Prize winning wave-

particle theory of Louis de Broglie. Broglie was Professor of the Sorbonne’s

Poincaré Institute, frequented by the Surrealists in the 1930s. The motion of

his forms aesthetically translated de Broglie's undulating waves and quanta

particles of light to fashion his visual metaphor.

In the climate of World War II, and under Paalen’s influence, Abstract

Expressionist painting gave way to the paradigm of the Apocalypse; then,

following the war, to the "abstract sublime” – the New York School's meta-

physical cosmic images. This was evident in the climax phase of Pollock's

grand scale gestural paintings and mystical or explosive “chromatic” abstrac-

tions of Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman, Mark Rothko, and Clifford Still.

Both of these phases followed the abstract form and sense of Paalen’s Cosmic

works.

Works such as Space Unbound (1941), and Major Polarities (1940), the

latter published in DYN, displayed an “all-over” quality (soon identified with

mature Abstract Expressionist painting) to transform the graphically – and

rhythmically – notated forms of the universe into images of force and volatil-

ity. Rapidly drawn lines and parabolic arcs suggest high energies and veloci-

ties; concentric vortical chains "simulate magnetic fields,” and “dotted lines

recall particle clouds.” Paalen described the Cosmic works as symbols of “the

Humboldt and the Visual Arts in America 171

great structural rhythms, the tidal waves of form and chaos, of being and

becoming, which go beyond the accidents of individual fate...” in which, by

sympathetic response, the viewer can participate:

Nuclear Wheel (1942), Solarization (1942) and other Cosmic works

shown in Paalen’s 1945 Art of This Century exhibition, sowed the seeds of

Abstract Expressionism’s “radical abstraction,” in which references to visible

nature disappeared and form alone became a visual index of value and mean-

ing. The themes and abstract form-metaphors that Paalen invented to signify

cosmic energies and time-space prefigured Abstract Expressionism’s

“abstract sublime.” Jackson Pollock saw the Cosmic works in Paalen's April-

May exhibition at Art of This Century, and his own one-man exhibition of

May-June 1945 directly followed.

Time after time, parallels with Paalen’s theory, iconography, and form

reasserted themselves in the work of the emerging painters in their own per-

sonal styles. But if Paalen eschewed religion and mysticism by turning to sci-

ence, the New Yorkers turned to quasi-religious discourses to develop a

modern counterpart to the metaphysical aspirations of the past. In the 1975,

projecting backward, Robert Rosenblum identified an affinity between the

Northern Romantic tradition of the “sublime” and Abstract Expressionism’s

“abstract sublime, which claimed transcendental qualities for their drastically

reduced abstractions, perceived as the ultimate expression of Abstract

Expressionist art.” Rosenblum likened the noumenous effects of their large-

scale, rhythmic, and atmospheric abstractions to the awe-inspiring attributes

of “boundlessness” and “greatness of dimension” as well as the “vortical

rhythms,” “sublime whirlpools,” and “mystic trinity of sky, water, and earth”

in the landscapes of Romantic painters Caspar David Friedrich, J.M.W.

Turner, and John Martin, and related them to the aesthetic discourses of

Goethe, Emanuel Kant, and Edmund Burke, bypassing Paalen and his imme-

diate proximity to the New York painters. But well-before that affinity was

noted, Paalen’s Cosmic discourse and paintings offered these sources to poet-

ically celebrate the power of creation manifest in the physical world.

In concept and image, Paalen set a precedent for Pollock’s monumental

poured and dripped paintings like Autumn Rhythm; for the pregnant stillness

of the “atomic void” of Newman's minimal Onement or Vir Heroicus Subli-

mus; for the cosmic explosions of Gottlieb’s Bursts, and for the ragged

chasms of Still’s outsize abstractions. By 1945 and 1946 in Paalen’s New

York exhibitions, in the last issue of DYN, and in an anthology called Form

and Sense, when he published the works of, Motherwell, Pollock, and Will-

iam Baziotes, and David Smith, his role as a forger of a “new art,” was com-

plete.

172 Literature and the Arts

In conclusion, it is therefore interesting that both of these intellectual pio-

neers, who chose to be generalists and explore a universe of possibilities

were largely forgotten for many years. This conference rectifies that absence

of memory and restores Humboldt’s astounding legacy and in the process,

that of latter day disciples like Wolfgang Paalen.

173

CHAPTER 15 Women Travelers in

Humboldt’s New World

Adriana Méndez Rodenas

Historically, Humboldt’s vast travels to continental Latin America have been

interpreted as the paradigm for European travel narrative to the New World.

Cuban anthropologist Fernando Ortiz, for instance, labeled Humboldt the

“second discoverer” of the Americas, pointing out his debt to Christopher

Columbus as well as his departure from the tradition of discovery and con-

quest (also in Duviols and Minguet 1994, 25). Biographers and critics alike

have amply documented Humboldt’s status as an eighteenth-century savant,

cataloguing the interdisciplinary thrust of his writings, encompassing geogra-

phy, natural science, and geology (in Duviols and Minguet 1994, 25-28), an

encyclopedic knowledge which established both the foundations of modern

science as well as a new type of travel writing (Ette 2003, 25). Critical recep-

tion of Humboldt promoting him as paradigmatic of the scientific voyage to

the New World highlights his role in shaping both the rhetoric of European

travel writing and the Latin American literary tradition (González Echevarría

1990, 104, 110). These biographical and textual approaches constitute Hum-

boldt’s literary legacy, what one critic called “oddly parallel traditions” in

praise of his life and work (Ochoa 1999 102). In recent years, Mary Louise

Pratt has radically altered this view with her ideological critique of Hum-

boldt, based, coincidentally, on the same paradigmatic value accorded to his

travel books. Pratt’s approach has marked an important shift in the critical

reception of Humboldt (1992, 119-120), highlighting the centrality of Hum-

boldt’s oeuvre for post-colonial studies, yet I concur with Ochoa’s assess-

ment that her “demonizing view […] ascribes an inscrutable, totalizing

authority to Humboldt” (1992, 138) in need of further revision.

In this paper, I want to pursue the extent to which Humboldt’s relations de

voyage, and particulary his Personal Narrative of the Equinoctial Regions of

the New Continent (1816), have shaped the course of nineteenth-century

174 Literature and the Arts

European women travelers to the New World. Breaking free of the rhetorical

restraints placed on the genre of travel writing – what Pratt identifies as the

sentimental and the scientific (1992, 74-75) but which really encompass a

wide range of “transdisciplinary” discourses1 – European women travelers

practice the genre with the same healthy eclecticism which characterized

Humboldt’s travel writings. Inspired by Humboldt, they trekked the plains,

“pampas”, and valleys of the New World, secure in the knowledge he pro-

vided but also in hope of establishing their own “personal narrative.”

Whether inside a carriage, on horseback, or by foot, the varied journeys of

Victorian women travelers particularly are made on the trail of Humboldt,

seeing in their illustrious predecessor not merely an abstract model to emu-

late, but a source of authentification of their varied journeys, an authority

needed to construct their own, private forays into unknown territory (Frawley

1994).

It is a mainstay of travel narrative to suggest that the genre forms an intri-

cate web of texts in which the individual itinerary often conjures the writerly

paths opened up by previous travelers. At the start of his Personal Narrative,

Humboldt acknowledges that he “read the ancient voyages of the Spaniards”

during the long sea passage from La Coruña to Cumaná (Humboldt, vol. I,

1814). Later on in the voyage, in the dramatic passages describing his intent

to discover the bifurcation of the Orinoco, he will repeatedly cite Father

Gumilla and La Condamine as his most direct textual precursors (Humboldt,

vol. vol. V, 487). It is inside this labyrinth formed by the criss-crossings of

previous journeys (Ette, 2003, 24) where we detect Humboldt’s influence on

European women, in their double role as both travelers and readers, since

reading can be viewed as “a kind of traveling” (Ette 2003, 26-28. In much the

same way as Columbus’ inaugural journey reverberates throughout Hum-

boldt’s voyage, traces of his Personal Narrative appear on at least three lev-

els in the alternative tradition of European women’s travels.2 First, in the

perspective of the journey, what has been theorized as the “seeing-man” or

“all-knowing I” (Pratt 1993, 7) of the European scientific explorer, and who

is most often collided with the first-person narrator of the travel account (Ette

2003, 29). In the critical corpus, the traveler’s pose has been codified as a sin-

gle male explorer who from a height above absorbs in his gaze the entire

sweep of the land below, a mountaintop perspective permitting the compari-

son of different landscapes and climates (Slovic 1990, 6; Stafford 1984, 150).

Humboldt’s ascent to Mount Chimborazo (Image 1-Chimborazo) not only

1. I am indebted to Ottmar Ette’s keynote speech delivered at the “Alexander von Hum-

boldt: From the Americas to the Cosmos” conference, in which he commented on the

author’s “transdisciplinary,” rather than merely “interdisciplinary” perspective.

2. En route to the New World, Humboldt claims to follow the exact sea route charted by

Columbus, as his allusion to the passing of Cape Three Points, dubbed so by the Almirante,

makes clear;

Personal Narrative

, vol. 2, 30.

Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 175

emblematizes this view, but also illustrates the linear form of the journey, as

one anticipating a fulfillment (Ette 2003, 44). In this way, the perspective of

the traveler conditions the shape or textual organization of the travel account,

detailed in Ette’s analysis of the recurring tropes in European travel writing

(2003). Yet Humboldt’s influence is most strongly felt in the approach to

landscape, characterized by the Romantic sublime and the use of metaphor,

and based, for the most part, on the comparison to similar scenery in Europe

(González Echevarría 1990, 108) as well as to more remote regions. Hum-

boldt’s “comparative method of landscape description” has been negatively

interpreted as downplaying the specificity of a particular terrain or region in

favor of a grander “textual atlas” or abstract model of the globe (Slovic 1990,

6, 8). In contrast, in his analysis of the use of analogy in Humboldt’s Political

Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain and Vues de cordilleras, Ochoa notes its

effectiveness at the sight of inanimate landscape, and the tensions arising

when dealing with the culturally Other (Ochoa 1999, 143).

After noting the striking similarities and differences between British

women travelers and Humboldt in terms of the rhetoric of travel (that is, per-

spective and approach to landscape), I want to clear a different path, where

Humboldt’s influence is also felt. I propose that many nineteenth-century

women, particularly those “solitary travelers” devoted to science (Marz

Harper), follow Humboldt’s trail as a circuitious path to knowledge, an

endeavor resulting either in personal satisfaction, conversion into an author,

increased self-confidence, or a self-transformation implying all of the above.

Although quite a few Victorian “lady travelers” fit this pattern, I want to

focus here on a set of four illustrated travelogues that best represents the

reception of Humboldt I am suggesting: botanist, artist, and historian Maria

Graham, also known as Lady Calcott, whose extended residence abroad

resulted in two travel books, A Journal of a Voyage to Brazil and A Journal of

a Residence in Chile, both published in 1824; Fredrika Bremer, dubbed the

Swedish Jane Austen, whose sojourn in the United States and Cuba resulted

in The Homes of the New World – Impressions of America, published in 1853

and translated into English a year later; lastly, Victorian artist Adela Breton, a

“globe-trotter” whose travels culminated in a series of trips to Mexico at the

turn of the century, who left a stunning visual archive of Mayan architecture

and landscape.

Although Mary Louise Pratt has classified Maria Graham as one of the

exploratrices sociales participating in the rhetoric of European travel writing

(Pratt 1992, 164), her books do not conform strictly to the “imperial eyes”

model. Instead of a Self/Other dichotomy, Maria Graham’s South American

journals exhibit, rather, a reciprocal gaze, a mutual recognition and identity,

what is best emblematized in the front illustration of Journal of a Residence

176 Literature and the Arts

in Chile, where a genteel-looking Graham peeks out of a carriage in expecta-

tion of the pleasures of travel (Image 2-Graham 1824, Chile, frontspiece).

Whereas both Pérez Mejía and Hayward emphasize Graham’s alleged pose of

superiority as a British subject, “Traveling in Spanish America,” the title of

this particular illustration, conditions the reader of the Journal in a different

mode: that of a “fellow traveler” who accompanies the narrator on her jour-

ney (Pérez Mejía 1997, 92; Hayward, in Graham 2003 ed., 298). “Traveling

in Spanish America” represents a perspective akin to what Humboldt accom-

plished in Vues des cordillères. At first glance, it evokes what one critic

called “the subject-centered picturesque,” a technique in which “visible

nature is arranged for the spectator in such a way that the lines of the pictorial

image converge on the eye of the single and unique beholder and places him

or her at the centre” (Kuczynski, 247).3 Yet Graham’s focus is outward, as if

the traveling subject were ready to enter unknown territory; her piercing gaze

embracing the world, rather than fleeing from it. Almost as if anticipating her

experience in the New World, to be revealed as the pages unfold, the illustra-

tion functions as a prelude to the book, hence seducing the reader, who is

drawn into the text of the journey as the stagecoach progresses. In La

geografía de los tiempos difíciles, Angela Pérez Mejía interprets this image

as necessarily including the gaze conferred on her by the Chilean populace in

their attempts to tame the British visitor’s “foreignness” (Pérez Mejía 1997,

90-91). Thus the image of Graham inside a coach represents a female subject

in transit, comfortable in two worlds, and inhabiting a transatlantic space.

The sketches accompanying the narrator on her way through Chile and

Brazil, mostly drawn by her own hand, reenacts the perspective inaugurated

by Humboldt in his Personal Narrative for the purpose of scientific investi-

gation and inquiry. In many passages, Humboldt must leave a site just visited,

but cannot pause enough to examine it further, thus entrusting the task to a

future traveler, such as when he points out a rare species of plant found in the

tropical zone (1814, vol. III, 28). In this way the future traveler anticipates

the reader’s “virtual” journey, in a “hermeneutic movement” in which the real

journey tracks its future reception (Ette 2003, 40, 50). This same gaze of

inquisitiveness is manifested in Graham’s illustration, except that she is sit-

ting down, in contrast to Humboldt’s standing (and presumably more authori-

tative) pose.

A comparison between Graham’s self-portrait at the outset of her Journal

of a Residence in Chile and Humboldt’s depiction while meandering the

peaks and valleys of the Orinoco reveals not so much a gender difference as a

convergence of point of view before the American landscape. Humboldt’s

3. I am grateful to Jason Howard Lindquist of Indiana University for bringing this article

to my attention, and for his insightful comments regarding this passage and my paper as a

whole.

Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 177

conquest of the peak of the Chimborazo has been interpreted as the climax of

his journey (Goodman 1972, 258-259); more recently, as emblematic of the

pose of European superiority and self-assurance assumed by the “imperial

eyes” model (Pratt). Yet the inaugural moment for the explorer’s “summit-

survey” actually comes earlier in his journey, after the ardous climb to the

Silla de Caracas, which elicits the inspired phrase: “The eye commanded a

vast space of country” (Humboldt, 1814, vol. III, 506; quoted in Slovic 1990,

6). If compared to the visual account of Humboldt’s journey, illustrated in his

Vues de Cordillères, the climactic arrival at a peak is preceded by a far hum-

bler pose, depicting the contrast between the human figure and the majestic

heights of the “cordillera.” Among other scenes, in Vue de Cajambé (Image

3), a pair of male travelers amble in front of a mountain range with a pair of

walking sticks – a convention of the illustrated travel account meant to con-

vey the scale of the drawing (Ochoa 163) – but which also suggests the dis-

parity between the natural realm and the human one. In this image, moreover,

the focus of the viewer follows the pair of walkers down below as they point

toward the goal of their expedition – the mountain top – thus signaling both

the inaccessibility of the mountain as well as its symbolic status as the object

of scientific curiosity; in Stafford’s terms, an example of “willed seeing”

(1984, 254).

While both Humboldt and Graham share the comfort (and dis-ease) of

inhabiting two worlds at once – what I call here the transatlantic perspective

– in both cases, the traveler is diminished before foreign terrain. In Graham’s

sketch, she appears as a woman facing the unknown, whose fears are height-

ened by the increased dangers implied in her journey;4 whereas, in Hum-

boldt’s painting, he and his traveling companion are dwarfed by the size of

the mountain yet proceed on their march in the attempt to scale its heights.

A similar perspective is seen in the art of Adela Breton, a Victorian

woman traveler who re-discovered the Mayan world at the turn of the cen-

tury. In a series of stunning watercolors and sketches devoted to revealing

México profundo, Breton depicts the same high/low perspective as Hum-

boldt’s Vue de Cajambé, particularly in the watercolor of the Jorullo volcano

(which Humboldt also visited). On the trail of Humboldt, Breton evokes the

volcano immortalized in Vues des Cordillères, only her accent is on the com-

pactness and massiveness of the mountain range, the irregular profile of its

summits, and the play of light and the shadow in the surrounding valley

(Image 4-“Jinete”-Ea 11508). In his depiction of the Volcano of Jorullo,

Humboldt focused on the vanishing effect created by the hornitos, (Image 5-

Humboldt-Volcán de Jorullo), small canonical structures exhalating vapours:

4. The gender restrictions implied in nineteenth-century women’s travels have been

amply discussed in Frawley, Mills, and Marz Harper.

178 Literature and the Arts

“Les cones sont autant de fumaroles qui exhalent une vapeur épaisse et com-

muniquent à l’air ambient une chaleur insupportable. On les désigne, dans ce

pays, qui est escessivement malsain, par la denomination de petits fours, hor-

nitos.” (Humboldt, 1811). This phenomenon demonstrated the Enlightment

obsession with the composition of earthly matter, perceptible only by means

of its “fugitive effects” (Stafford 1984, 197). In contrast to the Enlightment’s

emphasis on verticality, Breton’s central feature is the compactness of the

mountain, what resists the eighteenth-century privilege of height (Stafford

1984, 88). Clouded by the density of the mountain range, in Breton’s art the

spectator’s gaze falls, instead, on the solitary figure riding away from the

heights. This vision from below contrasts, then, with the totalizing view

attributed to the male traveler in his “summit-survey” – only Breton com-

bines both dimensions, imbuing both with her own subjective vision. In Bre-

ton’s art, the space below is designated not by the distanced European

traveler but by the local populace, as in her placid scene of a street in Puebla

(Image 6-Breton, Ea 8399) in which its inhabitants appear as part of the sur-

rounding landscape, in contrast to the church steeple on the right.

Nowhere is Humboldt’s influence more deeply felt than in women travel-

ers’ approach to New World landscape. European women’s travelogues

exhibit similar rhetorical strategies as their illustrous precursor; namely, the

conjoining of science and art involved in the minute observation of natural

phenomena, a stance proper to the eighteenth-century man of science

(Stafford 1984, 40); the amazement or wonder provoked by the spectacle of

New World nature (González Echevarría 1990, 108); and the sensation of the

sublime. In the female tradition of travel writing, Humboldt’s vast oeuvre fil-

ters the authors’ own encounter with Nature; in many cases, a visit to a par-

ticular site or the experience of natural phenomena is marked by a conscious

acknowledgement of Humboldt as reliable source. One notable example from

Maria Graham’s journals is her pictorial depiction of the “Great Dragon Tree

of Oratava,” the second illustration included in Journal of a Voyage to Brazil

(Image 7) (1824, between 84 bis). This image complements the description of

the dragon tree included in the travel book, in which Graham recalls its cen-

turies-long evolution, “the height and size which it boasted till 1819,” along

with its subsequent decline (1824, 85), a description evoking, in turn, a simi-

lar passage in Humboldt’s Personal Narrative. During his stay in Tenerife,

Humboldt described a dragon tree of “enormous magnitude” as “one of the

oldest inhabitants of our globe” (Humboldt, vol. I, 1814, 142). Rendering in

her sketch the ruins of that ancestral tree, Graham wryly comments as a cap-

tion to her illustration: “He saw it in all its greatness; I drew it after it had lost

half its top” (Brazil, 1824, Plates, vi).

Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 179

In one of Adela Breton’s most precious watercolors, taken near San

Andrés Chalchicomula (Image 8-Breton, Ea 8401, 1894), the entrance to

Puebla is depicted from the perspective of the valley below, through a rocky

path opening up beneath a stone aquaduct.5 Similar to Graham’s coach scene,

in this image the aqueduct frames the view from a distance in the shape of “a

natural arch,” a recurring image in the illustrated travel account used to con-

vey the idea of a “natural masterpiece” or emblem of animated matter

(Stafford 1984, 80, 64, 59). In travel literature to the Spanish Americas, its

immediate parallel is the lithography of the bridge over the Iconozo river

included in Humboldt’s Vues des Cordillères (Image 9-Pont sur Iconozo).

Yet, in contrast to Humboldt’s solitary scene, Breton humanizes the land-

scape: far away, the viewer glimpses the high “sierras”; in the middle, a

church dominates the view of the valley; in front, a hint of gender solidarity

conforms an artistic vision in the two women silently walking, hidden

beneath their rebozos.

European women’s poetic scrutiny of the landscape conforms to a gen-

dered approach which I call “the gaze of enchantment.” For the travelers

selected here, reading Humboldt conditions the travelers’ self-fashioning, as

in Graham’s representation in both “Journals” as a “philosophical traveler”

(Brazil, 1824, 89), what clearly echoes Humboldt’s characterization of his

own pursuits as a “natural philosopher” (1814, vol. III, 519). Evident in Gra-

ham’s gaze is Humboldt’s dictum that “the duty of the natural philosopher is

to relate all phenomena that Nature displays to him” (Humboldt, 1814, vol.

III, 519). Traces of the Personal Narrative surface in Graham’s horseback

tours through the Brazilian countryside, particularly in her attention to the

thick vegetation typical of the region. Her description of the lovely valley of

Laranjeiras, whose jasmine and rose bushes are described as “one thicket of

beauty and fragance” (Image 10) (Graham, 1824, 162; Plate V, 163), exem-

plifies Humboldt’s hypothesis regarding the determining effect of vegetation

in providing the identity of a particular zone or region; in his words, “the veg-

etation determines the character of a landscape and acts upon our imagination

by its mass, the contrast of its forms, and the glow of its colours” (1814, vol.

III, 354). By depicting Brazil as an “immense garden” both in the written and

pictorial account of her travels, Graham’s metaphoric rendition of landscape

evokes Humboldt’s use of the picturesque to highlight the spectacular aspect

of tropical scenery, its exuberant forms and verdant color (Moraes Belluzzo,

2000, 21-22). The recreation of Brazil as a landscape composed of mountains

and coastline, dotted by isolated mansions in the midst of a lush vegetation –

such as in Graham’s sixth sketch, simply titled “View from Count Hoggen-

dorp’s Cottage” (Image 11) (1824, Plate VI, 170) – imprints the reader’s eye

5. The view of San Andrés Chalchicomula is also reproduced in

Adela Breton—una

artista

británica en México

(66), y en

The Art of Ruins

(Ea8401, 108).

180 Literature and the Arts

in the manner Humboldt described: “how strong are the impressions […] left

on the mind from those countries placed on the limits of the torrid zone, in

which nature appears […] so rich, so various and so majestic” (1814, vol. 2,

2). The “View from Rio from Gloria Hill” (Image 12) (Graham, 1824, Plate

VII, 169) typifies a European perspective of distance (Moraes Belluzzo), cen-

tered on the contours of the bay, softly enveloped in a luminous atmosphere,

an image evoking Humboldt’s description of the Havana bay as well as his

constant references to the translucent quality of the air of the tropics (1814,

vol. IV, 329).

Although Humboldt’s travels have been theorized almost exclusively

from an ocular perspective – the “imperial eyes” model – in a recent book,

Ottmar Ette expands the traditional methodology of the study of travel writ-

ing by his lucid analysis of the shape of the journey, including, but not lim-

ited to, the act of physical displacement proper of the genre. Besides spatial

movement, Ette considers integral to our understanding of European travel

writing the textual organization of the book, dependent, to a great degree, on

the circuit traced by the body of the traveler traversing a new geography (Ette

200, 40). Besides the linear model of ascension to a height above, emblema-

tized in the conquest of the Silla de Caracas and Chimborazo, Humboldt’s

Personal Narrative adapts another,6 non-linear pattern: that of the star,

defined as a type of journey in which the traveler remains stationed at a fixed

point, yet takes intermittent excursions to nearby regions (or side-trips)7

resulting in a stellar pattern of complicated symmetry and aesthetic effect. As

we have seen, European women travelers like Maria Graham and Adela Bre-

ton adapt the linear perspective associated both with the “summit-survey”

approach to landscape and with the dominant type of travel classified under

the rubric of discovery and exploration. Yet they also clearly mark in their

journeys the stellate model described by Ette; Maria Graham and Flora

Tristan’s travels, for instance, “are emplotted in a centripetal fashion around

places of residence from which the protagonist sallies forth and to which she

returns” (Pratt 1990, 157-159). Given their prolonged residence in the New

World, European women’s travels are particularly suited to this type of

arrangement, since it resolved the basic dilemma of women’s travel: privileg-

ing the domestic environment (staying home or at a fixed abode) while at the

same time procuring the excitement of outward discoveries.

To invoke an alternative form of travel, which implies not merely a deli-

cate balance between the “passive” discourses of femininity and the “active”

6. Compare Humboldt’s description in vol. 2 of his

Personal Narrative

with Graham’s

conclusion regarding Brazilian countryside: “It is impossible to conceive any thing richer

than the vegetation down to the very water’s edge around the lake” (163).

7. “[A] definitive center, […] serves as a starting point for more or less circular journeys

and leads to a stellate expansion of the traveled and registered space” (Ette 2003, 45-46).

Women Travelers in Humboldt’s New World 181

male-encoded explorer (Mills, Marz Harper), I label this type of journey the

star-gazer. A number of European women travelers fall under this category,

defined as a traveler who projects onto the New World a certain ideal,

whether the philanthropic one of the lone adventurer, like the Swedish novel-

ist Fredrika Bremer, who prophesized the end of slavery in Cuba, or the polit-

ical one of Maria Graham, who passionately defended South American

independence despite the failures of military and political strategy. The foun-

dational moment of the star-gazer mode originates in Humboldt’s Personal

Narrative, when, early on in his journey, he comments on the “beauty of the

southern sky [which] opened up new constellations” (vol. 2, 18). In a scene

reminiscent of Humboldt’s star-gazing mode, and soon after her arrival in

Cuba, Swedish novelist Bremer gazes up at the heavens from her country

abode in Matanzas. Vexed because she could not discern the position of the

stars in the southern hemisphere, the philantropist traveler suddenly

announces the discovery of a new constellation: “I thus beheld a constellation

of considerable magnificence and brilliancy ascend above the hill of cocoa

palms. Could it be the ship Argos or the constellation of Sagittarius? I do not

as yet know.” (Bremer vol. 2, 1854, 272). Towards dawn, the celestial vault

reveals a single shining light: “When the blush of morning appeared [. . .], I

saw the morning star standing above the earth [. . .]. It seemed to me like an

eye full of a bright but sorrowful consciousness [. . .].” (Bremer vol. 2, 1854,

272). Amidst the stark reality of slavery, the star is transformed into a symbol

of collective awareness: “That bright star stood above the beautiful island

like its clear, accusing conscience.” (Bremer, vol. 2, 1854, 272). This effect is

captured in “Palm under a Night Sky,” a watercolor in Bremer’s Cuba album

showing a single palm tree under a glitter of stars (Skissbok, Fol. 23v). Remi-

niscent of what Cuban poet José Lezama Lima called la noche insular, this

upward surge towards the heavens is accompanied, in women’s journeys, by

an anticipation of the unexpected, a luminous urge for absolutes, and, at

times, by a certain nostalgia for a world left behind, to which the traveler will

not return unchanged.

As a prelude to his emblematic voyage in search of knowledge, Hum-

boldt’s Personal Narrative documents an experience unique to the seafaring

consciousness characteristic of eighteenth-century European expansion.

Humboldt and Bonpland’s transatlantic crossing is imbued by what I call la

conciencia marina, an awareness of forging a living link between two

worlds, an embracing of continents and erasing of differences evident in the

constant comparisons between the Old World and the New. While for Slovic

Humboldt’s comparative method produces an abstract profile of the world,

rather than delineating regional or local specificities (Slovic 1990, 6, 8), this

mapping of the globe from a detached perspective seems to occur primarily

182 Literature and the Arts

on land or on the mountain top. At sea, however, Humboldt’s poetic rapture is

tinged with anticipation of the unknown regions lying beyond (Duvoils and

Minguet 1994, 27; Humboldt, vol. 5, 5), or with hyperbole, as in his ecstatic

descriptions of the cataracts upon embarking up the Orinoco river (vol. 5,

137).8 Inheriting this literary legacy, women travelers often engage in solitary

reverie at sea, an experience shaping the “solitary travelers” sojourn. In

between Brazil and Chile, Maria Graham wrote in a style of a nautical log,

recording every date according to latitude and longitude and orienting her-

self, like a sailor, according to the flight patterns of birds (Graham, 1824,

204-205). (Image 12-title page-Brazil). This style not only evokes Hum-

boldt’s detailed measurements of latitude and longitude throughout the Per-

sonal Narrative, but also the symbolic import of his long sea journey, as both

the intermediate space where the horizon of knowledge is devised, and the

private domain of introspection proper of the philosophical traveler.

Resisting a characterization of Humboldt as either “detached” (Slovic

1990, 9) or “mystifying” (Pratt 1992,141), his literary legacy has produced a

particularly gendered mode of travel, what I characterize as “the gaze of

enchantment.” Besides the women travelers who followed his path into the

untred regions of South America, echoes of Humboldt reverberate through-

out twentieth-century Latin American literature: from the “axolotl of the lake

of Mexico” (vol. 1, xxvi) to the “new islands” he faintly discerned off the

coast of Venezuela (vol. 4, 140-141), whose traces resurface in Julio

Cortázar’s and María Luisa Bombal’s haunting short stories (“Axólotl” and

“Las islas nuevas”).

8. “[W]e were never weary of the view of this astonishing spectacle, concealed in one of

the most remote corners of the Earth” (Humboldt, vol. 5, 137).

183

CHAPTER 16 Classic Nomenclature in

New Exploration

Donald Hassler

Manifest destiny for all of the Americas, and especially for the vast lands that

were included in Jefferson’s great purchase from Napoleon and that continu-

ally haunted his own French and Rousseaulike thinking, has continually pre-

sented a fascinating face in terms of labeling and terminology as well as in

the tonal uses of language both as a tool for progress and as veil or mask for

concealment. I open this paper with a convoluted sentence for a very German

and Romantic notion: the West. Biographies of Adolf Hitler suggest that even

he loved to read American Westerns in translation as well as the German imi-

tators of our westerns; and his obsessive drive for lebensraum seems almost

quintessentially American (Toland). But putting political correctness and

moral concerns aside for the moment – if that can at all be done with good

conscience here in New York City only three years after 9/11 – the historical

and political tension used to talk about “American Empire” from Jefferson

and Alexander von Humboldt onward until our century, by which I mean still

the 20th century, also tells us much about epistemology and the practical

implications of exploratory science and scientific exploration as a whole and

unified enterprise.

I shall get to the seminal old writers here, but it is the wonderful analysis

of tone and of tension in matters of race and Empire in Kurt Vonnegut’s

Breakfast of Champions (1973) where I want to begin. At the start of the

book, he says, “color is everything” and then moves to insist that all his anal-

ysis of imperial American history will be “impolite.” At the same time, he

argues how “astonishing” the West and western expansion was in history

(preface and chapter 1). This opening rant in Vonnegut’s novel is a great

boasting contest just as it is brash and, indeed, impolite. So a good western

(with an uppercase “W” perhaps), the tall tale that Mark Twain had mastered,

is recreated in this Vonnegut book; and clearly for him this writing represents

184 Literature and the Arts

the old dilemma of the “neo-classic,” januslike two-facedness. He celebrates

what is truly new, and wants to be new himself in tone and narrative struc-

ture, but he also is haunted by the old “classes” just as America itself from

the beginnings has been haunted by color.

My two concrete examples in this short paper about the origins of this

Vonnegut ambivalence of tone come from early writing about the West done

by very hands-on explorers and travelers who kept evoking their “classic”

European roots even as both of them were forging new texts with writing

implements in their great canoes or in field tents. But the spirit of such neo-

classic language use at the time, also, can be seen as a sort of umbrella effect

arching over these bug-infested and practical writings; and the umbrellas

came from the most metropolitan salons and lecture halls of the East and of

Europe. Our great Thomas Jefferson and the Baron von Humboldt himself

were using language in this same ambivalent and neo-classic way and so

must have been, in part, the authorities or authors who were granting the lan-

guage license to the voyageurs, the explorers, the military men in the field.

Further, I speculate that even up to our present day in space exploration and

planet talk – and, indeed, with Antarctic exploration where Robert Falcon

Scott took Browning with him to read as he froze to death in his tent located

nicely midway between Jefferson and today – one can discover and appreci-

ate a similar neo-classic tension reflected clearly in the language employed.

We are humans always in our tentativeness as we forge onward and look

backward at the same time. But space language and the language of the great

journeys South must remain material for other papers even though I may sug-

gest that the astonishing similarities in language usage rivet home my key

term here: the neo-classic.

Strangely, my first example comes from a text written by the young Major

George Washington who was later to become, of course, the legendary East

coast umbrella for such circumspect language used to govern these tensions

in conceptualizing. Washington’s language, in fact, was such a mask that we

often cannot even be certain that the language is his own. The recent Ron

Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton documents neo-classic ambiva-

lence wonderfully, and we learn there again that Hamilton probably wrote

many of Washington’s later phrases that ring with a measured ambivalence

about “the people” and about “newness.” In fact, the key concept in this neo-

classic effect is the notion of “circumspection” where the word itself embod-

ies in its Latin clarity the value of “seeing around,” of vision that may look

backward and forward at the same time. And such thoughtful circumspection

always seems to have been stimulated by the astonishing confrontation with

things “western,” with the new.

Classic Nomenclature in New Exploration 185

It may just be Empire building that is so astonishing and so conducive of

ambivalence in tone and expression because I think we see it even in Vergil in

the famous tag line Tantae molis erat Romanum condere gentum – “How

hard it was to found the race of Rome” (Bk one, line 33). Here the image

“tantae molis” literally means “how great small pieces” since “molis” eventu-

ally was to become our word “molecule.” In any case, it is not just the old

Latin, which I believe Washington like Shakespeare had little of, but also the

delicate and circumspect that we can sense as Washington writes about the

Ohio country of western Pennsylvania as a young major. In another sense,

this is the driving American business language too where the aggression and

conflict of continual flux and possibility for newness must be a beast that can

only be tamed by contractual balance. My point is that such “contracts” char-

acteristically include neo-classic ambivalence and, often, even Latinate

cement laid on top of the other language characteristics that are more goth

and new. Here is Washington speaking about his negotiations and translation

experiences with a myriad of Indian factions, all of which language usage

gets nicely generalized under the rubrics of “father to child.” Washington is

quoting a chief called “Half-King” and so, of course, translating:

Fathers, I am come to tell you your own Speeches: what your own Mouths

have declared…And if I your Father, should get foolish in my old Days, I

desire you may use it [a rod] upon me as well as others. (7)

The concealed truth beneath the narrative language rubrics is later

revealed so starkly in a letter dated 7 September 1783 when the older Wash-

ington peels back his circumspection and writes:

…[to move the Indian by force] is like driving the Wild Beasts of the Forest

which will return as the pursuit is at an end and fall perhaps on those that are

left there; when the gradual extension of our Settlements will as certainly

cause the Savage as the Wolf to retire; both being beasts of prey tho’ they dif-

fer in shape. (266)

So Washington was, indeed, circumspect about his deep and harsh per-

ception of the native Americans he knew.

My favorite example for this short paper is not a “great” at all in our cur-

rent collective memory. Unlike Washington and Jefferson and Humboldt,

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft has nearly been forgotten even though Michigan

State University has recently embarked on a nice publishing project to save

his massive ethnographic and travel writings about the West. I suggest, how-

ever, that Schoolcraft himself as a writer fully anticipated the drowning into a

sort of anonymity for his career; and such “sad” anticipation, indeed, emerges

in the mind of any writer as he or she becomes nearly “silent on a peak in

Darien,” in the face of Western Empire. Then, as in Keats, the astonishing

awesomeness of the newness produces convolutions in language. Actually, I

186 Literature and the Arts

myself again anticipate the general in the presence of massive and astonish-

ing particularities of text. Schoolcraft wrote a lot about the Indians, about his

travels across the upper reaches of the old Michigan territory, about the lan-

guages themselves of the natives that he had begun to learn and to categorize.

He liked to chop up word particulars and to reassemble the parts into new

labels, new concepts, new substantives. And most everything new that he

saw and that he made in his new science of ethnography and in his new geog-

raphy had in it the stamp of the old, even the European.

Some commentators on Schoolcraft see him at times as resembling the

great natural shape-shifters personified in the Algic folktales and legends that

he collected and translated when he worked as Indian Agent in upper Michi-

gan. He reinvented and changed himself as an American writer several times

from 1818, when he came west from New York state, until his death in the

final year of the Civil War. Also, in the later 19th century he was viewed, in

part, as a writer of children’s fairy stories; and now, in recent decades, his

work has come to be seen as seminal both to modern ethnographic research

and to the history of American writers attempting to find a voice as Ameri-

cans. Like the Northwest Territories themselves, his work was both on the

fringe as well as characteristic of a sort of Emersonian self-reliance and stub-

bornness in the effort to define his own voice. His was a quest of an Ameri-

can scholar, and he was continually conflicted as a writer. His material was

distinctly American; and his shape-shifting was as insecure, suspect, and as

immensely fertile as the rest of the expanding nation in the early 19th cen-

tury. A century after his death, scholars began to identify and to describe

these qualities in what Schoolcraft wrote about the Northwest Territories,

especially the Lake Superior region and northern Minnesota and the shifting

populations of natives that explorers found there, interacted with, and eventu-

ally remade for their own purposes.

Schoolcraft’s roots, however, were in the East. He had the rudiments of a

classical education in his hometown of Hamilton, New York, in preparation

for entering Union College. But he had to go to work instead. Later, he did

attend Middlebury College briefly and published poetry as a young man.

Whenever he traveled in the West, he tried to purchase books through agents

in Detroit and to maintain his book collection. A dissertation on his writing

done nearly 200 years after his birth finds, “Books were a part of his life in

which he never lost interest even when he moved to the frontier” (Mosser,

23). And so, as we shall see, he made good use of his language and classical

studies to highlight some of his best investigative work and ideas.

Schoolcraft the writer can be sensed fully operative alongside his seminal

work as ethnographic researcher and even as geographic explorer. One of his

later expeditions in the big canoes west that took place in 1832, with the

Classic Nomenclature in New Exploration 187

blessing again of Governor Cass of the Territory, moved from the Sault west-

ward and resulted in Schoolcraft’s key discovery of the source of the Missis-

sippi at Lake Itasca in Minnesota. Schoolcraft renamed the lake from earlier

“mooselike” names that the trappers had used, and when he did so he used his

Latin training as follows: “…he took the name from the Latin words veritas

caput” (Mason, xxiv). The Latin means “true head,” and what is fascinating

is the Schoolcraft habit of chopping a few letters from the body of the phrase

in order to coin a new work – Itasca. He does something very similar with

language in his Indian studies when he attempts to categorize the related

tribes that he finds linked by language and storytelling. “In 1832 he founded

the Algic Society – the first use of his neologism that combined “Algonquin”

and “Atlantic” (Algic, xi). Further, when he writes about his most famous

story character Manabozho, who becomes Longfellow’s Hiawatha, the tone

of slight irony he uses resounds with the literary training that permits School-

craft the distinct sensibility to appreciate what he has uncovered in his inves-

tigations and yet to show a writer’s voice, and a Christian voice, of

interpretation. He writes:

…as Manabozho exercises powers and performs exploits wild or wonderful,

the chain of narration which connects them is broken or vague. He leaps over

extensive regions of country [and presumably of narration] like an ‘ignis fat-

uus’ (Algic, 51).

Thus, a somewhat ironic and detached rational voice, which uses alien

Latin reference, emerges in the mass of Algic materials that were originally

published by Schoolcraft the Indian Agent. This voice has classical echoes as

well as echoes from the investigators of the Enlightenment whom Schoolcraft

must have included among his collections of books. Again, from the Algic

researches prefatory material, he sounds almost like an eighteenth-century

numismatic collector of Roman coins, “Words are like coins, and may, like

them be examined to illustrate history” (Algic, xxxiv). He recorded many of

these words from the extended family of his Ojibway wife, but he also coined

them (and “Englished” them) as though he were chopping up Latin. Hence, in

addition to his large label “Algic,” which he coined, other labels for parts of

the network of tribes spanning the eastern half of the continent spice up his

narratives: “Ostic” for one group, “Abanic” for another. Schoolcraft said that

he Englished these terms from native words, but many he coined from

chopped-up pieces where we hear the “ic” tag derived from the word “Atlan-

tic” at the close of several.

Finally, a short letter from Thomas Jefferson to Humboldt himself embod-

ies the several ambivalences presented by the “astonishing” West and, at the

highest level, may serve to demonstrate how the neo-classic sense of linking

the old with the awesome “new” was a key language device used to clothe

188 Literature and the Arts

these ambivalences. Jefferson writes to the Baron in the year just before

Schoolcraft went West from New York state, the year 1817, and it seems to

be the enigma of Spain that figures here the tension between what is new and

being born with what we are used to as old. Three sentences from this letter,

with one Latin tag:

Whether the blinds of bigotry, the shackles of the priesthood…give fair play

to the common sense of the mass of the people, so far as to qualify them for

self-government, is what we do not know. Perhaps our wishes may be stron-

ger than our hopes. The first principle of republicanism is, that the “lex

majoris parties” is the fundamental law of every society…yet the last which is

thoroughly learnt. (681)

Jeffersonianism has prevailed, and the “majority party” nearly always

wins out even if that party happens to be National Socialism or the Franco

party of modern Spain. Ambivalences continue.

Bibliography

Ron Chernow. Alexander Hamilton. New York: Penguin, 2004.

Thomas Jefferson. The Life and Selected Writings of… New York: Modern

Library, 1944.

Philip P. Mason, editor. Schoolcraft’s Expedition to Lake Itasca. East Lan-

sing: Michigan State University Press, 1993.

Duane Paul Mosser. Henry Rowe Schoolcraft: Eyewitness to a Changing

Society. Ann Arbor: UMI, 1992.

Henry Rowe Schoolcraft. Algic Researches: Comprising Inquiries Respect-

ing the Mental Characteristics of the North American Indians. 2 vol-

umes. New York: Harper, 1839.

John Toland. Adolf Hitler. New York: Doubleday, 1976.

Kurt Vonnegut. Breakfast of Champions. New York: Random House, 1973.

George Washington. A Collection. Edited by W.B. Allen. Indianapolis: Lib-

erty Fund, 1988.

_______________. The Journal of Major George Washington… Williams-

burg: William Hunter, 1754.

189

CHAPTER 17 Palabras y Pinceles del

Paisaje Venezolano

José Ángel Rodríguez

No existe ningún rincón en Venezuela adonde no hayan llegado los viajeros

extranjeros en su afán de conocer la geografía física y humana de sus varia-

dos paisajes. En este escrito destacaremos dos viajeros totalmente diferentes

en tiempos históricos diversos. El primero de ellos es Carl Geldner, quien

luego de una estancia algo desafortunada en La Guaira, puerto de Caracas,

fue seducido por la quimera del oro que lo empujó a lejanos y peligrosos ter-

ritorios. Fue por ello que se introdujo en Guyana buscando fama y riqueza en

1867. En esa aventura dejó casi la vida como también un excelente relato y

numerosas acuarelas de campos y ciudades sobre los cuales hay poquísimos

testimonios gráficos. El testimonio de Julia Bornhorst es también de carácter

doble: escrito y gráfico. El texto de sus memorias da cuenta, por un lado, de

algunos trozos de Maracaibo, la segunda ciudad más importante de Venezu-

ela, en plena transición de la economía del café a la industria del petróleo, de

sus habitantes, criollos y alemanes, y costumbres, como de las tierras cer-

canas y áridas de Falcón, entre 1923 y 1941. Este es un período de profundas

transformaciones que acabarían, a la postre, con la ciudad y el país deci-

monónico dedicado a la agroexportación, cambios visibles en algunas de sus

magníficas acuarelas.

El Dorado de Carl Geldner

Carl Geldner llegó a Venezuela en enero de 1866 y se desempeñó como

empleado de una casa comercial en La Guaira hasta 1867. Desde hacía

tiempo circulaban en el puerto noticias alentadoras sobre las minas de oro de

Guayana al punto, se pensaba, que “El Dorado, por tanto tiempo buscado, por

fin había sido descubierto.” Se trataba, en realidad, del segundo gran ciclo del

poblamiento minero, que duraría de 1860 a 1870, caracterizado por el trabajo

de los mineros individuales y por el establecimiento de pequeñas compañías.

190 Literature and the Arts

Ante la seducción del oro, Carl Geldner no lo pensó más y se lanzó a la aven-

tura: la crisis económica habida en el gobierno de Juan Crisóstomo Falcón se

profundizó de tal manera que llevó a varias casas comerciales a cerrar sus

puertas. De allí que, ante el temor de un desempleo seguro, la ilusión por el

oro se profundizó como bien lo demuestra una carta a su padre del 8 de abril

de 1867, en la que expresa bien los rumores, algunos falsos, ciertamente, que

circulaban y que no hicieron sino aumentar en muchas mentes las ganas de

probar fortuna:

Las noticias que se reciben de la Guayana venezolana suenan cada vez más

alentadoras y la emigración hacia allá aumenta a diario. Ahora se han descu-

bierto también en las inmediaciones de Angostura ricos yacimientos de oro y

de plata y se puede asumir que la Guayana es el famoso El Dorado, que Colón

y otros grandes marineros han buscado en vano.1

Carl Geldner con su hermano Max, quien se adhirió a la aventura, parti-

eron para Ciudad Bolívar la noche del 4 de julio de 1867 por vía marítima

porque uno de los puntos de escala en la ruta era de vital importancia para los

mineros: Trinidad. En esa isla, indicaba Geldner, era el lugar ideal para

“…comprar algunas mercancías, que allí entran sin pagar derechos y por eso

son tan baratas, ni habríamos tenido oportunidad de establecer conexiones

comerciales…”2 El viaje a Ciudad Bolívar duró del 4 al 23 de julio, vale decir

19 días, luego de escalas en Barcelona, Cumaná, Pampatar, Carúpano y

Puerto España.

La emoción fue grande cuando Carl Geldner vio “brillar a distancia bajo

el sol, a Angostura, la capital de la Guayana venezolana,” de la cual hiciera

con posterioridad un hermoso cuadro, quizá uno de los mejores que hiciera

en cuanto a pinturas de ciudad se refiere. El paisaje urbano que visita Geldner

en 1867 era un puerto fluvial en plena expansión con 7.000 habitantes. De su

función comercial de enclave se da cuenta cuando observa la gran cantidad

de embarcaciones que pululan alrededor del amplio desembarcadero al pie de

la ciudad, donde observa una cantidad de diversas embarcaciones, “balan-

dras, lanchas y grandes botes con mástiles”, de 40 a 50 toneladas que hacían

el tráfico hacia Apure3, y que traían a la ciudad todo tipo de mercancías.

Los sinsabores de El Dorado comenzaban en la propia Ciudad Bolívar,

donde los aventureros se preparaban para el viaje a las minas. En primer

lugar, uno de los requisitos básicos era comprar algunos burros, difíciles,

cuando no imposible, de conseguir en la ciudad, por lo que se trasladaron a

Soledad, “pueblo muy pobre, como ya explica su nombre” y del cual hizo

1. Carl Geldner,

Anotaciones de un Viaje por Venezuela (Venezuela 1865-1868)

. Caracas,

Oscar Todtmann editores, 1998; p.145. La edición en alemana:

Reiseaufzeichnungen aus

Spanien und Venezuela

. Basel, Druck von Emil Birkhäuser, 1913.

2. Carl Geldner, Ob.cit

p.145.

3. Ibídem

p.186.

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 191

una pintura que refleja muy bien el topónimo. En Soledad, sin embargo, los

animales resultaron muy costosos: 70 a 80 pesos por animal, por lo cual los

Geldner decidieron probar suerte de nuevo en Ciudad Bolívar donde encon-

traron animales a un precio de 30 y 35 pesos cada bestia. Compraron cuatro,

que tuvieron que enlazar ellos mismos con una cuerda que arrojaban por la

cabeza del animal. Luego adquirieron sillas para la carga y otros aparejos,

como también provisiones para el largo viaje: “carne seca, harina, arroz, car-

aotas negras, un jamón americano, papelón, sal y pimienta.”4

El viaje hacia el Dorado continuó en un vapor de Ciudad Bolívar a Puerto

Tablas (alrededor de 15 horas), trayecto que transcurrió sin mayores dificul-

tades, no así el desembarco nocturno, hecho casi a tientas. A la orilla llegaron

“sobre los hombros de un marinero” porque las lanchas, puestas a disposición

por la embarcación, no podían atracar en la orilla porque había allí poca pro-

fundidad de agua. ¡Ni que hablar de los 15 burros que venían a bordo!,

difíciles de reconocer por sus dueños en la oscuridad, cosa que lograron

después de equivocaciones y disgustos.

Hacia El Dorado

Puerto Tablas no era nada atractivo, al menos para Geldner a fines de julio de

1867. Era un lugar de paso, de apenas 20 años de existencia, donde

comenzaba el camino hacia el interior, formado por “…30 casas de barro,

techadas con hojas de palmeras [que] formaban dos callecitas. Casi no se veía

gente y este muerto y miserable pueblucho debería ser la puerta para el

famoso El Dorado…”5 De este “pueblucho” partía el camino hacia Upata, un

paisaje de recorrido irregular de 90 kilómetros.6 El camino se hacía por lo

general a pie porque los burros se utilizaban para transportar el equipaje. No

estaba tampoco en buenas condiciones. En algunas partes, los viandantes se

tropezaban con “tocones de árboles” y en otras, como sucedió con un

español, terminó con su burro y equipaje en un pantano del que “salió cubi-

erto de fango de pies a cabeza.” En realidad, el “llamado camino,” refiere

Geldner, era a veces “una pica abierta a machete a través del bosque virgen.”7

Finalmente llegaron a Upata, una población que había experimentado profun-

dos cambios paisajísticos desde su primera fundación en 1734 y que “…se ha

4. Ibídem

pp.190 y 192.

5. Ibídem

p.181.

6. En 1867 el camino de Puerto Tablas a Upata era casi el mismo una década después,

tenido todavía como camino

“carretero en mal estado”

y que pasaba al menos por 8

pequeños caseríos, a veces sólo haciendas abandonadas: Chirica, Paso del medio, Corrales,

Boca del Monte, Mayorí, Altagracia (único caserío que menciona Geldner pues a veces

tomó, por la misma ausencia de un buen camino determinado, senderos equivocados) y

Upata. Ministerio de Fomento,

Apuntes Estadísticos del Estado Guayana

, Caracas,

Imprenta de La Opinión Nacional, 1876; p.183.

7. Carl Geldner,

Ob.cit.,

p.204.

192 Literature and the Arts

hecho siempre digna de merecida fama por sus sanas costumbres, de orden y

moralidad en las familias, por su amor al trabajo y por el respeto a las

leyes…”8 Erigida nuevamente en 1762, era una villa de españoles dentro de

la jurisdicción misionera de los capuchinos catalanes, rica ella en tierras y

recursos agropecuarios. Todo cambió, sin embargo, en la Guerra de Indepen-

dencia, cuando la expoliación de los recursos de las misiones quebraron la

riqueza regional.

El camino hacia Guasipati, poblado más adentrado en la auténtica zona

minera, no era más fácil que el descrito hasta Upata. Era también más largo:

125 kilómetros.9 El testimonio de Geldner ayuda en la reconstrucción del

paisaje rural y de recorrido, el cual ofrecía, en esencia, lo mismo en materia

de hospedaje por lo cual el viajero dependía, como en el tramo anterior, de la

bondad de los hacendados cuando no en su voluntad de apoderarse de chozas

o haciendas casi deshabitadas.

La pequeña ciudad que visitó Carl Geldner en 1867 no era, por acción de

los descubrimientos auríferos, una ciudad próspera. Lo era en comparación a

Upata, ciertamente, porque la proximidad de las minas mostraba en ella “más

vida y prosperidad,” pero nada más. Se observaba en su paisaje urbano, como

en el resto de las poblaciones mineras que visitara, como El Callao o Caratal,

y con mayor crudeza en las chozas de Panamá, Perú, Potosí, Chile, Tigre y

Santa Clara, una mentalidad de campamento, cuyas expresiones en los

paisajes urbanos consolidados como en las barracas improvisadas del oro

eran las mismas: el caos, producto de la premura, la codicia, la enfermedad o

la muerte.

Guasipati era una antigua misión de los padres capuchinos catalanes,

quienes la fundaron en 1757, y la cual, como otros paisajes de misión micror-

regionales, había conocido mejores tiempos. Esta situación cambió cuando se

descubrieron y explotaron, nuevos terrenos auríferos en el sitio de Caratal

desde mediados de la década de 1850, y en particular a partir de 1870. Geld-

ner se alojó en la posada Dalla Costa, inaugurada hacía poco tiempo. Allí

había poca cosa que ofrecer al viajero. En primer lugar, su dueño, según el

muy observador alemán, tenía “fisonomía de vagabundo,” que poco hacía por

mantener ordenado el lugar. Es más, no había ni utensilios en el hotel, se que-

jaba Geldner, y sólo contaba con “tres mesas, y los correspondientes bancos,”

ocupados día y noche por jugadores empedernidos. Toda la vajilla de lugar

consistía en “cuatro copas y cinco platos” y la cocina tenía algunas “ollas

ennegrecidas.” Las habitaciones no eran mejores que el resto de la construc-

8. Ministerio de Fomento,

Apuntes Estadísticos del Estado Guayana,

p.174.

9. Para 1876 había al menos dos caminos, uno de ellos carretero de 129 kilómetros.

Había otro de 125 kilómetros, camino de

“sabanas, montañas y pasos de ríos y quebradas,

secas en verano”,

que fue el que tomó Geldner, pasando por Santa María, Candelaria, Plata-

nal, Cunurí y finalmente Guasipati. Sobre los dos caminos véanse los

Apuntes Estadísticos

del Estado Guayana

, pp.185 y 186.

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 193

ción, por lo cual Geldner y su hermano se alojaron en el patio, debajo del

techo voladizo, con el único burro que les quedaba y sobre el cual los her-

manos ejercían una férrea vigilancia pues no lo querían “perder de vista,”

porque no dejaba de haber allí pocos peligros,10 para empezar el vicio del

juego, por el que muchos dilapidaban su fortuna en las mesas de juego. El

hotel se había convertido en una auténtica casa de juego, en un lugar de

mucha “turbulencia.” Cansado, y espantado por lo que veía en esta “especie

de Sodoma y Gomorra”11 en la selva, siguieron el camino hacia El Callao.

La miseria dorada

El paisaje de campamento tenía, en 1867, su mejor expresión en El Callao,

población que, contraria a las de Upata o Guasipati, no tenía ningún pasado

de origen misional en el periodo colonial. No tenía tampoco la ciudad acta ni

fecha precisa de fundación, como es el caso de las ciudades mineras que cre-

cen, se desarrollan o desaparecen según la suerte de los yacimientos. El Cal-

lao como tal, comenzó a desarrollarse a partir de 1854 a raíz de las primeras

explotaciones auríferas. En otras palabras, tenía escasos 13 años de vida

cuando Geldner la visitó. Desde cierta distancia se oía el ruido del poblado,

un “barullo” como lo llama el alemán, que anunciaba la actividad de las

minas, de las más productivas en aquélla época y hasta fines de siglo. Lo que

observó en un primer momento no le pareció “placentero ni estimulante.”

Tampoco lo que observó después. Su juicio es descarnado: “El Callao está

ubicado en medio de la selva y consiste únicamente en unas chozas misera-

bles, techadas con hojas de palmeras, casi todas usadas como quioscos de

venta y restaurantes de la categoría más primitiva...”

El poblado minero era un auténtico campamento. Basta señalar, como

afirma Geldner, las dificultades para llegar a la calle principal, todavía con

restos de tronco de árbol enraizados en el suelo como si la selva se negara a

morir. En efecto, para alcanzar la vía pública había que hacerlo serpenteando

obstáculos, las grandes fosas de explotación del oro, que no eran otra cosa

que pozos de extracción de cuarzo aurífero. El Callao ofrecía un paisaje mez-

clado y amontonado de viviendas feas, chozas apuradas a manera de tiendas,

pulperías, botiquines, restaurantes y burdeles, codo a codo con los innumera-

bles pozos de extracción del oro, lugares de trituración del cuarzo y algam-

ación. Cada minero, profesional o espontáneo, nativo o extranjero, local o

recién llegado, cavaba donde creía conveniente, sin más limitaciones que la

“ley vigente” la cual, en los parajes mineros guayaneses, El Callao en lugar

privilegiado, se cumplía pero no se acataba. Esta población tenía, según

10. Carl Geldner, Ob.cit., p.238.

11. Ibídem

p.241.

194 Literature and the Arts

Geldner, unos 1.000 habitantes, entre venezolanos e ingleses, vale decir

negros de Trinidad, españoles, franceses, culíes y algunos alemanes.12

Caratal fue el destino final. Allí trabajó Geldner casi cuatro meses en la

tienda del señor Meinhard, un alemán que tenía una posada en Upata. El

poblado tenía una década escasa de existencia y estaba a poca distancia de El

Callao. Se llegaba a él por un camino con “bonitas haciendas y conucos.” Era

esta pequeña ciudad el punto central de la minería de aquélla época que con-

formaba el distrito Nueva Providencia, pero no por ello dejaba de ofrecer al

visitante un estado de desolación que Geldner considera aún “más acentu-

ado” que en El Callao.

Pero, hecha la comparación debida con otros centros mineros como Pan-

amá, Potosí, Chile, Perú, Corina, La Iguana, Tigre y Santa Clara, como con el

propio El Callao, el poblado ofrecía una ventaja no poco interesante y suges-

tiva: había cierto orden en el entramado urbano. Caratal tenía según Geldner

entre 80 y 100 casas, construidas en “cierto orden y forman así una calle

bastante larga, cruzada por una calle transversal,”13 que no era poca cosa para

alguien amigo del orden como el joven alemán, quien llegaba a Caratal con-

movido por el desorden y fealdad urbanas de El Callao.

Las construcciones eran muy modestas, cuando no “primitivas.” Con-

sistían en algunos troncos de árboles clavados en el terreno, con paredes de

barro y techos cubiertos con la hoja de la palmera carata, la misma que dio el

nombre al lugar. Con el tiempo, el toponímico urbano se convertiría en un

vago recuerdo, debido a la explotación desmedida de la planta, que convertía

el techo en lo más caro de la vivienda. Así, comenta Geldner, cada hoja de

palmera costaba un real, por lo cual un techo de tamaño mediano costaba

entre 400 y 500 pesos, de veras muy costoso. Al principio no era así porque

las hojas se conseguían en el lugar, tal como comentaba un explorador criollo

en 1857, cuando desde lo lejos podían divisarse “…muchas palmas de Carata

que allí se encuentran, a la vez que lindas y elegantes por sus formas, las más

abundantes y preciosas para cobijar los techos de las habitaciones pajizas.”14

Pero el paisaje forestal había sido expoliado de tal manera en una década

que, como indica Geldner, “…A objeto de obtener hojas para el techado, sim-

plemente se tumbaron las palmeras sin tomar en consideración el daño que se

provocaba para después. Ahora, las hojas provienen de territorios distantes y

hay que pagar su peso en oro.”15 Era Caratal una ciudad de oro que relucía

con mayor brillo después de fuertes chaparrones, fenómeno que Carl Geldner

tuvo varias veces la ocasión de observar en persona:

12. Carl Geldner, Ob.cit

p.244.

13. Ibídem

p.248.

14. Michelena y Rojas, Ob.cit

p.225.

15. Carl Geldner, Ob.cit

p.248.

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 195

…después de cada aguacero fuerte, un sinnúmero de gente andaba buscando

granos de oro por la calle, salidos de los intersticios entre las piedras. Así por

casualidad también se encontrarían grandes pedazos de oro debajo de los

bajantes de los techos. No hay ningún tipo de duda, sobre el hecho de que

aquí se encontrará bastante oro por un buen rato.16

El costo de la riqueza en el Dorado era muy alto. Uno de los principales

problemas era el de la insalubridad sobre la cual es valiosa el testimonio de

Carl Geldner, quien vivió en Caratal cuatro largos meses, entre agosto y novi-

embre de 1867. Entre las diversas enfermedades se contaban la neumonía, la

disentería, que el propio Geldner sufrió en carne propia debido al agua con-

taminada de Caratal, y sobre todo las fiebres, siendo la peor de ellas la

denominada “caliente,” la más peligrosa y la cual se unía con frecuencia el

“tabardillo,” denominada “bicho” en los parajes del oro.17

El mismo Geldner sufrió de fiebres y casi muere en Caratal. De los Geld-

ner, fue su hermano Max, quien venía padeciendo de fuertes dolores de

cabeza, el primero en caer en cama muy enfermo, y también el primero de los

dos que huyó de las minas después de un mes de estancia. Carl, por su parte,

se enfermó con una fiebre “muy fuerte, que continuó durante algunos días y

me debilitó sobremanera, después de haber sufrido la disentería.” Su buena

salud y juventud lo salvaron. También su prudencia. Después de cumplir los

compromisos que tenía pautado en Caratal, regresó a mediados de noviembre

a Ciudad Bolívar. Como no encontró allí trabajo, pues la mala situación

política y económica había desmejorado, abandonó el país el día 9 de diciem-

bre de 1867. El testimonio de su partida de Caratal no deja de ser sugestivo.

Tampoco necesita ningún comentario adicional:

…El abandono de este rincón, el más triste del mundo, verdaderamente no me

causó nada más que alegría. A decir verdad, aún tenía uno que estar agradec-

ido por el hecho de haber podido escapar más o menos intacto. A mucha

gente, atraída por el brillo dorado de las minas, éstas le depararon en breve

tiempo la ruina; son pocos los que han tenido éxito, y éstos, generalmente, a

cuenta de la salud. Si hago un resumen de todo lo que observé y viví, no

puedo sino describir la existencia en estas minas como la miseria dorada.18

16. Idem

17. La enfermedad consistía “…en una inflamación del recto, la cual, si no se trata cor-

rectamente, generalmente causa la muerte.” La curación era dolorosa. Según Geldner eran

los indígenas quienes tenían un remedio bastante efectivo que consistía “…en introducir

en el ano pequeños limones pelados y provistos de cortes, los cuales, cuando la cura se

efectúa repetidas veces, mediante su propiedad astringente le devuelven a los tejidos intes-

tinales ampliados, su estado normal…”

Como es de suponer, el enfermo sufría “fuertes

dolores”

que lo hacían a menudo gritar como a un condenado. Carl Geldner, Ob.cit

p.274.

18. Ibídem

p.285.

196 Literature and the Arts

Los paisajes de letra y papel de Julia Bornhorst

El testimonio de Julia Bornhorst [Lübeck 1893-Caracas 1980] es doble:

escrito y gráfico.19 El texto muestra el testimonio de la adaptación de una

mujer a una cultura diferente entre 1923 y 1941, vale decir entre los 30 y 50

años de la autora, en la ciudad de Maracaibo que, al menos para 1923, pre-

sentaba en lo básico el paisaje urbano que había conocido otra paisana suya,

Elisabeth Gross,20 entre 1883 y 1896.

El paisaje urbano se transformó después cuando, en tan sólo dos décadas,

la ciudad sufrió una de las transformaciones más violentas que ciudad alguna

haya experimentado en Venezuela debido al descubrimiento y explotación de

petróleo en la cuenca del lago de Maracaibo. Por esa nueva actividad, la

ciudad dejó atrás su rol primordial desde el siglo XVI: ser centro de acopio

de la producción agropecuaria de su hinterland inmediato y del más lejano,

los espacios andinos.En términos demográficos, la ciudad contaba, en 1926,

con 84,000 habitantes, y con 110,000 en 1936.

En “permanente estado de alarma”

Julia Bornhorst vivió esas intensas transformaciones. Su pincel y su ojo

fotográfico son la clave para entender su curiosidad por el mundo más allá de

las fronteras de su casa marabina. Para empezar, la dama sufrió los rigores

del cambio. Maracaibo no era precisamente Lübeck, ni en apariencia urbana

ni en clima. Ella mismo lo pone en palabras: “No resultaba fácil acostum-

brarse al idioma extraño, al calor, a cuatro sirvientes para atender a dos perso-

nas: era algo sobrecogedor.”21 Es más, todo le era “ajeno y diferente” y

“sumamente primitivo” en los años posteriores a su llegada. Fue una tal

señora Behncke, esposa del jefe de la casa Blohm, la encargada de guiarla.

Era ella una especie de “madre” de la colonia alemana, de quien recibió “con-

sejo y ayuda” sin recibir órdenes,22 lo que demuestra, como en el caso de Elis-

abeth Gross, la importancia de las esposas de los jefes de las casas

comerciales alemanas en mantener la unidad del grupo.

No fue cosa fácil la adaptación al nuevo ambiente, sobre todo a las cosas

que percibía como agresivas, por lo cual había que estar, según sus palabras,

“pendiente continuamente de todo” pues la mayoría de las plantas “queman o

puyan,” los animales “son peligrosos para los humanos” y los insectos “nos

molestan constantemente.” Pero, agrega inmediatamente, “uno se adecua a

todo, incluso al permanente estado de alarma”23 del que escribiera también, a

19.

Venezuela 1923-1941 en Acuarelas y relatos de Julia Bornhorst.

Caracas, Oscar

Todtmann Editores, 1993.

20.

Vida Alemana en la Lejanía

. Maracaibo, Asociación Cultural Humboldt Maracaibo,

1989.

21. Ibidem, p. 14.

22. Idem

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 197

su manera, Elisabeth Gross. Pese a ese estado de alarma, Julia Bornhorst fue

una mujer quien aprovechó – y disfrutó – desde el principio las posibilidades

que le brindaba el trópico.

El trópico también extenuaba muchas fuerzas, cosa que sintió la alemana

en más de una ocasión, en particular cada vez que regresaba de vacaciones de

Europa y tenía que acostumbrarse de nuevo al intenso calor. En esto los rela-

tos de las dos alemanas coinciden. Así, podía levantarse temprano y desayu-

nar a las 6 pero a las 8 podía regresar a la cama “por estar exhausta.” Es más,

durante el resto del día “sólo tenía la mitad de mis fuerzas.” Los mosquitos

no hacían fácil la vida tampoco. Así, en verano – vale decir en la temporada

seca- la plaga era tal que impedía sentarse al aire libre:

…En aquella época no había tela metálica y dormíamos siempre bajo mos-

quiteros de hamaca, pero teníamos que acostarnos con un matamoscas, para

espantar los zancudos que se hubiesen infiltrado. Las picadas no nos molesta-

ban tanto como el penetrante zumbido, que nos impedía dormir. Prendíamos

muchas veces velas de humo, las cuales en verdad odiábamos ya que, a la par

de los mosquitos, también nosotros teníamos que inhalar el aire cáustico.

¡Realmente eran una plaga!..24

No obstante, con el tiempo, Julia Bornhorst fue menos atacada por la

plaga porque, según su juicio, su sangre estaba “disecada por el calor,” por lo

cual no ejercía “sobre los insectos tanta atracción como antes.”25

El lago insuperable

El lago de Maracaibo era el centro de la atención de los alemanes que vivían

en la ciudad. Era, por así decirlo, el eje emocional, el espejo acuático de la

vida cotidiana. La casa de los Bornhorst, llamada Hato Hamburgo, en el sub-

urbio de los Haticos, en las afueras de Maracaibo, tenía su palafito sobre el

lago, al cual se llegaba por un embarcadero. Ese “lugar privilegiado” servía

como lugar de contemplación del lago y para penetrar, y bañarse en el

mismo, a través de una escalera: “Nuestro querido lago era insuperable,” sus-

pira la alemana.

Pero el lago no era impoluto. Los baños en el lago, como en la época de la

Gross, no eran del todo tranquilos porque siempre se estaba pendiente de

algún animal dañino, por ejemplo las mantarrayas que con su “cola

ponzoñosa” podían de hecho “abrir toda la pierna de una manera terrible.”

También flotaban en el lago “algún cochino muerto” como excrementos

humanos, que caían al lago desde las innumerables casetas construidas sobre

pilotes. Por fortuna, había siempre un cardume de bagres al acecho que

comían “alegre y vorazmente la dádiva de Dios.” Claro está: la degradación

23. Ibídem, p. 17.

24. Ibídem, pp. 24-25.

25. Ibídem

p. 25.

198 Literature and the Arts

ambiental sería peor con el descubrimiento y perforación de los innumerables

pozos petroleros, que agregarían aceite y negrura a sus aguas, y alguna que

otra llama de fuego que el arte de Julia Bornhorst logra atrapar en dos

acuarelas que destacan el pavoroso incendio de petróleo del 31 de mayo de

1935,26 que marcan con violencia el término de la era agroexportadora.

Pese a la belleza del lago y los baños en sus aguas, las diversiones eran

pocas para la época en Maracaibo. Sobre todo para Julia Bornhort quien,

como ella misma cuenta, había pasado sus años de adolescencia en la ciudad

de Munich, “ciudad de ilimitadas posibilidades,” la “restringida libertad de

movimientos” en el nuevo lugar se le hizo difícil de soportar. Como ella

misma asegura, en materia de espectáculos públicos no había mucho de ver.

Así, el famoso teatro Baralt, constituía en la época un “horno no apto para el

trópico” razón por la cual unos cantantes de la ópera de Verdi El Trovador,

ataviados ellos con “gruesos trajes de terciopelo rellenos, casi se asfixiaban”

en plena representación.

También los paseos estaban restringidos, queja particular de casi todos los

alemanes en Maracaibo porque, se preguntaba la alemana, ¿hacía dónde

podía irse? Además de asistir a las fiestas del caso con otros compatriotas, o

acudir al club alemán en las tardes poco había de diversión propiamente

dicha. En materia de excursiones, por ejemplo,

…solamente había la posibilidad de alquilar, en conjunto, una gran lancha a

motor y pescar desde la misma o trasladarse hasta otra playa, cuyos cocoteros

eran idénticos a los nuestros, solamente que estaban más sucias. Allí se tom-

aba un baño, se hacía un picnic y se bailaba, con lo cual, a pesar de todo,

obteníamos nuestra diversión…27

El país de las mil y una frutas

Al contrario de Gross, que lo menciona en relación con los criados, el mer-

cado era uno de los sitios favoritos de la Bornhorst, en particular cuando per-

feccionó su español. Era el lugar uno de los orgullos de Maracaibo. En él se

palpaba mejor que en ninguna otra parte su función de urbe comercial, centro

de acopio de mercaderías de los estados cercanos, los Andes en particular. El

testimonio de la alemana es sugestivo en detalles gastronómicos:

…allí se conseguían las cosas más sabrosas, nada importado, sino las más

maravillosas frutas del país. Además de las consabidas piñas, melones y fru-

tas cítricas, familiares para nosotros, había la lechosa, desconocida en Europa,

con la cual empezábamos el día; también mangos, aguacates, guayabas, chiri-

moyas, nísperos, sapotes, caujíes, datos, guanábanas y muchas otras más. En

cuanto a pescados, teníamos una riquísima selección, tanto de mar como de

agua dulce, entre los cuales preferíamos los primeros, especialmente el firme

26. Véanse, respectivamente, las paginas 17 y 66 y 67.

27. Ibídem

p.20.

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 199

mero, similar a la carne, el fino pargo, el róbalo, las pequeñas carpitas y otros

peces similares y hasta la temida mantarraya de aguja (…) tiburones nonatos,

(…) [o las] codiciadas tortugas…28

Lo que si extrañaba la alemana eran las legumbres frescas, “que, sencilla-

mente, no existían,” por lo cual tuvo que acostumbrarse a los productos criol-

los como la yuca, la auyama, los plátanos y, “especialmente,” a las caraotas

negras. La alemana confiesa, no obstante, que como ella vivía de legumbres,

“estaba desesperada” por su ausencia, al punto de una vez pagar un real (la

mitad de un bolívar lo que era un precio exorbitante para la época) por una

zanahoria. Ella misma trató de “sembrarlas en un semillero, pero sólo logré

cultivar la espinaca neozelandesa.”

También, por lo menos al principio según ella misma cuenta, “la mante-

quilla y la leche representaban un problema” porque sólo se conseguía la de

cabra, “bastante sucia,” y la mantequilla “venía en latas desde Holanda, pero

siempre estaba rancia y oxidada.” Los quesos no eran tampoco muy variados,

salvo el de cabra, el pan, se conseguía uno que llamaban francés, “con gusto a

cartón.” Sin embargo, “…Muy de vez en cuando recibíamos pan negro de

algún barco alemán y, en una ocasión, (…) un gran queso amarillo, redondo,

fabricado por un alemán en Durita [Colombia]…” que la alemana recuerda

como “momentos inolvidables y deliciosos.”29 Esta relativa precariedad cam-

bió con la economía petrolera y con la llegada de los estadounidenses quienes

fundaron “gigantescos supermercados y otras tiendas y poco a poco pudimos

comprar de todo, para poder vivir de acuerdo con nuestro acostumbrado

estilo.”30

Más allá del espejo de agua

Julia Bornhorst, al contrario de Elisabeth Gross, viajó intensamente por el

territorio venezolano. Su esposo desde joven había viajado por “todo el país a

lomo de mula” y la hizo partícipe de muchos viajes al interior, menos misteri-

oso que en la época de Gross. Así, en una oportunidad que describe, cruzó el

lago de Maracaibo hasta llegar al puerto trujillano de La Ceiba y de allí llegar

en automóvil hasta Valera. Antes se llegaba en tren hasta Motatán pero el

Ferrocarril de la Ceiba había perdido importancia desde la construcción de

nuevas carreteras en Trujillo. Desde esa ciudad alquilaron un carro y viajaron

por todos los Andes venezolanos hasta llegar a Colombia: “En todas partes

Carli – así llamaba a su esposo, Carl Bornhorst, quien trabajaba en la firma

Beckmann & Cia. de la cual llegó a ser el superior de la empresa y socio prin-

cipal – fue recibido cordialmente como un viejo amigo y nos mimaron

mucho…”31 lo que tiene que ver con el papel que tuvieron los alemanes en el

28. Ibídem, p.18.

29. Ibídem, p.19.

30. Ibídem, p.38.

200 Literature and the Arts

comercio venezolano, en el cual participaban activamente visitando a todos

los clientes de manera regular.32

El viaje lo hicieron por la vieja carretera de los Andes, unos años antes de

ser inaugurada la Trasandina en 1925, que unió definitivamente a los Andes

con el centro. En la época de Bornhorst la vieja carretera se encontraba “muy

defectuosa;” era de “arena, muy estrecha y bordeada de horribles precipi-

cios.”33 El regreso a Maracaibo podía hacerse por tres rutas: volver a La

Ceiba, lo que era un largo viaje desde el Táchira, por El Vigía bajando hasta

Santa Bárbara si se estaba en Mérida, o por Encontrados si se estaba en el

Táchira. Fue esa ruta la que siguieron al menos en 1927, camino que no

dejaba de ser una aventura. Allí se tomaba un “barco de paletas” por el río

Catatumbo, que navegaba rodeado de una selva todavía virgen en esa época

con su carga de flora y fauna que hacía del viaje toda una experiencia.

El viaje de Maracaibo a Capatárida en el estado Falcón fue también muy

importante. De él quedaron, como en el caso de los otros, acuarelas que hoy

constituyen fuentes gráficas importantes para la geohistoria venezolana. No

fue este tampoco un viaje de placer en el sentido que los caminos aquí eran

precarios, no había sino precarios alojamientos y que el “paisaje, árido,

carecía de atractivo,” del cual, sin embargo, Julia realizó magníficas

acuarelas, pero se entregaba a la aventura tanto por acompañar a su esposo

como por la oportunidad que él le brindaba de “conocer otro rincón de mi

segunda patria.”34 Para Carl Bornhorst, el viaje tenía otras connotaciones:

cobrar, en 1933, las deudas vencidas de algunos negocios que vendían los

productos de su casa comercial, en deuda con ella debido a la recesión

económica que siguió al gran “crack” de 1929.

Para empezar era grande el equipaje que había que llevar aunque se

tratase de un viaje corto de tan sólo 4 días: dos camas plegables, porque en

Venezuela no había casi camas sino chinchorros en esa época, el

imprescindible mosquitero de malla, “una ponchera para lavar, una caja con

hielo [que se derretía sin duda rápidamente], latas y alimentos frescos, pues

en esas áreas, muy pobres, apenas se puede comprar alguna cosa.”35 El viaje

lo hicieron en un Ford por una ruta “parcialmente muy mala, llena de huecos

y barro endurecido.” Viajaban en la temporada seca cuando los caminos esta-

ban al menos “secos y adecuados para manejar.”36 El paisaje de esta región

31. Ibídem, p.32.

32. Véanse detalles sobre el particular en mi libro

Venezuela en la mirada alemana

(paisajes reales e imaginarios en Louis Glöckler, Carl Geldner y Elisabeth Gross, 1850-

1896

)

Caracas, Fondo Editorial y Comisión de Estudios de Postgrado de la Facultad de

Humanidades y Educación de la UCV/Fundación Edmundo y Hilde Schnoegass, 2000, en

particular los capítulos III y IV.

33. Julia Bornhorst, Ob.cit

p.32.

34. Ibídem

p.41.

35. Idem

36. Ibídem

pp. 42-43.

Palabras y Pinceles del Paisaje Venezolano 201

falconiana ofrecía atractivos para una pintora, quien escribe sobre la dificul-

tad de “reproducir la sensación de abandono y desolación.” El paisaje estaba,

en este sentido, constituido por “Árboles muertos, (…) característicos cactus,

de la talla de un árbol grande; sobre el suelo, tunas de flores amarillos y cac-

tus de melón de rígida corona roja, en la extensión plana, ilimitada, de arcilla

agrietada…”37

El alojamiento en Venezuela era una dificultad para todos los viajeros.

Los Bornhorst llegaron a Casigua para dormir allí por la recomendación

expresa que en el lugar había una habitación vacía donde podrían quedarse.

Así fue. Después de atravesar “columnas de humo amarillo,” que no eran otra

cosa que tornados de polvo, llegaron a Casigua que la alemana encuentra

como un “pueblo simpático.” En cuarto al cuarto vacío, este era grande pero

no tenía ni puerta ni ventanas, por lo cual ofrecieron a la pareja la sala de la

casa, cuarto impresionante según la Bornhorst, de ocho metros de largo y

“amoblado con cuatro sillas para las visitas.”38 Capatárida tenía en la época

de Julia Bornhorst cuatro calles que recorría mientras su esposo visitaba los

clientes. Allí tampoco, como en tantos otros sitios de Venezuela, no había

baños…sino espacios abiertos, en este caso con la compañía de un burro que

vigilaba los actos primarios humanos.39

El regreso a Maracaibo se efectuó por Mene de Mauroa. El problema para

llegar allá fueron los caminos, que dejaban mucho que desear. Es más había

que encontrarlo porque no estaba afirmado en el terreno. En efecto, el cam-

ino, poco transitado, era invadido por la selva de manera regular, razón por la

cual el Ford tuvo que “abrirse paso materialmente a la fuerza.” Así, sobre el

suelo, “tupido de matas bajas, apenas era perceptible una huella de cauchos,”

por lo cual los viajeros tuvieron que bajar del automóvil varias veces para

“reencontrar señales anteriores en el camino, que nos orientaran.” Es más, en

dos ocasiones, incluso debieron “regresar atrás, pues habíamos perdido com-

pletamente la huella en la espesa jungla.”40

El poblado como tal ofrecía una nueva cara: el dinero de los perforadores

de petróleo estadounidenses lo había transformado completamente. De una

pequeña aldea, fundada en el siglo XVIII, con actividades agropecuarias

diversas, se había convertido de la noche a la mañana en un lugar de migra-

ciones internas. El dinero petrolero corría por la población, donde había

“música, baile, juegos de azar y, especialmente, una gran oferta de ‘damas.’”

Era así, comenta la alemana, que en pleno día, la calle “retumbaba con la

gritería y risas de las morenas señoritas.” El pueblo por lo demás presentaba

la clásica división de las estructuras de explotación petrolera: el núcleo

37. Ibídem

p.44.

38. Ibídem

p.47.

39. Ibídem

p.48.

40. Ibídem

p.53.

202 Literature and the Arts

urbano, por un lado, abandonado a su suerte, y el otro, completamente aparte,

que constituía el campamento petrolero donde vivían los empleados esta-

dounidenses, ubicado en una colina con “simpáticas casitas cercadas con tela

metálica, en sitios sembrados de césped. Tienen, para su recreo y distracción,

un campo de golf.”41

Las comunicaciones habían cambiado en función del lago de Maracaibo.

De esta manera, construyeron desde Mene de Mauroa a Altagracia un ferro-

carril de vía estrecha. El tráfico se hacía en “pequeños vagones motorizados

que van sobre los rieles.” Como no había carretera, los vehículos aprovecha-

ban los lados inclinados del terraplén, construido para el ferrocarril. Pero lle-

gado un momento, era tan complicado y peligroso que el chofer de los

Bornhorst apostó por la vieja huella que resultó más agradable “que el terra-

plén inclinado y lleno de endurecidas grietas causadas por el agua de innu-

merables lluvias.”42 La alemana describió el trayecto con precisión:

Con admirable velocidad y gran seguridad nos abrimos camino por medio de

los chasqueantes arbustos y de la incierta oscuridad que teníamos ante

nosotros. (…) Como a las nueve de la noche llegamos, sin novedad, a Alta-

gracia, y todavía logramos conseguir una lancha de motor para la travesía”

hasta el muelle del querido Hato Hamburgo43.

Conclusiones

No hay un rincón de Venezuela donde los visitantes extranjeros no hayan

puesto su pie y mirada desde el siglo XIX hasta la segunda mitad del XX. Es

por ello que sus testimonios escritos y gráficos son tan importantes para los

estudios históricos en Venezuela. Son ellos una parte vital de nuestro pasado,

en particular del siglo XIX, cuyas fuentes históricas están dispersas y existen

vacíos de información considerables, sea por la acción del fuego de monton-

eras y revoluciones sobre el papel en su momento, cuando no por pérdidas

posteriores. De allí la importancia de testimonios como los de Carl Geldner y

Julia Bornhorst, que arrojan, cada uno a su aire y en su tiempo histórico,

numerosos datos, escritos y gráficos, sobre los paisajes urbanos, agrarios y de

comunicaciones venezolanos.

41. Ibídem

p.54.

42. Ibídem

p.55.

43. Idem

203

CHAPTER 18 Análisis Contrastivo del

‘Ensayo Político’

María-Rosario Martí Marco

Acabamos de comprobar que la población se ha más que duplicado en veinte

años, de 1791 a 1810. En este mismo intervalo de tiempo la población de

Nueva York, la ciudad más poblada de Estados Unidos, ha aumentado de

33.200 a 96.400 y hoy alcanza los 140.000 habitantes. En consecuencia tiene

una población algo superior a la de La Habana y casi igual a Lyon. (...)

América no cuenta más que con seis ciudades que alcanzan los 100.000 habi-

tantes: México, Nueva York, Filadelfia, La Habana, Río de Janeiro y Bahía.1

Introducción

Con esta aportación, cuyo trabajo se inició en 1999 en el marco de un

Proyecto de Investigación I+D en la Universidad de Alicante,2 se han inten-

tado desvelar cuáles han sido las variaciones de las traducciones al español en

las distintas ediciones de la obra sobre Cuba. Las primeras ediciones (1827,

1836, 1840), el análisis contrastivo con las ediciones de Fernando Ortiz

(1930, 1959), la edición de la Fundación Ortiz (1998), la del Consejo Supe-

rior de Investigaciones Científicas (1998) y nuestra traducción publicada en

el año 2004, muestran cuáles han sido los enfoques metodológicos de los tra-

ductores. Y lo más importante, que desde 1827 hasta el año 2004 todas las

ediciones y reediciones que se han realizado en París, La Habana o España

emplean la misma y primera traducción de D. J. B. de V. y M. Sólo una per-

sona se atrevió a modificar ortográficamente aquella primera versión, el

antropólogo cubano Fernando Ortiz en la edición de 1930. A partir de este

1. Humboldt, Alejandro von . 2004.

Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba

(p. 55). Publi-

caciones de la Universidad de Alicante. Traducción de M-R. Martí e Irene Prüfer.

2. Proyecto de investigación I+D en el Área de Filología Alemana, financiado por la

Generalidad Valenciana (GV99-31-1-09) y coordinado por la Prof. Dra. Irene Prüfer.

204 Literature and the Arts

momento se reeditaría su versión corregida, en Cuba y en España, es decir la

traducción original con las mejoras añadidas.

La comparación de las ediciones antiguas con la edición de Ortiz (1930)

ofrece fundamentos para la comprobación de la evolución de la lengua

española en su desarrollo terminológico y en su modernidad. La terminología

científica de la geografía ha experimentado en los últimos dos siglos un

desarrollo lexicográfico muy importante. Los conceptos se han asentado con

definiciones exactas y por ello, la traducción actual de 2004 resulta más

armoniosa, pues la terminología especializada a la que Humboldt recurre está

definitivamente hoy normalizada.

Las Traducciones al Español

Hasta hoy quienes mejor han tratado la cuestión de las traducciones de la

obra de Humboldt son el mismo Ortiz, en su interesante y completa “Intro-

ducción bibliográfica al libro” y los editores Puig-Samper et alt. del Consejo

Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (1998, 94). La resonancia que tuvo en

su momento el Essai politique sur l´Ile de Cuba (1826) facilitó que rápida-

mente se tradujese a los idiomas inglés y español. En una de las ediciones en

idioma inglés del Ensayo político, la polémica traducción realizada por John

S. Thrasher, se suprimió todo el capítulo VII sobre la Esclavitud y se incorpo-

raron abundantes consideraciones propias y estadísticas. Humboldt habló

abiertamente sobre la falsificación de la obra: “el traductor, que ha vivido

durante largo tiempo en aquella hermosa isla, ha enriquecido mi obra con

datos más recientes sobre el estado numérico de la población, el cultivo del

suelo (...). Precisamente a esta parte de mi obra atribuyo mayor importancia

que a cualesquiera observaciones astronómicas, experimentos sobre la inten-

sidad magnética o noticias estadísticas. (...). Como firme defensor que soy de

la más libre expresión del pensamiento, ... creo que tengo derecho a exigir

que en los Estados libres del continente de América las gentes puedan leer lo

que se ha permitido que circule, desde el primer año de su aparición.” (Ortiz

1998, 303).

“En rápida sucesión aparecieron en París cuatro reimpresiones en español,

probablemente sin modificaciones: en 1829, 1836, 1840 y 1847.” (Leitner

1998, 58). En un intento de crítica de traducciones, Ortiz llegó a la con-

clusión de la existencia de una única traducción al español, realizada en 1827

y mejorada sensiblemente en cada edición. Las sospechas de Ortiz y de Leit-

ner hemos de confirmarlas. Tras una atenta lectura de cada una de las edi-

ciones, podemos afirmar que fueron reediciones del original. La primera

traducción consta que fue realizada por D. J. B. de V. y M. y se publicó en

1827, en París. “De esta primera traducción, parece ser que se quiso simular -

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 205

según Ortiz (1998, 87) - una segunda traducción en 1836 y una tercera en

1840. Esas ediciones fueron un fraude de los editores Lecointe y Lasserre.”

En realidad fue una sola versión, aunque cada una tenía una portada difer-

ente. La tercera edición se distinguió en la portada por el nombre completo de

otro traductor, real o supuesto, D. José López de Bustamante. Según Puig-

Samper et al (1998, 95), las ediciones de 1836 y 1840 se realizaron realmente

en España, por lo que reciben el calificativo de ediciones “pirata” por los

ilustres investigadores.

Después de casi un siglo de estas primeras ediciones, en 1930, Fernando

Ortiz editaba en Cuba el texto de Humboldt en la traducción de D. José

López de Bustamante, con una introducción bibliográfica, ampliado con

numerosas notas y apéndices y con el prólogo de John S. Thrasher, traduci-

dos al español, así como con las correcciones de Francisco Arango y Parreño3

y del propio Ortiz. Según la historiadora Ulrike Leitner (1998, 59), esta

edición “es un valioso tesoro para los bibliógrafos e investigadores de Hum-

boldt.”

Ortiz publicó nuevamente la obra del científico alemán sobre Cuba en la

Revista Bimestre Cubana (1959). En 1960 se publicaron dos ediciones más

en Cuba. En 1998 volvía a editarse en la colección de Libros de la Fundación

Ortiz.

En España, se ha publicado la versión de Fernando Ortiz en el marco de

un trabajo de investigación histórica del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones

Científicas. Esta nueva edición, con un estudio introductorio de reconocidos

especialistas en Historia de la Ciencia y de Cuba e ilustrada de forma

exquisita, nos ofrece la antigua traducción, publicada en 1959, con algunas

modificaciones numéricas y mejoras de topónimos y nombres de personajes,

especificadas entre corchetes. Según sus editores se ha constatado “la exist-

encia de errores numéricos en algunos de los cuadros, que aparecen en la

obra de Humboldt.” (Puig-Samper et al 1998, 98)

Así pues el análisis contrastivo lexicográfico y fraseológico de las difer-

entes ediciones, queda reducido a la comparación entre la primera traducción

en cualquiera de sus ediciones y la edición implementada ortográficamente

por Ortiz en 1930. La nueva y reciente traducción de 2004, realizada en el

marco de la teoría funcionalista por Martí y Prüfer, supone una nueva lectura

del texto original de Humboldt, más moderna y actual. Este análisis ha dado

luz definitiva sobre los numerosos interrogantes planteados en torno a la fig-

ura de los traductores/el traductor de esta obra tan emblemática de Humboldt.

3. “A pesar de algunas ligeras equivocaciones salvadas por nuestro compatriota don

Francisco de Arango y Parreño en las acotaciones que hizo en el ejemplar de su pertenen-

cia y que se han insertado en la última colección de las obras.” En: Ortiz, F:

Introducción

bibliográfica -1929-

. Bicentenario de Humboldt. Serie Histórica. Academia de Ciencias de

Cuba, 1969, p. 21.

206 Literature and the Arts

La Primera Traducción de 1827

Consolidada la estructura el idioma español en los siglos XVI y XVII, las

alteraciones más importantes ocurridas desde entonces se refieren a aspectos

externos como la ortografía o la continua incorporación de elementos léxicos

de origen foráneo (Cano 1997, 260). Los siglos XVIII y XIX se distinguieron

por una gran preocupación por el léxico y la ortografía. Se buscaban defini-

ciones, se hallaban sinónimos, se discutía la conveniencia del uso de neolo-

gismos y barbarismos léxicos, principalmente galicismos. Definitivamente en

1714, se fundaba la Academia de la Lengua por real decreto, tomándose

como lema “limpia, fija y da esplendor.” Según Lamiquiz (1973, 108), la

limpieza se refiere al uso correcto de la lengua, la fijación es algo necesario y

trascendental en la lengua del siglo XVIII, lengua que, según la Academia,

había alcanzado su perfección en los Siglos de Oro, y el esplendor se refiere

al brillo de la producción literaria. Tras la primera publicación entre 1726

y1739 del Diccionario de Autoridades, aparecía la Ortografía en 1741 como

solución práctica para fijar la forma de la lengua. Poco después aparecería la

Gramática (1771), que por real orden se enseñaría en todas las escuelas

españolas. Se sancionaban así los cambios que de su idioma habían hecho los

hablantes a lo largo de los siglos, siguiendo unos criterios de autoridad. El

español, que fue la lengua diplomática hasta la primera mitad del siglo XVIII,

triunfaba definitivamente también sobre el latín a finales del primer tercio del

siglo XIX.

Humboldt redactó la obra en francés, a la sazón la lengua científica en la

Europa del siglo XIX, periodo caracterizado por la difusión de las ciencias

positivas. Ya en 1756, el Padre Feijóo lanzó una propuesta escandalosa: “que

los jóvenes no sean obligados a estudiar latín y griego, pues las obras mae-

stras escritas en tales lenguas ya están traducidas a los idiomas modernos.

Que aprendan, en su lugar, lenguas vivas, y, en primer término, el francés, en

el cual hablan y escriben todas las ciencias y artes sutiles.” Fue enorme el

revuelo que produjo esta Carta erudita por su carácter revolucionario y

porque aparecía en medio de un fuerte afrancesamiento de las costumbres y

del habla diarios. (Lázaro Carreter 2002, 2).

Pocos años después, en 1776, Antonio de Capmany publicaba su Arte de

traducir el idioma francés al castellano, en cuyo prólogo reconoce que el

“geómetra, el astrónomo, el físico, el filósofo, no hablan ya el lenguaje del

vulgo, con el cual se explicaban todos cien años atrás. Tienen otro vocabu-

lario tan distante del usual como el de Newton lo es del de Ptolomeo.” Está

por estudiar lo que representó en la historia de nuestra lengua el libro de Cap-

many, así como su posterior Diccionario francés-español de 1801. Según

Lázaro Carreter (2002, 3), “una enorme valentía, que contrasta con el apoc-

amiento general ante la superioridad técnica y científica del idioma vecino,

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 207

informa toda su acción; por primera vez, un español se impone la misión

seria y científica de comparar ambas lenguas intentando hallar una justa cor-

respondencia, cuando se trata de palabras patrimoniales, o fijando una forma

que corresponda al tecnicismo francés en ambas lenguas. Muchas palabras

técnicas y abstractas penetran con su perfil definitivo en nuestra lengua (cos-

mopolita, aerostático, estadística).”

En el decenio de 1770, el español ya había resuelto los problemas más

espinosos de su moderno proceso normalizador. “Tiene un inventario léxico

que es la envidia de Europa; inmediatamente va a aparecer otro, no menos

notable, de Esteban Terreros y Pando con voces científicas y sus correspon-

dencias latinas, italianas y francesas; tiene una ortografía sencilla y una

gramática moderna. Todos los saberes que recorren Europa en inglés,

francés, alemán, italiano, latín, se pueden traducir al español con sólo encon-

trar un traductor fiable. Como éstos no escasean, las enciclopedias, tratados y

estudios de cualquier materia se imprimen con generosidad.” (Lodares, 2003)

En este marco cultural de sensibilización por el prurito etimológico, sin

excluir la adopción de numerosas voces del francés y en los albores del

nacimiento de la lingüística románica, aparecía la primera traducción de esta

obra de Humboldt al español.

A pesar de que estaba ampliamente aceptado que el alfabeto supone una

relación unívoca entre signo gráfico y fonema mínimo, evitando toda doble

interpretación posible, el traductor de la obra, D. J.B. de V. y M. parece

desconocer la regulación de la Academia de la Lengua sobre determinadas

reglas ortográficas. El término “hemisferio” existía desde 1780 en el Diccio-

nario usual con la h, aunque el traductor utiliza la palabra sin h; también

“hacinamiento” aparece en el Diccionario de 1803 con h. La aspiración de la

h ya había desaparecido en 1500, como testimonia la versificación. El

término “septiembre” se recoge ya en el primer Diccionario de Autoridades

(1739), mientras que “setiembre” aparece por primera vez en el de 1817.

Ejemplos como “fracmento,” “ouro,” “sumarítima,” “oprovio” no aparecen

en ninguno de los Diccionarios mencionados. El término “ueste” se consolida

en el Diccionario de 1803 y coexiste hasta nuestros días con la palabra

“oeste.”

De gran interés es el cambio sufrido en los términos que contienen una g,

j o b, v. Algunos criterios fijados en aquella Ortografía (1741) siguen

vigentes hoy, como las reglas de la b y v. El Diccionario de la Academia de

1822 es el último que contiene los ejemplos “extrangero,” “viagero” o

“absorver.” A partir del Diccionario de 1832 y de las gramáticas de 1830 y

1847, la corrección ortográfica marca otra dirección que en esta primera tra-

ducción no se llega a plasmar.

208 Literature and the Arts

El siglo XIX conoció dos excelentes gramáticas4 de español basadas ambas en

el uso culto y en los buenos escritores clásicos, por lo que, cada una en su

ámbito, contribuyeron a fijar la norma del idioma. Fue primera la de Vicente

Salvá (1830), construida “según ahora se habla;” pero de mucho mayor alca-

nce y valor fue la del venezolano Andrés Bello (1847) “destinada al uso de los

americanos” y con la intención de conservar la pureza de la lengua “como un

medio providencial de comunicación y un vínculo de fraternidad entre las

varias naciones de origen español derramadas sobre los dos continentes (en el

Prólogo). En 1874 el filólogo colombiano Rufino José Cuervo le añadió unas

muy valiosas notas, en general, de índole histórica. (Cano 1997, 257).

El hecho de que dos conceptos figuren en inglés (Slave states, Gulf

Stream) refleja los límites de la cultura a la hora de buscar semejanzas y facil-

itar la identificación con lo extranjero, en este caso con el desarrollo de la

esclavitud en América y las aportaciones científicas de fenómenos varios. A

finales del siglo XIX se empezaba a ceder ante la primacía del idioma inglés.

Así pues, podemos considerar que esta primera traducción, con un len-

guaje arcaico, no hacía fácil el acceso a esta obra esencial de Humboldt. “Se

trata de una muy buena traducción, que además pone orden al desorden que

hay en el ensayo original redactado por Humboldt. Como cita Fernando

Ortiz, refiriéndose a la crítica de un gran amigo de Humboldt, “Tu no sabes

hacer un libro; escribes sin cesar, pero no haces un libro, sino un retrato sin

marco. Sin embargo, se ha de constatar que algunos párrafos están mal tradu-

cidos y, a veces, no se resuelven las dificultades del original. Se producen

incorrecciones (...) y se utiliza con excesiva frecuencia la voz pasiva, recar-

gando el texto innecesariamente.” (Martí Marco, 2004)

La Edición Corregida de Ortiz en 1930

Según Holl (1998, 24), a Fernando Ortiz, el gran antropólogo cubano, le cor-

responde el mérito de haber logrado que la obra de Humboldt fuera accesible

para un numeroso público. Gracias a esta edición en la Colección de Libros

Cubanos, se facilitó la mejor comprensión de la obra de Cuba, no sólo con los

añadidos de Arango y Parreño y de Thrasher, sino especialmente con una

labor de corrección y modernización léxica necesarias e improrrogables. Por

ello, podemos afirmar que esta obra es reflejo del dinamismo de la lengua

española entre los siglos XIX y XX, reformada continuamente. No se inter-

rumpió la entrada de cultismos, de origen latino y griego y de préstamos, la

mayoría de ellos incorporaciones del lenguaje técnico y científico.

Ortiz recogió las fuentes citadas entre paréntesis y en cursiva que

aparecían en el texto y las transformó en notas a pie de página. Convirtió en

4. Otras gramáticas importantes son la de P. Benito de San Pedro (1769), Calleja (1818)

y Gómez de Hermosilla (1825).

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 209

una pequeña tabla numérica las cifras que Humboldt aportara escalonada-

mente, agilizando su lectura. En la traducción de 2004 hemos sido mucho

más arriesgadas y hemos convertido en tablas estadísticas todo cuanto podía

cuantificarse y de alguna manera representarse de forma gráfica.

Hemos encontrado omisiones en Ortiz, trasladadas desde la primera tra-

ducción de 1827, generalmente sencillas y que no afectan al sentido del texto

(“irlandeses e ingleses”). Entre las modificaciones encaminadas a mejorar el

texto se encuentra el matiz de la cursiva (Beta vulgaris, Saccarum offici-

narum), también en la cita de algún libro (Guía de los forasteros) e incluso la

variación de alguna cifra, aportando el dato mejorado de Thrasher.

Ortiz, como responsable último de la labor de trascripción y edición de

esta obra, comete una serie de errores, que conviene señalar aquí. De mayor

importancia, aunque sin afectar al sentido de texto, son la inclusión de un pie

de página en el texto (capítulo III) y el cambio de orden de dos pies de

página. Cada nota, aporta tal carga de información novedosa y es de tal man-

era independiente, que pensamos que se trata de errores de trascripción. De

menor magnitud son los pequeños fallos tipográficos que se suceden en el

texto como: ligereza (ligareza); es decir (se decir); repúblicas (rúblicas); sus

efectos (sus defectos); paquebotes (pequebotes).

De gran importancia es la aportación de Ortiz en los cambios ortográfi-

cos: la corrección en los acentos (hácia, mas, area); el añadido de los símbo-

los de puntuación de todo tipo, organizando el discurso y sus diferentes

elementos y evitando la ambigüedad en textos, que, sin su empleo, podrían

tener interpretaciones diferentes. Con este fin, introduce más párrafos que la

versión original con la ayuda de más puntos y aparte. De la misma manera

mejora el uso de preposiciones y de conjunciones: para (por), frente (junto),

que (cuando). Ortiz agiliza finalmente la lectura de la nueva versión elimi-

nando algún elemento, unas veces un posesivo “encendiese otra luz a su

bordo,” otras veces, añadiendo algún otro elemento necesario para la correc-

ción gramatical “a los que es fácil alimentar.”

Ortiz corrigió también un problema gramatical que muestra una de las

tendencias de la lengua española a sistematizar la marca de persona frente a

no persona. Se trata del leísmo y del loísmo. El empleo de la forma le

comenzó como sustituto en función de implemento “persona” frente al lo

comenzó en idéntica función pero “no persona.” Realmente, lo litoral no es

propiamente un loísmo, pues no sustituye a le como complemento, sino al

artículo determinado.

A continuación, ofrecemos una serie de tablas en las que mostramos

cuáles han sido las modificaciones de Ortiz sobre la base de la primera tra-

ducción. Este análisis se ha realizado de forma exhaustiva y con un método

manual, ya que la comparación con las ediciones anteriores, conservadas en

210 Literature and the Arts

micro-fichas imposibilitaban un trabajo terminológico con medios más mod-

ernos, en donde indexar las nuevas entradas léxicas.

TABLE 18-1. CAMBIOS ORTOGRÁFICOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

BASA BASE

basa à, sirve de base a, sirve de

basa de, con base de, con

basa, tenian por base, tenían por

Barar Varar

Bascos Vascos

Bizcaya Vizcaya

Caba Cava

Cabernoso Cavernoso

Cañaberales Cañaverales

Fracmentos Fragmentos

Fracmentaria Fragmentaria

EM EM

Remplazado Reemplazado

Agenos Ajenos

Cabotage Cabotaje

Carruages Carruajes

Dige dije

Digeron dijeron

Extrangero extranjero

Forrage forraje

Introdugese introdujese

Lavages Lavajes

Lisongean lisonjean

Magestuosa majestuosa

Muger mujer

Paisage paisaje

Parages parajes

Pasage pasaje

Salvages salvaje

Sugeto sujeto

Tegidos tejidos

Trageron trajeron

Ultrage ultraje

Viage viaje

Viagero viajero

H- H-

acinamiento hacinamiento

alagüeñas halagüeñas

emisferio hemisferio

idrógeno hidrógeno

HO H

Cahoba Caoba

Harmonía Armonía

Conjelarse congelarse

Vejetan vegetan

LE EL-LO

Le comenzó Lo comenzó

Lo litoral influye El litoral influye

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 211

*exorbitante

La lista de adjetivos que se ofrecen a continuación refleja algunos errores

de la primera traducción: “blanquizno,” “rogizca” y “rojizco” no aparecen

recogidos en ningún Diccionario de la Real Academia. En cambio, el término

“langaruto,” aparece por primera vez recogido en el Diccionario de Autori-

dades de la Real Academia en 1734, con la siguiente definición: “que se

aplica al que es de estatura mui alta, flaco de cuerpo y de piernas mui delga-

das. Es voz baxa, y la trahe Covarr. en su Thesoro.” En 1822 y en 1869, en el

Diccionario de la Academia usual encontramos la definición: “que se dice de

la persona o cosa desproporcionada por ser muy larga y angosta.” Será a

partir del Diccionario de 1884 cuando nos aparezca el sentido actual, que per-

siste hasta hoy y que utilizó Ortiz: “(Despect. de largo), adj. fam. larguiru-

cho.” Es de interés señalar que el Diccionario de 1927 añade: “Adj. Honduras

Traérnosle traérnoslo

Setentrional Septentrional

Setiembre Septiembre

RRR

Vireinato Virreinato

SU SUB

sumarítimas submarítimas

Sustituir substituir

sustituyendo substituyendo

Ueste Oeste

Norueste Noroeste

Ouro Oro

Absorve absorbe

Derrivar derribar

exorvitante exhorbitante*

Guanavacoa Guanabacoa

Oprovio oprobio

Taverna Taberna

Vizarra bizarra

Escusado excusado

Estrañar extrañar

Ysodinámicas Isodinámicas

Yerbas hierbas

yerro error

Ysabel Isabel

azido ácido

hize hice

pezezito Pececito

zelo Celo

zenit Cenit

Zero Cero

212 Literature and the Arts

y Méjico.” Esto evidencia las distintas modalidades que el español adoptó en

América.

Asimismo resulta interesante el seguimiento del término “Manato.” En el

Diccionario de Autoridades de 1734 se define como “especie de tiburón que

se cría en el mar Indico.” Poco después el Diccionario de 1817 aportaba la

similitud: “Lo mismo que manatí. Manatí = animal marino. Lo mismo que

vaca marina.” El Diccionario de 1927 concretaba un poco más: “Manatí.

Mamífero sirenio de unos cinco metros de longitud. Vive cerca de las costas

orientales de América, es herbívoro y su carne y grasa son muy estimadas.”

El Diccionario de 1992 perfecciona la definición: “Manatí. (Voz caribe o

arahuaca). Mamífero sirenio de hasta cinco metros de longitud, cabeza

redonda, cuello corto, cuerpo muy grueso y piel cenicienta (...). Vive cerca de

las costas del Caribe y en los ríos de aquellas regiones.”

El término “paletúveros” no ha sido encontrado en los diferentes Diccio-

narios de la Academia.

En el ámbito de la geología hemos extraído tres ejemplos, que por su

evolución, resultan de mayor interés. El término “espejuelo” aparece por pri-

mera vez en el Diccionario de Autoridades de 1732 con la definición: “cierto

género de yesso, que tiene unas costrillas relucientes y transparentes, espe-

cialmente cuando les da el sol.” En el Diccionario de 1791 aparecía: “Especie

de piedra reluciente de que se hace el yeso.” Definitivamente en 1817 se

reformulaba la definición: “el yeso cristalizado en láminas brillantes según

suele encontrarse en diferentes partes,” para años después en 1927, consoli-

TABLE 18-2. ADJETIVOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

langaruto, tronco Larguiruchoa

a. En otro lugar, emplea el sustantivo en 1827 “su mayor largura desde el cabo”,

mientras que Ortiz lo traduce por “largo”.

Blanquizno Blanquizco

Pardo Gris

Rogizca Rojiza

Rojizco Rojizo

TABLE 18-3. PLANTAS Y ANIMALES

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

Calabazal Calabazar

Casia cassia (acacia)

el yuca la yuca

Ligneu principio leñoso (ligneux)

Madrépolas Madréporas

Mambues Bambúes

Paletúveros Manglares

Cayman Caimán

Manatos Manatíes

Sauros Saurios

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 213

darse la definición que perdura hoy: “Yeso cristalizado en láminas brillan-

tes.”

La definición del término “greda” ha sufrido sólo someras variaciones. En

el Diccionario de Autoridades de 1734 se decía: “Especie de tierra blanca y

pegajosa, que comúnmente sirve para batanar y lavar los paños y texidos de

lana, aclarar el vino y otros usos.” En 1822, se empleaba por primera vez la

palabra arcilla: “especie de arcilla, comúnmente blanca, que se usa para lavar

los paños, quitar manchas y otras cosas.” La definición de 1927 introducía el

concepto consolidado de “arcilla arenosa.” La definición completa de 1992

dice así: “arcilla arenosa, por lo común de color blanco azulado, que se usa

principalmente para desengrasar los paños y quitar manchas.”

El término “chorlo” aparece en el Diccionario de la Academia por prim-

era vez en 1837, con la definición: “Min. Fosil mineralógico sencillo de una

de las familias del género silíceo. Es de cinco especies: negro, estriado, tur-

malina, rojo, volcánico y vidrioso. Silex schorlus.” En la definición de 1927,

ya se aportaba su equivalente actual y modernizado: “Mineral. Turmalina,”

que continúa hasta hoy.

El término “hectárea” aparece por primera vez en el Diccionario de la

Academia de 1869 con la explicación: “medida de superficie que tiene cien

TABLE 18-4. TÉRMINOS GEOLÓGICOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

acinamiento calizo

anfibolia conglomerado calizo

anfíbol

Adolerita Dolerita

Ametista amatista

Asberto asbesto

Calcario calcáreo

conchita petrificada, capas de oolíticas, capas

Crysoprasa crisoprasa

Chorlo negro hornblenda

Dialage diálaga

dyalage metalizado dyallage metalloides

Dialage metalizado dialaga metaloide

Enfotides eufótides

Espejuelo yeso

Esquita primitiva pizarra (Thunschiefer)

Greda arenisca

Hyperstena hiperstena

Hyperstenita hiperstenita

Pyritas piritas

Pyroxena piroxena

Syenito sienita

Titaneo titanio

Trachitas traquitas

formaciones de conchas llenas de petrificaciones

Esquita anfibólica de thronschiefer de

transición. hornblenda (Hornblendschiefer), pizarra

de transición.

La serpentina se quiebra ya en hojas ya en

conchas. La textura de la serpentina es ya hoyosa,

ya concoide.

Depósito de óxido de hierro Pósito de óxido de hierro

214 Literature and the Arts

áreas: equivale a algo más de fanega y media de Burgos.” En 1927 se consol-

idaría la definición que hoy persiste: “medida de superficie que tiene 100

áreas.” Ortiz corrige también otras medidas como “bocoy.”

La definición de “limpiadura” ha sufrido muy poca variación. En el Dic-

cionario de Autoridades de 1734 se precisaba como: “la acción de limpiar

alguna cosa. Purgatio, mundatio.” En 1817 se consolidaría la actual

definición: “Acción y efecto de limpiar.”

De interés resulta la revisión de los topónimos. Ortiz acentúa adecuada-

mente cada uno de los países, ciudades, pueblos y lugares (Cádiz, Haití);

introduce las mayúsculas y otro uso de minúsculas (Quinta del Obispo, San

Ambrosio, San Salvador de la Punta, Slave states); elimina el guión que la

primera traducción siempre aportara en los nombres compuestos ( Nueva-

York, Santa-Clara, Nueva-España, Gran-Bretaña, Nuevo-Continente, San-

Antonio, Santo-Domingo), y suprime también el artículo determinado, gen-

eralmente, delante de países (la Francia, la Jamaica, la Inglaterra).

TABLE 18-5. CONTENIDOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

Anchura ancho

daremos aquí daremos a continuación

es doble mayor es una mitad mayor

Dollars dólares

Hectar /hectares hectárea / -s

Hielo agua

Limpiadura limpieza

llovediza, agua de lluvia, agua

Mudanzas cambios

Pirogas piraguas

por cima de zero sobre de cero

Posición edad relativa

proporción, terreno de transporte o de acarreo, terreno de

submaritima submarina

TABLE 18-6. TOPÓNIMOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

Armendares Almendares

Bajos de santa Ysabel Bajos de Santa Isabel

Batabano Batabanó

Bizcaya Vizcaya

Bornou Borneo

Brema Bremen

Cacaragicaras Cacarajícaras

Cananova Casanova

Cariabas, islas Caribes, islas

Cayo Buenito Cayo Bonito

Cienega Ciénaga

Cogimar Cojimar

Chorera, río de la Chorrera, río de la

Fernambuco Pernambuco

Guanabo Guarabo

Guiana Guayana

Guines Güines

Habana Habana

Joruco Jaruco

Las Floridas La Florida

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 215

*Tiguabos, en la edición de Puig-Samper et alt. (1998)

Los errores numéricos que se realizaron en el transcurso de la primera tra-

ducción de 1827, se reflejan asimismo en la traducción de Ortiz de 1930,

reeditada en 1959, y en 1998 por la Fundación Ortiz de Cuba. A veces las

equivocaciones son incluso del original en francés (“850 negros” en vez de

“150 negros”). Los editores del CSIC, Puig-Samper et alt. (1998, 98) han

procedido en algunos casos a la rectificación, “en otros, donde era imposible

precisar el posible error, hemos preferido respetar el original.”

Luisina Louisiana /Luisiana

Misury Missouri

Monzabique Mozambique

Muriel Mariel

Orenoco, río Orinoco, río

Panzacola Pensacola

Puerte Escondido Puerto Escondido

Puertorico Puerto Rico

Quibican Quivicán

Sagua grande Sagua la grande

Santi Espíritus Sancti Spíritus

Santo Espíritu Sancti Spíritus

Saruco Jaruco

Tabago, islas de Tobago. Islas de

Tiguaros Tinguaros*

Ubajay Wajay

TABLE 18-7. CIFRAS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

66o 660

24 por ciento 24%

33/100 33%

23º ½ 23,5º

0m,765 0,765 mm

siglo XVIIIº siglo SVIII

70 millones 70.000.000

45 kilog. 976 45,976 Kilogramos

veinte y seis veintiséis

de 9º del cent. 9º centígrados

decimo octavo decimoctavo

TABLE 18-8. ABREVIATURAS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

lat. bor. latitud boreal

Dist. Distancia

Tom. I, p. 70 Tomo I, página 70

D. Felipe Bausa don Felipe Bauzá

cent. centígrados

constr. en el Dep. hidrográfico construido en el Departamento

l.c. leguas cuadradas

ecclés. Ecles.

Kil. kilogramos

escl. Esclavos

arr. Arrobas

SS Señores

d. Don

Fr. Fray

216 Literature and the Arts

* Dutrône y Mopox, en la edición de Martí y Prüfer (2004).

En la edición de 1930 se han detectado una serie de errores, que podría-

mos calificar de cambios ligeros, que podrían deberse a la labor tipográfica, a

una disfunción en el uso del femenino y masculino (en la misma paralela –

mismo paralelo), y en el uso del singular y del plural (experimente/experi-

menten; aguardiente/ guardientes). Hay dos calcos que nos hacen adivinar la

lengua de la versión original en francés: mer (mar), vientos de nord (del

norte). Finalmente ofrecemos un listado exhaustivo de los errores corregidos

por Ortiz: esteblezca (establezca); plan (plano); casasmatas (casamatas); una

(une); hendeduras (hendiduras); cafatales (cafetales); bananes (bananas); ver-

isímilmente (verosímilmente); indígenos (indígenas), pascados (pescados);

inquisión (inquisición); parroquias (parroquias); peilas (pailas); abumina

(albúmina); amanazar (amenazar); abandanadas (abandonadas); proprios

(propios); diminución (disminución); entragadas (entregadas); empazado

(empezado); corruccion (corrupción); manpostería (mampostería). Errores

que fueron publicados una y otra vez hasta que Ortiz los modificó.

La Nueva Traducción de 2004

La estrategia global de traducción ha sido la de convertir un texto histórico,

decimonónico, de difícil acceso y comprensión, incluso a veces ilegible, en

un libro moderno que emplea formas léxicas y sintácticas actuales del

español. Hemos podido contrastar la evolución de la lengua española en su

desarrollo terminológico (calizo basto por calizo superior) y en su modern-

idad (centelleo por irradiación). La terminología científica de la geografía,

geología, meteorología, en la lengua española, ha experimentado en los últi-

mos cien años un desarrollo lexicográfico muy importante. Los conceptos se

han asentado con definiciones exactas y, en parte, la traducción actual resulta

nº Número

TABLE 18-9. PERSONAJES Y PUEBLOS

PRIMERA TRADUCCIÓN (1827) ORTIZ (1930)

Afgangs Afganos

Annibal Anibal

Bufon Buffon

Conde de Bareto Conde de Barreto

Don Luis de las Casas don Luis de las Casas

Dutrone Dutione*

Motezuma Moctezuma

Mopoux Mompox*

O-Farril O´Farrill

Pyrro Pirro

Señor Bausa Bauzá

Zambos Caraibes Zambos Caribes

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 217

más armoniosa, pues la terminología está hoy normalizada: glacis, vertiente,

pluviales, nódulos, falla, sílice, humus, además de otros matices que ayudan a

entender con mayor exactitud los fenómenos que Humboldt describe.

La traducción se ha adaptado en su forma estilística a las normas vigentes

en la cultura de la lengua meta. El texto original, redactado en francés, pero

con estructuras sintácticas alemanas de frases largas y numerosas oraciones

subordinadas, ha sido aligerado con más interjecciones. Para facilitar conven-

ciones y normas, se han trasladado muchas referencias bibliográficas como

notas a pie de página y se han corregido errores numéricos y de coherencia de

todo tipo, especialmente en las tablas.

El tono adoptado por Humboldt en determinados pasajes en el capítulo

dedicado a la esclavitud es absolutamente apocalíptico (“lo que reclaman los

principios eternos de la justicia y de la humanidad,” “bárbaros ultrajes”).

Humboldt critica un aspecto que caracterizó todo el siglo XIX: “el del len-

guaje eufemístico de los esclavistas y su aparente compasión por los negros.”

(Puig-Samper 1998, 86).

Y sin embargo, al abandonar América sigo sintiendo el mismo horror por la

esclavitud que tenía en Europa. Algunos escritores inteligentes han inventado,

en vano, palabras como campesinos negros de las Antillas, vasallaje negro y

protección patriarcal, para ocultar la barbarie de las instituciones con la inge-

niosa ficción del lenguaje. Esto es profanar las nobles artes del espíritu y de la

imaginación. Es disculpar mediante paralelismos ilusorios o sofismas capcio-

sos los excesos que afligen a la humanidad y la preparan para conmociones

violentas. (Humboldt 2004, 175)

TABLE 18-10. ALGUNOS EJEMPLOS GENERALES

ORTIZ (1930) MARTÍ (2004)

Fe de colón Fe del carbonero

Dinamarquesas Danesas

En las desparramadas En los cultivos dispersos

Arreglada por si misma Recompuesta

Piloto Timonel

Buques echados a fondo Naufragados

He empeñado al señor Bauzá He invitado

Citando otro trozo Citando otro párrafo

Patache como los que conducen víveres Balandro comercial

Durante mi mansión en la América Durante mi estancia

TABLE 18-11. ALGUNOS EJEMPLOS GEOGRÁFICOS

ORTIZ (1930) MARTÍ (2004)

Geognóstico Geólogo

Grieta Falla

Venas de hierro Nódulos de hierros

Centellando el calórico Irradiando calor

Vapor acuoso Vapor de agua

Aguas llovedizas Aguas pluviales

218 Literature and the Arts

Sin esta comunión de acción y esfuerzo, la esclavitud con sus sufrimientos y

excesos se mantendrá como en la Roma antigua, paralela a la elegancia de

costumbres, al progreso tan célebre de la ilustración (...). El argumento

extraído de la civilización de Grecia y Roma a favor de la esclavitud es de

mucha actualidad en las Antillas, en donde a veces se complacen en adornarlo

con todo lujo de erudición filológica. (Humboldt 2004, 185)

El uso de lo políticamente correcto en la traducción se ha limitado a

alguna sustitución por “gentes de color” para aligerar el texto. La fuerza con

la que Humboldt redacta el capítulo de la esclavitud (trata de negros; desgra-

cias de la raza negra, navío negrero, negro insumiso, esclavo condenado a un

ingenio azucarero, negros cimarrones fugitivos) refleja su postura anti-

esclavista y su justa defensa de los derechos humanos. Por ello, hemos

querido ser fieles a su sensibilidad en las estrategias actuales empleadas para

la traducción de estas observaciones que son en el fondo metalingüísticas,

pero radicalmente básicas en esta obra.

A nivel macroestructural, se ha aportado la novedad de un nuevo diseño

en subcapítulos, si bien se ha mantenido la fidelidad a la organización en los

capítulos originales. En la obra abundan los datos y se caracteriza por ser un

ensayo muy denso y excesivamente técnico en algunos capítulos. Por ello,

parte de los textos se han convertido en sencillas estadísticas. Esta es una de

las mejores aportaciones a la nueva traducción, pues el texto se actualiza y se

responde eficazmente así a las necesidades del receptor de la sociedad actual.

Esta combinación de estrategias se extiende a lo largo de toda la traduc-

ción, manteniendo la fluidez y la legibilidad, a pesar de la inmensa aportación

de datos, informes, y reflexiones.

Conclusiones

Hemos de reconocer que la voz del autor de la obra de Cuba (1826) y la de su

primer traductor (1827) no desafinan. “La traducción no sólo informa del

Otro sino que, a la par, muestra el estado de las propias fuerzas.” (Martín

Ruano 2003,116). Salvo los errores detectados, que evidentemente dificultan

la comprensión de la obra y convierten su lectura en farragosa, hemos de

aplaudir que la obra de Humboldt se tradujera en su integridad inmediata-

mente después de su publicación en francés. Podemos afirmar que muchas de

las lagunas léxicas en 1827, continuaron en 1930. No sabemos si por

desconocimiento de Ortiz o por un gran respeto a la primera traducción,

tratándose de una obra emblemática del “segundo descubridor” de Cuba.

Aunque continúan siendo una incógnita los personajes J.B. de V. y M. y

José López de Bustamante y no nos hemos podido acercar a su perfil intelec-

tual o social, podemos afirmar, que se trata de un traductor, manifiestamente

Análisis Contrastivo del ‘Ensayo Político’ 219

buen conocedor de la lengua francesa. Gracias a esta primera traducción, pos-

teriormente mejorada por Ortiz (1930), la postura de Humboldt sobre la

esclavitud plasmó su huella en innumerables intelectuales y políticos. El

hecho de no haber sido mejor difundida esta obra no fue óbice para que en

España se formara una idea sobre la inhumana situación de los esclavos afri-

canos en las colonias españolas, y se favorecieran medidas de justicia social.

Bibliography

Cano Aguilar, R. 1997. El español a través de los tiempos. Madrid: Arco

libros.

Echenique, M.T.; Martinez, M.J. 2000. Diacronía y gramática histórica de la

lengua española. Valencia: Tirant lo blanch.

Holl, Frank (Edt.). 1998. Alejandro de Humboldt en Cuba. Bonn, La Habana:

Wißner.

Leitner, Ulrike. 1998. “Las obras de Humboldt sobre Cuba”. En Holl,

F.(Edt.). Alejandro de Humboldt en Cuba. Bonn, La Habana: Wißner.

Lamiquiz, Vidal. 1975. Lingüística española. Publicaciones de la Univer-

sidad de Sevilla.

Lazaro Carreter, Fernando. 1985. Las ideas lingüísticas en España durante el

siglo XVIII. Barcelona: Crítica.

—. 2002. “El neologismo en el DRAE”. www.rae.es

Lodares, José Ramón. 2003. Gente de Cervantes. Historia humana del idi-

oma español. Barcelona: Taurus.

Martí Marco, María-Rosario. 2004. “Nueva traducción al español de la obra

de Alexander von Humboldt (1826): Ensayo político sobre la Isla de

Cuba.” Revista Estudios Filológicos Alemanes nº 5. Universidad de

Sevilla.

Martí Marco, María-Rosario; Prüfer, Irene (Eds). 2004. Alejandro de Hum-

boldt: Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba. Traductoras. Publicaciones

de la Universidad de Alicante.

Ortiz, Fernando. 1969. Introducción bibliográfica -1929-. Bicentenario de

Humboldt. Serie Histórica. La Habana: Academia de Ciencias de Cuba.

Ortiz, F. 1998. “El traductor de Humboldt en la historia de Cuba”. En: Hum-

boldt, Alejandro de. Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba. La Habana:

Fundación Fernando Ortiz.

Puig-Samper, M.A.; Naranjo Orovio, C.; Garcia Gonzalez, A. (Edt.). 1998.

Ensayo político sobre la Isla de Cuba. Alejandro de Humboldt. Madrid-

Valladolid: Doce Calles y Junta de Castilla y León. Colección Theatrum

Naturae.

Zavaleta, F. 1812. Cuadernillo, suma o quintaesencia de los elementos de la

lengua española. Poitiers: Imprenta P.J. Catineau.

221

CHAPTER 19 Threats to the European

Subject

Jason H. Lindquist

While traveling near the town of Anoch in Scotland’s Western Isles, Samuel

Johnson described the plant life in the area in the following manner: “The

appearance is that of matter incapable of form or usefulness, dismissed by

nature from her care and disinherited of her favours, left in its original ele-

mental state, or quickened only with one sullen power of useless vegetation”

(Johnson 1775, 26). In the midst of this untended profusion, Johnson allows

himself to experience a crisis of psychic overload: although he knows there is

no real danger, the writer voluntarily entertains a series of “imaginations”

that have as their focus the dissolution of the physical and mental self of the

subject. For Johnson, the region around Anoch evokes the possibility of

“want, and misery, and danger” (Johnson 1775, 27).

Samuel Johnson’s imaginative response to the vegetative overgrowth of

the Western Isles may at first seem irrelevant to a study of Alexander von

Humboldt’s Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the

New Continent (1818–1827).1 After all, Humboldt’s descriptions of South

America’s highly fecund spaces are often positive. His enthusiasm for tropi-

cal profusion leads him, for instance, to revise upward Malthus’s pessimistic

1. I cite here Helen Maria Williams’s translation of Humboldt’s

Personal Narrative

(Humboldt 1818

−

29). For ease of reference, I cite Williams’s translation parenthetically by

volume and page. Although Humboldt approved of and was actively involved in Helen

Maria Williams’s edition, later translators have argued that her version often varies, partic-

ularly in tone, from the French original. They argue that as a significant figure in British

Romanticism, Williams brought a distinctive voice to the translation. For instance, Thoma-

sina Ross deemed her own 1851 re-translation necessary because she felt that Williams’s

version “abounds in foreign terms of expression”; Jason Wilson, who completed a new

translation in 1995, finds that Williams “interpreted and exaggerated” Humboldt’s original

French prose (which Wilson characterizes as “curiously flat, scientific, and modern”), par-

ticularly in passages where Humboldt waxes enthusiastic. For instance, in Williams’s

translation, “wild nature” becomes “wild and stupendous nature,” “dark curtain of moun-

tains” becomes “vast and gloomy curtain of mountains,” etc (Wilson 1995, lix

−

lx). On

Humboldt’s active involvement in Williams’s translation, see Biermann (Biermann 1986,

−

12).

222 Literature and the Arts

carrying capacity estimates for the “New Continent;” such appreciation also

caused him to pioneer new methods for measuring and cataloguing the pro-

ductivity of the Americas and to call for political and economic development

in the region.2 At its most teleological, Personal Narrative sketches an opti-

mistic – if distinctively European – future for South and Central America:

Humboldt imagines a time when “populous cities enriched by commerce, and

fertile fields cultivated by the hands of freemen, adorn those very spots,

where, at the time of my travels, I found only impenetrable forests, and inun-

dated lands” (I.li). Samuel Johnson, on the other hand, although he ventures

no further than the geographic periphery of the British Isles, sees only “mat-

ter incapable of form or usefulness” heaping itself up around him at a fright-

ful pace. In fact, when Johnson’s imaginations do turn to the “New

Continent,” he becomes positively terrified, admitting to himself that Scottish

“spots of wildness” cannot evoke anything like the terror encountered in the

vast and threatening “deserts of America” (Johnson 1775, 27). Where

Johnson sees want and lack in natural spaces peripheral to European centers

of commerce, Humboldt sees potential.

And yet, a study of Personal Narrative that stresses only “commerce, and

fertile fields” would be incomplete. After all, the overwhelming power of

“impenetrable forests and inundated lands” is just as crucial to the portrait

Humboldt paints of tropical America. In a number of memorable passages,

Personal Narrative foregrounds the capacity of vegetable excess to resist col-

onization, impede productive enterprise, and overwhelm European modes of

psychic and social life. Thus, while he might never have characterized South

American vegetation as “sullen” or “useless,” Humboldt’s teeming New

World spaces do evoke a kind of Johnsonian anxiety. Like the Western Isles,

tropical nature threatens to degrade or fully overwhelm the coherence of the

European subject. My analysis calls attention to passages in Personal Narra-

tive that stress the dangers tropical fecundity posed to European identity and

modes of civilization; I go on to explore Humboldt’s related worry that South

American vegetable and visual overload will exert a destabilizing effect on

his own aesthetic sensibility and on his ability to create a coherent textual

representation of the New Continent. Investigating the instabilities experi-

enced by the expatriates and colonists that populate Personal Narrative

promises to draw out tensions latent in Humboldt’s own treatment of tropical

landscape and to illuminate significant epistemological shifts often precipi-

tated by and worked out within travel narratives during the period.

2. Humboldt’s innovation in gathering demographic and economic information can be

seen most clearly in his monographs on Mexico and Cuba. See, for instance, his

Political

Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain

(Humboldt 1811).

Threats to the European Subject 223

“Man no longer appears as the center of the

creation:” Excess Verdure and the Traveling

Observer

Early in Personal Narrative, Humboldt suggests that the “moment of leaving

Europe” is transformational: the traveler passes into a fundamentally differ-

ent realm, “entering in some sort on a new state of existence” (I.31),3 one of

the most distinctive features of which is the “luxuriousness of the vegetation”

(V.441). In Humboldt’s lengthy work, a complex and often contradictory

relationship between vegetable (hyper)fecundity and the traveling observer

emerges. On the one hand, tropical excess is viewed positively: it is power-

ful, moving, and unprecedented in Humboldt’s experience. On the other

hand, such vigorous plant life is often a serious impediment both to the

observer’s ability to perceive nature accurately and to the efforts of colonists

to preserve a coherent European identity.

For instance, Humboldt worries that even his trained vision may not be a

reliable servant in South America. In spite of his prodigious capacities as a

careful observer, record-keeper, and statistician, spaces that are “overloaded

with plants” impede observational accuracy. Humboldt’s description of the

banks of the Río Cedeño suggests the irony inherent in observing and

describing South American verdure – that is, plant life itself presents the sin-

gle greatest hindrance to the study of plant geography in the tropics. In a

place where tree trunks are concealed “under a thick carpet of verdure” and

“lianas” climb from the ground to the tree tops in a “continual interlacing of

parasite plants, the botanist is often led to confound the flowers, the fruits,

and leaves, which belong to different species” (III.36–37). That an experi-

enced botanist cannot see the tree trunks for the forest, so to speak, suggests

the power of tropical fecundity to disrupt even an expert’s sense of nature’s

deep structure.

Humboldt faces similar problems as a human demographer attempting to

quantify the extent of agriculture – and thus the size of the population – in

South America. While in Europe the extent of cultivation corresponds in a

predictable way to population size, even the “most populous regions in equi-

noctial America still [retain] a savage aspect” (III.15–16). Here “[s]pontane-

3. Ann McClintock sees psychologically significant boundary crossings as a common

feature of European travel narratives. Furthermore, explorers regularly code the “danger-

ous thresholds of their known worlds” in gendered terms: the “threshold” is an erotically

charged space that generates a set of ritual and fetishistic practices on the part of the trav-

eler (and travel writer) which “[betray] acute paranoia and a profound, if not pathological,

sense of male anxiety and boundary loss.” Although I do not address the role gender plays

in Humboldt’s text (and significant work remains to be done in this regard), my analysis of

Personal Narrative

substantiates McClintock’s suggestion that passing into the tropics gen-

erates acute anxiety at the possibility of “boundary loss”—in this case national and cul-

tural boundaries are at stake (McClintock 1995, 24).

224 Literature and the Arts

ous plants…predominate by their quantity over cultivated plants, and

determine alone the appearance of the landscape.” Here man does not inhabit

the landscape as “an absolute master, who changes at his will the surface of

the soil, but as a transient guest” (III.15–16).

One senses two competing value systems at play in such passages, where

Humboldt praises the verdant fecundity of tropical nature even as he signals

that such a fertility can impede accurate interpretation. On one hand – as

Engelhard Weigl has noted – Humboldt stood in the tradition of Buffon and

the Forsters in favoring the beauty of a tamed and civilized nature (Weigl,

2001, no pagination), tended by what Forster called “the moderate care of

rational beings” (Forster, 1778, 99-100). As Johnson did, such a value system

privileges order, visibility and productivity. Yet Humboldt also subscribed to

an emerging counter-discourse about nature – one associated, but not co-

extensive, with the discourse of Romanticism. This discourse asserted the

value of wild untamed spaces, sublime scenes, and unsymmetrical or obscure

natural landscapes. Kristian Köchy (Köchy, 1997 and 2002) and others have

sketched Humboldt’s complex relationship to the discourse of German

Romanticism and Williams’s translation can certainly be said to engage with

the epistemology and language choices of a certain strand of British romanti-

cism.4 This delineation of the “sublime” gave aesthetic value to scenes that

were complex, threatening, or difficult to interpret.

It is clear that these two philosophical inclinations come into tension in

Personal Narrative. The conflict manifests itself in Humboldt’s simultaneous

attraction to (on aesthetic grounds) and rejection of (on pragmatic grounds)

the visually provocative, but dense, messy, and seemingly uninhabited South

American landscape. As we have already seen, these contradictory impulses

crystallize around the (apparent) absence of human activity in spaces where

plants “determine alone the appearance of the landscape.” Humboldt finds

himself deeply moved by places where “[m]an no longer appears as the cen-

ter of the creation,” thrilling at views in which it is only “the conflict of the

elements, which characterizes…the aspect of Nature.” Yet in the very same

paragraph, Humboldt also laments the melancholy impression conveyed by

“[a] country without population.” Unpopulated but obviously arable terrain

“appears to the people of cultivated Europe like a city abandoned by it’s [sic]

inhabitants” (III.512). While it is normal and even desirable to respond with

4. On Williams, see note #1. For the nineteenth-century British reader, the key entries in

this genealogy of Romantic aesthetic language would have included Edmund Burke’s influ-

ential differentiation of the sublime (“whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about

terrible objects”) from the beautiful; Samuel Johnson’s analogous opposition between the

“awefully vast” and the “elegantly little”; and Kant’s more internally oriented categories

(the sublime results from a thing’s “

limitlessness

, yet with a superadded thought of its total-

ity,” while the beautiful is primarily a “question of the form of the object” (Burke 1757, 36;

Johnson 1759, 61; Kant 1790, 90 [SS 23]).

Threats to the European Subject 225

deliciously “strange and sad” feelings to places where humans could never

thrive anyway (the ocean or desert, for instance), it is distressing to “seek in

vain the traces of the power of man” in a place that is “adorned with eternal

verdure” and should therefore be habitable and productive (V.290-91). The

text seems caught between lamenting and romanticizing the absence of

human civilization in the tropics.

“[N]ational remembrances are insensibly effaced”:

Tropical Threats to the European Subject

If vegetable profusion could obscure the presence of civilization in Central

and South America, it also had the power to transform its character. In addi-

tion to attributing the culture and personality of indigenous South Americans

to the influence of climate, Humboldt repeatedly implies that European colo-

nists – even those who have only recently emigrated – are in danger of losing

their distinctive culture if they remain in the tropics. Living in the presence of

so much vegetation seems to mark colonists with a “wild and uncultivated”

character “which belongs to nature, the primitive type of which has not been

altered by art” (III.15–16), overwhelming even settlers with strong European

traditions. In fact, cultural continuity seems only to be retained in parts of

South America where the climate is temperate (II.290). Those colonists “set-

tled in a zone, where the climate, the productions, the aspect of the sky, and

the scenery of the landscape, differ altogether from those of Europe,” repeat-

edly fail to preserve familiar modes of life.

Even when these settlers make conscious efforts to retain familiar habits,

they don’t succeed for long. For instance, Humboldt is particularly affected

by abortive attempts to build community through acts of naming:

The colonist vainly bestows on mountains, rivers, and vallies [sic], those

names, which call to his remembrance the sites of the mother country; these

names soon lose their attraction, and have no meaning with the generations

that succeed. Under the influence of an exotic nature, habits are generated,

that are adapted to new wants; national remembrances are insensibly effaced;

and those that remain, like phantoms of the imagination, have neither ‘a local

habitation, nor a name.’ (II.287)

For subsequent generations of settlers, place names fail to index European

experiences and attitudes; rather, they serve only as a vague and melancholy

reminder of loss.5

For Humboldt, a series of encounters dramatize the power of tropical ver-

dure to denationalize European settlers. While traveling on the Río Apure, for

instance, the Prussian scientist encounters a man who claims recent Spanish

heritage. Although the man has pretensions to culture, Humboldt suggests

226 Literature and the Arts

that he has lost all ability to think outside the moment, failing even to “[con-

struct] an ajoupa of palm-leaves” to prepare for the inevitable tropical rains.

Humboldt’s penchant for sarcasm shows through as he chides this man who

presumes to “[call] his wife and his daughter, who were as naked as himself,

donna Isabella, and donna Manuela” (IV.430). That night, as Humboldt had

feared, a heavy rainstorm soaks the party. He records that as it “rained in tor-

rents on our hammocks, and the instruments we had landed, don Ignacio con-

gratulated us on our good fortune in not sleeping on the strand, but finding

ourselves in his domain, among Whites and persons of rank” (IV.432).

Clearly annoyed and bemused, Humboldt concludes that it is a “singu-

lar…spectacle, to find in that vast solitude a man, who believes himself of

European race” but who “knows no other shelter than the shade of a tree”

(IV.432–33). The account suggests that for Humboldt, even in circumstances

where the “idea” of European heritage has been preserved, its constitutive

characteristics seemed to have been lost.

Humboldt’s encounters with expatriates from northern Europe make it

clear that Spanish colonists are not the only ones who become subject to an

erasure of identity in the tropics. Language retention and loss figure promi-

nently during encounters in which Humboldt meets a Frenchman who had

“forgotten his native language” (V.677) and later a fellow Prussian who has

no interest in “the sight of a man who could talk to him of his country” – he

can, in fact, neither remember German nor “explain himself clearly in Span-

ish.” Of the encounter, Humboldt drolly notes that “our conversation was not

very animated” (VII.441).

To these portraits of stateless expatriates, we can add Humboldt’s own

experiences as a European exposed to the torrid zone. Humboldt frequently

notes the power of the tropics to affect a traveler’s memory and state of mind.

For instance, Humboldt writes that the “climate of the Indies” made an

impression “so great, so powerful…that after an abode of a few months we

seemed to have lived there during a long succession of years” (III.354). This

distortion of time is tied to the erasure of familiar memories in the face of

excessive stimuli: tropical verdure, acting “upon our imagination by it’s [sic]

mass, the contrast of it’s [sic] forms, and the glow of it’s [sic] colours,” has

the power to “weaken antecedent impressions” in the mind of the traveler

(III.355). Europe is easily forgotten and even a return to Paris or Berlin may

not fully renationalize the traveler: Humboldt’s impressions left him with a

5. The anxiety registered in this passage about the health and sustainability of temperate

cultures in tropical climates should be placed in the broader context of the discourse of

“seasoning” and acclimatization that characterized European writing about the tropics in

general and the Americas in particular. To name just one instance, Karen Ordahl Kupper-

man has documented long-running apprehension about the detrimental physical effects of

hot climates—and the cultural price to be paid for acclimatizing—in the writings of

English colonists in Virginia and the West Indies (Kupperman 1984, 213–40).

Threats to the European Subject 227

melancholy longing for the tropics – and a “vague desire to revisit that spot”

(III.255) – years after his return to Europe.6

It is in relation to recent attempts at European settlement that the torrid

zone threatens its most forceful – and worrisome – disruptions.7 Humboldt’s

Personal Narrative suggests that, like the Prussian who could speak neither

German nor Spanish, European colonists quickly lose their way between two

worlds. Comparing South American settlements unfavorably to Greek and

Phoenician colonies in antiquity, Humboldt suggests that these ancient set-

tlers managed to combine the old and the new so as to create a vibrant “intel-

lectual culture” that even “excited the envy of the mother countries” (II.292).

This is not the case in the New World, where European colonists fail to forge

a unique and superior alloy; instead, they forget European traditions and fail

to embrace those of America, foolishly “[disdaining] whatever relates to the

conquered people.” Humboldt describes the stateless and cultureless colonist

in this way:

Placed between the remembrances of the mother country, and those of the

country where he first drew his breath, he considers both with equal indiffer-

ence; and in a climate where the equality of seasons renders the succession of

years almost imperceptible, he abandons himself to the enjoyments of the

present moments, and scarcely casts back a look on the times that are past.

(II.291-292)

In this way, national disidentification brings with it temporal dislocation

and stasis, effectively removing tropical colonies from the teleological

regime of progress that would dominate nineteenth-century views of history.

“[The traveler]…can scarcely distinguish what most

excites his admiration:” Aesthetic Overload and

Textual Excess in “Personal Narrative”

Late in his travel account, Humboldt pauses to consider the difficulty of pre-

serving written records in Central and South America. In the torrid zone,

teeming insects

devour paper, pasteboard, parchment, with frightful rapidity, destroying

records and libraries. Whole provinces of Spanish America do not afford one

written document, that dates a hundred years back. What improvement can

the civilization of nations acquire, if nothing link the present with the past, if

6. Of course, Aimé Bonpland’s eventual return to South America is a significant subtext

in such a discussion of Humboldt’s statements about the pull of the torrid zone.

7. Humboldt expresses the relationship using the following syllogism: “The forms of

plants determine the physiognomy of nature; and this physiognomy influences the moral

dispositions of nations” (V.52).

228 Literature and the Arts

the depositaries of human knowledge must be repeatedly renewed, if the

records of genius and reason cannot be transmitted to posterity? (V.116)”

In this passage, the tropics are again a place where the past is quickly lost

and future improvement is therefore unachievable. It is striking, though, that

Humboldt’s statement about the impermanence of writing appears only after

the (English) reader has waded through nearly three thousand pages of text

that has successfully survived the tropics. Although in several dramatic

moments Humboldt and Bonpland’s records and collections are in danger of

decay or loss, the text of Personal Narrative is its own proof that writing

about the tropics can survive. However, Humboldt’s emphasis here on the

power of the torrid zone to destroy writing – to literally consume the traces of

human discourse – calls attention to the risks he sees as inherent in commit-

ting representations of the region to paper.

In fact, it is the psychic, rather than the physical, act of writing that seems

to be most under siege in South America. Personal Narrative repeatedly reg-

isters anxieties about all stages of writing – observation, cognition, and

inscription – on a continent where instability and overwhelming fecundity

combine to resist representation. Considering a similar problem, Oliver

Lubrich has noted the ways in which Personal Narrative foregrounds its own

generic instability. Through a careful study of its grammar and structure,

Lubrich argues that the text “[undermines] the conventional format of the

travelogue” because all the categories which normally “lend the text coher-

ence and make it readable for the recipient” – including the subject, the

object, the addressee, and the text itself – “are charged with multiple mean-

ings and become thus destabilized.” By refusing to operate on familiar

generic terrain, Personal Narrative resists established interpretive schemas

and “de-authorizes imperial forms of colonial writing” in the process.8 Build-

ing on Lubrich’s provocative analysis, I wish to suggest that excessive inputs

precipitate a crisis of representation in Personal Narrative.

Before doing so, however, it is important to briefly review the characteris-

tics of Humboldt’s distinctive philosophical method. Because the develop-

ment and intricacies of Humboldt’s approach have been dealt with expertly

and extensively elsewhere,9 I cite here only the preface tothe English transla-

tion of Personal Narrative. Working with Humboldt’s detailed input (Bier-

8. Lubrich views the destabilizing character of Humboldt’s text positively, suggesting

that it creates a discourse in which “there are no ‘identities’ and ‘differences’ which can be

defined unequivocally from a privileged perspective” (Lubrich 2003, no pagination).

9. In the rich scholarship on the subject, Humboldt’s philosophical method has been

given a variety of names: see Laura Dassow Walls on Humboldt’s “rational empiricism”

(Walls 1995, 69

−

70); Susan Faye Cannon on “Humboldtian science” (Cannon 1978, 82);

Mary Louise Pratt on “planetary consciousness” and “transculturation” in Humboldt’s

work (Pratt 1992); and Ottmar Ette on Humboldt and the idea of “Weltbewusstsein” (Ette

2002). ltbewusstsein.

Alexander von Humboldt und das unvollendete Projekt einer anderen

Moderne.

Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2002.

Threats to the European Subject 229

man 1986, 11-12), Helen Maria Williams states the Purssian observer’s

philosophy in terms that would have been familiar to an English readership:

“[t]he appropriate character of [Humoldt’s] writing is the faculty he possesses

of raising the mind to general ideas, withou neglecting individual facts”

(I.ix). Operating, as it does, within the binary of the general and the particu-

lar, Williams’s statement may have reminded her readers of Samuel

Johnson’s assertion that “[s]ublimity is produced by aggregation, and little-

ness by dispersion. Great thoughts are always general, and consist in posi-

tions not limited by exceptions, and in descriptions not descending to

minuteness” (Johnson 1779-1781, 594). Yet in supplementing Williams’

description with Johnson’s statement, the possible tensions between part and

whole inherent in such an espistemology already begin to show themselves.

For while Johnson’s “sublime” can only be achieved through the “aggrega-

tion” of information and effects, this very act of amassing data risks pushing

the whole system towards incoherency and “dispersion.”

Humboldt is acutely aware of this tension between the general and partic-

ular in his own work. While he wants to fuse “individual facts” into “general

ideas” in his writing, he also recognizes that the huge volume of information

his writings must present to achieve this end may itself threaten his goal; in

fact, Humboldt commented on the struggle for balance between generality

and minuteness in the work of other scientific travelers. At a time when sci-

entists had more and more analytical tools at their disposal, traveling natural-

ists were producing increasingly cumbersome and difficult texts:

itineraries have partly lost that unity of composition, and that simplicity,

which characterized those former ages. It is now become scarcely possible to

connect so many different materials with the narration of events; and that part

which we may call dramatic gives way to dissertations merely descriptive.

(I.xli-xlii)”

These epistemological and aesthetic tensions between dispersion and

aggregation are brought into particularly stark relief in narratives about the

tropics, where the traveler is faced with an unprecedented variety and volume

of potentially sublime sensory input.

Humboldt recognizes that he cannot follow the generic conventions that

placed the human traveler at the center of the narrative. As a result, he fears

he cannot help but violate a crucial convention of travel narrative: the gener-

ation of a writer-centered text. Because “the unity of composition can be

strictly observed only when the traveler describes what has passed under his

own eye…It is the man himself that we continually desire to see in contact

with the objects that surround him” (I.xli). One thinks here, perhaps, of

Mungo Park’s Travels in the Interior Districts of Africa – cited at several

points in Personal Narrative – in which Park’s adventures drive the episodic

230 Literature and the Arts

and often sentimental narrative forward. Humboldt is aware of this expecta-

tion to keep the narrative centered on himself, but he also recognizes the

power of the tropics to disrupt first-person, narrator-based accounts.

For instance, Humboldt addresses this question of narrative focus and lin-

earity while writing about how the view from the summit of Tenerife might

best be represented. He argues that, paradoxically, if he were to place himself

and his responses to nature at the center of his travel account, the result

would not be a clear narrative trajectory, but rather an incoherent series of

expressions of wonder in the face of too many varied sensory inputs:

It is a difficult task, to describe those sensations, which act with so much the

more force as they have something undefined, produced by the immensity of

the space as well as by the greatness, the novelty, and the multitude of the

objects, amidst which we find ourselves transported. When a traveler attempts

to furnish descriptions of the loftiest summits of the globe, the cataracts of the

great rivers, the tortuous vallies [sic] of the Andes, he is exposed to the danger

of fatiguing his readers by the monotonous expression of his admiration.

(I.180-181)10

Faced with a “multitude of objects” and aware that he couldn’t make his

experiences in the Americas into a coherent linear narrative even if he wanted

to, Humboldt opts instead for the massive comparative and analytical project

that we now recognize as “Humboldtian science.” In practical terms, this

decision allows Humboldt to organize certain portions of Personal Narrative

according to scientific theme or the availability of comparative data—a strat-

egy that permits the lengthy digressions and labyrinthine footnotes character-

istic of his writing. Although this kind of heterogeneous and comparative

approach makes sense in light of Humboldt’s emerging philosophical system,

it does seem at odds with his previous aesthetic privileging of the “man him-

self…in contact with the objects that surround him” as the proper subject of

the travel narrative (I.xli). Humboldt does often manage to remain – by sheer

force of personality – at the center of a more-or-less linear text. But this

apparent contradiction is perhaps the point: Personal Narrative travels

uncomfortably between the poles of vivid, first-person incident and compara-

tive, descriptive analysis of “the peculiar character that distinguishes each

zone” (I.181). The “multitude of objects” presented by tropical nature precip-

itates this tension and helps generate Personal Narrative’s often contradic-

tory form.

10. For a similar case, see Vol. 5, where Humboldt compares the melancholy effect of a

place lacking the visible signs of human culture to the effect his own work may be having

on the reader: “I paint the impression produced by the monotonous aspect of those solitary

regions. May this monotony not be found to extend itself to the journal of our navigation,

and tire the reader accustomed to the description of the scenes and historical memorials of

the ancient continent!” (V.290–91)

Threats to the European Subject 231

There is another way in which Humboldt’s text fails to fulfill the expecta-

tions of the metropolitan reader. After all, not all late-eighteenth-century

travel narratives possessed a dynamic narrator who engaged in a series of

exciting incidents: a journey might, instead, be expected to produce a series

of aesthetic impressions in the picturesque style. To name just one example

from a thriving genre, Ann Radcliffe’s A Journey Made in the Summer of

1794…presents a series of discrete, carefully framed picturesque scenes cali-

brated to produce a specific aesthetic effect. This effect – what one critic has

referred to as the “subject-centered picturesque” – stresses the use of mediat-

ing devices like a coach window or a “Claude glass” in order to establish dis-

tance between the “single and unique beholder” of the scene and the

landscape itself. Mediation and distance allow the writer to describe the scen-

ery even while carefully managing its effect on the written text. (Kuczynski

1998, 247). Humboldt is clearly familiar with this scene-based picturesque

style, producing it admirably on several occasions – as when he skillfully

uses the drifting clouds on Tenerife (I.82–83) or the mouth of the Cueva del

Guacharo (III.127–28) to frame those two picturesque scenes.

But this analytical and aesthetic tool is also strained to the breaking point

“on a vast continent, where everything is gigantic.” Humboldt quickly

encounters difficulty containing nature within the well-marked borders of the

picturesque scene. Instead, multiple worthy scenes present themselves at

every turn. Humboldt addresses this threat to picturesque description directly,

noting that if a traveler in the tropics “feel strongly the beauty of picturesque

scenery, he can scarcely define the various emotions, which crowd upon his

mind; he can scarcely distinguish what most excites his admiration” (III.36).

Humboldt is left with an unsolvable selection problem: if he describes every

interesting scene to his readers, the written text will break under its own

weight, descending into incoherence. On the other hand, if he fails to fully

describe all the worthy scenes he encounters, his depiction of the aesthetic

character of South America will be incomplete and therefore inaccurate.

Because tropical excess affects the way Humboldt “pictures” South America,

it also influences the final written form of Personal Narrative. Indeed, the

naturalist’s full, thirty-volume travel record signals the degree to which only

heterogeneity and supplementarity seem appropriate for representing the

masses of sensory input to which Humboldt has been sensitized in his aes-

thetic and scientific training.

In some interesting cases, the representational practices of the societies

Humboldt encounters in Central and South America reflect and inform his

own difficulties in creating coherent and manageable representations. For

instance, Humboldt criticizes the failure of Spanish and Portuguese colonists

to construct “memorials” to help them preserve their cultural identity against

232 Literature and the Arts

an onslaught of tropical impressions. This “absence of memorials…[has]

something painful to the traveler, who finds himself deprived of the most

delightful enjoyments of the imagination”; more importantly, a lack of

remembrances makes it extremely difficult to “bind the colonist to the soil on

which he dwells” (II.287).

While European settlers fail to retain memorializing traditions, cultures

native to South America seem to recognize and even embrace the futility of

creating lasting monuments in the “torrid zone.” In fact, according to Hum-

boldt, some tribes incorporate the annihilation of individual subjectivity and

cultural memory – the very idea that so terrorizes Johnson and Humboldt –

into their cultural practices. The Tamanacs, for instance, practice a set of

death rituals that center on erasing “remembrances:” when a tribe member

dies, the families “lay waste the fields of the deceased, and cut down the trees

which he has planted. They say, ‘that the sight of objects, which belonged to

their relations, makes them melancholy.’ They like better to efface than to

preserve remembrances” (V.626). Given Humboldt’s repeated observations

that tropical plant life has the power to conceal or destroy civilization and

rupture links between past and present, his interest in Tamanac practice

makes a kind of sense: the tribe seems to feel that the only reasonable and

sustainable representational strategy available to them in the face of tropical

excess is not the preservation of human culture, but rather the preemptive

erasure of the traces that add up to a human life.

Humboldt ultimately retreats from the radical implications of Tamanac

ritual, returning the reader to a quantitative and mercantilist frame by noting

that such burial practices “are very detrimental to agriculture” and that the

monks therefore oppose them (V.626). However, his interest in the scene

calls attention to questions of representational coherence and textual perma-

nence and must be read against the power of the tropics to disrupt or even

“devour” representation “with frightful rapidity.” This incident, taken

together with the other passages I have examined in this section, suggests that

Humboldt himself hadn’t solved the problem of how best to process and rep-

resent tropical nature. Hyper-fecundity and aesthetic overload present them-

selves as serious obstacles both to the progress of civilization in the “torrid

zone” and to the production of coherent textual representations of the region.

Conclusion

In Personal Narrative, Humboldt implies that tropical profusion (in terms of

information and sense impressions) makes it difficult to deploy Western

descriptive modes in writing about that region. Although his dedication to a

liberal, mercantilist economic system—and to the productive potential of

Threats to the European Subject 233

Central and South America – remains clearly in place,11 Humboldt’s recogni-

tion that tropical profusion has power to destabilize his text often threatens

this rationalistic and progressive vision in subtle ways. Sensory overload pre-

cipitates moments of doubt that manifest themselves as uncertainty about the

ability of the European subject to preserve identity and the capacity of the

European writer to reconcile the generic conventions of travel narrative with

the actuality of the tropics.

In other work, I have attempted to sketch these difficulties as expressed

by Humboldt in his work and to connect them to broader epistemological

shifts occurring in response to similar instances of information overload in

other areas of nineteenth-century life. In this regard, Personal Narrative

serves an important function in British intellectual culture by calling early

attention to the challenges inherent in representing a nature that is unstable,

mutable, and resists efforts to control its excesses or to make them produc-

tive. Furthermore, I suggest the question of proliferation (vegetable and oth-

erwise) is a fundamental issue in nineteenth-century aesthetics. As Harriet

Martineau observed in 1838, the knowledgeable traveler was inevitably put

under strain by the number of “views” he or she was required to process: she

laments that “[t]he wearied mind soon finds itself overwhelmed by the multi-

tude of unconnected or contradictory particulars” (Martineau 1838, 16). As

the reading public grew, and as the quantity of published travel narratives

increased, the epistemological stresses and strains affecting the informed

traveler rapidly became the stresses and strains of the informed reader. Hum-

boldt’s struggle to represent the tropics while working within the generic

boundaries of the travel narrative may therefore serve more broadly as a

guide to analyzing other nineteenth-century efforts to deal with complexity.

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Biermann, Kurt R. 1986. “Zur Vervollständigung des unvollendeten Berichts

Alexander von Humboldts über seine amerikanische Forschungsreise.”

Alexander von Humboldt: Reise auf dem Rio Magdalena, durch die

Anden und Mexico, Teil I: Texte. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag: 9–26.

Burke, Edmund. 1757 [1998]. A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of

Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful. Ed. Adam Phillips. Oxford:

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Cannon, Susan Faye. 1978. Science in Culture: The Early Victorian Period.

New York: Dawson and Science History Publications.

11. Humboldt’s belief in the achievement of progress through economic development can

be seen clearly late in

Personal Narrative.

Humboldt expresses hope for a future relation-

ship between Europe and the Americas in terms that sound familiar even today: he antici-

pates that a “noble rivalship in civilization, and the arts of industry and commerce, far from

impoverishing the ancient continent, which has been so often prognosticated, at the

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Ette, Ottmar. 2002. Weltbewusstsein. Alexander von Humboldt und das

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the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, During the Years 1799-

1804, by Alexander De Humboldt, and Aimé Bonpland; With Maps,

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———. 811. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain. Trans. John

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237

CHAPTER 20 Configuraciones de lo

real maravilloso

Rocío Oviedo

El encuentro con el Nuevo Mundo desde su comienzo instaura la utopía

americana. La mirada del descubridor refleja sobre la tierra que contempla el

bagaje ideológico y cultural que lleva consigo. El caso americano, único en la

historia, permite la combinación de la realidad y lo imaginario, de la historia

y la utopía. El propio Colón descubre el Nuevo Mundo en virtud de un

espíritu profético:

En las apostillas o notas marginales que ha ido escribiendo en sus dos libros

de cabecera – la Historia rerum de Eneas Silvio Piccolomini (...) y los Trata-

dos del cardenal Pedro de Aylli – se han vertido brasas muy esclarecedoras

sobre el ‘fuego’ interno en que se abrasaba el inventor del viaje a las Indias.1

Los tres escritores encuentran su punto de unión geográfico en la isla de

Cuba, tradicionalmente lugar de confluencia de un eximio grupo de antropól-

ogos, viajeros y descubridores. En sus relaciones se hacen presentes las apre-

ciaciones histórico políticas, por supuesto, pero también las literarias. La

crítica establece esta conexiónal afirmar que Cuba tuvo tres grandes descu-

bridores: Colón, Humboldt, y Fernando Ortiz.2 Es decir, un descubridor, un

científico y un escritor. En este caso se trata de establecer la conexión que, a

través de la lectura, consideré que ligaba el pensamiento de Colón, Hum-

boldt, y Carpentier.

1. Juan Pérez de Tudela:

Mirabilis in altis. Estudio crítico sobre el origen y significado del

proyecto descubridor de Cristóbal Colón.

Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones

Cient´ficias, 1983, p.26. El subrayado es mío. Más adelante especifica los contenidos

proféticos y providencialistas de Colón incluyendo la experiencia de la relevación “en las

que el dictado del cielo sobre el futuro se hace palpable en el acontecer físico” y añade que

para Colón “La verdadera ciencia se encierra en los profetas, de los cuales Isaías es el

príncipe,” p. 84. En este último aspecto es donde reside la diferencia fundamental entre

Colón y Humboldt.

2. Rodrigo Quesada Monge:

Humboldt, Bolívar y Marx. Encuentros y desencuentros nece-

sarios

. Santiago de Chile.

Escáner cultural. Revista Virtual

. Año 2 .Número 20. 12 de

Agosto al 12 de Septiembre de 2000.

238 Literature and the Arts

Existen determinadas coincidencias, incluso biográficas, que aproximan

las figuras de Colón y Humboldt. Entre ellas el trato de favor que a ambos

mediando siglos tan diversos, otorgaron los reyes españoles: ambos son

extranjeros que reciben del gobierno español una serie de prebendas que

hasta el momento ningún extranjero había obtenido, como reconoce Hum-

boldt.

Me entregaron dos pasaportes: uno del Secretario de Estado; el otro, del Con-

sejo de Indias. Nunca se habían hecho mayores concesiones a un viajero al

darle autorización, ni nunca el Gobierno español había mostrado tanta confi-

anza a un extranjero.3

El otro punto de contacto es el tipo de escrito que redactan puesto que se

encuentra a medio camino de lo histórico y lo literario, como fuera habitual

en las narraciones de viajes. Pero aún se aproximan más en el contenido de

sus obras puesto que ambos adoptan como encuadre esencial el descu-

brimiento. Un descubrimiento signado por el asombro. El asombro, esa

capacidad de admiración que más adelante denominaría Carpentier con el

concepto de lo real maravilloso. Si Colón descubre nuevas tierras, la serie de

expediciones llevadas a cabo por Alexander von Humboldt en el continente

americano contienen a su vez rasgos que podríamos caracterizar así mismo

de descubrimiento puesto que su carácter científico y su relación con el mov-

imiento ilustrado nos lo muestran como una mirada nueva y diferente sobre

América. En Humboldt tan importante será descubrir como describir.

Colón y Humboldt comparten este doble proceso de descubrimiento y

descripción. Colón lo hace para mostrar a través de la pluma lo que contem-

pla la mirada, en realidad casi con una función de otorgar nombre a lo

desconocido, una función enunciativa. Ya el propio Cortés, como indicaba

Carpentier explica al emperador que no hay palabras para describir “las gran-

dezas y particularidades de ella”. “Luego para entender, interpretar este

nuevo mundo hacia falta un vocabulario nuevo al hombre, pero además (...)

una óptica nueva.”4 Humboldt, por su parte, lleva a cabo este mismo proceso

desde un concepto diferente: su cientificismo ilustrado indaga más profunda-

mente en la naturaleza y averigua causas o explica consecuencias. Pero el

producto, es decir, el resultado escrito, en definitiva, salvando las distancias

de estilo, carácter y época, a menudo será semejante.

Es interesante advertir otro punto de relación que el sabio alemán5 aplica a

todo el descubrimiento colombino: su tan conocida metáfora de la red y el

tejido, como haces de relaciones que conectan el método historiográfico y

científico. Teoría que lleva a la práctica incluso para explicar las conexiones

3. Humboldt:

Del Orinoco al Amazonas. Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del nuevo con-

tinente

. Madrid, Guadarrama, 1982,p.5

4. Carpentier: “Razón de ser: Lo barroco y lo real maravilloso” en

Ensayos

, La Habana,

Editorial Letras cubanas, 1984,p. 123

Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 239

fluviales en el Orinoco y el Amazonas. Una ciencia de tipo relacional, que

avala el hecho de que “la filosofía, la ciencia y la literatura intercambian con-

tinuamente sus saberes” como indica Ottmar Ette.6 Y en las propias palabras

de Humboldt, una ciencia que, gracias a sus combinaciones de saberes, prop-

icia el progreso. Un ejemplo claro lo sitúa en el Renacimiento, en el que ape-

nas en medio siglo se produce un cambio radical gracias a la combinación de

diferentes conocimientos “Behaim, Colón, Vespucci, Gama y Magallanes

eran contemporáneos de Regiomontanus, de Pablo Toscanelli, de Rodrigo

Faleiro y de otros astrónomos célebres que comunicaban sus conocimientos a

los navegantes y geógrafos de sus tiempos.”7

Conceptos de la red y el tejido que propician los paralelismos históricos

que nos llevan del ayer al hoy. El concepto humboldtiano se orienta nueva-

mente al concepto renacentista de la historia como “magistra vital”, puesto

que el pasado sirve de ejemplo para la actualidad y para el futuro:

estos lugares tienen un encanto (...) y renuevan recuerdos que están ligados a

los principales nombres de la monarquía española, Cristóbal Colón y Hernán

Cortés”. La maravilla y el asombro es así mismo lo que destaca del segundo

viaje de Colón con el recuerdo de aquel rey misterioso que solo hablaba con

sus subditos por signos. Finalmente establece la relación con la actualidad y

fijándose en el cuarto viaje en el que Colón encontró piraguas de mejicanos

“cargados de ricos productos y mercancías de Yucatán” y en el descu-

brimiento clandestino de Cortés de las costas de México -tras un más que

probable conocimiento previo - concluye: “El Imperio de Moctezuma fue

aniquilado por un puñado de hombres que, desde el extremo occidental de la

isla de Cuba, desembarcaron en las costas del Yucatán. Y en nuestros días,

tres siglos después el mismo Yucatán, parte de la Confederación nueva de los

Estados libres de Méjico, casi amenaza con conquistar la costa occidental de

Cuba.8

5. Al igual que Colón, Humboldt es hijo de su época. Es en 1804 cuando vuelve a

Burdeos y luego a París cuando se torna más americanista.Y llega a tardar casi treinta años

en publicar su viaje. Para redactar su texto emprende un trabajo colosal a través de la his-

toriografía española e hispanoamericana que le convierte en un verdadero especialista en

los problemas del descubrimiento y de la colonización del Nuevo Mundo por los españoles

y los portugueses.

6. Añade que el sistema jerarquizado del pensamiento occidental cuya descripción

hicieran Guattari y Deleuze, quienes “destacan lo difícl que resulta desarrollar “al mismo

tiempo”, lógicas relacionales, descentradas, proliferantes y rizomáticas” es seguido por

Humboldt, quien “no tenía en mente erradicar una lógica binaria, centralizadora y jerar-

quizante, sino ensancharla y abrirla hacia formas relacionales para desarrollar así un

nuevo tipo de saber transdisciplinario (...) Su lógica relacional y rizomática no quería

excluir otras lógicas capaces de brindar soluciones y explicaciones; más bien quería

incluirlas” Ottmar Ette, “El cosmos de Alejandro de Humboldt” en Alexander von Hum-

boldt,

Ensayo político de la isla de Cuba

(1826). Alicante, Publicaciones de la Universidad

de Alicante, 2004,p. 31.

7. Cristóbal Colón y el descubrimiento de América, p. 17

8. Humboldt:

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

(1826), p. 200-201

240 Literature and the Arts

Afirmación que nos remite a Carpentier quien, al explicar cómo surge su

concepto de lo real maravilloso, muestra paralelismos claros con este con-

cepto de las redes expuesto por Humboldt, puesto que el concepto surge tam-

bién de un haz de relaciones:

una primera noción de lo real maravilloso me vino a la mente cuando, a fines

del año 1943, tuve la suerte de poder visitar el reino de Henri-Christophe (...)”

es decir, Haití o Ciudad del Cabo, donde estuvo el palacio de Paulina

Bonaparte. “Mi encuentro con Paulina Bonaparte, ahí, tan lejos de Córcega,

fue, para mí, como una revelación. Vi la posibilidad de establecer ciertos sin-

cronismos posibles, americanos, recurrentes, por encima del tiempo, relacio-

nando esto con aquello, el ayer con el presente.9

Por su parte coinciden Colón y Humboldt10 al lograr convencer de sus

proyectos o lograr transmitir sus ideas a otras personalidades que serán deci-

sivas en el destino de América: Colón influirá en el sentido utópico y paradis-

íaco del Nuevo Continente que tan relevante será en Fray Bartolomé de Las

Casas, Humboldt en Bolívar hasta el punto de convencer a éste de la

capacidad de América para alcanzar la emancipación,

así se lo hizo saber al joven Bolívar en París a su regreso de América. Bolívar

tenía entonces veintiún años. Humboldt tampoco pudo imaginar, cuando ese

joven le preguntaba su opinión sobre las posibilidades de emancipación de la

América hispana, que él iba a ser uno de los ejes de la misma. Simpatizaba

con Bolívar y sus ideales, pero no veía en él sino a un joven soñador sin

fuerza ni posibilidades para lograr realizarlos.

Sin embargo, la experiencia de Humboldt, continúa Zea, “le sirvió de

estímulo para emprender la gran tarea a la que dedicó Bolivar su vida.”11

Gerhard Masur confirma nuevamente que el encuentro de Bolívar con

Humboldt señaló una etapa fundamental de su vida: “posiblemente fue

incluso lo que hizo que reconociera cuál era la meta a la que quería llegar, y

con ella su destino personal.”12

9. Carpentier: “De lo real maravilloso americano” en “Tientos y diferencias”

Ensayos

Cuba, Ed. Letras Cubanas, 1984,p. 74-75

10. Otras coincidencias entre ambos tienen que ver con su defensa de la sociedad con la

que se encuentran: su valoración de los avances a nivel social, científico o político, nos lo

descubren en una semejanza con el propio Colón: Su criterio sobre las culturas americanas

y sobre la esclavitud responden a este concepto. En su

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

(1826), explica que la esclavitud es el mal mayor que aflige a la humanidad. Insta a la

búsqueda de soluciones y señala que existe un plan activo de manumisión “Se ha apoyado

tanto la manumisión, favorecida por sabias leyes, que actualmente hay más de 130.000

hombres de color libres. La administración colonial encontrará los medios para mejorara la

suerte de los negros discutiendo la situación concreta de cada clase y recompensando la

inteligencia, el amor al trabajo y las virtudes.” Y añade “No se valora suficientemente la

sabiduría de las leyes que en las nuevas repúblicas de América española, desde su origen,

se han ocupado seriamente de la extinción total de la esclavitud.”

11. Zea, Leopoldo, “Humboldt y el otro descubrimiento” en

El mundo que encontró Hum-

boldt

. Mexico, FCE, 1999,p.12

12. Masur, Gerhard.

Simón Bolívar

. Caracas, Venezuela: Grijalbo. 1987.

Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 241

La anécdota se ofrece como un ejemplo más del paralelismo entre Colón

y Humboldt y es el elemento que nos permite ejemplificar con claridad la rel-

ación con lo literario y, específicamente, con el concepto de lo real maravil-

loso. Menos mediatizado por el obligado cientificismo de humboldtiano en

virtud de la época que le corresponde vivir, surge de forma espontánea en

Colón y es mucho más medida en Humboldt,13 pese a dicha contención, recu-

erda Patricia Casasa, que su “Narración de viajes está llena de informes y

detalles curiosos sobre los indios, los misioneros y los colonos europeos a

quienes interrogaba sobre cualquier cosa que le intrigara; aunque también

está lleno de relatos sobres sus emociones, como la que experimentó en su

encuentro con el jaguar. Así de amenas deben haber sido sus conferencias,

salpicadas de humor y burla moderadas hacia él mismo y por ello causó furor

entre la sociedad novohispana, europea e incluso norteamericana.”14

Caracteres coincidentes con lo real maravilloso en el campo de la anéc-

dota podemos establecer varios como la descripción valorativa de los fenó-

menos cotidianos, la contemplación de la naturaleza en sentido trascendente,

un relativo ecologismo, la aparición de la maravilla, o bien del horror y final-

mente la hipérbole.

El paralelismo con la narración del Diario de Colón se puede establecer

mediante el cotejo del tipo de anécdotas que nos relatan. Por un lado la con-

templación de “fenómenos cotidianos” semejantes en ambos, que finalmente

se revisten de novedad y añaden un sentido personalista que orienta al final

hacia lo real maravilloso:

una golondrina vino a posarse en el mastelero. Estaba tan cansada, que se dejó

cazar fácilmente. Era una golondrina campestre. ¿Qué puede mover a un

pájaro a marcharse tan lejos en aquella estación y con aquella calma atmos-

férica? 15

El informe del tercer viaje de Colón, como indica Sambrano Urdaneta

contiene en sí rasgos que más adelante Carpentier caracterizará con el nom-

bre de lo real maravilloso. Especialmente el lugar que el propio descubridor

13. a anécdota surge incluso respecto a la correspondencia, señala Charles Minguet en el

prefacio a las Cartas americanas de Humboldt que poco antes de su muerte, Humboldt hizo

publicar en el periódico un anuncio en que rogaba a sus corresponsales que no le escribie-

sen más, pues recibía unas 1600 a 2000 piezas, de la más variada índole e incluso ofrec-

imientos para distraerle y divertirle. “intento de nuevo (...) contribuir a que se ocupen

menos de mí en ambos continentes y que no se utilice mi casa como buzón; así podría con-

sagrarme a gusto y con toda tranquilidad a mis propias investigaciones, pese a la dismi-

nución de mis fuerzas físicas e intelectuales. Ójala este pedido de socorro, al que me he

resuelto con remordimientos y demasiado tarde, no sea interpretado como una señal de

hostilidad” Cartas americanas, Prólogo de Charles Minguet. Caracas, Ayacucho, 1980,

p.IX.

14. Patricia Casasa García: “Latinoamérica y Humboldt. Confrontaciones y mestizajes”

en Leopoldo Zea y Mario Magallón Compiladores :

El mundo que encontró Humboldt. Méx-

ico,

FCE, 1999, p.21.

15.

Del Orinoco al Amazonas

, op. cit. p.9

242 Literature and the Arts

titula de Los Jardines y que más adelante son descritos como lugares paradis-

íacos por el propio Humboldt. La belleza de lo contemplado se acompaña de

datos científicos ilustrados con un concepto armónico que escapa al propio

hecho descrito:

Es la Isla de Pinos, llamada por Colón El Evangelista, y después por otros

marinos del siglo XVI, Isla de Santa María (...) Los auténticos _Jardines de la

Reina, más próximos a Cabo Cruz, están separados del archipiélago que voy a

describir por un mar libre de 35 leguas de longitud. El mismo Colón los

denominó así en el mes de mayo de 1494, cuando en su segundo viaje luchó

durante 58 días contra corrientes y vientos, entre la Isla de Pinos y el cabo ori-

ental de Cuba. Describe los islotes de este archipiélago como ‘verdes, llenos

de arboledas y graciosos’. En efecto, una parte de estos pretendidos jardines

es muy agradable. El navegante ve cambiar la escena a cada momento y el

verdor de algunos islotes parece tanto más bello cuando contrasta con otros

cayos que no ofrecen más que arenas blancas y áridas. La superficie de estas

arenas, calentadas por los rayos solares, parece ondulante como la superficie

de un líquido. Por el contacto de capas de aire de desigual temperatura, pro-

duce fenómenos variados de suspensión y espejismo desde las 10.00 h. de la

mañana hasta las 16.00 de la tarde. En estos lugares desiertos, el astro del día

anima el paisaje y hiere con sus rayos, dando movilidad a los objetos, la lla-

nura polvorienta, los troncos de los árboles y las rocas que avanzan en el mar

formando cabos. Desde que sale el sol, estas masas inertes parecen suspend-

erse en el aire. Sobre la vecina playa, la arena ofrece el espectáculo engañoso

de una capa de agua suavemente agitada por el viento. Una estela de nubes es

suficiente para depositar en el suelo troncos de árboles y roquedos suspendi-

dos, para dejar inmóvil la superficie ondulante de llanuras y disipar esta fasci-

nación que los poetas árabes, persas e hindúes han cantado ‘como los dulces

engaños de la soledad del desierto.16

Coincidente es así mismo en ambos lo que podríamos titular como sentido

ecologista: Dice Humboldt que Colón supo entrar en diálogo con la Natu-

raleza, “para aprehenderla con audacias de empirista, sentirla con corazón de

naturalista y pintarla con inspiración y pluma de poeta.” En cambio, Her-

nando, biógrafo e hijo de Colón, dice que “el plan del Gran Viaje es el fruto

de una convergencia de datos múltiples - naturales, de autoridades científicas

y de experiencias marineras- sintetizadas por una mente privilegiada.” La

visión del Almirante que nos ofrece Carpentier es radicalmente diferente.

Este sentido paradisíaco y utópico, ecológico nos lleva al concepto

armónico de la naturaleza. En su comentario sobre Colón afirma Humboldt

que las Antillas eran lugares frecuentados por los pescadores. Y se detiene en

el sistema de pesca que aparece en el Diario, basado en la utilización del pez

16. Alejandro de Humboldt,

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

(1826). Alicante, Publi-

caciones d ela Universidad de Alicante, 2004,p. 194- 195. 9,

Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 243

pescador o revés para capturar las grandes tortugas marinas. Mediante una

cuerda muy larga atada a la cola del pez “El pez pescador con un disco aplas-

tado en la cabeza cubierto de chupones, se fijaba al caparazón de las tortugas

marinas que frecuentan los canales estrechos y tortuosos de los Jardinillos.

‘El revés – dice Cristóbal Colón – antes se dejaría hacer pedazos que soltar

voluntariamente el cuerpo al que está adherido.’ Los indios retiraban con la

misma cuerda al pez pescador y a la tortuga. Cuando Gómara y el sabio sec-

retario del emperador Carlos V. Pedro Martir de Anglería, difundieron este

hecho en Europa, escuchado de labios de compañeros de Colón, la gente lo

tomó como una “historieta de viajes”. En efecto hay una apariencia de hecho

fantástico en la narración de Anglería.17

Mantiene un sentido ecologista similar al de Colón, y al que posterior-

mente presentará fray Bartolomé de las Casas, con una firme convicción en la

bondad de la naturaleza. Un claro acento de repulsa llena las líneas que refi-

eren la masacre de alcatraces, ese “pelícano oscuro del tamaño del cisne de

Bufón.” El ser humano civilizado rompe el espacio paradisíaco “el suelo

estaba cubierto de pájaros heridos que se debatían entre la vida y la muerte.

Hasta nuestra llegada, una paz profunda reinaba en este pequeño rincón de la

tierra. Ahora todo parecía decir ‘el hombre ha pasado por aquí.’”18

Este mismo contenido paradisíaco era el que surgía en las cartas y los dia-

rios de Colón, hasta el punto de que Juan Pérez de Tudela titula como “cos-

mografía paradisial” el encuentro del Nuevo Mundo: “No en su Tercer Viaje,

sino ya al regresar del Primero proclamó Colón que venía del Paraíso Terre-

nal. Y en virtud precisamente de esta certificación, no de otro hallazgo

alguno, se atrevió a asegurar que había encontrado el Fin del Oriente o

extremo de Asia.”19 Este sentido paradisíaco es recogido y reafirmado por

Humboldt y es base esencial para la afirmación de lo real maravilloso:

De este modo lo paradisíaco se transforma en pensamiento utópico en el que

se desdobla la maravilla. Lo real maravilloso americano se gesta de este modo

desde su aparición para el mundo occidental: “Aquí lo insólito es cotidiano,

siempre fue cotidiano. Los libros de caballerías se escribieron en Europa, pero

se vivieron en América.” Humboldt dará también cuenta de la posibilidad que

lo extraordinario tiene en el Nuevo Mundo. El dato científico, la hora, la tem-

peratura, las mediciones, no hacen sino corroborar lo previamente afirmado

por Carpentier: “Aquella noche observé un fenómeno muy interesante, pero

17. Humboldt

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

(1826)

op. cit. p 197. Y de nuevo hace

su aparición la teoría de las redes, cuando añade que es un modo de pesca similar en cos-

tumbres a otros que tienen lugar en China o en Africa e incluso en México de manera que

pueblos “que jamás tuvieron comunicación entre sí manifiestan analogías evidentes en los

medios propios para hacerse con los animales”

18.

Ensayo político sobre la isla de Cuba

, op. cit. p. 200

19. Juan Pérez de Tudela:

Mirabilis in altis. Estudio crítico sobre el origen y significado del

proyecto descubridor de Cristóbal Colón

. Madrid, Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Cien-

tificias, 1983. p. 417

244 Literature and the Arts

que no trataré de interpretar. Eran algo más de las doce y media; el viento

soplaba débilmente del Este, y el termómetro marcaba 23,2 grados. La Luna

llena se hallaba muy alta en el firmamento. De pronto, se formó al lado del

astro, 45 minutos antes de su paso por el meridiano, un vasto arco que repre-

sentaba todos los colores del espectro, pero que era de aspecto inquietante. Se

extendía por encima de la Luna; la banda con los colores del iris mediría una

anchura de 2 grados, y su extremo parecía estar de 80 a 85 grados sobre el

horizonte marítimo. El cielo aparecía completamente sereno, sin la menor

señal de lluvia; pero lo que más me llamó la atención fue que aquel fenó-

meno, semejante en absoluto a un arco iris, no se hallaba frente a la Luna. El

arco siguió inmóvil unos ocho o diez minutos (...) ene l momento en que tra-

taba de comprobar si era visible por reflexión en el espejo del sextante,

empezó a correrse hacia abajo, por encima de la Luna y Júpiter (...) Eran las

12 h.54 m. (hora solar) cuando el extremo del arco desapareció bajo el hori-

zonte.”20 ¿Cuál sería la explicación, los marinos lo tildaron de meteoro, y sin

embargo, Humboldt rechaza la explicación lógica al añadir que Arago al estu-

diar el dibujo del arco que figura en el diario de Viaje, afirmó que la luna

reflejada en el agua no podría haber originado un arco semejante y la rapidez

de su movimiento también hace inexplicable el suceso. (2 de diciembre).

Frente a la maravilla otro modo de asombro es el horror, como ocurre en

su viaje al volcán del Pichincha “creo que no hay imagen para describir algo

más triste, más lúgubre y más aterrador que lo que vimos. La boca del volcán

forma un agujero circular de más de una legua de circunferencia, cuyos bor-

des, tallados a pico, están cubiertos de nieve en lo alto; el interior es de un

negro intenso, pero el hueco es tan inmenso, que se disitnguen las cimas de

muchas montañas ubicadas ahí dentro.” Tras su visita tiene lugar “un temblor

de tierra muy fuerte en Quito. Los Indios lo atribuyeron a los polvos que yo

había echado en el volcán.”21

La hipérbole, que se ha señalado así mismo como retórica propia de lo

real maravilloso, aparece también con frecuencia: “La erupción del volcán

duró siete años, y el manuscrito de Zalpa pretende que la lluvia de cenizas en

Lican era tan abundante, que durante siete años se hizo la noche perpetua.

Cuando se mira la cantidad de materias volcánicas que se encuentran en la

llanura de Tapia, alrededor de la enorme montaña que se desmoronó (...) se

puede creer que la exageración no es tan desproporcionada.”22

20. Del Orinoco al amazonas, p. 338

21. Del Orinoco al amazonas.

Cartas americanas

. Compilación, prólogo, notas y

cronología Charles Minguet. Caracas, Ayacucho, 1980,p.95

22. Cartas americanas, op. cit. p.97

Configuraciones de lo real maravilloso 245

La Firma De Colon

Por último para completar este recorrido en el triángulo que desarrollan

Colon, Humboldt y Carpentier nos vamos a referir a otro de los contenidos

que interfieren en el concepto de la utopía colombina, punto de intersección y

de inflexión de lo real maraavilloso. Ya Humboldt argüía la devoción del

Almirante que lleva a cabo en su firma de tal manera que recomienda a su

hijo utilizar la misma que él usó. La X...S referida a Christus y M...A resfer-

ida María Sancta. Y añade” La última letra de las desinencias está colocada

por encima de X, M, Y, como algebraicamente se coloca un “exponente”.

Para llegar al misteriosos número de las siete letras, la S de Maria Sancta se

encuentra encima de toda la firma cifrada del Almirante (p. 293: Alejandro

Humboldt, Descubrimiento de América.

Sentido providencialista que conlleva el Christopherens y que subraya,

como indica Juan Pérez de Tudela la conversión de Colón “la imagen legada

por la historiografía nos propone la de alguien que sólo en la travesía de las

Indias hubiera encontrado su camino de Damasco” y añade “Colón, no desde

su victoria, sino a partir de la maravilla que un dia mostró el océano, ha

comenzado la carrera especulativa que le convertirá en Cristóferens”. En la

carta prólogo al Libro de las Profecías su objeto será convencer a los Reyes

“de que el descubrimiento de las Indias, seguido de la predicación del Evan-

gelio en ellas, ha traido a cumplimiento los vaticinios de la Escritura – Viejo

y Nuevo Testamento con lo que se anuncia el próximo acabamiento del

mundo, tan pronto como 155 años (...) Ante de eso (...) ha de realizarse (...) la

conquista de Jerusalén en el mundo cristiano.”23

Sin embargo la visión de lo real maravilloso se viste de espejo deformante

en Carpentier para hacernos contemplar la acción que se desarrolla de un

modo desafortunado. Es la picaresca la que reviste la acción de Colón. Si

Colón y Humboldt posan su mirada sobre la naturaleza americana y de ahí

deviene el sentido utópico, la mirada crítica de Carpentier lo hace sobre la

figura de Colón,24 y sirve de diapasón frente a la maravilla americana. Porque

la escritura de Carpentier es barroca y por tanto se sirve de la antítesis y del

contraste: “América, continente de simbiosis, de mutaciones, de vibraciones,

de mestizajes, fue barroca desde siempre.”

Pese a esta desemejanza entre la crónica literaria y la crónica histórica

podemos hacer nuestras estas palabras de Carpentier que resumen el sentido

utópico de la visión colombina y humboldtiana:

23. Cristobal

Colón

, una historia nueva del descubrimiento. Pamplona. Liber eds. p. 13

24.

El valor que Humboldt otorga a Colón viene acompañado por una serie de

consideraciones científicas, mientras que en el caso de Carpentier la valoración

de la figura colombina es sentimental, es decir, se mueve en el terreno de la

subjetividad

246 Literature and the Arts

por la virginidad del paisaje, por la formación, por la ontología, por la presen-

cia fáustica del indio y del negro, por la revelación que constituyó su reciente

descubrimiento, por los fecundos mestizajes que propició, América está muy

lejos de haber agotado su caudal de mitologías.¿Pero qué es la historia de

América toda sino una crónica de lo real maravillosos?25

25. Carpentier: “De lo real maravilloso americano”op. cit. p.79

247

CHAPTER 21 The Birth of the Two

Cultures

Laura Dassow Walls

Alexander von Humboldt presents a paradox for Americans: at once ubiqui-

tous in American culture of his own day, soon after his death in 1859 he sank

out of sight. By the twentieth century, outside of specialist studies he gener-

ally appears only in the occasional footnote, where he is not infrequently con-

fused with his brother Wilhelm. Thus scholars who wish today to write of

Humboldt to an American audience must begin by establishing, first, who he

was, and second, that despite his “obscurity” he was in fact important enough

to deserve rediscovery and reconsideration; that, indeed, any study of nine-

teenth-century American literature and culture, let alone of science, is radi-

cally incomplete if it fails to include an understanding of Humboldt’s

centrality to the self-fashioning of the United States. The fact that he has so

largely disappeared from scholarly and popular memory in a country that

once claimed him so fervently appears as a puzzle. His absolute absence sug-

gests more an active excision than a mere lapse—not merely a forgetting but

an erasure. This essay suggests one part of the answer: Humboldt champi-

oned aesthetic forms that emerged from the particulars of nature, and scien-

tific forms that embraced, rather than excluded, the subjectivity of the

observer. This put him on a collision course with the emergent concept of

“objectivity,” such that Humboldt’s bold, experimental texts were absorbed,

reshaped, and in large part silenced by the split we have come to know as

“the Two Cultures.”

The boundary between what could and could not count as science was

erected by Immanual Kant in 1786, in his Metaphysical Foundations of Natu-

ral Science. Doctrines of nature could count as science only if their underly-

ing natural laws were cognized a priori, and were not simply generalizations

after the fact, “not mere laws of experience.” (4) Kant’s difficulty lay with the

word “nature,” that is, the manifold of existing things. To erect his boundary,

248 Literature and the Arts

Kant separated natural science from natural history, saying of the latter that

whether it consisted of a description of nature (eg. taxonomy) or a history of

nature (ie. “a systematic presentation of natural things in different times and

in different places”), neither could be derived according to the internal princi-

ple by which the manifold objects of nature cohere into a whole (3-4). Since

it could not be derived according to an internal principle, natural history did

not make the cut. Newton’s Principia exemplified science; Humboldt’s Cos-

mos did not.

In Cosmos, Humboldt defends himself from this judgment by stating, a bit

sarcastically, that his purpose is not “to reduce all sensible phenomena to a

small number of abstract principles, based on reason only.” His “physical his-

tory of the universe” does not “pretend to rise to the perilous abstraction of a

purely rational science of nature” – rather, “devoid” of such “profoundness,”

he attempts only a “rational empiricism, a contemplation of the universe”

based “upon the results of the facts registered by science, and tested by the

operations of the intellect” (Cosmos I: 49). Deprived of the unity provided by

Kant’s required “internal principle,” Humboldt points instead to the unity of

“historical composition”: accidental individualities and essential variations

simply cannot be “deduced from ideas alone” (Cosmos I:49-50). In short, one

can't sit in a Königsburg salon and deduce what tropical South America looks

like: one must get up and go there. So Kant can have his principles; Hum-

boldt will take everything left over, which is, pretty much, everything: and he

will comprehend it in his (ahem) “science of the Cosmos” (Cosmos I: 55).

Humboldt thus insists that his enterprise is historical: both civil history

and the description of the universe must be derived empirically, from facts on

the ground, with an eye to understanding the physical and moral forces that

interconnect nature into “one great whole...animated by the breath of life”

(Cosmos I: 24). Humboldt’s assumption that civil and natural history are cog-

nate has two interesting consequences: first, nature describes a narrative. Its

present appearance cannot be understood “without pursuing, through count-

less ages, the history of the past,” for present and past are “reciprocally incor-

porated, as it were, with one another,” just like languages, whose present-day

idioms developed slowly over time. Even so do volcanic domes and lava

flows excite our imagination by awakening an association with the past:

“Their form is their history” (Cosmos I: 72). Second, just as an etymologist is

needed to read the history of language, so does the history of nature need to

be actively read, interpreted. Nature’s text has been open to all humanity

across all human time, available for the reading, but the work of learning to

read that text has taken eons, and will never exhaust itself. This is the work

“of observation and intellect” (Cosmos 1:23), of eye and mind, in which

Humboldt will be a participant observer.

The Birth of the Two Cultures 249

Humboldt tried to indicate both the scope and history of that work in Cos-

mos. The title was carefully chosen: Humboldt knew it was audacious, but

encouraged by his friends, he stuck with it. Briefly put, “Cosmos” referred to

the universe as a “harmoniously ordered whole” (Cosmos I: 24). Key to

Humboldt’s use of the ancient Greek word was its double references, both to

what Henry David Thoreau (a close reader of Humboldt) called “hard matter

and rocks in place,” or the physical universe as it exists apart from humanity,

and to the beauty and order of that universe, which are ideas intrinsic to

humanity.1 In short, the universe exists without us, but it exists as a Cosmos

only through our minds. Humboldt acknowledges that most “cultivated lan-

guages” reflect a contrast between nature and mind, but insists that we must

not therefore be led to separate the two, lest doing so reduce science to “a

mere aggregation of empirical specialties.” Humboldt’s point is key: our only

access to the world is through the mind, and so “does the external world

blend almost unconsciously to ourselves with our ideas and feelings” (Cos-

mos I: 76). The world is known to us only through our mind, and our mind is

known to us only as we engage the world: the two form a phenomenal unity.

Only in the dance of world and mind, object and subject, does the Cosmos

come into being.

In presenting the Cosmos, then, Humboldt writes a two-volume introduc-

tion reflecting what he calls this “two-fold aspect.”2 The first part, volume I,

describes nature “objectively, as an actual phenomenon” (Cosmos II: 62): fol-

lowing a lengthy prolegomena on the nature of science, Humboldt surveys

the heavens and the earth, all things from stars and nebula to the earth as a

planetary body, its geography and meteorology, and life forms from plants

and animals to the races of man. Once he reaches the threshold of mind,

Humboldt concludes Volume I and begins Volume II, where he takes up

nature “subjectively, as it is reflected in the feelings of mankind” (Cosmos II:

62): from modes of representing nature in poetry, painting, and gardening, to

1. Thoreau’s deep debt to Humboldt is detailed in Walls,

Seeing New World: Henry David

Thoreau and Nineteenth-Century Natural Science

(Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wis-

consin Press, 1995), 94-166. In this text I propose that Thoreau’s interest in natural science

led him to an emergent form of romanticism, “empirical holism,” that approached the great

whole of nature not as a transcendent unity best apprehended by thought (as in mainstream

romanticism, or “rational holism”), nor as a gigantic mechanism best understood by predic-

tive law, but as a “republic of particulars” best approached through study of the intercon-

nections of its individual, constituent parts—an approach pioneered by Humboldt. I argue

that the character of Thoreau’s involvement in science distinguished him as “a Humbold-

tian empirical naturalist” who sought to join poetry, philosophy, science and society into a

harmonized, emergent whole (4). Through this study I have come to see Humboldt as of

particular importance to nineteenth-century American culture more widely, a crucial ele-

ment in the wider picture of America’s coming to be.

Cosmos

was published in German in 5 volumes from 1845-1862, and immediately

translated into English; the standard translation is by Elise Otté, published in London

(1849-58) and republished in New York (1850-70). The first two volumes were of broad

popular interest, and were international bestsellers; the following volumes were much more

technical. The final German volume has never been translated into English.

250 Literature and the Arts

a history of feeling for nature from the ancients Greeks, Hebrews, and Indi-

ans through Goethe, to a history of the aids to comprehending the Cosmos

provided by science, exploration, and instrumentation. These volumes cli-

maxed Humboldt’s long lifetime of work, in which, as Mary Louise Pratt has

argued, he sought “to reframe bourgeois subjectivity, heading off its sunder-

ing of objectivist and subjectivist strategies, science and sentiment, informa-

tion and experience.” (119) So one could say, as has often been said, that

Humboldt’s two-fold attention joined poetry and science, championing aes-

thetic forms that were attentive to the particulars of nature, and scientific

forms that would embrace rather than exclude the subjectivity of the scientist.

I would suggest, further, that Humboldt’s project was aesthetic before it

was scientific – but his was an aesthetic that, uniquely, was completed in sci-

ence. For Humboldt, human experience of nature ideally inscribed a sort of

hermeneutic spiral: the initiating move is pleasure in Nature’s beauty, an

openness to sensual delight that in turn opens the creative imagination.

Rather than passive enjoyment, the creative imagination seeks active connec-

tion, reaching from the particulars to ever-higher generalizations, initiating

the quest for knowledge. Rather than quelling pleasure, knowledge actually

enhances it, and so the spiral is engaged. Poetry plays into science which

plays “reciprocally” into poetry; “austere reason” (Cosmos I: 78) investi-

gates, creative imagination prompts new discoveries, and in their concert the

Cosmos grows ever larger.

As for society, Humboldt’s spiral implies, and requires, a free play of the

human faculties, a play easily discouraged by oppressive governments. In his

optimistic viewpoint, while such governments may prevail for a time, the

course of the Cosmos is ultimately against them, since freedom is the ulti-

mate condition of nature. Hence Humboldt’s aesthetic science has a deep

moral and political direction: “The principle of individual and political free-

dom is implanted in the ineradicable conviction of the equal rights of one

sole human race. Thus...mankind presents itself to our contemplation as one

great fraternity and as one independent unity, striving for the attainment of

one aim – the free development of moral vigor.” His narrative of the Cosmos

becomes a narrative of the advances and setbacks experienced across history

by this “powerful progressive movement” which “elevates and animates cos-

mical life,” for despotic governments, though they may prevail temporarily,

must finally give way to liberty, equality, and the “fraternity” of humankind

(Cosmos II: 199). Humboldt’s attempt to write the Cosmos as a popular book

witnesses his conviction that the knowledge gained by science “is the com-

mon property of mankind” (Cosmos I: 77), not of a cultured elite.

Three consequences follow from Humboldt’s populist aesthetic of knowl-

edge: first, science is above all else an act of writing: everything Humboldt

The Birth of the Two Cultures 251

did in South America would have lost to the Cosmos if his notes and collec-

tions had failed to arrive in Europe and if he had failed in his heroic feat of

publishing the thirty volumes of his results. Second, Humboldt’s subjectivity

is always present in the text as a shaping intelligence, the active “reader” and

interpreter who is distilling from the universe the order and beauty of the

Cosmos. Third, Humboldt’s science is, therefore, a form of literature, present

in and responsive to the literary demands of its time. These consequences

seem straightforward enough, but they do make of Humboldt something of

an anomaly, since science writing has only recently, and controversially, been

accepted as a literary form. Critical treatments of Humboldt reflect his anom-

alous position. He is said to combine French Enlightenment materialism with

German Romantic idealism (see Dettelbach), to be a “transitional” figure

from the Enlightenment to Romanticism, or to have “fallen between the two

stools” of literature and science, neither literary nor scientific enough to

claim a part in mainstream traditions. Critics particularly note that Hum-

boldt’s narrative clarity was compromised by the weight of his factual knowl-

edge. Scott Slovic remarks that his prose is “smothered” under floods of

information; Nigel Leask also notes that Humboldt’s Personal Narrative is

choked by his so-called “general considerations,” “like some virulent tropical

parasite smothering its host” (Leask 295). Judged as a literary figure, Hum-

boldt has been found wanting.

The fact that Humboldt does not fit our categories has had the unfortunate

effect of marginalizing him. His potential British and American readers today

are inheritors of the very Romantic tradition Humboldt resisted, and by read-

ing him from within that tradition, he can be called, at best, only a limited

success. For this is the very tradition that definitively split literature from sci-

ence, subjective from objective, the lonely, soul-searching artist from the

self-effacing collectivity of science. As Lorraine Daston has written, by the

mid-nineteenth century, “subjectivity became synonymous with the individ-

ual and solitude; objectivity, with the collective and conviviality” (118). Is

Humboldt, then, a hybrid? Does he destabilize the conventional categories?

Or is he simply a failed writer and an obsolete scientist?

Framing the question in these terms foregrounds the role played by

“objectivity” in Humboldt’s work. As both Daston and Peter Galison have

written, “objectivity” is now a fighting word, hopelessly confused, meaning,

variously, the empirical, the rational, the “really real,” and/or the merely

bloodless (Daston 110, Galison, “Judgment” 327). Both these historians of

science write helpfully about the historical formation of objectivity, and

while I will have a little more to say about Daston in a few moments, here I

would like to concentrate on Galison's thumbnail genealogy. Galison identi-

fies three stages in the history of objectivity from Goethe's day to our own.

252 Literature and the Arts

Pre-1800, the concept of “truth to nature” existed, but it had little to do with

objectivity in its modern sense, a sense that was first articulated by Col-

eridge. Rather, it called for “a set of practices” performed by a natural philos-

opher who idealized and corrected “the unreliable appearances of the given”-

-who revealed the essence behind appearance. The most familiar example

would be Goethe, chasing his Ur-plant across Italy, certain that behind each

and every particular plant must be one essential plant that enfolded them all.

For as Goethe wrote in 1792:

[A]n anatomical archetype [Typus] will be suggested here, a general picture

containing the forms of all animals as potential, one which will guide us to an

orderly description of each animal. . . . The mere idea of an archetype in gen-

eral implies that no particular animal can be used as our point of comparison;

the particular can never serve as a pattern [Muster] for the whole. (quoted in

Galison, Objectivity 17).

Such knowledge required massive intervention by a very active mind.

Goethe understood that in learning to see objects, he was really learning to

see himself by grasping the idea that subtended all appearances, including his

own. Herein, however, lay the great and obvious danger that such a mind

would, in fact, reveal only itself. According to Galison, to counter such a

temptation a second set of practices arose around 1830 that valued, instead,

self-abnegation, self-denial. “Instead of truth to nature, these scientists

aspired to let nature 'speak for itself' through a set of instruments that mini-

mized intervention, hamstrung interpretation, and blocked artistic license”

(Galison, Judgment 328). As Galison documents, such practitioners aspired

to be as transparent and as replaceable as the machines they employed. This

“mechanical” objectivity, after dominating scientific representation for a cen-

tury, was displaced around the 1920s by a third view, a “judgmental” objec-

tivity, which employed the expert judgment of trained and skilled

practitioners to interpret phenomena under the belief that “the expertly

trained eye can often sort phenomena more quickly and effectively than the

rote application of a mechanical protocol” (Objectivity 20). This is the regime

we are still in, though Galison cautions against the belief that earlier genera-

tions were “mistaken” and we have finally and permanently got it right; our

practices, too, may be rooted in the conventions of academic science.

Where, in this well-documented scheme, might Humboldt fit? A writer

like Joan Steigerwald sees him in the Goethean metaphysical tradition, read-

ing behind “the myriad species of plants” to a few groups of “Urformen or

original forms” (317). Yet she acknowledges that Humboldt “developed his

studies in a unique way,” seeking not essential forms but collective impres-

sions produced by vegetation in interaction with physical environment and

registered by the discerning eye of the landscape painter. By emphasizing the

The Birth of the Two Cultures 253

role of perception, Humboldt opens the possibility that the same materials

might take different inquiries in different directions (319). While I would

agree that Humboldt bears traces of his Weimar classicism, I would argue

that his emphasis on the multiple interactions among the triad of subject,

object, and environment fractures and disperses the pre-Romantic ideal of

“truth to nature.” Humboldt is not a younger Goethe seeking the metaphysi-

cal “Real” in the jungles of South America.

Yet neither does Humboldt fit entirely comfortably with the dominant

regime of his maturity, what Galison, as we have seen, calls “mechanical”

objectivity. The hallmark of this viewpoint was the death of the viewer, that

“willing, desiring, intending, and schematizing self”; since the self was

implicated, the solution was, first, to rigorously exclude the self, and then to

silence it. Both Galison and Daston quote Coleridge, whose statement in his

1817 Biographia Literaria was foundational:

Now the sum of all that is merely objective we will henceforth call nature,

confining the term to its passive and material sense, as comprising all the phe-

nomena by which its existence is made known to us. On the other hand the

sum of all that is SUBJECTIVE, we may comprehend in the name SELF or INTEL-

LIGENCE. Both conceptions are in necessary antithesis. Intelligence is con-

ceived of as exclusively representative, nature as exclusively represented; the

one conscious, the other as without consciousness. (Quoted in Daston 113).

These words, of course, were a creative misunderstanding of Kant, cheer-

fully plagiarized from Schelling. At a stroke they separate objective from

subjective in order to restore them to each other through the Transcendental

caveat that the objective world was available to us only through our subjec-

tivity. Thus far Humboldt has already taken us, but he hesitated to take the

next step, which demanded that the active, shaping self must be repressed

“for us to be open to knowledge” (Galison, Objectivity 27). In this condition,

the desire to know forces upon us the responsibility to be “objective,” to get

out of the way and let the facts speak for themselves. It is true that Humboldt

will pointedly recommend an apparently similar move, as when, in Cosmos,

he suggests the reader lay aside his “subjective,” terrestrial interests to see the

universe from a stellar point of view (I: 83); but Humboldt does so in the

spirit of old-fashioned disinterestedness, the necessary capacity to set aside

personal involvement to make fair-minded aesthetic or moral judgments.

Rather than ventriloquizing nature, his nature speaks through many layers of

instruments and interpreters. By contrast, the true Romantic goes farther and

demands more: the utter death of the self. No mediation can be allowed lest it

distort the voice of nature. George Levine, in his cleverly-titled Dying to

Know, quotes the Victorian physicist John Tyndall's popular essay on the

lofty virtue of self-renunciation, “this loyal surrender of himself to Nature

254 Literature and the Arts

and to fact”: “When prejudice is put under foot and the stains of personal bias

have been washed away -- when a man consents to lay aside his vanity and to

become Nature’s organ -- his elevation is the instant consequence of his

humility” (4). Where Tyndall speaks of an elevating self-denial, the metaphor

is stronger in a writer like Thomas Carlyle, who recommends “Selbst-

Tödung” in a religious fable of death and resurrection. As Levine writes,

“Except it die, it cannot know.”(5)

I have not read every word Humboldt wrote, but I dare say that nowhere

in Humboldt will one find anything like Tyndall's paean to humility. Yes, one

does find an insistence on the necessary role of objectivity to the work of the

scientist, as when Humboldt cautions that the astronomer “who measures

patiently, year after year, the meridian altitude and the relative distance of

stars,” or “the botanist who counts the divisions of the calyx, or the number

of stamens in a flower,” do not feel their imaginations warmed by their

tedious and laborious work--that, in fact, “is the very guarantee of the preci-

sion” of their labors. Yet the measurements of the one and the detail of the

other “alike aid in preparing the way for the attainment of higher views of the

laws of the universe” (Cosmos I: 39). The imagination may give us wings,

but as Bacon long ago had stressed, without the weight of labor, the imagina-

tion soars only into empty and fruitless space. That is the necessity of our

knowing anything real, and Humboldt scoffs at those who foster the “preju-

dice” that the exacting labor of science “must necessarily chill the feelings”

and dull the pleasure of the student of nature. Every step in the journey

toward knowledge has its pleasures; even the tedium of measurement has its

savor of keen anticipation (Cosmos I: 40-41). The way upward may be pre-

pared by cool reason, but it is completed by passionate imagination. This is

not a self “washed away,” but a self invoked.

As science works upwards from fact to joy, so poetry and painting must

work downwards from the spontaneous joy we feel in nature to the analysis

of Nature’s individual objects and forces (Cosmos 1: 27). Pastoral romance,

opines Humboldt the literary critic, is “cold and wearisome”: “individuality

of observation can alone lead to a truthful representation of nature” (Cosmos

II: 68). This is the basis for Humboldt’s entire aesthetic, what I have called

his “empirical holism:” “Descriptions of nature,” he reiterates, “may be

defined with sufficient sharpness and scientific accuracy, without on that

account being deprived of the vivifying breath of imagination.” The poet

familiar with the resources of poetic tradition and his native language, who

uses those resources to describe his own first-hand impressions, will not fail

to impress his readers: “for, in describing the boundlessness of nature, and

not the limited circuit of his own mind, he is enabled to leave to others unfet-

tered freedom of feeling” (Cosmos II:81). While the goal might be unfettered

The Birth of the Two Cultures 255

freedom, that goal cannot be confused with the process, which demands hard

and disciplined work whether one works with language, paint, or scientific

instruments. I

I believe that Humboldt’s attention to the “busy-ness” of scientific labor –

the astronomer measuring, the botanist counting – pervades all his writing

and undercuts the kind of Romantic or mechanical objectivity that demands

the death of the author. The descriptive, scientific sections of Cosmos are per-

meated with the language of comparison and measurement, of “aspects” and

impressions. Observations are tied to specific observers and studded with

footnotes. I would argue, though I don't have the space to demonstrate this

here, that this is characteristic of all of Humboldt’s popular writing. In this

sense he is, perhaps surprisingly, not writing a narrative of nature after all,

but a narrative of science, to use terms adopted from the linguist Greg Myers.

That is, science writing deploys two basic strategies: in the “narrative of

nature,” the plant or animal or phenomenon is the subject, the narrative is

chronological, and the syntax and vocabulary emphasize Nature’s externality

to scientific process. On the other hand, the narrative of science follows the

argument of the scientist, arranging time into a series of parallel events all

supporting the claim, and emphasizing in “syntax and vocabulary the struc-

ture of the discipline” (Myers 142). What's striking here is that today the nar-

rative of science characterizes professional science writing, while the

narrative of nature is the common popular form of science writing--in which,

in other words, following the ideology of objectivity, the agency of the work-

ing scientist is suppressed so that nature appears to speak directly to us. Hum-

boldt, therefore, defies the generic division between popular and professional

science writing. I would speculate that by foregrounding the agency of the

scientist, including himself, Humboldt is experimenting with a genre of pop-

ular science writing that defied the emerging ideology of scientific authority,

including the demand that the scientist himself “die” out of the text, and so, at

least in Anglo-America, came to be widely rejected as unscientific.

If my suggestion is correct, it complicates the frequent assertion that

Humboldt’s writing is “disembodied” or, in Lorraine Daston's terms, “aper-

spectival,” taking this to mean the ideal which by eliminating all personal

idiosyncracies created Thomas Nagel’s oxymoronic “view from nowhere.”

Yes, Humboldt does wish to set aside his personal idiosyncracies. Critics

often complain about the impersonality of his so-called Personal Narrative.

And yes, he does aspire to the view from the mountaintop--literally so, if

there are any mountains in the neighborhood. (So, by the way, did Goethe.)

However, Humboldt’s reluctance to structure his argument chronologically

would be appropriate if he aspired to a narrative of science rather than nature;

furthermore, while he may not chatter on about his autobiography, he does

256 Literature and the Arts

constantly refer to particular incidents in his experience and, whenever he

deems it relevant, doesn't hesitate to insert his personal impressions about a

region or a phenomenon. For example, Humboldt completes his scientific

account of earthquakes by describing how they feel. “A moment destroys the

illusion of a whole life,” he writes; “we no longer trust the ground on which

we stand.” Animals feel anxious too: Orinoco crocodiles “leave the trembling

bed of the river, and run with loud cries into the adjacent forests” (Cosmos I:

215-16). Since the impression nature makes on the human being is part of

Humboldt’s Cosmos, his account of the Cosmos would be incomplete with-

out recording, as points of relevant data, his own impressions. Sometimes

these “impressions” even interfere with the process of science, as when his

patient stellar measurements cannot be completed because the ferocious

attacks of Orinoco insects make it impossible to steady the instruments.

Taken as science writing, then, Humboldt’s popular works, while they do

repress his personal ego, consistently value the impressionistic and call atten-

tion to the agency of the active, measuring, noticing, collecting scientist.

When he consciously attempts to move that agency into the background, as in

Views of Nature, the resulting prose, as critics have remarked, is dizzying,

dramatic, hyper-kinetic (see Slovik, and Pratt 121-25). It leaps across scale

levels from a bee on the hand to a view of the world, across continents and

oceans and centuries. Instead of a view from nowhere, his gymnastic prose

offers a view from everywhere: Humboldt paints a view of Nature “in the

universality of her relations,” lest by isolating facts he gives currency to

“false ideas.” The ties which unite the most varied phenomena – plants, ani-

mals, soil, rocks, air, mankind – can be discovered “only when we have

acquired the habit of viewing the globe as a great whole,” such that the least

thing or the greatest is visible as a nexus of natural forces (PN I: 104-5). The

result, as Pratt remarks, is a prose that can be exhausting to read: as Hum-

boldt works hard, so does he expect his reader to work too.

Another result, ironically, undercuts one of his most important goals: that

his vision and his working methods be shared. Humboldt does not, that is,

claim that his is a transcendent genius, caught in rare visionary moments and

available only to the privileged few. (Compare nineteenth-century stereo-

types of Newton, and in our own time, of Einstein.) Contemplation of the

Cosmos is “the property of all mankind,” and he strives to write for both his

fellow elite and for those who will never measure a meridian altitude. This

means he must worry about how best to “remove the scaffolding” of observa-

tion, experiments, and calculations so that general views may be made avail-

able to all (Cosmos I: 46-48). In effect, he must teach the reader how to read

not only Nature, but Humboldt: “to recognize unity in the vast diversity of

phenomena, and by the exercise of thought and the combination of observa-

The Birth of the Two Cultures 257

tions, to discern the constancy of phenomena in the midst of apparent

changes.” Descents to “very special facts” are occasionally necessary, he

warns, but only thus can actual connections be traced and the whole of nature

be approached (Cosmos I: 61). In part, of course, Humboldt succeeded bril-

liantly. In the United States, some of his readers went on to change the face of

American landscape painting, American literature, and the North American

continent itself. Yet in adopting his methodology, the great man himself dis-

appeared. His signature was not his own unique organizing consciousness,

but the power of any organizing consciousness. Thus Humboldt could never

point to a flock of disciples all claiming allegiance to their famous leader, a

fact noted by one of his most famous protégés, Louis Agassiz, in his memo-

rial address of 1869: “Every school-boy is familiar with his methods now, but

he does not know that Humboldt is his teacher. The fertilizing power of a

great mind is truly wonderful; but as we travel farther from the source, it is

hidden from us by the very abundance and productiveness it has caused”

(Agassiz 5-6).

Yet for a while at least, everyone knew Humboldt’s name, and here lies

the irony. His planetary consciousness was predicated on the hope that every-

one could participate. His was a collectivist, populist vision that can be traced

right back to his enthusiasm for the French Revolution. As he showed, creat-

ing the Cosmos was a project of the whole human race. Yet even as demo-

cratic, populist America absorbed his ideals and celebrated his name, it

became a truism that Humboldt was so great, so expansive, such a virtuoso of

all knowledge, that no one could ever replace him. In seeking to avoid tran-

scendence, Humboldt brought it on himself, and so made himself curiously

irrelevant to later generations. Who could follow in such footsteps? His pro-

gram was fragmented, bureaucratized, mechanized, professionalized, and as

Agassiz remarked, the new armies that grew up using his maps and his meth-

ods forgot his very name.

To summarize and conclude: objectivity was born out of the cauldron of

German-Anglo idealism, and with it, the disciplined disarticulation of objec-

tive and subjective that led to the crystallization of science and literature as

antithetical intellectual realms. We know this and brand it with our own tru-

ism, the “Two Cultures,” the unforgettable term coined in a forgettable lec-

ture by C.P. Snow that ever since has named both a fact and, for some, a

discontent. Recently, more and more voices have called for a consilience of

the humanities and the sciences, for while the disciplinary limits they desig-

nate have been powerfully productive, the realities of the 21st century defy

those limits, and we are still groping for a language and a methodology by

which mind can be restored to nature. Two hundred years ago, Humboldt was

working out a different trajectory, a bold and experimental form of discourse

258 Literature and the Arts

that articulated subject and object together and that bound the arts and sci-

ences in a mutual spiral of beauty and knowledge, discipline and freedom.

Yet modernism, as it developed, absorbed and reshaped Humboldt’s project

into its own, and in its terms, Humboldt appears to us as a curiosity, a fasci-

nating, larger-then-life figure who fits poorly into our historiographies and

so, despite his evident importance, seems marginal to all but the most special-

ized scholarly inquiries. For those of us who seek consilience today, the ques-

tion might be: Is some version of Humboldt’s aesthetic science retrievable?

Or is he simply an anomaly, an intellectual platypus? It would be still another

irony if the man who rejected mere curiosities, who saw every object and

every phenomenon as a nexus in the web of being, should become no more

than a curiosity himself.

Bibliography

Agassiz, Louis. Address Delivered on the Centennial Anniversary of the

Birth of Alexander von Humboldt. Boston: Boston Society of Natural

History, 1869.

Daston, Lorraine. “Objectivity and the Escape from Perspective.” In The Sci-

ence Studies Reader, ed. Mario Biogioli. New York: Routledge, 1999:

110-123.

Galison, Peter. “Judgment against Objectivity.” In Picturing Science, Produc-

ing Art, ed. Caroline A. Jones and Peter Galison. New York: Routledge,

1998: 327-59.

—. “Objectivity is Romantic.” In Jerome Friedman et al., The Humanities

and the Sciences, ACLS Occasional Paper No. 47. New York: American

Council of Learned Societies, 1999, 15-56.

Humboldt, Alexander. Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the

Universe. 2 vols. Trans. Elise Otté. (1850). Facsimile ed. Baltimore:

Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999.

Kant, Immanuel. Metaphysical Foundations of Natural Science. 1786. Trans.

by James Ellington. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970.

Leask, Nigel. Curiosity and the Aesthetics of Travel Writing, 1770-1840.

Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.

Levine, George. Dying to Know: Scientific Epistemology and Narrative in

Victorian England. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2002.

Myers, Greg. Writing Biology: Texts in the Social Construction of Scientific

Knowledge. Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 1990.

Slovik, Scott. “Alexander von Humboldt’s Comparative Method of Land-

scape Description.” Decodings: The Newsletter of the Society for Litera-

ture and Science, 1990.

Steigerwald, Joan. “Goethe’s Morphology: Urphänomene and Aesthetic

Appraisal,” Journal of the History of Biology 35.2 (Summer 2002): 291-

328.

259

CHAPTER 22 Científico y Poeta

Luisa V. De Castillo

Introducción

En su obra Cosmos Humboldt afirma:

para que esta obra sea digna de la bellísima expresión de Cosmos, que sig-

nifica el orden en el Universo y la magnificencia en el orden, es necesario que

abrace y describa el gran Todo; es preciso clasificar y coordinar los fenó-

menos, penetrar el juego de las fuerzas que los producen, y pintar en fin, con

animado lenguaje, una viviente imagen de la realidad, que comprende desde

las profundidades del espacio ocupadas por las nebulosas más remotas, la

zona de las estrellas, de que es una parte nuestro sistema solar, la esfera ter-

restre con su envoltura gaseosa y líquida, con su forma, su temperamento y su

tensión magnética, hasta los seres dotados de vida que la acción fecundante

de la luz desarrolla en su superficie.1

Humboldt afirma que para abarcar toda la naturaleza como un Todo, es

necesario contemplarla bajo dos aspectos, el científico y el literario. Después

de haber observado los fenómenos en su realidad objetiva, con sus contornos

fijos y todo el rigor de la ciencia, expresarlos en una forma literaria, que

refleje los sentimientos de la humanidad. En el segundo tomo de su obra Cos-

mos, con el título de Estímulos para el Estudio de la Naturaleza se ocupa

especialmente del aspecto estético de su concepción Total.

Como científico estaba dentro de la corriente del positivismo de la cien-

cia, que renuncia a todo lo trascendente, que se reduce a la averiguación y

comprobación de las leyes dadas por la experiencia, y ello no sólo para los

fenómenos físicos, sino también para los puramente espirituales, para el

mundo de lo social y moral.

1. Alejandro de Humboldt.

Cosmos.o ensayo de una descripción física del globo.

(

Madrid: Edit. Vicente García T. 1851-1852 ) .

260 Literature and the Arts

Los dos medios que posee el hombre para la descripción de la Naturaleza

son las expresiones estéticas y la pintura...Al efecto afirma Hanno Beck:

“inseparablemente ligados a estos resultados científicos de Humboldt se

encuentra el ideal clásico humanista y una teoría del arte cuyo realismo se

revela tanto en el estilo como en el dibujo.”2 Aspiraba a una comprensión

científica, que con la ayuda de la imagen real, vendría a ser profundizada y

enriquecida. Principalmente le interesaba hallar objetivos visuales, de los que

se servía como un pincel fino, a fin de conformar los cuadros en una forma

atractiva y a la vez fiel a la naturaleza.

Su obra Cuadros de la Naturaleza es un testimonio abierto por primera

vez de una nueva literatura, en la que la topografía está mezclada con consid-

eraciones de carácter científico e histórico. En su Ensayo de una Geografía

de las Plantas nos habla de ese mundo tropical que le causó un gran asombro.

Trata de representar cómo influye esa naturaleza sobre el carácter y el sen-

timiento de los pueblos y lo expresa por medio de la forma literaria y la pin-

tura...El nombre de “selva” primitivo, dice Humboldt, corresponde sólo a los

trópicos, porque se trata de un territorio impenetrable en el que no se puede

abrir camino con el hacha, pues existen árboles hasta de 12 pies de diámetro.

Existen en el Orinoco y en el Amazonas. Debe su exuberancia maravillosa a

la influencia combinada de la humedad y el calor. Una característica es la

multiplicidad de especies y los ríos con sus innumerables afluentes que son

los únicos caminos del país, navegando en un tronco de árbol tallado for-

mando una canoa. La prueba de la impenetrabilidad la proporciona el jaguar,

el gran tigre de América.

Admiraba las descripciones de la Naturaleza de Buffon y Bernardin de

Saint Pierre, que son capaces de procurar al alma los goces más nobles,

además de atestiguar cómo la historia del hombre y de la civilización se rela-

ciona con las ciencias naturales, pues si el comienzo de la civilización es

determinado por sus condiciones físicas, al menos el carácter de un pueblo, el

humor sombrío o alegre del hombre dependen principalmente de sus condi-

ciones climatológicas. Tenía el convencimiento de la influencia del mundo

físico sobre el moral, esa correlación misteriosa entre lo sensible y lo

sobrenatural, dan al estudio de la naturaleza, contemplada con elevación, un

rasgo muy particular, aún muy poco apreciado. Su interés era la presentación

artística de la vegetación. Había realizado estudios sobre la técnica del gra-

bado en cobre y sus trabajos fueron expuestos en Berlín en 1786 y 1788. Pos-

teriormente recibió clases de dibujo en París con Francois Gerard, a fin de

que los dibujos y pinturas presentaran una imagen veraz sobre las formas,

colores, y las texturas de las plantas estudiadas científicamente.

2. Hanno Beck.

El Arte descubre un continente..

( Berlín: Exposición del Instituto

Iberoamericano, 1961).

Científico y Poeta 261

En sus nociones sobre la fisonomía de los vegetales destaca que entre las

sensaciones múltiples que el hombre experimenta investigando los misterios

de la naturaleza, o midiendo con su imaginación, los vastos espacios de la

creación orgánica, no existe más profunda ni más poderosa, que la que hace

nacer en él la abundancia de la vida universalmente difundida. En su estudio

sobre los seres animados dice que hasta en los polos helados, el aire resuena

con el canto de los pájaros y el zumbido de los insectos. Las capas inferiores

de la atmósfera, donde flotan vapores condensados, así como las capas supe-

riores, puras, etéreas, son la morada de seres animados.3

Cuando se sabe abrazar la naturaleza con una sola mirada y hacer abstrac-

ción de los fenómenos locales, se ve cómo el poder de la vida orgánica crece

del polo al ecuador, en proporción del poder vivificante. Pero en esta multi-

tud de producciones, en cada zona son reservadas bellezas especiales: en los

trópicos, la multiplicidad y grandeza de formas vegetales; en el Norte, el

aspecto de las praderas y el despertar periódico de la Naturaleza al primer

soplo de la primavera...Además de las ventajas que le son propias, cada zona

tiene una fisonomía distintiva particular. El azul del cielo, la luz, la neblina

lejana, la forma de los animales, la exuberancia de los vegetales, el esplendor

del follaje, el contorno de las montañas, todos estos elementos determinan la

impresión general de un país. Los vegetales hablan a nuestra imaginación por

su fijeza y tamaño.

Humboldt, El Poeta y El Científico

Consecuente con sus observaciones científicas y literarias, en la Zona Tórr-

ida, describe la longitud Oeste del primer meridiano suramericana de 4h.

15´18´´, de París. Admira la pureza , belleza y esplendor del cielo bajo el

fulgor de Venus, que presenta halos luminosos, con los colores del arco iris;

continúa con la bóveda estrellada del Sur: el Sagitario, la Corona Austral, la

Cruz del Sur, el Triángulo Austral, el Altar y el Centauro, que puede medirse

con el Orión. Entonces afirma: “Observo una altura que me hace gemir y

transpirar.”

En la noche del 4 al 5 de julio de 1799 vieron por primera vez Humboldt y

Bonpland la Cruz del Sur. Humboldt exclama:

aquella noche vi cumplirse uno de los sueños de mi temprana juventud...Salú-

dase una estrella en la soledad de los mares como a un amigo de quien se

hubiera estado largo tiempo separado...Teniendo más o menos las dos grandes

estrellas que marcan el tope y el pie de la Cruz, la misma ascensión recta,

resulta que la constelación está casi perpendicular en el momento en que pasa

por el meridiano. Esta circunstancia es conocida por todos los pueblos que

3. Humboldt.

Cuadros de la Naturaleza,

(Barcelona: Edit. Iberia S.A. 1961)

262 Literature and the Arts

habitan más allá del trópico en el hemisferio austral... Cuántas veces hemos

oído decir a nuestro guías en las sabanas de Venezuela, “Es media noche; la

Cruz empieza a ladearse.4

El primer país visitado por ambos científicos fue Venezuela. Al llegar a

las playas de Cumaná le escribe a su hermano Guillermo: ¡Qué país posee el

rey católico! ¡Qué árboles¡ Cocoteros de 50 a 60 pies de altura con llamilletes

de un pie de altura de flores de un rojo vivo magnífico, del tamaño de una

mano, plátanos y una masa de árboles con hojas monstruosas, de las que no

sabemos nada. ¡Qué numerosas son las plantas más pequeñas aún no exami-

nadas y qué colores poseen los pájaros, los peces, hasta los cangrejos! !Hasta

ahora nos hemos paseado como locos; en los tres primeros días no pudimos

decidir nada, porque se rechaza un tema para interesarse por otro!5

FIGURE 22-1.

Humboldt descubre nuevamente a América para la ciencia, para la liter-

atura y para el arte. El exotismo, exuberancia y grandeza del paisaje ameri-

cano se convierten en la meta de ese romanticismo científico que se

caracteriza por el afán de conquistar lo desconocido y el infinito, por las

ansias de realizar un proyecto fabuloso, una identificación con la naturaleza,

por la alegría y la tristeza de vivir, por el deseo de comprender mejor el des-

4. Humboldt,

Viaje a las Regiones Equinocciales del Nuevo Continente.

(Buenos Aires:

MEN, Imprenta Löpez.

T.1, 257.)

5. Humboldt,

Cartas Americanas,

( Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacuho, 15 ).

Científico y Poeta 263

tino del hombre, el disfrute de lo exótico y el mismo tiempo la nostalgia del

pasado. Estos rasgos se observan en las memorias de nuestro viajero.

El Nuevo Mundo le ofrece por primera vez la variedad de paisajes de los

trópicos. El prestigio de la imaginación, sin la cual no puede haber obra

humana verdaderamente grande – afirma Humboldt – da singular atractivo a

las obras de Colón, y Vespucio, de Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas, Antonio de

Montesinos, Juan de castellanos Bernal Díaz del Castillo, Clavigero y

muchos otros cronistas. Y él mismo, en ese Nuevo Mundo confirmó el cono-

cimiento teórico de la documentación histórica, con la tradición oral y princi-

palmente con la vivencia personal, orientado por su gran cultura. Es el

primero en señalar la importancia de los viajes en la evolución de las ideas y

la presencia fecundante del exotismo en la vida artística del viejo continente.

FIGURE 22-2.

Dentro de su narración literaria, que fluye paralela junto al carácter cientí-

fico, hace un estudio de la geografía, de los trescientos años de la adminis-

tración hispánica, de los rasgos presentes todavía en la historia de los pueblos

y ciudades hispanoamericanas, la religión, les leyes, las costumbres e ideas,

caracteres estos que constituyen nuestra identidad nacional. También, desde

el punto de vista científico, fue el pionero de la geografía botánica, ciencias

geológicas, sismología, paleon-tología, climatología, mineralogía ciencias

264 Literature and the Arts

del mar, espeleología y otras ramas interdisciplinarias, enriquecidas en el

continente americano. Y posteriormente en 1829, en su viaje a Rusia.

Al ilustre viajero le parece que cada nuevo país que visita y explora es aún

más bello que el que ha descrito anteriormente y le duele no encontrar pala-

bras para expresar las dulces sensaciones que experimenta. El arte hace más

vivas las impresiones y añade grandeza y fidelidad a las imágenes. Compa-

rando el viejo y el nuevo continente agrega que en el viajo mundo son los

pueblos y los matices de civilización los que le dan al cuadro su principal

carácter; en el nuevo, el hombre y sus producciones desaparecen, por decirlo

así, en medio de una gigantesca y salvaje naturaleza.

Junto a las investigaciones científicas nos da una visión futura sobre los

acontecimientos políticos y sociales que se iban a producir en la América his-

pana. Estas apreciaciones las transcribió en su Diario, obra maestra y menos

conocida, donde se observa una gran diferencia sobre algunos conceptos

emitidos en su Viaje a las Regiones Equinocciales. El viajero alemán tuvo

siempre una clara percepción sobre la verdadera situación política y social de

los países por él visitados. Refleja un pleno conocimiento de los movimientos

en contra de la autoridad española y así hizo un agudo análisis de los cabildos

americanos y de cómo habían evolucionado desde los primeros tiempos de la

conquista y la fundación de las primeras ciudades. Se sorprendió también

nuestro sabio al llegar a Caracas en 1800, que tenía una población de 40.000

personas, de que no tenía imprenta, y por ende, de la dificultad de la difusión

masiva del pensamiento y de la cultura.

Las Maravillas de su Odisea Americana

Venezuela tuvo el excepcional privilegio de ser el primer país que visitó el

sabio universal en su grandioso periplo, cuyos resultados científicos iban a

conmocionar en breve los conocimientos tenidos hasta entonces en muchas

ciencias. Fue éste el Viaje a las Regiones Equinocciales del Nuevo Conti-

nente hecho en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803 y 1804, visitando Venezuela,

Cuba, Colombia, Ecuador, Perú, México y los Estados Unidos de América,

realizado con el sabio botánico francés Aimé Bonpland, hoy reconocido este

último, como el primer europeo que captó en toda su profundidad la energía y

capacidad del hombre que iba a iniciar la independencia de la América his-

pana: el Libertador Simón Bolívar, en ese entonces, 1805, un joven de apenas

22 años.

Este singular privilegio de Venezuela de ser la primera tierra americana

pisada por Humboldt, significó que una excepcional cantidad de plantas, ani-

males, minerales y fenómenos geológicos de todo tipo, fueran observados por

primera vez en Venezuela, país del cual guardó siempre un especial afecto

por haber sido su pórtico de acceso al Nuevo Mundo.

Científico y Poeta 265

Con lujo de detalles y una hermosísima prosa, Humboldt describe las

maravillas de nuestro país con una exactitud que hoy, después de 200 años de

su visita, asombra por su equilibrio y exactitud. Con su aguda observación

nos presenta la emoción poética que llena su espíritu al observar por primera

vez los animales, plantas, montañas, las rocas, los minerales, el sistema marí-

timo y fluvial, la bóveda celeste de los trópicos y otros rasgos jamás soñados

en la Europa de la Ilustración y la cultura.

FIGURE 22-3.

En el Oriente de Venezuela visita el valle de Caripe y la “cueva El Guá-

charo” donde habitaba el famoso pájaro, que da su nombre a la gruta, con sus

originales estalactitas y estalagmitas, que compara el sabio con el Tártaro de

los griegos. Observa los ritos religiosos de los indígenas. Estos acostumbra-

ban celebrar sus ceremonias en el atrio de la cueva. Van allí y consultan a los

piaches, que consideraban todopoderosos y que intervenían ante los espíritus

malignos que habitan en la oscuridad. Les hablan de sus desgracias y sus

enfermedades y sobre los antepasados que han muerto, que según ellos habi-

tan en el fondo de la cueva. Entonces Humboldt concluye que las religiones

de los pueblos tienen mucho en común. Las leyendas griegas también nos

hablan de la triste mansión de los muertos, situada en las profundidades de la

tierra, adonde se llega a través de varias entradas o cavernas. Allí todo es

llanto y desesperación y las almas de los malos llegan al Tártaro conducidas

por el barquero Caronte. Allí también estaban las arpías, con sus rostros de

viejas, sus garras y sus cuerpos de buitres.

El periplo jubiloso de Humboldt y Bonpland continúa en Cumaná, Nueva

Barcelona, el Fortín del Morro, La Guaira y la ciudad de Caracas. Con la

poesía del virtuoso de las letras y la visión del Geógrafo, describe la bellaza

en el ascenso de las cordilleras y el panorama de la serena Caracas colonial,

266 Literature and the Arts

rodeada de haciendas y de paz, pero ya agitada por los movimientos revolu-

cionarios, adonde llega por el antiguo camino de los españoles, que describe

poéticamente: “El camino de La Guaira al valle de Caracas es infinitamente

más hermoso que el de Honda a Santa Fe, y el de Guayaquil a Quito... ofrece

una magnífica perspectiva... se descubre el horizonte de más de 22 leguas de

radio; es deslumbrante la masa de luz que refleja el litoral blanco y árido...

con sus cocoteros y sus bajeles que entran y salen del puerto... regueros de

nubes, fuertemente iluminadas en su parte superior, parecen descansar como

islotes movedizos, sobre la superficie inmensa del océano... Descúbranse de

tiempo en tiempo los árboles y las habitaciones al través de las aberturas que

dejan las nubes empujadas por el viento... Del lado opuesto se descubren los

llanos infinitos.6

FIGURE 22-4.

Continúa por los valles de Aragua la visita del célebre Samán de Güere,

que describe como una especie de mimosa cuyos brazos tortuosos forman

una capa hemisférica de 576 pies de circunferencia., con 60 pies de alto y 9

de diámetro... Los brazos se extienden como un hermoso parasol y se incli-

nan todos hacia el suelo... Señala que era venerado por sus habitantes... Al

final de su vida, en 1858, el anciano contempló la imagen del árbol, se echó a

llorar y enternecido exclamó: ese hermoso árbol, está lo mismo que lo vi hace

sesenta años, ninguna de sus ramas se ha doblado...continúa hacia las fuentes

termales de Mariara y de las Trincheras, el Lago de Valencia y Puerto

Cabello, cuya serena maravilla natural y acogedora impresionó vivamente a

los viajeros como uno de los mejores puertos de ambos continentes. Se

desplazan luego hacia el llano adentro, se detienen en varios pueblos y llegan

a los llanos, que asombran a los viajeros por su inmensidad. Allí observa las

grandes manadas de ganado vacuno y caballar y se emocionan con los peces

“tembladores”, las temibles anguilas eléctricas de los caños y pantanos...

6. Humboldt.

Viaje

... T..ll , 285.

Científico y Poeta 267

Pasan por San Fernado de Apure y finalmente se internan en las inmen-

sidades del soberbio Orinoco. El 5 de abril de 1800, Humboldt y Bonpland se

encuentran en la confluencia del río Apure y el Orinoco. Una inmensa llanura

de agua se extendía ante sus ojos, como si fuera un lago. Blanqueaban las

olas levantándose a varios pies de altura, por el conflicto de la corriente con

la brisa. Apenas se distinguían en las concavidades de las olas algunos

inmensos cocodrilos. El horizonte estaba limitado por una fila de selvas y

vastas playas abrasadas por el sol, aparentaban charcas de aguas durmientes.

Humboldt señala la soledad y grandeza peculiares del curso del Orinoco... En

ese sitio la anchura del río es de 3714 metros de ancho y durante el período

de las lluvias alcanza a 10.753 metros. Se encontraron con los indios caribes.

El cacique remontaba el río en su piragua para participar en la famosa pesca

de los huevos de tortuga. Los indios estaban desnudos y armados con arcos y

flechas, sus cuerpos cubiertos de onoto, que les daba un color rojizo a su piel.

Eran hombres de una estatura atlética. El viento los condujo a la boca de la

Tortuga, isla donde se efectuaba la pesca de los huevos. Allí acampaban en

sus chozas techadas con hojas de palmera. Hundían en el suelo una larga pér-

tiga y sondeando con ella, descubrían donde estaban los huevos, al tocar la

tierra movediza. Humboldt nombra dos clases de tortuga: la Terekai y la

Arrau. Extraían la parte aceitosa y la colocaban en botijas o jarras. La piragua

de Humboldt consistía en un tronco de árbol ahuecado de 40 pies de largo y 3

de ancho. Allí llevaban su pequeño zoológico.

Los grandes cuadrúpedos de estas regiones, tigres, dantas y váquiros,

practicaron aberturas en el seño de esta selva, por ahí salían a beber al río y

como temían poco la aproximación de una canoa, se tenía el gusto de verlos

costear libremente la ribera, hasta que desaparecían en la selva: Confieso que

tales escenas, que a menudo se repiten, han conservado siem-pre el mayor

atractivo para mí. El placer que se experimenta no se debe sólo al interés que

pone el naturalista en los objetos de sus estudios, sino que depende de un sen-

timiento común a todos los hombres educados en los hábitos de la civiliza-

ción. Véase uno en contacto con un mundo nuevo, con una naturaleza salvaje

e indómita: ya es el jaguar, hermosa pantera de América, que aparece en la

ribera; ya el paují, de plumas negras y cabeza empenachada...Sucédanse unos

tras otros, animales de las clases más diferentes. Es como el paraíso, decía

nuestro patrón. Todo, en efecto, recuerda aquí ese estado del mundo primi-

tivo...La Edad de Oro ha cesado, y en este paraíso de las selvas americanas,

como en otra parte cualquiera, una triste y larga experiencia ha enseñado a

todos los seres que raras veces se hallan unidas la dulzura con la fuerza.7

El río Orinoco al dirigirse de sur a norte, se ve atravesado por una ser-

ranía de montes graníticos. Constreñido en dos puntos de su curso, se rompe

7. Humboldt.

Viaje

.... T V, 293.

268 Literature and the Arts

con estruendo contra unas rocas que forman gradas y diques transversales,

formando así los llamados raudales de Atures y Maipures. Forman un tor-

rente espumoso de una milla de anchura, en el centro se elevan rocas de color

ferruginoso, como fortalezas en ruinas, en medio de islotes con árboles fron-

dosos. No se trata de una sola catarata como la del Niágara o el Tequedama.

Eran diferentes cascadas de diversas formas y tamaños, movimientos tumul-

tuosos del agua, provenientes de las disposiciones del terreno, que formaban

chorros y remolinos, islotes y escollos. Para transportar la piragua se tiraban a

tierra 23 indios, la colocaban sobre troncos de árboles a manera de rodillos y

así la arrastraban hasta el fin de los raudales durante cuatro días. Allí diseca-

ron las plantas y Humboldt redactó parte de su Diario. Para Humboldt estos

lugares resultaron imponentes: Ni el salto de Tequendama, cerca de Santa Fe

de Bogotá, ni las grandes escenas de las cordilleras han podido atenuar la

impresión que en mí había producido la primitiva vista de Atures y

Maipures.8

FIGURE 22-5.

Se embarcaron el 6 de mayo en el caño Pimichín para seguir hasta el Río

Negro. La comunicación entre el Río Negro y el Orinoco por el Casiquiare

era conocida por los misioneros desde hacía 50 años. El propósito de ilustre

8. Humboldt.

Viaje

... 101-102.

Científico y Poeta 269

científico era determinar, por medio de observaciones astronómicas, el curso

del Casiquiare, desde su bifurcación en el Orinoco hasta su entrada en el Río

Negro, comprobando así su comunicación con el Amazonas. El Río Negro

era de gran importancia para España y Portugal, porque ofrecía un camino

fácil a la potencia lusitana para introducirse en las misiones españolas.

Después de todo lo que habíamos soportado hasta ese momento, pienso que

se me permitirá hablar de la satisfacción que sentimos al alcanzar los aflu-

entes del Amazonas, de haber pasado el istmo que separa dos sistemas de

ríos, de estar seguro de llenar el fin más importante de nuestro viaje que era el

de determinar astronómicamente el curso de este brazo del Orinoco que cae

en el Río Negro, y cuya existencia, después de medio siglo, fue probada y

negada alternativamente. El propósito que se persigue por mucho tiempo,

parece aumentar en interés a medida que se acerca su realización.”9

FIGURE 22-6.

Luego de no pocas dificultades, los viajeros regresan haciendo centenares

de kilómetros por la interminable y magnífica vía fluvial que se extiende

desde el caño Casiquiare hasta el Orinoco, para finalizar la grandiosa expe-

dición en territorio venezolano. Llegan a Angostura, hoy Ciudad Bolívar, y

vuelven a la ciudad de Cumaná. Habían hecho en 75 días, por los cinco

grandes ríos Apure, Orinoco, Atabapo, río Negro y Casiquiare un viaje de

500 leguas.

Siguen su viaje a Cuba, donde modifican el plan de su odisea. Llegan a

Cartagena, remontan el río Magdalena, hasta Honda y Bogotá, donde gozan

de un recibimiento excepcional del Virrey y del sabio científico José Celes-

9. Humboldt .

Viaje

...156.

270 Literature and the Arts

tino Mutis. En Popayán continúan sus observaciones magnéticas, como era

su costumbre, en todos los sitios importantes y aumentan sus colecciones

mineralógicas. Continúan por la cordillera, por el paso de Quindío, de suelo

resbaladizo, cubierto de fango, en el que las mulas habían sido sustituidas por

seres humanos para hacer el transporte, pues los indígenas llevaban a los

blancos en sus espaldas, sentados éstos cómodamente en sillas ajustadas a sus

cuerpos. Estos seres humanos eran llamados “caballitos,” lo que le produjo a

Humboldt una gran indignación y se negó a ser transportado en las espaldas

de los pobres indios y mestizos... Contrató entonces 12 bueyes para llevar su

equipaje y siguieron a pie por toda la ruta, en algunos tramos hundidos hasta

las rodillas y con los pies destrozados. Humboldt refleja así un hombre de

una gigantesca dimensión humana, el que consideraba a sus congéneres

como a sus hermanos, el que se conmovía ante cualquier acto generoso, el

que levantaba su voz de protesta ante una actitud injusta, el que sufría por las

escenas de esclavitud presenciada en la plaza de Cumaná. Ascienden el

páramo de Pasto, llegan a Ibarra (2 de enero de 1802). Allí se encuentran con

el joven naturalista Francisco José Caldas, con quien sigue hasta Quito,

ciudad de 35 mil habitantes, donde conoció al patriota Carlos Montúfar,

quien los acompaña en su viaje a los Estados Unidos y el de regreso a

Europa.

FIGURE 22-7.

Siguen ambos viajeros hasta Quito, allí realizaron en 9 meses una extensa

investigación geográfica. Afirma que la cordillera de los Andes se divide en

muchos brazos separados entre sí por valles longitudinales formando una sola

masa erizada de cimas volcánicas colocadas en doble fila, las cimas más ele-

vadas forman la cordillera como una doble cresta; cúspides colosales y cubi-

ertas de hielos permanentes, que sirvieron de referencias en las

investigaciones practicadas por académicos franceses para la medida del polo

ecuatorial. La comisión, integrada principalmente por La Condamine,

Científico y Poeta 271

Bouger y Godin, estuvo encargada en 1736 de determinar la magnitud y

forma de la tierra. El resultado de sus operaciones en el Ecuador se publicó

en 1749.

FIGURE 22-8.

FIGURE 22-9.

Después de dos intentos, llegaron a escalar el volcán Pichincha, a 14.940

pies de altura sobre el nivel del mar, el Antisana (16 de mayo) el Cotopaxi

(28 de abril). Tomaron la topografía de estos volcanes barométrica y

geométricamente y las formaciones mineralógicas. Posteriormente el ascenso

272 Literature and the Arts

del Chimborazo, que marca el punto más alto de su investigación geográfica

en las cumbres andinas y se consideraba en esa época como la cumbre de

mayor altura del globo terráqueo., 18.096 pies.10

En Perú estudia detenidamente la cultura Inca, admira las ruinas, las

pirámides, los canales, las riquezas de oro y plata, la organización de sus

habitantes. En Lima permanecen cerca de dos meses. Vía Guayaquil se diri-

gen hacia México, y llegan a las playas de Acapulco el 22 de marzo de 1803.

En México hace un estudio de la corteza terrestre, como lo había hecho en

los otros sitios visitados; concluye que: en todos los climas la corteza pétrea

del globo presenta al viajero el mismo aspecto, reconociendo con emoción

sincera, en medio de un nuevo mundo, las rocas de su país natal... La super-

posición de las rocas secundarias sigue las mismas leyes en las regiones más

distantes una de otra; por todas partes, en fin, atestiguan los monumentos

igual proceso en las revoluciones que han cambiado progresivamente la

superficie del globo.11

En el Virreinato de la Nueva España visita alrededor de 50 sitios difer-

entes: accidentes del la naturaleza, montañas, volcanes pueblos y ciudades.

Hace un profundo estudio del Virreinato en todos los órdenes de la cultura,

entendida en su más amplia acepción. Afirma que México debe contarse sin

duda alguna entre las más hermosas ciudades que los europeos han fundado

en ambos hemisferios.12 Enumera los edificios e instituciones más impor-

tantes de la ciudad, muchos de los cuales no existían en las otras ciudades

hispanoamericanas: la Catedral, la Casa de la Moneda, los Conventos, los

Hospicios para niños y ancianos, la Acordada, cárcel bastante espaciosa, la

Escuela de Minas, el Jardín Botánico, la Universidad, la Biblioteca Pública,

la Academia de Bellas Artes, la estatua ecuestre de Carlos lV. Contempla los

antiguos monumentos mexicanos, las pirámides de Teotihuacan. Presenta al

virrey Iturrigaray las Tablas Geográficas Políticas del Reino de la Nueva

España Estudian el Popocatépetl y el Iztaccihuatl. En Estados Unidos deja

Humboldt el primer manuscrito de su viaje por sur América.

La Literatura y La Naturaleza

Humboldt tenía el convencimiento de que la obra debía reunir, junto al valor

científico, la forma literaria, por ello en su obra convergen los dos factores.

Estudia también los primitivos mitos de los pueblos y considera que son la

raíz de las primeras nociones cosmográficas y físicas: Los hechos de la histo-

ria y de la geografía primitiva no son sólo ficciones ingeniosas, puesto que

10. Hanno Beck.

Amerikanische Reise

(Stuttgart: Thienemanns Verlag. 1985)

11. Alejandro de Humboldt.

Sitios de la Cordilleras y Monumentos de los Pueblos

Indígenas de América

(Buenos Aires: Solar/Hachette. 1968).

12. Alejandro de Humboldt.

Ensayo Político sobre el Reino de la Nueva España.

(México.

Editorial Porrúa, 15. 1984).

Científico y Poeta 273

reflejan las opiniones formadas acerca del mundo real.13 Estudia también las

descripciones de la naturaleza en las antiguas literaturas. Cómo influye en

ellas el sentimiento de la naturaleza, cómo se refleja la vida interior y la

emoción que la visión del mundo físico le impone a la imaginación del poeta,

aún sin que éste tenga clara conciencia de ello. Analiza la literatura indú, que

demuestra una profunda reflexión sobre las leyes de la naturaleza, una ten-

dencia contemplativa, fondo de su poesía. Estudia los Vedas, el más antiguo

monumento de los pueblos de Asia Oriental, también el Ramayana, el Maha-

barata y los Puranas.

Recuerda que las naciones semíticas y arameas presentan el testimonio

del sentimiento profundo de la naturaleza, expresado con grandeza y esplen-

dor en las leyendas pastoriles, los himnos sagrados y los cantos líricos en los

tiempos del rey David. Siente que la poesía hebrea ofrece elevación y profun-

didad. Según Humboldt, uno de los caracteres distintivos de la poesía de la

Naturaleza entre los hebreos, es que, reflejo del monoteísmo, abraza siempre

el mundo en una imponente unidad, comprendiendo a la vez el globo terrestre

y los luminosos espacios del cielo. El Salmo 103 es por sí solo un bosquejo

del universo y un canto a Jehová. El libro de Job, con las descripciones de los

accidentes meteorológicos en la región de las nubes, con sus caprichosos jue-

gos de luz, la formación del granizo y el trueno, constituye la obra más aca-

bada de la poesía hebrea. También Goethe califica el Libro de Ruth, como el

poema más delicioso de la epopeya y el idilio. Estudia los griegos y romanos:

Platón, Aristóteles, Virgilio, Horacio, Tibulo, Julio César, Tito Livio, Tácito,

quienes reflejan sus concepciones sobre el orden que preside el Universo...

En Virgilio observa un conocimiento profundo de la Naturaleza, en los

armónicos colores de los cuadros de su epopeya: la calma del mar y la tran-

quilidad de la noche. Se familiariza también con la literatura árabe, la rena-

centista, la contemporánea, buscando la huella de las descripciones animadas

de las escenas de la naturaleza y cómo ha de influir en diferentes pueblos y

épocas distintas... Estudia la literatura del siglo de Oro: Calderón, Cervantes,

Lope de Vega... Los románticos, desde la segunda mitad del siglo XVlll: en

los que la inteligente contemplación de los fenómenos no ha sido sofocada

bajo el peso material de la ciencia, como Rousseau, Klopstock, Schiller,

Goethe, Byron.”14 La Naturaleza es para ellos la expresión de una obre creada

y ordenada, la expresión viviente de un Dios por todas partes presente en la

manifestación de un mundo sensible.”15

El Nuevo Mundo ofrece por primera vez la variedad de paisajes de los

trópicos, que ha producido un continuo éxtasis constante en todos los Cronis-

13. Alejandro de Humboldt.

Cristóbal colón y el Descubrimiento de América.

(Caracas:

Monte Avila Editores. 1992)

14. Humboldt.

Cosmos.201.

15. Idem.

274 Literature and the Arts

tas de Indias, cuya lectura le es familiar al científico alemán. Del Almirante

Cristóbal Colón se desprende la expresión de ver las regionestropicales como

una constante primavera: Las tierras de ellas son altas y en ellas hay muchas

sierras y montañas altísimas... Todas son hermosísimas de mil hechuras y

todas andables y llenas de árboles de mil maneras y altas, y parece que llegan

al cielo; y tengo por dicho que jamás pierden la hoja según lo que pude com-

prender, que los vi tan bellos y tan hermosos como los vi por mayo en

España.16

En su obra Cuadros de la Naturaleza Humboldt hace un hermoso contrate

en dos escenas de la vida de los animales en la selva. Son cuadros admrables

de sorprendente verdad. La primera es producto de una vivencia personal en

la noche, en la época de las aguas bajas, cerca de la confluencia del río Apure

con el Orinoco. Es una escena nocturna, cuando pernoctaron cerca de la

playa. La segunda es al mediodía, cuando el sol está en el cenit. Con su

dominio del lenguaje hace sentir al lector las profundas y conmovedoras

escenas de ambos paisajes: la algarabía del reino animal al aproximarse la

tormenta y por contraste, la naturaleza en plena quietud aparente. El hombre

rodeado de vibraciones, de sonidos que anuncian un mundo de fuerzas

orgánicas en movimiento, la vida se agita imperceptiblemente, pero se hace

escuchar para el poeta y el científico, es como una de las mil voces que la nat-

uraleza dirige al alma piadosa y sensible del hombre.

Otra escena en Santa Bárbara del río Arichuna: pasaron la noche en una

playa aarenosa. La luna dominaba el horizonte. Encendieron una fogata para

preservarse de los ataques del jaguar. Reinaba un profundo silencio y a las

once comenzó un profundo griterío. Aullidos de los monos aulladores, ron-

quidos del mono dormilón, gritos entrecortados del tigre de América, un

enjambre de loros y otras gallináceas. Si se pregunta a los indios qué es lo

que produce ese tumulto continuo durante la noche, responden riéndose que

los animales quieren ver la luna... Los gritos se tornaban cada vez más escan-

dalosos en los aguaceros.

Sobre el arte en Humboldt apunta Hanno Beck: Con sus creaciones los

pintores no sólo nos ofrecieron obras de arte, sino que también hicieron un

aporte importante a la fisonomía de las regiones tropicales, siguiendo los lin-

eamientos de Humboldt. El arte así no se ve degradado, sino que gana una

nueva dimensión.17

La tesis del científico prusiano era que la obra artística debía ser un vivo

y fiel reflejo del mundo natural, conceptos estos aplicados al arte pictórico y

a la literatura. Por eso Humboldt descubre nuevamente a América, no sólo

16. Isaac Pardo.

Estudios de las Elegías de Varones Ilustres de Indias.

(Caracas. Instituto

de filología Andrés Bello. 1961)

17. Hanno Beck et al,

El Arte Descubre un Continente.

(Berlín: Exposición del Instituto

Ibero-Americano. Patrimonio Cultural Prusiano. 1978)

Científico y Poeta 275

para la ciencia, sino también para la literatura y el arte, las descripciones y

dibujos de Humboldt son un poema de admiración y amor a la naturaleza

americana, lo que produjo una corriente de científicos y artistas que vinieron

a América, en busca de una tierra de promisión. Entre ellos bastaría mencio-

nar a Karl Moritz, quien realizó magníficas colecciones de Venezuela, depos-

itadas en los museos de Viena, Berlín y Leipzig. A German Karsten, ilustre

botánico y geólogo. A Karl Apun, botánico, naturalista, Augusto Fendler,

quien exploró la Guayana. Anton Goering, notable naturalista y fino artista,

visitó Brasil, México, Uruguay y Venezuela. A Ferdinand Bellerman, quien

nos dejó un documento valiosísimo sobre la Venezuela en hermosas imá-

genes plásticas. Adolfo Ernt, fundador el positivismo en Venezuela. Todo

esto es un legado de Humboldt, de universal y permanente vigencia. Entre

sus múltiples lecciones está su labor conservacionista y amante de la natu-

raleza, que paradójicamente la moderna tecnología está destruyendo a paso

agigantado, junto con la acción depredadora del hombre. El mayor homenaje

que podemos tributarle al sabio alemán es crear conciencia en las genera-

ciones futuras de la importancia de la conservación de nuestros ríos, nuestra

flora, nuestros bosques y nuestra fauna, sólo así demostraremos que somos

capaces de valorar y aprender el grandioso mensaje que nos legó el ilustre

sabio.

Humboldt concluye: Las estrellas resplandecientes alegran y entusiasman,

y sin embargo, todo gira en el firmamento en figuras matemáticas.

Bibliografía

América. Conferencia en la Asociación Cultural Humboldt. Boletín No. 5

1969. Caracas.

Humboldt o el Segundo Descubridor de América., Boletín de la Asociación

Cultural Humboldt No. 6. 1970. Caracas.

Baldó, José Ignacio. Bicentenario del Nacimiento de Alejandro de Humboldt.

Boletín de La Asociación Cultural Humboldt. 1969. Caracas.

Beck, Hanno. Alexander von Humboldt. Wiesbaden: Steinaer Verlag, 1978.

El Arte descubre un continente Artistas Alemanes en Latinoamérica.

Berlín. 1961.

Alexander von Humboldt. Amerikanische Reise. Thieneman. Edition Erd-

man. Stuttgart. 1985.

El último de los grandes. Alexander von Humboldt. Contornos de un genio.

Inter Nationes. Bonn. 1999.

De Bellard Pietri, Eugenio. Cumaná, puerta de entrada de Humboldt al

Nuevo Continente. Casa de la Cultura de Cumaná. Boletín de la Asoci-

ación Cultural Humboldt. No. 11. Caracas. 1976.

Dupuy, Walter. Alejandro de Humboldt, genio de la síntesis y análisis en el

siglo XlX. Conferencia en la Asociación Cultural Humboldt Cara-

cas.1969.

276 Literature and the Arts

Ernst, Adolfo. Discurso pronunciado en la Sociedad de Ciencias, Físicas y

Naturales el 14 de septiembre de 1869. Reproducido por las Academias-

Nacionales. Palacio de las Academias. Caracas. 1969.

Faak, Margot. Alexander von Humboldt, Lateinamérica am Vorabend del

Unabhäng gigkeits-revolution. Berlín. 1982.

Furet, Francois. Penser la Revolution Francaise. Edition. Galimat. París.

1978.

Gerbi, Antonello. La disputa del Nuevo Mundo. Historia de una Polémica.

1750 1900. México. E.C.E..1900.

Gumilla, Joseph. Histoire naturelle et géographique de lÓrinoque. Marseille

1758.

Hampson, Norman. Historia Social de la Revolución Francesa. Alizanza

Edittorial. París. 1984.

Henríquez Ureña, Pedro. Las Corrientes Literarias de la América Hispánica.

Segunda edición en español. México. 1954.

Humboldt, Alejandro. Cosmos o ensayo de una descripción física del globo.

Traducción por Francisco Díaz Quintero. Edit. Vicente García. Madrid.

1851.

—.Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del Nuevo Continente. Imprenta López.

Buenos Aires.1956.

—.Ensayo Político sobre la Isla de Cuba... Publicaciones del Archivo Nacio-

nal de Cuba. Introducción de Fernando Ortiz... La Habana. 1960.

—.Essai Politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne. Edic. Castellana

Ensayo Político sobre el Reino de la Nueva España. Edit. Porrúa. Méx-

ico. 1966.

—.Sitios de las Cordilleras y Monumentos de los pueblos indígenas de

América. Estudio preliminar de Fernando Márquez Miranda. París. s/ f.

Relación Historique... Copia facsimilar de la 1ª de París. 1799., 1800,

1801, 1802, 1803,1804. Stuttgart. 1970

—.Cristóbal Colón y el Descubrimiento de América. Monte Avila Editores.

Caracas. 1992.

—.Cartas Americanas. Biblioteca Ayacucho. Compilación, prólogo y notas

de Charles Minguet. Trad. Marta Traba. Caracas. 1980.

Kahle, Günter. Simón Bolívar y los alemanes. Inter Nationes. Bonn. 1960.

Labastida, Jaime. Humboldt, ese desconocido. Secretaría de Educación

Pública. México. 1975.

Lancini V. Abdém Ramón. Alejandro de Humboldt en el Oriente de Venezu-

ela. Publicaciones Lagoven. Caracas. 1988.

Alejandro de Humboldt. Semblanza del viajero se Siberia. Lagoven. Caracas.

1989.

Loschner. Renate. Artistas Alemanes en Latinoamérica. Exposición del

Instituto Iberoamericano. Berlín. 1987.

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síntesis de la literatura y ciencia natural en Humboldt. Inter Nationes.

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rique Espagnole (1799- 1804). Institut des Hautes Etudes de l Ámerique

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Moheit, Ulrike. Alexander von Humboldt. Briefe aus Amérika. 1799-1804.

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55. Año Vl. Caracas. 1943.

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Compás. Caracas. 1948..

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ciales”. Edición MEN. Caracas 1956.

Urbani Patat, Francisco. Contribuciones geológicas en las obras venezolanis-

tas de Alejandro de Humboldt. Exposición de VEBAOEL PDVSA.

Essen.

Veracoechea de Castillo, Luisa. La Huella del Sabio. El Municipio Foráneo

Alejandro de Humboldt. Academia Nacional de la Historia. Caracas,

1995.

Alejandro de Humboldt en Venezuela. Segundo Centenario de su Viaje a

América. Cuadernos PDVSA. ( Petróleos de Venezuela). Caracas. 1998.

Dos Centurias del Viaje de Alejandro de Humboldt a los Estados Unidos de

América. Asociación Cultural Humboldt. Caracas. 2004.

La Cultura germánica y don Andrés Bello. Ediciones La Casa de Hanno

Beck. Amerikanische Reise, Bello. Colección Anauco. Caracas. 2000.

Part IV

Life and Travels

281

CHAPTER 23 A French Perspective

Pierre Laszlo

Alexander von Humboldt was a Francophile. Humboldt’s Francophilia was

induced by the French Revolution. It promised a new historical era and the

young German aristocrat was swayed by the prospect of a leap in the quality

of life for mankind.

His affection for France cannot be dissociated from his having been nur-

tured, culturally speaking, in the values of eighteenth-century Enlightenment.

Humboldt was very much part in the continuity of the group of intellectuals

who wrote the Encyclopédie. His own biography, his widespread interests,

his skill at writing all make him a kindred spirit to Denis Diderot’s.

Moreover, Humboldt was familiar with France. He lived for a number of

years in Paris. Actually, that is an understatement: Humboldt lived in Paris

for several decades. We tend to forget it, associating a German with Ger-

many. However, Humboldt first arrived in Paris in 1797 at the age of 28.

There, he met Aimé Bonpland and together they left for South America in

1799. Returning to Europe in 1804, he settled again in Paris. This is where he

wrote his Voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau Continent (publica-

tion, begun in 1805, would take a full 20 years). In 1828, Humboldt left for

his exploration trip of Russia and Central Asia. Only in 1847, a full half-a-

century after his arrival in Paris, did Humboldt leave the capital of France for

his native Berlin. He continued to find Paris an irresistible attraction, and he

continued to split his time between the two cities.

In Paris Humboldt was fully integrated within the local intelligentsia. He

had numerous French friends. Among many other stories, one may recall that

in 1808, when François Arago was released from captivity in Algiers (he had

been arrested by the Spaniards as a spy, and the subsequent events are from a

picaresque novel), he was greeted in Marseilles by Humboldt who had rushed

to meet his friend after he was liberated from his ordeal.

282 Life and Travels

I shall offer here a commentary on a brief text which Humboldt wrote in

French, the Essai sur la géographie des plantes. It originated with a presenta-

tion Humboldt made to the Institut de France on January 7th, 1805 (17

Nivôse de l’an 13). It was not printed before 1806 and probably not published

until 1807. Only 38 pages long, this printed lecture has all the charm of Hum-

boldt’s writings, but it suffers from his inability to frame his thoughts in an

organized, Cartesian manner, which Arago pointed out to him: “Tu ne sais

pas construire; tes livres sont comme des tableaux sans cadre.” (“You don’t

know how to build; your books are like unframed pictures”).

What does the Essai consist of? The explicit intent, expressed by the title

is a disquisition on the geographic distribution of diverse plant species. More

interesting yet, are the actual contents.They consist of an attempt at an ency-

clopædic excursion through the whole of knowledge.

Typical of educated Europeans in his generation, Alexander von Hum-

boldt was nurtured on the Encyclopédie. Its volumes had a precious feature,

subversive of authorities, primarily of the Church. This was the presence of

the numerous cross-references—renvois, in French.

One might initially have looked-up some notion, a word perhaps. This

was a mere hook. One might have been induced, in the process of reading

that entry, to look-up another. The editors thus had built a network of

intended connections.

I will submit here that Humboldt acquired his Wanderlust in part from

reading the Encyclopédie. Cross-referencing gave him an ease at crisscross-

ing existing knowledge. From there, to seek connections between geographic

areas, to visit faraway populations and to observe biological organisms over

the whole planet, are but logical outcomes of such wide-ranging curiosity.

The Essai’ sur la géographie des plantes embodies an isomorphism, from

the printed page, to the landscape traversed on horseback, or on foot. To

Humboldt, to write about his South American travels is restitution. He gives

back his personal exhilaration, being privileged to witness so many exotic

scenes. His is the appetite for the life of the nomad. There is no intrinsic dif-

ference between the personal observations he made in natural history, and

institutionalized knowledge, in its various branches. It is all a matter of writ-

ing and of reading.

Critical analysis of such an encyclopedic romp can do no better, I submit,

than use as its tool a more or less contemporary attempt at organizing the

whole of human knowledge. Thus, it should come as no surprise if my look-

ing glass, in this examination of the Essai, is provided by André-Marie

Ampère’s classification of the sciences. Even though it appeared in print

almost four decades after the appearance of Humboldt’s Essai, it helps the

modern reader to recapture what Humboldt and Ampère had in mind, when

A French Perspective 283

they independently envisaged the totality of knowledge, with a view to both

organize it along its lines of forces and to circumscribe it.

The Essai: Summary of its Contents

The Preface to the Essai is all the more interesting that, given the small size

of the Essai, it is of disproportionate length. The Preface is almost eight

pages long, as against a little over 21 pages for the Essai. It starts with the

rhetoric of modesty: the author, who might have instead published a narrative

of his travels and thus drawn attention to himself, pales in comparison to the

importance of his topic. He wished to present an overall picture of the planet.

A sentence in the Preface makes it clear, both that Humboldt carried the

project of writing such an essay for many years, and that George Förster, an

associate of Captain Cook’s, had encouraged him to do so.

In the very first sentence of the Essai proper, Humboldt dissociates him-

self from botanists: as a group, their research is too specialized, he writes:

“Researches by botanists are generally directed towards objects which com-

prise a very small part of their science.” Accordingly, the Essai turns out to

offer a plea for the equivalent, at the beginning of the nineteenth century, of

pluridisciplinarity.

How does Humboldt achieve it? By transposing to the library the experi-

ence of the explorer. Instead of physical travel through varied territory,

encompassing mountains, deserts, cultivated land, forests, rivers and lakes,

the scientist will hop from specialty to specialty. As an Ariadne’s thread, he

will have his chosen theme, the geography of plants in this case. Hence,

Humboldt evokes in succession, systematic botany, historical botany, and the

historical sciences, general physics, (the word “physics” under his pen

demands however, an explanation), agronomy, paleontology, astronomy,

anthropology, imitation arts including painting, poetry, psychology and

chemistry. Thus, the Essai could also be described as a rambling walk

through the sciences.

General Physics in the Essai

That we are on the right track in using Ampère’s text to read Humboldt’s

Essai becomes obvious as soon as one looks up the expression physique

générale. When Humboldt wrote his lecture, geology was still in its prehis-

tory. As writes Ampère, “the distinction between general physics and geol-

ogy is sufficiently determined in that the former considers bodies in general,

while the latter studies them only to they extent they belong to the terrestrial

globe.” (1.97). Such a meaning of general physics was current in Humboldt’s

time. It is fleshed out by Ampère who, in his comments (1.98) refers to a

284 Life and Travels

number of phenomena belonging with general physics, not with geology:

alignment of the compass needle with the magnetic pole – lifting of a column

of mercury by the atmospheric pressure – water evaporation and rain – pres-

ence of layers in the soil. Meteorology, for Ampère, belongs with such gen-

eral physics.

General physics, in other words, had a very different meaning from

today’s. To Humboldt, as well as to Ampère, it referred to inanimate natural

history, to the physical phenomena in nature. To us, general physics has

become almost exclusively laboratory physics. It is interesting that the

expression still retained its meaning from Early Modern times at the begin-

ning of the nineteenth century, even though experimental science was already

a couple of centuries-old.

Indeed, laboratory science is totally excluded from the Essai, which reads

like a lyrical ode to natural history. Moreover, Humboldt and Bonpland

engaged on their trip to Latin America right at the time of the first triumphs

of the Industrial revolution in Europe. Their travels can be interpreted as a

symbolic gesture. When European society was undergoing a qualitative

mutation, the two friends were seeking a passeist retreat into the nomadic

existence of hunters-gatherers among the American Indians of South Amer-

ica. It is paradoxical, when European factories became transformed qualita-

tively and quantitatively by steam power, for the Essai to have mechanical

philosophy as its blind spot.

Descriptive Botany in the Essai

Humboldt starts the Essai with an attack on the myopia of botanists. “They

occupy themselves near exclusively,” he writes, “with the discovery of new

plant species, study of their external structure, of their distinguishing charac-

teristics, and of the analogies which group them into classes and families.”

He goes on to define the main axes of plant geography, a science which

would study plants in terms of their local associations in the different cli-

mates. Clearly, Humboldt has our discipline of ecology in mind.

Even though Humboldt pours scorn on descriptive botany, he resorts to it

repeatedly. He gives plants their accepted Latin linnean names, and these

keep recurring, litany-like, throughout the text of the Essai.

The influence of Goethe is obvious. Humboldt seeks among plants the

Ur-Pflanzen, the primitive form from which all such organisms ultimately

derive. He writes (p. 31) that “In the variety of plants which cover the general

framework of our planet, one easily recognizes a few general forms to which

most of the others reduce themselves,” and he goes on enumerating 15 such

groups. Earlier on (p. 20), in a paragraph which interrupts the narrative and

A French Perspective 285

descriptive flow, Humboldt wrote: “It is this science [he means plant geogra-

phy] which examines whether one can recognize a few primitive forms

among the immense variety of plant forms; and which examines whether the

diversity of species should be considered as the effect of a degeneration

which has rendered constant, with the passing of time, species which had

appeared accidentally.”

When Ampère gets to botany, he distinguishes the four branches of phy-

tography, plant anatomy, phytonomy and plant physiology. The first identi-

fies with Humboldt’s géographie des plantes: “From immediate observation

of plants,” wrote Ampère, “results knowledge of their external characteris-

tics, of the nature of the soils they exist in, of the climates they inhabit and of

the elevations above the sea level where they are found “ (1.104).

Geology in the Essai

On reading p. 19 of the Essai, with the sentence “geology bases itself on the

analogous structure in coastlines, in the bottom of the Ocean and on the iden-

tity of animals inhabiting them,” the reader rubs his eyes. Not only is the

word “geology” used, much before Lyell had published his masterpiece and

thus started that science, one also has the eerie feeling of a preview of Alfred

Wegener’s work which more than a century later would establish the reality

of continental drift. Indeed, a couple of sentences later, Humboldt writes of

the “separation between Africa and South America (having) occurred before

development of organized beings.”

To return to the word géologie, it was introduced in volume 1 of the Ency-

clopédie, in 1751, in its Explication du système des connaissances humaines

(Discours préliminaire). This was a forerunner to both Humboldt’s and

Ampère’s efforts at an overview of the sciences as a whole.

Geology provides the Essai with some of its most incisive insights, some

of its most daring and ultimately very successful generalizations. There is the

vision (p. 23) of the accretion of the planet: “If the most impressive phenom-

ena of geology tell us that the whole mantle of the planet was yesteryear in a

liquid state” he writes, and then goes on with, “if stratification and the differ-

ences between rocks show us that mountain formation and the crystallization

of vast masses around a joint core did not occur simultaneously over the

whole surface of the globe.” And he then speculates that the attendant heat

release as the earth cooled, might have determined the local climate.

But geology also provides Humboldt’s pen with some of its best–chosen

particulars, as in the sentence where he refers to (p. 17) “the great catastrophy

which opened the Gibraltar Straits and dug the bed of the Mediterranean.”

286 Life and Travels

Agronomy in the Essai

In writing about agriculture, Humboldt uses an archeological perspective. He

goes from man in the state of nature to the agriculturalist, from the nomad to

the settled cultivator. He watched the former, the Indian who in-between the

valleys of the Orinoco and the Amazon (p. 24) depends on a few plants, very

few plants, for his survival (p. 24).

He then enumerates plants essential to mankind which have been accli-

mated to all parts of the planet. These are predominantly cereals and fruit

trees. In so doing, man replaces biodiversity, Humboldt writes (p. 28), with a

monotonic uniformity. He earlier penned an impassioned paragraph about the

hegemony of heather, responsible for turning much of northern Germany into

a wasteland comparable to the desert in Lybia (p. 17). Now, he comes up with

a parallel indictment of cultivated plants which also stifle competition and

replace diversity with uniformity.

When Ampère writes on agriculture (1. 120), he emphasizes that he con-

siders it in its wider meaning; distancing himself from other authors who

restrict agriculture to cultivation of cereals (1. 121). However, Ampère

defines another four related sciences. He names geoponics (1. 108) the art of

the gardener, looking after plants, whether in the wild or in the garden. He

terms agricultural cerdoristics what we would now call agro-industrial man-

agement (1. 109), while to him (as to us) agronomy concerns the means by

which to agricultural goods and yields are improved. Finally, in this chapter,

plant physiology is for Ampère the set of causal explanations for all the

empirical knowledge about plant cultivation.

Paleontology in the Essai

“To solve the great problem of plant migration,” writes Humboldt (p. 22)

“plant geography goes inside the globe. There, it consults antique monuments

which nature has left behind in the petrifications, in the fossil woods and the

layers of coal, tombs for the first vegetation on our planet.” Humboldt goes

on to mention animal remains also; before he raises again the question of the

changes in the climate which account for such observations.

Ampère is clearly at a loss as to where to put such a science. He names

oryxionomy the science of digging the earth and he relates it primarily to met-

allurgy, i.e., to the extraction of metals from their ores. When writing this part

of his treatise (1. 94), Ampère was clearly forgetting that soil does not consist

exclusively of minerals, it also contains organic remains.

A French Perspective 287

Astronomy in the Essai

To Humboldt, the geography of plants beckons astronomical knowledge. The

link is climactic change. However, he cannot put his finger on it. Could there

have been a change, in the distant geological past, in the axis of rotation of

the Earth? Could there have been a modified configuration of celestial bod-

ies? Has there occurred a great change in the intensity of light from the sun?

As he writes on p. 23, “the present state of our astronomical knowledge” does

not allow a choice between these various hypotheses.

Most interestingly, Ampère identifies four sciences having to do with the

cosmos. There is uranography, i.e., “all what the view of the sky offers to

immediate observation.” (1. 57). Basically, this is the map of the sky with the

fixed stars. Humboldt refers explicitly to such a sight and, in doing so, is

guilty of prejudice. He makes a mistake from lack of imagination, surprising

on his part. He writes of the (p. 34), “earth unfolding to his eyes a show as

varied as the azure canopy of the sky, which does not hide from him any of its

constellations.” By equating the visible with the existing constellations,

Humboldt is guilty of a definite lapse in imagination. To Ampère, returning

to his classification of the sciences, heliostatics (1. 58) corresponds closely to

the conjectures of Humboldt’s. This is the planetary science concerning itself,

in Ampère’s words, with “real motion of the earth about its axis, of the Earth

and of the planets around the Sun, while assuming the latter motionless in the

center of the planetary system.” Astronomy deals with Kepler’s laws of

motion and with similar empirical laws, induced from observations. (1. 58)

Celestial mechanics deals with theory of motion, as devised by Newton. (1.

59)

History in the Essai

At its core, history is a constant presence in the Essai. Humboldt presents

himself as the spokesman for a collective anamnesis on the part of Europe-

ans: we should recall, he writes (p. 26) that we owe walnuts and peaches to

Persia, apricots to Armenia, cherries and horse chestnuts to Asia Minor, half-

a-dozen other fruit trees to Syria. He refers to Hesiod and Homer for testi-

mony to the ancient colonization by olive trees in Greece. Conversely, in the

time of Cato, Romans were still ignorant of cherries, peaches and blackber-

ries. He sketches a history of the vine: born on the shores of the Caspian, it

came first to Greece, afterwards to Sicily. The populations in the area of

Marseilles brought vines to southern France, Romans implanted them along

the Rhine river. In another agricultural history, the Roman dictator Lucullus

brought back, as part of his public triumph, a single cherry tree, after his vic-

tory over Mithridates. Less than a century later, cherry trees were common in

France, Germany and England (p. 27).

To Humboldt, history as it unfolds is not only a narrative of migrations. It

is also an equally astounding report on invariants and permanences. Is it not

so that the potato flower is identically the same in the Andes as it is in Sibe-

rian plains (p. 27)? Barley which fed the horses of Achilles is the same cereal

feeding us today. The ibis found in Egyptian catacombs, contemporary with

the building of the pyramids, is the same bird still to be found on the banks of

the Nile (p. 27).

This won’t come as a surprise, Humboldt follows the thought of Jean-

Jacques Rousseau in his Discours sur l’origine de l’inégalité. To both writ-

ers, mankind went from the nomadic state to the agricultural state. Primitive

man was a hunter-gatherer (p. 24). One can infer from the paragraphs on p.

25 et seq. that human history begins with gardening and agriculture. A latter

reference to history emphasizes strife and war. Their causes, for Humboldt,

are the fight for valuable plants and their resources. Quinquina, the source of

quinine, is an example of a useful medicinal plant.

Here, to help us understand Humboldt’s thought, I have to quote Ampère

at some length:

It has often been said that societies are like individuals. They are born, they

slowly develop. They have neighborhood interactions, they live at peace or at

war with the neighboring societies. They are impelled by the feelings and the

passions of individuals, which become the feelings and the passions of the

crowd. Societies get old, and they die. In order to study such societal lives,

one has to start by observing the facts. Indeed, the mere narrative or the sim-

ple exposition of facts concerning the life of societies is the science (…)

which I term chronography.

Imitation Arts in the Essai

Humboldt refers to painting in particular. Images brought back from the trop-

ics will be treasured by Europeans, he explains, for their depiction of plant

forms more awesome, more admirable, bigger and more colorful, far more

diverse than anything that can be seen in Europe. Nature, near the equator, is

more profuse, more inventive, more awesome. It is the province of the artist

to convey those impressions.

Ampère terms terpnography the science based on the study of art master-

pieces. Besides immediate observation of an artifact, one ought to study as

well the intentions of the artist, compared with the actual production; which

is the purpose of what Ampère terms terpnognosy. Technesthetics, of which

terpnography and terpnognosy are but two parts, denotes the whole sphere of

A French Perspective 289

human perception of art; as Ampère writes, it refers to “everything which in

the arts has to do with feeling.”

To come back to Humboldt’s piece, let us give some attention to the

occurrence of the word painter in his text. After noting the identity of the oak

species crowning the heights of the Tenochtitlan valley with those found

along the 45th parallel, Humboldt asserts that (p. 17) “the painter who would

travel through those parts of the countries located under the tropics for study-

ing the character of the flora, would not encounter the beauty and the variety

of forms displayed by equinoctial plants.” Clearly, he himself identifies with

the painter in this sentence. Why does he refer to the painter, when elsewhere

he mentions the traveller, as on p. 21 (d’autres voyageurs)? Why does he

refer to the painter, when elsewhere as on p. 27 he mentions the observer

(l’observateur)? Why does he refer to the painter when elsewhere (p. 28) he

identifies himself with the botanist in his excursions (le botaniste dans ses

excursions)? The answer is from aesthetics, as noted on p. 30: “a person sen-

sitive to the beauties of nature” (l’homme sensible aux beautés de la nature).

A few sentences down, he writes that “the mere aspect of nature, the sight of

fields and of forests, are causes for enjoyment” (Le simple aspect de la

nature, la vue des champs et des bois, causent une jouissance). Note in pass-

ing that here, Humboldt identifies nature with nature humanized through cul-

tivation.

Psychology in the Essai

Here and there, Humboldt uses adjectives to characterize human types. They

partake of a jaundiced view of man, in the tradition of Jean-Jacques Rous-

seau. Man may have been good originally in the state of nature, but civiliza-

tion has corrupted him. The Essai sur la géographie des plantes reads as a

forerunner to Tristes Tropiques by Claude Lévi-Strauss.

There is the traveller, as exemplified by Humboldt and by his companion

Bonpland. He is termed l’homme inquiet et laborieux (p. 27), which might be

rendered as the worried and hard-working man. Such a pessimistic note is

reiterated toward the end of the book, where Humboldt refers to the Euro-

pean, “a man isolated on an aridic shore.” (p. 34) There is (p. 29) the Amerin-

dian, dwelling on the shores of Rio-Negro or Cassiquiare, who is termed

aussi mélancolique que méfiant: as melancholy as he is distrustful.

Humboldt’s deep sadness whenever he mentions the human animal con-

trasts with his enthusiastic depiction of the world of plants, in their majesty,

beauty and empire over the whole of the natural world.

290 Life and Travels

Circulators

But how does Humboldt contrive to move from one science to another in his

Essai? Does he use a single rhetorical tool or a set of devices to effect such

textual switches? A scrutiny is worthwhile.

Consider fossils, as the entry point for paleontology. The switch occurs on

p. 22 of the Essai. Humboldt has just denounced “the error from those geolo-

gists who reconstruct the entire globe on the model of the hills nearest to

them.” The next paragraph asserts, in a non sequitur, that the solution to the

problem of plant migration is to be sought inside the Earth. The circulator, in

this case, is the return to the nagging question of plant migration. Humboldt

the traveller has observed that plants also travel. Why do they do so? At this

point, Humboldt concludes from the evidence of fossilized plants, that

marked changes in climate have taken place during what we now term the

geological past. He then conjectures astronomical changes, maybe another

configuration in the stars, maybe the tumbling of the rotation axis of the

Earth.

Another transition is needed, when the Essai changes its focus from geol-

ogy to agriculture. Humboldt accomplishes it in three segments. First, he

characterizes geology as a fictional medium, as (I quote) something which

“offers to the imagination of man a field as rich as it is worth cultivating.” (p.

24). Next, he contrasts plants and animals in that the latter, not the former, are

capable of motion. Hence, and this is the third part of his switch, how come

plants are endowed with an apparent mobility?

Enumeration of factors such as winds, currents and birds precedes men-

tion of the main actor, man, responsible for the dispersion of plants. Hum-

boldt, then and only then, deftly changes the topic to plant cultivation.

To return to changes in climate and to their cause, astronomical or terres-

trial, who is to decide whether such a perturbation indeed occurred? L’imagi-

nation de l’homme, he answers (p. 24). This re-centers on man his

meditation. Has not man been, Humboldt writes on p. 24, the prevailing

cause of plant migration. This is the circulator ushering in agriculture (p. 25).

After a couple of pages devoted to examples of cultivated plants and to clas-

sical authors documenting their ancient dwellings, Humboldt recapitulates

this whole section on p. 27 with the mention of “a sequence of events having

spread the human race on the whole surface of the globe,” in other words, to

a history of human migrations.

In order to connect agriculture to political history, Humboldt uses psy-

chology as a link. “The influence of food, (which can be) more or less of a

stimulant, on the type and on the intensity of passions, the history of voyages

and of wars waged for disputing productions from the world of plants: those

A French Perspective 291

are topics which connect the geography of plants to political and moral his-

tory of mankind” (pp. 29-30). Humboldt then goes on to relate the aspect of

plants on taste and the imagination, which circulator serves to introduce

descriptive poetry and imitative arts, such as painting and sculpture (p. 30). A

few pages later, the author returns to such arts as the resource by which Euro-

peans can experience the splendid view of plants from the Equator, from the

“equinoctial regions” which Humboldt has explored and which has left him

with such indelible impressions.

Conclusion

The Essai sur la géographie des plantes belongs in a class of texts, belle-let-

trist essays written by scientists with a talent for literature, which also

include, just to quote a few which followed and which might have been influ-

enced by Humboldt’s. Some of the writings by Humphry Davy not to men-

tion novels of ideas such as Adelbert von Chamisso’s Peter Schlemihl (1814),

and of course Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818). A common thread run-

ning through these texts is the pre-Romantic notion of the lonely individual

roaming the wilderness in bewilderment. If scientific curiosity and the urge

to observe the wonders of natural history draw the scholar in an endless

exploration of the planet, they also remove him from the society of his fellow

human beings. The geography of plants bestows not only admiration for

biodiversity, it also brings with it the desolation of removal and exile.

Bibliography

Ampère, André-Marie. Essai sur la Philosophie des sciences, ou exposition

analytique d'une classification naturelle de toutes les connaissances

humaines. Paris: Bachelier, 1838.

Buttimer, Anne. Geography and the Human Spirit. Baltimore: The Johns

Hopkins University Press, 1993.

Geiger, L. Goethe’s Briefwechsel mit Wilhelm und Alexander v. Humboldt.

Berlin: Eschienen bei Hans Bondy, 1909.

Humboldt, Alexander von. Essai sur la géographie des plantes. Vol. XIII -

1805. Paris: Levrault, Schoell et Co., 1807.

Sorre, Max. “Alexandre de Humboldt (1769-1859).” Cahiers de l'Institut des

Hautes Etudes de l'Amérique Latine 1 (wd): 23 pp.

293

CHAPTER 24 Maler, Legacy and

Mexico

Claudine Leysinger

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859), the “brilliant adventurer,” and “the

most prominent citizen of the world,” as a recent Spiegel magazine article

dubbed him,1 left an important mark on subsequent German travelers in Latin

America. His determination, endurance, rigor, and thoroughness were a yard-

stick for all explorers who headed to the New World after him. In this paper, I

will compare the work of Humboldt and Teobert Maler (1842-1917), who,

like his famous predecessor, re-discovered parts of the Americas and made

them more tangible for a European audience through his travel narratives and

illustrations. By comparing their Mexico expeditions, their methodologies,

their views of this country, especially their ethnological remarks on the native

people, and the role of nature description and illustration in their oeuvres, I

will demonstrate how Maler’s observations on Mexico fit into the Humbold-

tian tradition established by Vues des cordillères des peoples indigènes de

l’Amérique, his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, his travel dia-

ries, published as Reise auf dem Río Magdalena, durch die Anden und Mex-

ico, and to a lesser degree, Kosmos. Even in areas where Maler’s approach

differed most from Humboldt’s, notably in his archaeological observations,

which reflect advancements made in archaeology during Maler’s time, as

well as his close interest in this field and better preparation for conducting

fieldwork, certain comments prove surprisingly similar. Despite the decades

of important scientific developments that followed Humboldt’s publications

and a change towards more specialized knowledge, his legacy lived on in the

work of Teobert Maler.

Alexander von Humboldt’s ninety years of life coincided with a very

active and fascinating time in German cultural history, a cultural flowering

which produced intellectual giants like Goethe, Schiller, Lessing, and Kant.

1. Matthias Matussek, “Der geniale Abenteurer,”

Der Spiegel,

September 13, 2004.

294 Life and Travels

His epoch was also an agitated period in European history, witnessing the

French revolution, the Napoleonic wars, the 1848 revolutions, and the con-

servative reactions to these. During his lifetime, French, English, and Spanish

captains (Bougainville, Cook, Malaspina) were exploring many parts of the

world not yet known to Europeans. And such illustrated people as Goethe

and Frederick the Great frequented his home when he was still a boy. Alex-

ander was born in Berlin on September 14, 1769, into an educated, noble

Prussian family. His father was a decorated officer of Frederick II of Prussia,

while his mother came from a bourgeois family of Huguenot descent. He was

schooled according to the enlightened ideas of the time, which stressed toler-

ance, universality of knowledge, and humanism. Humboldt indeed was a

product of his time; his later achievements reflect this universal education

and position him within the tradition of the eighteenth-century cultivated

traveler.2

Even though Humboldt’s mother had planned a career as public servant

for her younger son, Alexander managed to pursue his own interest – the

study of travel literature, geography, botany, geology, and eventually mining.3

While pursuing a higher education, Humboldt traveled to many different

places and learnt under many renowned people of the time. He studied bot-

any, for example, with the young but already famous botanist Karl Ludwig

Willdenow in Berlin in the late 1780s. Willdenow was in part responsible for

awakening Humboldt’s fascination for the foreign. After seeing his collection

of exotic plants, Humboldt was seized by the desire to travel to the places

from where they originated. Later, Humboldt enrolled in the University of

Göttingen, which had a highly vibrant and innovative academic culture, and

studied with influential scholars like Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, one of

the founders of the discipline of anthropology. At Göttingen he also became

acquainted with Georg Foster’s work, which was based on his function as sci-

entific observer of James Cook’s second Pacific voyage, and he saw the eth-

nological objects and specimens of the fauna and flora Foster brought back to

enrich Blumenbach’s ethnological collection.4 Humboldt developed a real

friendship with Foster and accompanied him on a journey to Holland,

England, and France.5

In 1796 Humboldt announced his interest in a voyage to the West Indies,

meaning not only the Caribbean islands but also the adjoining mainland

countries.6 Yet, this trip required several more years of preparation. In the

2. See Beck,

Alexander von Humboldt,

1:1-8; O. de Bopp, “Alemania en la época de

Humboldt,”13-28.

3. Beck,

Alexander von Humboldt

, 1:36-37.

4. Gascoigne, “Blumenbach, Banks, and the Beginnings,” 86-88.

5. Beck,

Alexander von Humboldt,

1:25.

6. Ibid., 1:86.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 295

meantime he aborted a planned journey to Egypt, French captain Thomas

Nicolas Baudin requested his company on a tour around the world, which

didn’t materialize either, and he met his future companion Aimé Bonpland,

with whom he traveled to Marseille and eventually Spain. In Spain, he real-

ized his dream of a longer expedition, managing to get an audience with the

royal family, who eventually gave him the permission to travel to the Span-

ish-American colonies. Finally, in June of 1799, he left Europe aboard the

ship Pizarro, en route to Havana and the West Indies via Tenerife.7 His great

travel and exploration plans had materialized, and he was about to conduct

the largest inland exploration of the Spanish-American colonies Vague —

seems disconnected from the list of things you mentioned earlier in the para-

graph (getting married, traveling elsewhere, etc.), which started in Cuba, led

him to present-day Venezuela and Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and eventually

Mexico and the United States.

The time of Humboldt’s America exploration coincided with the last

years of Spanish rule in Latin America. Already the first decade of the 19th

century witnessed independence movements in present-day Argentina and

Venezuela. And in the 1820s most Latin American countries had achieved

their independence. When Humboldt visited Mexico, it was still known as

Viceroyalty of New Spain, and Viceroy Iturrigaray, was the King of Spain’s

representative. After 1821, most of the Viceroyalty of New Spain became

Mexico, an independent country that was shaken by many civil wars and lost

big parts of its territory before reaching the 20th century.

Teobert Maler was born roughly 70 years after Humboldt on January 12,

1842, in Rome. He came from a well-established, educated bourgeois family,

and his father, Friedrich Maler, was a major in the army and the grand duke

of Baden’s chargé d’affaires at the Vatican. During his stay as diplomat in

Rome, Friedrich Maler acquired art and antiquities for the Grand Duke of

Baden’s collection.8 After he was relieved from office in July 1843, the Mal-

ers returned to the Grand Duchy of Baden, and on their way to Germany,

Teobert’s mother suddenly fell ill and died.9 According to his autobiographi-

cal manuscript, Leben meiner Jugend, Maler had a very unhappy childhood,

since his “father was a gloomy, distrustful, and miserly man, whose mean

attributes even grew into a certain degree of insanity.”10 Unlike Humboldt,

whose primary schooling was done at home and fostered by his parents,

Maler grew up in a less propitious environment; according to his memoirs,

7. Ibid., 1:132; 137.

8. Schneider, “Die Erwerbung der antiken Sammlung.”

9. See Noack, “Friedrich Maler zum Gedächtnis,” 36; Graham, “III. Teobert Maler: Eine

Lebensskizze,” XVII-XIX; Kutscher, “Teobert Maler (1842-1917),” 9-10.

10. Teobert Maler,

Leben meiner Jugend

[ca. 1868], TS, Band A73 Teobert Maler, Ham-

burg Museum für Völkerkunde, 1.

296 Life and Travels

his father didn’t give him enough money to buy the necessary books to study,

and thus his advancement in school was mostly due to his own effort.11 After

completing his general schooling in Baden-Baden, Maler studied engineering

and architecture at the Polytechnic school of Karlsruhe.12

Maler’s studies and youth were not as driven by a yearning for foreign

countries, but he nonetheless traveled to Munich and Vienna in 1862 and

decided to go to Mexico when he was only twenty-two years, suggesting at

least some fancy for adventures. In November 1864, he enlisted as a cadet in

the pioneer company of the Austro-Belgian volunteer corps, created by Max-

imilian of Habsburg, whom the French had recently installed as emperor of

Mexico. This episode in Mexican history, known as the Second Empire, is

worth a brief parenthesis. The Second Empire was created by French

Emperor Napoleon III and supported by Mexican conservatives, after the

French had won a military intervention in Mexico. This intervention had

started as a punitive expedition by France, Britain, and Spain, who sent their

gunboats to Mexico to force the government of the republican president

Benito Juárez to service the debt payments, which it had ceased to pay. But

once Britain and Spain realized that the French had ulterior motives, that, in

fact, they wanted to colonize Mexico in order to start creating a Latin League

that would include the Mediterranean countries and the former Iberian pos-

sessions in the New World, they quickly withdrew from this joint venture.

The French expeditionary force defeated the Mexican republican army, and

Napoleon III placed a pair of puppets on the Mexican throne, Maximilian of

Habsburg and his wife, Charlotte, the daughter of the King of Belgium. Ini-

tially, Maximilian and Charlotte enjoyed French military backing and British

economic support, but Emperor Maximilian quickly understood that he had

to become more independent. Thus, he created a corps of Belgian and Aus-

trian volunteers to help him pacify the country, which was torn by guerrilla

warfare that pitted the remnants of the republican army against Maximilian’s

army.

Teobert Maler joined this volunteer corps in November 1864, and he dis-

embarked with his company about a month later in the port of Veracruz,

Mexico. From January 1865 to June 1867 he fought many battles for

Emperor Maximilian in today’s states of Veracruz and Puebla against the

republican insurgents. But he nevertheless had time to start appreciating the

country he was in. According to his memoirs, he soon developed a fascina-

tion for the ancient Mexican civilizations. After having seen the ruins of El

Tajín, near Papantla, Veracruz, he asked General Thun, who was in charge of

the volunteer corps, if he could get a leave of absence to buy books in Mexico

11. Ibid.

12. Ibid.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 297

City to study Náhuatl, an ancient Mexican language. He wasn’t granted this

leave, but instead he was transferred to a quieter company on duty at the cas-

tle of Chapultepec in Mexico City, where he took advantage of peaceful

hours to learn this language.13

The Second Empire, this bizarre interlude in Mexican history, ended

quickly after domestic and international pressure forced Napoleon III to with-

draw troops and financial support in 1867. Maximilian decided not to abdi-

cate, even though the republican forces had reconquered much of Mexico.

But his army of relatively untrained Mexican draftees and a few remaining

Austrian troops could not withstand the increasing pressure by the republican

forces. In the end, Maximilian and his two leading generals were executed by

a republican firing squad on June 19, 1867. Unlike most of his peers from the

volunteer corps, Maler decided to remain in Mexico after the fall of the Sec-

ond Empire. He initially went into hiding, but once things were a bit calmer,

he started exploring the country – first the center-north and then the south.

The reports of these trips, some of which were published in European jour-

nals, constitute the first travel writings Maler produced.

Humboldt’s and Maler’s Mexico expeditions were of a very different

nature, but both developed a keen interest in Mexico in a somewhat fortu-

itous way. Humboldt planned to cross Mexico from Acapulco to Veracruz

fairly quickly in order to reach Europe as soon as possible, because his col-

lections and instruments couldn’t bear much more time on the road, as he

mentioned in his Political Essay, but the vómito negro that raged in the

coastal regions of Veracruz prevented him from reaching that city.14 He ended

up staying almost a full year in the viceroyalty of New Spain, visiting mines,

spending time in Mexico City archives, accompanying the viceroy Iturriga-

ray on his yearly visit to the desagüe (drain) of Huehuetoca, climbing several

volcanoes, establishing the height of these volcanoes, constructing a profile

of the Mexican landscape from Acapulco to Veracruz, and more generally

inquiring into the reasons why there was such a difference in cultural

advancement between the viceroyalty of New Spain and the regions of South

America he had just visited.15 So, despite his initial plans, in the end he spent

enough time in Mexico to gather information for an influential treatise on

New Spain.

Maler’s fascination with Mexico also seems a bit accidental in the sense

that initially he attempted to pursue a military career, and it led him to Mex-

ico as a soldier of Maximilian’s volunteer corps. Before enlisting in this

corps, he wanted to join the franctireurs who formed up in Altona, near Ham-

13. Maler,

Leben meiner Jugend

, 22.

14. Humboldt,

Aus A. Humboldts Versuch,

9:IX.

15. Humboldt,

Aus A. Humboldts Versuch

; Humboldt,

Reise auf dem Río Magdalena;

Beck,

Alexander Humboldts Amerikanische Reise.

298 Life and Travels

burg, during the Danish-German war that ensued over the Schleswig-Hol-

stein question. But he arrived too late and soon afterwards decided to join the

volunteer corps to go to Mexico.16 His initial interest in this country may have

been fortuitous, but when Maler, aged forty-three, returned to Mexico to con-

duct his extensive Yucatan explorations after a seven-year sojourn in Europe,

he had a clear idea of what he wanted to accomplish. Indeed, he had a very

ambitious project in mind: he wished to survey the Maya region, dedicating

the following thirty-two years of his life to the discovery, description, and

photographic depiction of Maya ruins. He displayed a narrower interest in the

country than Humboldt, for he was mainly fascinated by the ancient pre-His-

panic civilizations. Even though he included more general political or cul-

tural observations in his writings, the mainstays of his oeuvre were

archaeology, anthropology, and the study of ancient Mexican history.

Whereas Humboldt’s visit to the viceroyalty of New Spain constituted

only the last (long) leg of these expeditions, Mexico played a much more

central role in Maler’s life and work. But their writings seem to suggest a dif-

ferent story. Humboldt’s Political Essay comprised six volumes, and it cov-

ered everything from a physical description of the viceroyalty, to an account

of the inhabitants and the different races, a statistical report on the different

intendancies, a sketch on the state of farming and mining, and his views on

the state revenue as well as the military defense of the kingdom. In addition,

he also prepared an illustrated volume on New World landscapes and ancient

monuments, the Vues des cordilleras. Maler on the other hand, encountered

greater difficulties in getting his work published. Although a considerable

amount of his archaeological writings and photographs were published dur-

ing his lifetime, his posthumous publications are more copious. And his pub-

lications were less diverse than Humboldt’s, all pertaining to a greater or

lesser degree to the description of ancient ruins. Only his earliest texts con-

tain a more general travel narrative, with discussions of Mexican politics,

ethnological observations on indigenous women’s customs, and many per-

sonal anecdotes.

Having compared the histories, purposes, scopes and outcomes of their

expeditions in Mexico, I would like to turn to Humboldt’s legacy in Maler’s

work. The most obvious elements are the scientific rigor and method both

used. Humboldt explained in Kosmos that the basis of all knowledge was

observation and experimentation. He proposed to then use this data as foun-

dation to establish empirical laws through analogy and induction.17 Much like

his predecessor, Maler too used a very methodic approach in his observations

and depictions of the different ruins he explored. His many accounts reveal

16. Maler,

Leben meiner Jugend

, 2.

17. Humboldt,

Kosmos,

1:66.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 299

an astute observer who paid attention to every little detail. This meticulous

way of studying the ancient ruins made him a real expert and careful observa-

tion often led to intuitive conclusions: frequently he discovered new build-

ings in an archaeological site out of a hunch and located new sites because of

his painstaking way of searching for them. He used to establish a base at one

of the ruins and then look for further archaeological remains by advancing

into the surrounding territory in a star-like manner. He was aware that thanks

to such a thorough system, his “excursions turned out truly grandiose.”18

Similarly to Humboldt, Maler displayed much endurance. He didn’t

shrink from moving stelae to take the best possible photograph of them, and

once he was done, he returned the stone slabs, so that everything was where it

belonged. Thanks to his determination to conduct a thorough expedition in a

very inhospitable climate and to defy the dangers of getting infected with

malaria or other tropical maladies, he helped advance the research in Maya

questions a great deal. His many hundreds of photographs, descriptions, and

maps of Maya ruins were of greatest importance for the development of

Maya archaeology, and his photographs were particularly useful in support-

ing the efforts to decipher the Maya glyphs.19 However, although Maler gave

his own readings of the purpose of ancient sites and of the people depicted on

stelae, he mostly refrained from offering general interpretations of the Maya

civilization. He often wrote that specialists would have to interpret the phe-

nomena he observed. In this sense, he didn’t fully follow through Humboldt’s

scientific approach.

Both Humboldt and Maler made critical remarks concerning social ine-

quality and the position of the indigenous people. In his diaries, Humboldt

commented that the misery and destitution in the streets of Mexico exceeded

any he had seen before, and he decried the inequality of fortunes between

those of European and those of indigenous descent.20 Maler, too, pointed out

the poverty and marginalization of the indigenous people, but unlike Hum-

boldt, who identified several causes for the neediness of Mexican Indians,

among them one that located the roots in the despotic nature of the Aztec

government,21 Maler blamed a somewhat more recent cause: the repressive

rule of the Spaniards. In fact, he was very much influenced by the “black leg-

end” that explained the conquest as a struggle between barbarous Spaniards –

the cruel conquistadors – against the good savages.

18. Teobert Maler to Consul Otto Rosenkranz, 15 November 1893, Rosenkranz Collec-

tion, Lippisches Landesmuseum, Detmold.

19. See the articles of two important archaeologists who praise Maler’s work. Graham,

“III. Teobert Maler”; Kutscher, “Teobert Maler (1842-1917).”

20. Humboldt,

Reise auf dem Río Magdalena,

323.

21. Ibid.

300 Life and Travels

Humboldt and Maler both approved of the indigenous people as work-

force. In fact, Humboldt was an early defender of the Indians against claims

made by anti-American writers like “[Abbé] Raynal, [De] Pauw and so many

other incidentally respectable men, who have complained about the degener-

ation of our species in the hot zones.”22 When describing the work performed

by the tenateros – the laborers in the silver mines, who transported 112 to 125

kg of ore on their backs, carrying them up a staircase of over 1,800 steps,

eight to ten times a day, thus climbing around 32,000 steps – Humboldt made

it clear that he considered these people very industrious and that he didn’t

agree with others who “accused the Indian race of weakness.”23 On the con-

trary, he actually viewed the Indians as much stronger and strenuous than the

Europeans: “What a contrast! Daily it is spoken of the energy of the white

race and the weakness of the indios. The latter make 8 to 10 trips with

weight, and we, we crawl when we climb up once from the shafts of the

Valenciana mine, without weight and well-fed.”24 When making these obser-

vations about the Mexican mine workers, Humboldt also connected the Indi-

ans’ plight to the outcome of the conquest: “Unlucky descendants of a race

that was deprived of its property. Where are examples of an entire nation that

has lost all of its property?”25 Likewise, Maler saw the indigenous people as

Mexico’s major workforce and the main producers of food; he argued that the

only reason the indigenous people survived is because they “feed the Span-

iards, and it is not the Spaniards who feed the Indians.”26 He blamed the

Spaniards for the Indians’ ignorance, considering that they should have made

available to them an education in their native languages.27

To better situate Humboldt’s and Maler’s remarks on Mexico’s Indians, a

quick summary of the history of European accounts on indigenous people is

useful here. Ever since Europeans met natives of the New World, the topic of

the otherness of the inhabitants of the Americas has been of interest. Europe-

ans positioned themselves as civilized and described the indigenous people of

the recently discovered continents as barbarous. Enlightenment thinkers,

however, proposed new ways of looking at indigenous people: they began to

consider the relativity of their own cultural standpoints and did no longer

judge the other from the accustomed Eurocentric stance. Jean-Jacques Rous-

seau’s seminal work Discours sur l’inégalité parmi les hommes, written in

1754, emphasized the dialectics between nature and culture rather than divine

providence in the history of mankind. There, he described the “natural man,”

22. Humboldt,

Aus A. Humboldts Versuch,

9:45.

23. Humboldt,

Reise auf dem Río Magdalena,

368.

24. Ibid.

25. Ibid.

26. Ibid., 312.

27. Ibid., 306.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 301

his vision of mankind before living in society and before being corrupted by

jealousy and greed. He thought that the natural man was beyond good and

evil, full of benevolence and mercy. Towards the end of the eighteenth cen-

tury, the image of the noble savage, which resembles Rousseau’s natural

man, became popular among European romantics. Savage was no longer

equal to barbarous, and native people from far-away places in the New

World, who had not been corrupted by an interaction with the Europeans,

were increasingly seen as authentic and noble rather than degenerated and

barbarous.28

Humboldt and Maler’s remarks on the indigenous people fit into this

Enlightenment tradition. Humboldt viewed the Indians as “primitive people”

or savages who had not achieved the same level of culture as the conquista-

dors. But this comment was meant as an explanation for the outcome of the

conquest. He argued that the ancient Mexicans were “on the first step of civi-

lization,” while the Spaniards were already “very advanced in the arts” and

thus considered their encounter as an “unequal dispute.”29 In addition, Hum-

boldt did not represent all Americans as equal. On the contrary, he high-

lighted the multiplicity of traits and characteristics among the natives of the

American race.30 In fact, he corrected the wrong conviction prevailing among

Europeans that people of brown skin all look alike.31 He emphasized the vari-

ety of languages spoken by the American people and the diversity of geo-

graphical locations, in which they settled, ranging from tropical forests to

mountain ranges. These comments reveal a greater consciousness of the mul-

tiplicity of humankind, and thus echo the relativist stance of Enlightenment

thinkers.

Maler also made distinctions between natives, but these were based on the

degree of purity of the indigenous people. The less corrupted they had been

by the Spanish, both in blood and culture, the more highly he thought of

them. When referring to his porters and workers, he often used negative

words:

When my work in Yaxchilan was finished, my men were completely discour-

aged with regard to undertaking further explorations and ardently longed to

return to Tenosique. Such is the character of these people that even for the

highest wages and with the best treatment, they cannot be induced to continue

at one pursuit for any length of time. My success in having secured their ser-

vices for seven months may be regarded as the utmost that can be accom-

plished.32

28. See also Bitterli’s synthetic work,

Die ‘Wilden’ und die ‘Zivilisierten’,”

232-7.

29. Humboldt,

Aus A. Humboldts Versuch,

9:54.

30. Humboldt,

Sites des cordilleras,

31. Ibid., 56.

32. Maler, “Researches in the Central Portion,” 1903:198.

302 Life and Travels

He also described these same workers as “the three vagabonds [he] had

brought from Tenosique, who were many degrees inferior to the Indians in

every respect,”33 which suggests that he did not consider them as pure Indians

but viewed them as “half-breed,” which he despised for having been cor-

rupted by the Spaniards. Only the indigenous people who were pure and

maintained their traditional lifestyles awakened his passion. This distinction

becomes clearest when he writes about indigenous women. While he praised

pureblood, traditional Indians for their natural, authentic beauty and thought

them “friendly and modest,” he described the mestizas as fake and affected –

women who hid behind make-up and fashion novelties.34 Thus, Maler’s

vision of the indigenous people differs from Humboldt’s in that he equals

savagery to goodness and despises those who have adapted their lifestyles to

that of the Spanish. His view echoes the image of the noble savage that pre-

vailed in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Moreover, Maler admired the ancient Indians most, those who had

achieved a great civilization and built all the ruins he surveyed with such

assiduity. But he did not show the same esteem for the descendants of these

civilizations, especially the semi-nomadic Indians who populated the regions

around the Usumacinta river. In the following quote, Maler wonders why this

beautiful landscape no longer fosters great civilizations:

In all my journeyings on the treacherous waters of the Usumatsintla between

El Cayo and Saiyaxché, I have been forcibly struck by the extraordinary con-

trast between the lavish beauty of nature and the extreme degradation of the

remnants of humanity existing there. Luxuriant vegetation of emerald hue

bends in flower-laden branches to the water’s edge, overarched by a sky of

purest azure; brilliant-hued butterflies and humming birds with metallic sheen

fly from flower to flower; gorgeous birds build their nests in every tree; even

the snakes and iguanodons are graceful and beautiful; but humankind pro-

duces no such splendid forms as are to be seen in the Caucasus or in Asiatic

Turkey. It is long since a respectable, stationary population inhabited these

fruitful shores, and the dubious elements sunk in sloth, filth, and every possi-

ble vice, whose miserable habitations are met with here and there, are con-

stantly shifting since they acquire no fixed property rights.35

Much like Humboldt, who saw part of the reason for the Indians’ hard

labor in their having lost all their property, Maler considered the Indians’ lost

property as cause for their destitution – a both in terms of intellectual and

material culture. This quote also reveals an understanding that the surround-

ing environment plays a key role in fostering cultural development. Maler

33. Maler, “Explorations of the Upper Usumacinta,” 1908, 2:61.

34. Teobert Maler, “Reise des Hauptmann Maler von México nach Tehuantepec 1876,”

TS, Band A73 Teobert Maler, Hamburg Museum für Völkerkunde.

35. Maler, “Explorations of the Upper Usumacinta,” 1908, 1:4.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 303

thus saw the connectedness of nature and culture that had already been

referred to by Rousseau. A beautiful landscape, according to the above quote

by Maler, should positively influence the inhabitants of the region and foster

their cultural achievements.

Humboldt, too, saw the close relationship between nature and culture. In

Sites des cordilleras, he argues that in Equatorial America the mountain peo-

ple, or peuples montagnards, achieved the greatest civilization since they had

to struggle to survive in a hostile environment, and they prevailed.36 Through-

out his writings, Humboldt emphasized nature’s influence on culture. Richard

Konetzke argues that for Humboldt “nature” included “human life and thus

history.” History was embedded in and connected to nature, and the histo-

rian’s task was “to recognize the natural conditions of human cultural life and

show ‘the influence of the physical world on the moral.’”37 Humboldt’s

understanding of the connection between nature and history is perhaps clear-

est in his introduction to Vues des cordilleras that “there is no doubt that the

climate, the shape of the soil, the facet of a smiling or savage nature influence

the progress of the arts and the style that distinguishes their productions. […]

In order to understand the origin of the arts, one has to study the nature of the

site that saw them arise.”38

Humboldt and Maler used drawings or photographs of the monuments

they described to make the objects more palpable and to accentuate their con-

nection to the beautiful landscapes in which they were situated. The drawings

Humboldt commissioned based on his sketches for the Vues des cordilleras

gave Europeans a glimpse of things most would never have had a chance to

see in reality. Humboldt also encouraged contemporary German landscape

painters to travel to the tropics, which according to Humboldt offered ideal

subjects. Johann Moritz Rugendas, whom Humboldt had met in Paris, fol-

lowed the German scientist’s advice and traveled to South America, painting

many of the sites Humboldt mentioned in his oeuvre.39 In Kosmos, Humboldt

reveals why he considered landscape painting such an important genre: “Like

a lively description of nature, landscape painting too is appropriate to

increase the love of the study of nature. Both show us the outside world in all

its rich diversity; both are able […] to tie the sensual to the non-sensual.”40

Thus, for Humboldt, landscape painting was a way of connecting to nature,

perceiving and understanding it, and it taught one about the different physi-

ognomies of nature. Similarly, the representations of ancient monuments

helped viewers to understand more fully the civilizations that built them and,

36. Humboldt,

Sites des cordilleras,

12.

37. Konetzke, “Alexander Humboldt,” 537; Humboldt qtd. in Konetzke.

38. Humboldt,

Vues des cordillères,

39. Diener, “Humboldt und die Kunst,” 147.

40. Humboldt,

Kosmos

, 2:76.

304 Life and Travels

for that reason, the New World as well. This juxtaposition of nature and mon-

uments helped viewers to see “the origin of the arts,”41 as Humboldt put it.

Maler went one step further with the photographs that accompanied his

archaeological texts. They no longer served only as illustrations of the text,

but became a fully integrated element, crucial for the interpretation of the

ancient monument. If the details of a façade were clearly visible in a photo-

graph, then Maler refrained from giving an exhaustive account of the monu-

ment—he would just refer to the photograph. In his oeuvre, text and image

went hand in hand, and since his images were photographs of extremely good

quality and sharpness, they were indeed useful for the study of ancient Mexi-

can cultures. In his texts he hints at how he spared no pains to obtain the per-

fect picture, which included building a scaffolding in order to take a picture

from a better angle, splashing the frescoes with water or moving stone slabs

into the sun to obtain a starker contrast, as well as cutting down trees and

shrubs to get a better view. Maler’s photographs accomplished what Hum-

boldt encouraged landscape painters to pursue: a realistic picture of exotic

landscapes and monuments for a European audience. And the recently dis-

covered photographic method was much more apt to produce a realistic por-

trait of nature than landscape painting, but this was, of course, a kind of

staged realism too.

Despite similarities in style, method, and attitude, Humboldt and Maler

differed, most obviously in their archaeological work. Of course, archaeology

was Maler’s pet subject, while it played a less central role in Humboldt’s oeu-

vre, although he dedicated the greatest amount of space to renderings of

archaeological monuments in his Vues des cordilleras. Yet surveying Mex-

ico’s ancient monuments was definitely not a priority for Humboldt while in

Mexico. In fact, he only visited Cholula, a pyramid in the proximity of the

city of Puebla, but thanks to the research he conducted while in Europe, he

also wrote about several more he hadn’t seen. Notwithstanding it is intriguing

to compare Humboldt’s perception of ancient buildings with Maler’s much

later work, given how much advancement had been made in the field of

archaeology in the interim.

It is surprising that a traveler of the importance and erudition of Alex-

ander von Humboldt only visited Cholula and not even Teotihuacán, Xochi-

calco or Mitla – all three well-known ruins at the time. Ignacio Bernal

attributes this to the fortuity of his Mexico expedition; Humboldt did not plan

to stay in Mexico for long, and consequently he had not prepared himself suf-

ficiently to explore Mexico’s cultural remains more thoroughly. In fact, most

of his erudition on things Mexican was due to the post-voyage study of the

sixteenth-century Spanish chroniclers, conquistadors, and subsequent schol-

41. Humboldt,

Vues des cordillères,

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 305

ars.42 Humboldt openly acknowledged in his Vues des cordilleras that he did

not visit Xochicalco because “he was unaware of the existence of the hill of

Xochicalco” and thus relied on Mr. Alzate’s account of these monuments.43

Since so many of his accounts of ancient monuments were based on descrip-

tions made by earlier travelers and scholars, they reflect the state of archaeol-

ogy of the time in which his sources were written, rather than proposing

novel observations and theories. Not surprisingly, Humboldt copied mis-

takes. In the case of Xochicalco, for example, he described crocodiles spit-

ting out water represented on the walls of the pyramids,44 when in fact, these

bas-reliefs depicted the feathered serpent, Quetzalcóatl or Kukulcán, a myth-

ological being of great importance all over Mesoamerica.

Maler, on the other hand, not only benefited from the greater amount of

scholarship done in Mexican archaeology since Humboldt’s publications, but

he also read the relevant books before starting his in-depth explorations in

Mexico. Of course, Maler also focused more narrowly on the study of pre-

Hispanic culture. Moreover, his professional training as architect helped him

a great deal in the specifications of the ruins, in which he included informa-

tion on the layout, construction, size, shape, and decoration. Often he also

ventured an interpretation or explanation of the objects he portrayed, and thus

did not just simply repeat what archaeologists before him had already

observed, but added both greater detail and original theories.

The description of Mitla nicely illustrates the different traditions to which

Humboldt and Maler belong – more universal vs. more specified knowledge,

respectively, which also positions Humboldt more fully in the Enlightenment

and Maler in the nineteenth century. Humboldt based his account on the

Mexican architect Don Luis Martin’s plan and account of these Zapotec

ruins, thus further exposing his lack of dedication to the exploration of ruins.

Maler’s narrative, in contrast, reveals his personal impressions and analysis,

making his presence there very realistic. He is also more careful with his por-

trayal of the ruins. While describing what he called the main palace, he noted

that it was not clear whether this building really functioned as such, or

whether, since all other buildings were “so terribly destroyed, it appeared to

us as the most important.”45 Humboldt, on the other hand, simply referred to

it as the main palace, as if its central role were unquestionable.

Humboldt also exposes himself as Enlightenment thinker in that he classi-

fied ancient Mexican buildings comparing them to other ancient civilizations,

42. Bernal, “Humboldt y la arqueología mexicana,” 124-5.

43. Humboldt,

Vues des cordillères

, 41.

44. Ibid., 39. In his notes on Humboldt’s

Vues des cordillères,

Maler makes a mocking

comment on Humboldt’s drawing of Xochicalco. He calls it a “ridiculously bad drawing.”

Notizbücher, Nachlass Maler, Ibero-Amerikanisches Institut, Berlin.

45. Maler, “Reise des Hauptmann Maler,” 21.

306 Life and Travels

most often those of Greece and Egypt. He considered Mitla, for example “of

a very remarkable elegance,” unlike all “the [other] barbarous monuments

that only offered a purely historical interest,”46 and compared the decorative

mosaics of the main palace to the “vases of Great-Greece and [to] other orna-

ments that can be found spread over almost the entire ancient continent.”47

However, he didn’t consider these ruins an indicator of a “very advanced civ-

ilization.”48 On the contrary, he saw this archaeological site, like others he

described, as evidence of the “dawn of art,” citing the columns found in Mitla

as corroboration of this, since they lacked capitals and were thus of a brutish

style.49

Maler also mentioned the columns of Mitla, but his analysis of them was

of a less comparative nature. He looked at them within their own Mexican

context, without drawing comparisons to other civilizations. He observed that

columns were all sculpted out of one stone, that “they [had] neither foot nor

head, but [that] they [swelled] lightly and [tapered] at the top.”50 Unlike

Humboldt, who described this Zapotec site rather dryly, Maler’s narrative

description led the reader through Mitla’s buildings, which produced a very

vivid effect, while giving details on the thickness of the stucco, the mosaics,

and his reflections on the manner of construction.51

Humboldt’s comparative approach to examining New World civilizations

was also driven by the desire to point out antecedents and maybe direct links

between Old World and New World cultures. He was very much aware of the

different theories that tried to explain the origins of the civilizations of the

New World. In his Political Essay he came closest to seeing a link between

the Mongols and the ancient Toltecs, which he regarded as the first civilized

culture of central Mexico, the ones who had invented the art of hieroglyphic

writing, the calendar, and the pyramids.52 According to Humboldt, the ancient

Toltecs shared common ancestors with the Hiongu – a Mongol tribe that had

migrated towards northern Siberia and from there to the New World.53 Here

Humboldt was far ahead of contemporary and even later scholars, who

advanced all kinds of theories arguing that only more recent descendants of

the lost tribes of Israel or the Greeks could have constructed the pyramids of

the New World, since its current inhabitants were all savages.54

46. Humboldt,

Vues des cordillères

, 270.

47. Humboldt,

Sites des Cordillères,

267.

48. Ibid.

49. Ibid., 265.

50. Maler, “Reise des Hauptmann Maler,” 21.

51. Ibid., 21-4.

52. Humboldt,

Pittoreske Ansichten,

32-33.

53. Humboldt, Aus A. Humboldts Versuch, 51.

54. Bonor Villarejo, “Introducción,” en Stephens,

Viaje a Yucatán,

1:15.

Maler, Legacy and Mexico 307

Maler too proposed an endogenous explanation to the puzzle of the pyra-

mids in the New World: he thought that the Aztecs, Mayas, Zapotecs, and

other nations had built the pyramids themselves. And he proposed a compar-

ative linguistic study of the Aztec and the Mongol language in order to figure

out whether they shared a common antecedent. Much like Humboldt, he

speculated that the Aztec people might have descended from an ancient

ancestor of the Mongol tribes. Thus, both located early ancestors of New

World Indians in Asia, and both viewed New World Natives as having

reached a sufficiently developed stage that allowed them to have constructed

the pyramids themselves. Yet, Humboldt and Maler differed in their appreci-

ation of these monuments. While Humboldt judged them as barbarous and as

of purely historical interest (always comparing them to ancient Greek build-

ings), Maler always admired the beauty and architectural perfection of these

buildings.

Maler’s writing was in keeping with the Humboldtian tradition of theoret-

ical speculation deduced from careful empirical observation. Despite the dif-

ferences in their backgrounds, how they got involved in Mexico, their

attitudes toward it, and the political, cultural, and scientific changes that

came between them, one can map many similarities in observation and atti-

tudes between the two. This serves as testimony to Humboldt’s progressive,

innovative, and detailed ways of looking at the New World. And this is even

more stunning since they belonged to two different types of explorers.

Whereas Humboldt still largely represents the traditional Enlightenment trav-

eler with universal interests and broad education, who tried to paint a global

picture and emphasized the unity of what he observed, Maler belongs to the

category of explorers who devoted his time to the pursuit of a more narrow

and specific field of knowledge. Humboldt and Maler thus stand for two dif-

ferent stages in the history of explorations. In addition, Maler proposed new

approaches to Mexico by exclusively focusing on pre-Hispanic vestiges. Not

only did he help shift the center of European attention in Mexico from a natu-

ral and geological interest to a more cultural one—a trend that has lasted to

this day – but he also introduced a narrower focus that is typical of more spe-

cialized knowledge – another process that would not be reversed. Yet, it

speaks to Humboldt’s depth of knowledge and his keen ability of observation

that there are so many parallels between an early and a late nineteenth-cen-

tury traveler.

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Generallandesarchiv Karlsruhe.

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Beck, Hanno. Alexander von Humboldts Amerikanische Reise. Stuttgart: K.

Thienemanns Verlag, 1985.Bibliography

———. Alexander von Humboldt: von der Bildungsreise zur Forschungsre-

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Humboldt. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México,

1962.

Bitterli, Urs. Die ‘Wilden’ und die ‘Zivilisierten’: Grundzüge einer Geistes-

und Kulturgeschichte der europäisch-überseeischen Begegnung.

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melte Werke von Alexander von Humboldt. Stuttgart: J.G. Cotta, 1889.

———. Cartas Americanas. Translated by Marta Traba. Edited by Charles

Minguet. Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho, 1980.

———. Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung. Vol. 2. Stut-

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———. Pittoreske Ansichten der Cordilleren und Monumente americanis-

cher Völker. Tübingen: J.G. Cotta’sche Buchhandlung, 1810.

———. Reise auf dem Río Magdalena, durch die Anden und Mexico. Edited

by Margot Faak. Vol. 1. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1986.

———. Sites des cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes de

l’Amérique. Paris: L. Guérin et Cie., 1869.

———. Vues des cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes de

l’Amérique. Nanterre, France: Éditions Erasme, 1989.

Kirchhoff, Paul. “La aportación de Humboldt al estudio de las antiguas civili-

zaciones americanas: un modelo y un programa.” In Ensayos sobre Hum-

boldt. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, 1962.

Konetzke, Richard. “Alexander von Humboldt als Geschichtsschreiber

Amerikas.” In Historische Zeitschrift. 188 (August 1959): 526-65.

Kutscher, Gerdt. “Teobert Maler (1842-1917).” In Monumenta Americana

IV: Bauten der Maya aufgenommen in den Jahren 1886 bis 1905 und

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beschrieben von Teobert Maler. Edited by Gerdt Kutscher. Berlin: Gebr.

Mann Verlag, 1971.

Maler, Teobert. “Mémoire sur l’état de Chiapa (Mexique).” In Revue d’Eth-

nographie. III:1883, 295-342.

———. “Researches in the Central Portion of the Usumatsintla Valley:

Reports of Explorations for the Museum--Part Second.” Memoirs of the

Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard

University. II, no. 2 (1903): 83-208.

———. “Explorations of the Upper Usumatsintla and Adjacent Region:

Altar de Sacrificios; Seibal; Itsimté-Sácluk; Cankuen.” Memoirs of the

Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard

University. IV, no. 1 (1908): 3-51.

———. “Explorations in the Department of Peten Guatemala and Adjacent

Region: Topoxté; Yaxhá; Benque Viejo; Naranjo--Reports of Explora-

tions for the Museum.” Memoirs of the Peabody Museum of American

Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University. IV, no. 2 (1908): 55-

127.

Mentz de Boege, Brígida von. “Das Mexicobild der Deutschen im 19. Jahr-

hundert (1821-1861) im Spiegel der ersten populären Zeitschriften.”

Ph.D. Diss., Ludwig-Maximilian-Universität, 1975.

Noack, Friedrich. “Friedrich Maler zum Gedächtnis.” Die Pyramide:

Wochenschrift zum Karlsruher Tagblatt. February 27, 1927.

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sobre Humboldt. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Méx-

ico, 1962.

311

CHAPTER 25 Una Mirada Recíproca

Sandra Rebok

El objeto de este estudio es analizar un aspecto de la vida de Humboldt que,

hasta hace poco, apenas había sido estudiado en la investigación realizada a

nivel internacional sobre este famoso científico y viajero: su vinculación con

España durante toda su vida a consecuencia de su estancia de cinco meses en

la Península Ibérica, que comenzó en la primavera de 1799. Esta relación con

España se refiere al especial significado que este país tuvo en su proyecto

americano, que preparó e inició desde allí, a la imagen que el científico creó

y difundió de este territorio y, finalmente, a la historia de la su acogida en las

distintas aspectos de la sociedad española de su época.

En el transcurso de esta investigación sobre la mutua percepción y

recepción entre el viajero alemán y España1, ambas funciones de este proceso

fueron analizadas separadamente. Respecto a la mirada del famoso prusiano

hacia este país, se distingue entre su visión de la España coetánea para él por

un lado, y su visión histórica de este país por el otro, condicionada esta

última por su intenso estudio de la historia colonial española. Con respecto a

la recepción de Humboldt en España, este fenómeno será reconstruido a

través de las distintas miradas existentes en el interior de la sociedad

española, de lo que por inducción se compondrá una visión generalizada.

Muestras de estos enfoques son su representación en la prensa española, la

presentación de distintos modi de recepción dentro del mundo científico e

intelectual, así como la historia de la edición y recepción de sus escritos en la

sociedad española. A continuación se analizará la influencia de Humboldt en

distintas instituciones científicas de España, y finalmente será tratada la per-

1. El presente trabajo fue realizado en el marco del Proyecto BHA2000-1230 Plan

Nacional I+D+I (2000-2003), con una beca de la fundación Alexander von Humboldt

(Bonn), y a continuación con una Beca I3P del CSIC (MCYT).Este articulo es un resumen

de una investigación más amplia que recientemente fue presentada como tesis doctoral.

Está prevista la próxima publicación de la tesis tanto en alemán como en español.

312 Life and Travels

cepción de su persona en el sector político de este país, que comenzando a

partir de su primer contacto con la corte española en el año 1799, y pasando

durante el absolutismo por tiempos de desconfianza política hacia él debido a

sus convicciones liberales, llegaría en sus años tardíos a la concesión de con-

decoraciones por parte del gobierno liberal de Isabel II.

El marco temporal de este análisis comienza con la llegada del famoso

viajero a España en 1799 y, mientras en el caso de Humboldt este proceso se

extiende durante toda su vida, o sea, hasta el año 1859, en el caso de España

el enfoque principal también está puesto en este período, pero además se

extiende hasta finales del siglo XIX, y en algunos aspectos incluso hasta los

primeros años del siglo XX, a fin de poder incluir también la percepción de él

en las primeras décadas después de su muerte.

Uno de los aspectos novedosos de esta investigación es el hecho de que

mientras el enfoque tradicional de las prácticas de percepción se limita por lo

general a una visión unilateral, en este trabajo fue estudiado la reciprocidad

de este proceso, es decir, fueron analizadas ambas miradas.

Es conocido que el proceso de percepción representa una aproximación a

una cultura ajena, que parte del propio punto de vista del autor e incluye a

éste de una manera más o menos consciente. Por lo tanto, el resultado es que

la percepción constituye una conexión específica entre la influencia de la pro-

pia cultura y las condiciones de la cultura ajena. Todo este proceso además

está condicionado por los intereses particulares o personales del espectador:

tanto los aspectos que uno percibe como los que pasan desapercibidos ofre-

cen tanta información sobre lo ajeno como sobre lo propio. Por lo tanto, el

inicio a partir de una situación específica, en conexión con una aproximación

a lo ajeno, guiado por los propios intereses, lleva al fenómeno de que cada

mirada al otro, cada proceso de percepción es un caso único.

Como ya ha sido anunciado, en esta investigación se aplica esta teoría a

las recíprocas estrategias de percepción entre el viajero y científico Alejandro

de Humboldt, por un lado, y España como unidad político-cultural por el

otro. Un aspecto particular de este análisis es el hecho de que por una parte se

trata de la mirada de una única persona, y por otra, de la de una sociedad

compuesta de distintas facetas, pero que finalmente está constituida por un

conjunto de personas que se mueven supuestamente en el mismo marco

socio-político e ideológico, y que están involucradas en las mismas condi-

ciones históricas. Interesante de ver en este último caso, fue el hecho que se

pudieran detectar corrientes e intereses muy diferentes dentro de las diversas

realidades de este país. Esto resulta muy evidente al contrastar la recepción

política con la recepción científica de Humboldt, además de las diferencias

entre los sectores conservadores y los liberales, así como finalmente en la

Una Mirada Recíproca 313

representación oficial, es decir, por parte del gobierno, comparada con la no

oficial.

Por lo tanto, al analizar una percepción colectiva por un grupo siempre

hay que diferenciar entre una estrategia de recepción individual y la oficial,

dirigida por el gobierno. Además, también en el sentido individual se han

podido demostrar grandes diferencias, ya que según la propia orientación

resultaron distintas miradas a Humboldt, por lo que para este análisis surgió

la necesidad de analizar la visión particular de algunas personas.

A continuación serán resumidos brevemente los resultados del análisis de

los aspectos antes mencionados.

La mirada de Humboldt hacia España

Como ha sido inicialmente expuesto, en relación con la mirada de Humboldt

hacia España se observa la diferencia entre su visión de la realidad española,

tal como se le presentó durante su estancia, y su visión de las condiciones

históricas del país, es decir, su pasado colonial. Para ambos temas se llevó a

cabo una búsqueda exhaustiva de sus comentarios o juicios sobre las distintas

facetas de este país, así como sobre temas relacionados con ello.

Imagen de la España de su época

Respecto a la imagen de la España coetánea para él, en general hay que

adelantar que se encuentran pocas referencias a este país en las obras de

Humboldt. Los escasos comentarios que se han podido hallar provienen

sobre todo de su correspondencia privada. Así podemos tomar de la siguiente

carta, dirigida el 1.6.1799 al Barón Philipp de Forell, el embajador de Sajonia

(Puig-Samper 1999, 330-332), pocos días antes de su partida desde La

Coruña, una idea de lo que podría haber sido la primera impresión general

que Humboldt tuvo de este país (Jahn/Lange 1973, 477):

(...) tous ces petits traveaux m´ont fait oublier les mauvaises auberges, le

manque de comestibles et l´insipide Compagnie d´une jeune Officier (...)

Quelle pauvreté et quelle industrie des habitans! L´aisence n´est pas toujours

le fruit du travail.

Un tema sobre el que resultó posible hallar varios comentarios fue las par-

ticularidades del paisaje español. Una de estas observaciones se encuentra ya

en un texto publicado en 1809 por Alexandre Laborde en su obra Itinéraire

descriptif de l´Espagne, que dice (Humboldt, CXLVJJ):

Aucun pays de l’Europe ne présente une configuration aussi singulière que

celle de l’Espagne. C’est sa forme extraordinaire qui explique l’aridité du sol

dans l’intérieur des Castilles, la force de l’évaporation, le manque de rivière,

314 Life and Travels

et celle différence de température que nous observons entre Madrid et Naples,

deux villes situées sous le même degré de latitude.

Principalmente le entusiasmó el paisaje tropical alrededor de Valencia,

con sus temperaturas agradables y sus palmeras, como comenta en una carta

del 28.2.1799 y otra fechada el 20.4.1799 (Jahn/Lange 1973, 649; 662), pero

también en el único articulo que le dedicó a su estancia en España y que fue

publicado en el año 1825 en la revista alemana Hertha.2

Más entusiasmo incluso le provocaron las Islas Canarias, y en particular

Tenerife, donde pasó seis días antes de continuar el viaje hacia América (19.-

25.6.1799). Esta isla canaria parece haber sido para él el primer avance de

aquel mundo trópico, que anhelaba encontrar en el Nuevo Continente. Por lo

tanto dedicó mucho espacio a la descripción de este mundo tanto en sus car-

tas como en su narración de viaje, la famosa Relation Historique, donde le

concedió un capítulo entero (Humboldt 1991, 115-241).

Otro tema al que Humboldt hace alusión en varios contextos son los

logros y los progresos de la ciencia española, destacando sobre todo el interés

científico de este país por sus colonias. Así, por ejemplo, en una carta del

8.11.1803 hace el siguiente comentario dirigido a Manuel Espinosa y Tello,

el hermano del director del Depósito Hidrográfico, sobre el enorme avance

de la marina española en la astronomía náutica (Moheit 1993, 253):

(...) la posterioridad más remota agradecerá a los marinos españoles los

inmensos e importantes trabajos que han sabido acopiar en los últimos 20

años, yo a lo menos no conozco otra nación que hubiese adelantado más la

Astronomía naútica en publicando más mapas exactos en tan corto tiempo.

También en su estudio sobre México se encuentra un comentario muy hal-

agador para España (Humboldt 1997, 151):

Depuis la fin du règne de Charles III et depuis celui de Charles IV, l’étude des

sciences naturelles a fait de grands progrès non seulement au Mexique, mais

en général dans toutes les colonies espagnoles. Aucun gouvernement

européen n’a sacrifié des sommes plus considérables pour avancer la connais-

sance des végétaux, que le gouvernement espagnol. Trois expéditions bota-

niques, celle du Pérou, de la Nouvelle-Grenade et de la Nouvelle-Espagne,

dirigées par messieurs Ruíz et Pavón, par don José Celestino Mutis et par

MM. Sessé et Mociño, ont coûté à l’État près de deux millions de francs.

Incluso, independientemente de su tajante crítica general hacia el sistema

colonial, al contrastar la política del gobierno español en sus colonias con las

de otras naciones europeas, destaca los aspectos positivos, sobre todo en rel-

ación con el trato que se les daba a los esclavos (Humboldt 1998, 192). Lo

que hay que tener presente, al evaluar este tipo de comentarios, es su pro-

2. Este artículo fue recientemente traducido al español (Puig-Samper/Rebok 2002)

Una Mirada Recíproca 315

fundo agradecimiento a la corona española por haberle posibilitado esta

expedición por territorio español. Además de esta lealtad, Humboldt se auto-

definía en primer lugar como científico y ello le llevaba a no inmiscuirse

demasiado en los asuntos políticos de otros países.

Lamentablemente, no se encuentran apenas referencias a la población

española, a diferencia del caso de su hermano Wilhelm von Humboldt quien,

a resultas del viaje por España que realizó pocos meses después, nos dejó

muy interesantes descripciones de la sociedad española de aquella época

(Humboldt, Wilhelm 1998). Alexander al contrario, solamente en el caso de

Tenerife incluyó el factor humano en su descripción general.

Preocupación por el pasado español3

A continuación se analizó su preocupación por los documentos que dejaron

los primeros cronistas españoles sobre la realidad americana y el significado

que Humboldt les concedió para su propio trabajo sobre América. Sobre todo

en sus obras Examen critique, Vues del Cordilleras y el Cosmos Humboldt

elaboró sus reflexiones sobre estos documentos tan valiosos para la recon-

strucción del estudio del Nuevo Continente.

Como dice el propio Humboldt en su obra Examen critique (Humboldt

1836-39, X-XI):

(...) j`ai trouvé un charme particulier à la lecture des ouvrages qui renferment

les récits des Conquistadores. Des investigations faites dans quelques

archives en Amérique et dans les bibliothèques de différents parties de

l´Europe, m`ont facilité l´etude d´une branche négligée de la litérature espag-

nole.

En sus obras se encuentran muchas referencias a varios cronistas, pero

sobre todo al jesuita José de Acosta y su obra Historia Natural y Moral de las

Indias. Interesante en este contexto es el hecho que sobre el estado de la

investigación de ellos postula (Humboldt 1836-39, 5-6):

Lorsqu´on se livre à l’étude des premiers historiens de la conquête, et que l’on

compare leurs ouvrages, surtout ceux d`Acosta, d’Oviedo et de Garcia, aux

recherches des voyageurs modernes, on este surpris de trouver souvent le

germe des vérités physiques les plus importantes dans les écrivains espagnols

du seixième siecle.

Con esta alta apreciación de la temprana producción literaria o pre-cientí-

fica española, Humboldt dio a estos documentos un valor que no tenían en

aquella época, ya que generalmente eran más bien considerados como “cuen-

tos de frailes.” De esta manera rescató del olvido las contribuciones españo-

las a la investigación del Nuevo Mundo y ayudó al prestigio científico de este

país, generalmente no muy apreciado en aquella época.

3. Sobre este aspecto se publicó un trabajo preliminar: (Rebok, 2001).

316 Life and Travels

La mirada española hacia Humboldt

Respecto a la recepción de Humboldt en España, la situación se presenta con

una mayor complejidad; por consiguiente se imponía la necesidad de analizar

las distintas facetas de la sociedad de una manera separada. Con estas mira-

das, realizadas desde ángulos muy distintos, se puede construir una imagen

general de este famoso prusiano.

Percepción de Humboldt en la prensa española4

El método aplicado a fin de captar la percepción de Humboldt por parte de la

prensa española consistió en una revisión de una gran cantidad de publica-

ciones periódicas en búsqueda5 de todo tipo de comentarios sobre o de Hum-

boldt, y en consecuencia, un análisis subsiguiente del contenido y carácter de

estas referencias sobre él así como del tipo de escritos que acerca de Hum-

boldt se publicaron. Debido a la situación política de aquella época, aquí se

diferencia entre la prensa moderada que se imprimía dentro de España, y la

prensa liberal que se publicaba por el exilio español en Londres.

Resumiendo, es lícito decir que, en general, se ha podido encontrar una

gran cantidad de referencias de todo tipo a Humboldt, tanto en la prensa lib-

eral como en la moderada. Estas se clasifican en: referencias concretas, den-

tro de un determinado contexto científico, en que se mencionan sus

resultados científicos; informaciones o noticias generales sobre sus activ-

idades; y elogios al gran sabio y a sus méritos, a menudo sin vínculo cientí-

fico concreto.

Respecto a la diferencia entre la prensa liberal y la moderada, básica-

mente se ha podido detectar que solamente en la prensa del exilio se encuent-

ran comentarios sobre los aspectos políticos de sus obras; que únicamente en

la prensa publicada en España se hacen continuas referencias a la ayuda que

se le había prestado por parte del gobierno español; y, finalmente, que exclu-

4. Una primera versión preliminar de esta investigación está ya publicada (Rebok,

2000). Además existe una versión posterior en alemán (Rebok, 2002).

5. Se trata de las revistas:

La Abeja,

Barcelona;

El Álbum Pintoresco Universal; La

Alhambra,

Granada;

Anales de historia natural,

Madrid;

Anales de la Sociedad Española de

Historia Natural, Madrid; Boletín de la Sociedad Geográfia de Madrid,

Madrid;

Crónica

Científica y Literaria,

Madrid;

Diario de Barcelona,

Barcelona;

El Europeo,

Barcelona;

Español,

London;

El Español Constitucional o Miscelánea de Política, Ciencias y Artes,

London;

Guardia Nacional. Eco de la razón,

Barcelona;

El Instructor o repertorio de histo-

ria, bellas letras y artes,

London;

Memorial Literario o Biblioteca Periódica de Ciencias y

Artes,

Madrid;

Memorias de Agricultura y Artes,

Barcelona;

Memorias de la Real Academia

de ciencias naturales y artes de Barcelona,

Barcelona;

Mercurio de España,

Madrid;

Min-

erva o Revisor General,

Madrid;

El Museo de Familias,

Barcelona;

Museo Universal,

Madrid;

Museo Universal de Ciencias y Artes,

London;

Ocios de españoles emigrados,

London;

Sema-

nario de Agricultura y Artes para párrocos,

Madrid;

Semanario Pintoresco Español,

Madrid;

Variedades de Ciencias, Literatura y Artes,

Madrid;

Variedades o Mensajero de Londres,

Lon-

don.

Una Mirada Recíproca 317

sivamente en estas publicaciones se hallan comentarios sobre sus actividades

científicas anteriores a su expedición americana.

Recepción de sus obras en los círculos intelectuales y científicos de

España

A continuación se analiza la percepción de Humboldt en la obra de algunos

representantes del mundo científico e intelectual español. De esta manera se

realizó una búsqueda de todo tipo de comentarios sobre el famoso prusiano

en los escritos de: Marcelino Menéndez y Pelayo (1856-1912), personaje

destacado de la erudición española; Marcos Jiménez de la Espada (1831-

1898), miembro de la famosa Comisión Científica del Pacífico que España

promovió a mediados el siglo XIX (1862-1865); Ramón de La Sagra (1797-

1871), importante naturalista que dedicó toda su actividad científica a la

exploración y al estudio de Cuba; José Rodríguez Ferrer (1815-1889), otro

viajero por Cuba, procedente del ámbito militar y mucho menos conocido; y,

finalmente, Ramón de Manjarrés y de Bofarull (1827-1918) y José Rodríguez

Carracido (1856-1928), ambos escritores eruditos españoles a quienes no

unía con Humboldt un campo de expedición e investigación común, a difer-

encia de los dos casos anteriores.

No obstante, es necesario resaltar que lo importante en este análisis no fue

determinado por las personas en sí, toda vez que éstas más bien sirvieron para

exponer, por una parte, diferentes lecturas de Humboldt, y por otra, distintas

formas de referirse a él. Por lo tanto, analizando el tipo de referencia a su per-

sona, se pudo establecer la siguiente clasificación de tipos de recepciones, sin

que uno de estos grupos se redujeran necesariamente a una única persona.

Este análisis demostró, más bien al contrario, que a veces se pueden encon-

trar diversas formas de ver la realidad multifacética del famoso prusiano y

sus obras en la misma persona; así mismo, también se ha constatado la exist-

encia en algunos casos de una evolución, a lo largo de la vida de las personas

mencionadas, de su postura ante este mito de la ciencia. Se pueden distinguir

grupos de personas con:

Una postura explícitamente crítica, principalmente hacia su ideología lib-

eral y su supuesto apoyo hacia los movimientos independentistas en América;

pero también motivada por la convicción de que a Humboldt se le habían atri-

buido diversos méritos que, supuestamente, pertenecían a científicos

españoles.”

Una postura explícitamente positiva, donde destacan las referencias elogio-

sas a sus obras y, además, una tendencia que alaba al científico expresamente

por haber revalorizado la ciencia española y por haber proporcionado una

imagen positiva de este país, que se diferencia mucho de la difundida por la

Leyenda Negra.

318 Life and Travels

Una postura meramente científica, donde se engloban las actividades refer-

idas exclusivamente a los contenidos científicos de la labor humboldtiana, sin

que sean utilizados para otros fines ni de contenido político ni de pura ala-

banza personal.

Una postura orientada implícitamente a la obra de Humboldt, donde se

encuentran principalmente aquellos que realizaron expediciones por regiones

que el prusiano había visitado anteriormente y que adoptaron sus métodos o

conclusiones sin hacer una referencia explícita a las obras de Humboldt.

Traducciones y ediciones en español

Dado que una recepción de las obras de Humboldt en España requiere funda-

mentalmente la traducción de las mismas al español, en este análisis se

incluye también la historia de las ediciones de los distintos trabajos y el difer-

ente impacto que estas obras tuvieron en España. Lamentablemente, por

cuestiones de espacio, no puede ser desplegada aquí la historia editorial com-

pleta de las obra humboldtiana en España, en razón de la complejidad de la

misma. Así mismo se encuentra ésta marcada en parte por una aparente des-

organización, dándose la existencia simultánea de varias ediciones de algunas

obras, proyectos de edición inconclusos, traductores que se mantienen en el

anonimato y otras irregularidades. Existen no obstante dos aspectos que

quizás pueden sorprender en este contexto: por un lado se da el hecho de que

la primera obra de Humboldt publicada en España no tenía relación alguna

con su viaje americano, al tratarse de su trabajo sobre el Galvanismo (1803),

que había sido publicado en su versión alemana pocos años antes (1799). Por

el otro, se da la circunstancia de que la obra que podía haber interesado más

en España – su estudio sobre el pasado colonial Examen critique, traducido

bajo el titulo más prometedor Cristobal Colón y el descubrimiento de

América (1892) – es una de las obras que más tardaron en traducirse y menos

impacto han tenido.

Resumiendo, en esta parte del presente estudio se puede constatar que los

criterios para la realización de una edición española eran de naturaleza dis-

tinta: por una parte, naturalmente, se trataba de aquellas elaboraciones que

científicamente resultaban más interesantes, es decir, abarcaban un terreno

amplio – y en menor medida los trabajos especializados – así como aquellos

trabajos que en el ámbito internacional causaban más repercusión. Además se

puede decir que, de nuevo con la excepción de su trabajo sobre el galva-

nismo, el interés de España se refería sobre todo a su famoso proyecto ameri-

cano. Pero, por otra parte, como se comentará con mayor detalle más

adelante, también existían intereses políticos e ideológicos detrás, tanto en lo

que se refiere a la elección de las obras, como al tiempo transcurrido hasta su

publicación en cada caso. Así, en la edición de sus escritos en España se

Una Mirada Recíproca 319

puede observar un vínculo claro con el contexto político correspondiente o el

grado de libertad político-científica subyacente.

Percepción en las instituciones científicas

Prosigue el trabajo con un estudio de la influencia y la importancia que Hum-

boldt tuvo en distintas instituciones científicas de España. En este punto es

preciso diferenciar básicamente entre aquellas instituciones, con las que ya

durante su estancia en España había mantenido contacto – el Real Jardín

Botánico y el Real Gabinete de Historia Natural de Madrid – y otras que

posteriormente se refirieron a Humboldt o publicaron trabajos de o sobre él,

debido a la posición que entre tanto había conseguido el sabio dentro de la

esfera científica en el ámbito internacional.

Respecto a las primeras instituciones, el vínculo con las mismas había

quedado oficialmente establecido desde el principio, ya que en su pasaporte,

expedido por el Rey Carlos IV, figura expresamente la consigna de enviar a

España objetos de historia natural con el fin de enriquecer las colecciones de

dichos sitios (Puig-Samper 1999, 340-341). En este caso se puede destacar

que durante toda su expedición el prusiano se había preocupado de enviar

diversas colecciones mineralógicas, de semillas, etc., desde América a estas

instituciones, sin que apenas recibiera contestación de las mismas. Y ello a

pesar de que, por parte del Real Jardín Botánico (Puerto Sarmiento 1988,

138), ya en el año 1799 hubiera sido nombrado corresponsal.

En el segundo caso se incluyen instituciones como la Sociedad Española

de Historia Natural, la Real Sociedad Geográfica, la Academia de Medicina

de Madrid, donde fue nombrado corresponsal en 1811, como atestiguan las

actas de la Real Academia de Medicina (Madrid, 24.1.1811), y la Real Aca-

demia de Ciencias Exactas, Físicas y Naturales de Madrid que ya en el

primer año de su existencia, en 1847, le nombró académico corresponsal

extranjero (Lorente 1848, 21). Analizando la manera de ver a Humboldt por

parte de estas instituciones se advierten claramente dos aspectos: en primer

lugar, que el interés por este viajero aumentó considerablemente con el sig-

nificado que éste tuvo posteriormente para la ciencia ya en el ámbito interna-

cional, y que además se caracteriza más bien por el mérito concedido que por

un verdadero estudio del contenido de sus trabajos o el interés de estudiar

aspectos específicos de su obra o persona. El segundo aspecto a tener en con-

sideración se refiere a que su recepción en las instituciones español – al igual

que en otros casos – estaba muy vinculada con el contexto político español

existente en las diferentes etapas y la mirada oficial al famoso científico pru-

siano.

320 Life and Travels

Percepción política de Humboldt

El último capítulo de este apartado se dedica a la percepción de su persona

dentro del sector político de España, incluyendo desde su primer contacto

con la corte española en 1799, pasando por los oprobiosos años del despótico

reinado de Fernando VII, cuando se manifestó una cierta desconfianza hacia

él debido a sus ideas políticas, hasta el cambio de su recepción bajo el rein-

ado más moderado de Isabel II, cuando se le reconoció finalmente su mérito

concediéndole diversas condecoraciones.

Así, hubo pues distintas fases en las que se manifiestaron diferentes mira-

das hacia Humboldt: como ya fue mencionado, durante su estancia en España

se le valoró como científico – joven pero ya con bastante experiencia y con

un interesante proyecto a desarrollar – para el cual se le había prestado todo

tipo de ayuda. Sin embargo, tras su vuelta a Europa no se le tributó ningún

reconocimiento por parte del gobierno español, lo que parcialmente se puede

explicar por la tumultuosa situación política que España estaba viviendo en

estos años debido a la ocupación francesa. Durante el reinado absolutista de

Fernando VII, en el año 1830, surgió una nueva posibilidad de realizar un

viaje por España – propuesto por el ministro español de San Petersburgo Juan

Miguel Paéz de la Cadena – pero que finalmente no se pudo llevar a cabo,

debido a una postura negativa o desconfiada en otros círculos diplomáticos

de España – como la del representante español en Berlín, Luis Fernández de

Córdova – que se opusieron a este proyecto, haciendo referencia al supuesto

apoyo de Humboldt al movimiento independentista de las colonias ameri-

canas (Bleiberg 1959).

Y, finalmente, con el reinado de Isabel II, que se caracteriza por una

política bastante más moderada, cambió también la mirada hacia el prusiano

hasta tal punto, que finalmente en el año 1845, por parte de esta reina le fue

concedida la Gran Cruz de Carlos III, una distinguida condecoración y uno

de los mayores reconocimientos políticos que desde 1771 habían sido entre-

gados a personas por especiales méritos en relación con la Corte española

(Puig-Samper/Rebok 2004).

Por lo tanto, en el caso de la percepción política se ve más claramente

cómo ésta se encontraba estrechamente vinculada a los intereses de los

respectivos gobiernos.

Conclusión

En la conclusión de esta investigación se llevó a cabo una comparación de

estos dos procesos respecto a las diferencias y paralelismos que se manifi-

estan, así como a las condiciones a las que están sometidos ambos casos. De

esta manera se discute de nuevo el proceso de la recepción, la subjetividad de

Una Mirada Recíproca 321

la percepción y finalmente su dependencia de la particular constelación

política, histórica y cultural de cada situación.

Analizando estos dos procesos de una manera separada y contrastándolos

después, se hacen evidentes tanto los factores comunes como las divergen-

cias: las diferencias se manifiestan en que, por parte española, el interés con-

staba de muchas facetas diferentes, en algunas ocasiones incluso antagónicas.

Además, en este caso la crítica podía ser expresada de una manera mucho

más libre; en el caso de Humboldt, al contrario queda oculto lo que podía

haber sido su posible crítica u opinión negativa. Los paralelismos consisten

en el hecho de que en ambos casos se trata de un enfrentamiento con algo

nuevo, sobre el que anteriormente no se disponía de mucho material.

Además, en ambos casos la percepción estaba muy vinculada a los propios

intereses. Finalmente, en los dos casos la aproximación al otro estaba deter-

minada además por las condiciones externas: respecto a España, debido a la

postura liberal de Humboldt, sobre todo en relación a la independencia de las

colonias españolas; y, en relación a Humboldt, éste veía a su recorrido por

este país más bien como una preparación para su viaje al Nuevo Continente,

toda vez que el enfoque principal de su proyecto de investigación estaba

dirigido hacia América. Bajo condiciones distintas, las estrategias de repre-

sentación indudablemente hubieran sido diferentes en ambos casos.

Con este estudio además se ha podido demostrar que la percepción recíp-

roca está marcada por una compleja red de condiciones: por el lado de

España hay que mencionar en primer lugar el contexto político-histórico-

social de cada época, así como la posición o la importancia de Humboldt den-

tro del desarrollo de la ciencia internacional que se modificaba debido a la

fama que acumuló durante los años. Por parte del famoso científico se puede

resumir que su visión de España – o por lo menos la que manifestaba en sus

diversos escritos – estaba muy vinculada a su lealtad hacia el gobierno

español, debido al permiso obtenido para realizar esta expedición por el terri-

torio colonial español; además de cierta precaución para no hacer evidente la

crítica, a fin de evitar problemas tanto durante su expedición como posterior-

mente. Al margen de ello, también influía allí su autodefinición como natu-

ralista en primer lugar, lo que hacía que su enfoque estuviera dirigido

principalmente a las ciencias y no a la situación política en la que se encon-

traba. Y, finalmente, su profundo estudio de las primeras crónicas españolas

sobre América, y sobre todo el valor que les atribuía, amplió su mirada hacia

España.

Otro aspecto interesante en esta investigación es el hecho de que aunque

Humboldt no concedía mucho espacio al estudio y la descripción de la

población de España, en cierto sentido se puede hablar de un elemento

antropológico dentro de su mirada. Me refiero a la mirada desde el exterior,

322 Life and Travels

que percibe aspectos que desde el interior no son vistos o percibidos de otra

manera. Este fue sobre todo el caso relacionado con su valoración de las pri-

meras crónicas españolas, independientemente de que en esta época dichos

documentos se hallaban en el olvido.

En conclusión, se puede afirmar que el papel clave de España en el

proyecto americano de Humboldt no se ha de reducir solamente a la

preparación administrativa y científica de este proyecto; la relación del pru-

siano con España se caracteriza más bien por una influencia mutua y una

intensa cooperación a lo largo de toda su vida. Esto se manifiesta, entre otros

factores, en la relevante presencia de Humboldt dentro de la discusión cientí-

fica en España, así como en su ocupación con investigaciones realizadas por

españoles, además de su inspiración por las fuentes históricas.

Otro resultado derivado de este trabajo es la demostración de que la histo-

ria de la recepción y representación de Humboldt en España es fundamental-

mente distinta de la de otros países. Un análisis de su percepción en

Alemania, Francia o en los países americanos llevaría a resultados bastante

diferentes.

Por lo tanto, con esto se confirma la hipótesis de la que se partió en esta

investigación: que la percepción del otro depende en gran medida de la

posición de lo propio, es decir, de la propia orientación y de sus intereses.

Finalmente, también se pudo ver que Humboldt no solamente creó una

imagen especifica de América, sino también de España, aunque esta imagen

hasta ahora ha sido mucho menos investigada en este país que en los estados

americanos. Sin embargo, un estudio de esta cuestión demuestra que esta

visión innovadora de España – y en muchos sentidos bastante positiva – fue

percibida en los círculos españoles: fundamentalmente, su valoración de la

ciencia española y su distanciamiento de los discursos negativos sobre

España, tan habituales en la Europa de la época.

Y por último, esto también se puede considerar como una prueba del

hecho de que la percepción es un proceso bilateral que está sometido además

a una evolución. Es decir, la representación positiva de algunos aspectos de la

realidad española, por parte de Humboldt, llevó a una recepción positiva de

su persona en este país.

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—, 2004. Virtuti et merito. El reconocimiento oficial de Alexander von Hum-

boldt en España. Humboldt im Netz (http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/

romanistik/humboldt/hin), núm. 8, Berlin/Potsdam.

Rebok, Sandra, 2000. La percepción de las ideas de Alejandro de Humboldt

en la prensa española durante la primera mitad del siglo XIX. Debate y

324 Life and Travels

perspectivas. Alejandro de Humboldt y el mundo hispánico. La modern-

idad y la Independencia americana, núm. 1: 125-149.

—, 2001. Alejandro de Humboldt y el modelo de la Historia Natural y Moral.

Humboldt im Netz (http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/ romanistik/humboldt/

hin), núm. 3, Berlin/Potsdam.

—, 2002. Alexander von Humboldt im Spiegel der spanischen Presse: Zur

Wahrnehmung seiner Person und seiner Ideen während der ersten Hälfte

des 19. Jahrhunderts. Humboldt im Netz (http://www.uni-potsdam.de/u/

romanistik/humboldt/hin), núm. 4, Berlin/Potsdam.

325

CHAPTER 26 Recording civilization

Georgia de Havenon

When Alexander von Humboldt returned to Paris in 1804 from his five year

South American expedition he was lionized by society and academia alike.

Two important serendipitous factors contributed to the success of Humboldt’s

voyage and the publications that followed. A visit to the Spanish court

resulted in the explorer’s having been granted permission to travel to all of

the Spanish colonies in the Americas, especially significant as no French

expeditions had taken place in the interior of South America since La Con-

damine in 1735. With this consent, Humboldt was able to realize his belief

that in order to “discover the direction of the chains of mountains, and their

geological constitution, the climate of each zone, and its influence on the

forms and the habits of organized beings” (PN I, p. vii), he could expand his

voyage from previous maritime voyages along coastlines and could travel to

the interior of the regions, thus greatly enlarging the known information

about the Americas.

The alluringly exotic illustrated volume of his journey, Vues des Cordil-

léres, was published as a folio edition in France in 1810; subsequently it was

published in other languages and in more affordable formats (fig. 26-1). This,

and the publication between 1814 and 1829 of Personal Narrative of a Jour-

ney to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent, further enhanced Hum-

boldt’s reputation as a scientist/explorer. These publications helped fuel the

quest for knowledge and exploration of the New World that was still largely

undocumented, especially in terms of scientific data. As Mary Louise Pratt

has commented, “Humboldt experimented with nonspecialized forms of writ-

ing in which he sought to mitigate the dullness of scientific detail by meshing

it with the aesthetic, while still seeking to preserve the authority of science

over the ‘merely personal’” (Pratt, 590) (fig. 26-2).

326 Life and Travels

FIGURE 26-1. Frontispiece, Vues des Cordilléres. Paris: F. Schoell, 1810

FIGURE 26-2. Two illustrations from Vues des Cordilléres, Hill in the Puebla Valley,

Mexico, Plate 34 and Boat on the Guayaquil River, Plate 63

Humboldt did not travel to Bolivia, but in Vues des Cordilléres he wrote

of the pre-Columbian site of Tiwanaku on the altiplano near the shores of

Lake Titicaca (fig. 26-3). Although Humboldt only briefly mentioned Tiwan-

Recording civilization 327

aku, he invested the site with a mysterious conception as the cradle of an

ancient civilization, referring to its characterization established in the 16th

century by Cieza de Leon (fig. 26-4). Modern scholarship has substantiated

that Tiwanaku, which flourished between 500-1000, was one of the seminal

pre-Columbian cultures. It is virtually unique in the Andes for having exam-

ples of freestanding sculpture. Tiwanaku, like much of the architecture of the

Americas, is not at first glance spectacular (fig. 26-5). Humboldt recognized

this phenomena, but also the importance of New World monuments when he

explained in the Vues (fig. 26-6), and I quote: “American architecture, we

cannot too often repeat, can cause no astonishment, either by the magnitude

of its works, or the elegance of their form, but it is highly interesting, as it

throws light on the history of the primitive civilization of the inhabitants of

the mountains of the new continent” (Humboldt, 1810-[1813], 199).

FIGURE 26-3. Peruvian Monument at Canar, Plate 17, Vues des Cordilléres

328 Life and Travels

FIGURE 26-4. Inca-Chungana, Plate 19, Vues des Cordilléres

FIGURE 26-5. Ponce Monolith and Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku

Recording civilization 329

FIGURE 26-6. Kalassaya wall, Tiwanaku

Since Vues des Cordilléres was first published in France and Humboldt

lived in Paris from 1804-1827, it was not surprising that his voyage was a

catalyst for subsequent French exploration and cataloging of the New World

(fig. 26-7). This paper will explore the Humboldtian legacy as it relates to

three Frenchmen who visited Tiwanaku over the next century: Alcide

d’Orbigny who was in Bolivia from 1826-1834, Léonce Angrand who was

there in 1848, and Georges Courty, who was there in 1903. One of Hum-

boldt’s priorities was “the great problem of the physical description of the

globe.” In the early 19th century, the way in which cultures of the New World

were approached changed from Humboldt’s general paradigm of travel ori-

ented, scientific literature to paradigms reflecting the more specialized disci-

plines of ethnology, anthropology and archaeology. Each of these traveler’s

approaches to the site of Tiwanaku will be analyzed in terms of their chang-

ing perspectives, the development of new specialized disciplines, and the

evolution of more pronounced nationalist, colonial responses.

A new era of exploration became possible for the French through an alli-

ance with Spain via the Bourbon connection of Carlos IV who reigned from

1788-1808. In tandem with a scientific priority to order the diversity of the

populations of the world, the new freedom of access made travel to the

Americas desirable. In 1825, the administration of the French Museum of

Natural History deemed Peru and Chile the top priorities on their list of

places warranting investigation (Rivale, 363). In 1826, Le Baron de Ferussac

announced the formation of the French Musée du Trocadero that was

330 Life and Travels

“intended to give shelter to the various monuments of the skills of the sau-

vage (savages) or the semi-civilized, monuments that become more rare

every day…” (Hamy, 145). A core collection was hastily assembled at the

Trocadero, including New World material from the explorations of

d’Orbigny and Angrand. Whereas the motives for Humboldt’s journey were

primarily scientific, the rush to create an encyclopedic museum that took

place in the following decades was, in part, the result of the prevailing desire

to preserve Old World dominance by amassing an accurate inventory of the

world from which to garner knowledge of all the disparate, unindustrialized

races (Condominas 187; Riviale, 6 & 7). Amassing this inventory was an

important motive for all three expeditions.

FIGURE 26-7. Mt. Chimborazo, Plate 25, Vues des Cordilléres

Based on a study he had made of mollusks, Alcide d’Orbigny (fig. 26-8)

was chosen in 1825 at the age of 24 by the administration of the Natural His-

tory Museum to lead a scientific expedition to the New World. During the

ensuing year which d’Orbigny used to prepare for the voyage, he visited

Humboldt who sent him off with introductions and one of his coveted barom-

eters. In the year of d’Orbigny’s departure, the Natural History Museum of

Paris published the first edition of a handbook for travelers. This publication

mandated the collection of craniums, in order to classify all the human types

of the world. At that time, the only cranial examples from the New World in

France were those donated by Alexander von Humboldt after his voyage.

D’Orbigny’s initial objective was to collect cranial types, but he found it dif-

Recording civilization 331

ficult to locate pristine examples because most of the graves he visited had

already been robbed of their contents.

FIGURE 26-8. Portrait of Alcide d’Orbigny

In 1833, towards the end of his extensive South American voyage (fig.

26-9), d’Orbigny went to Tiwanaku and produced drawings of the monu-

ments and the iconography carved on them that became, for many years, the

most important references to the site. D’Orbigny was the first to speculate on

the symbolism of the Gateway of the Sun, the major monument at Tiwanaku,

relating the central figure to a religious or political genesis of power. After

his return to France, d’Orbigny worked from 1835 to 1847 on publishing

Voyage dans l’Amérique meridionale, an 11 volume record of his trip. He

deemed Tiwanaku the cradle of Andean civilization, recognizing as Hum-

boldt had before him, the antiquity of the site (fig. 26-10)(d’Orbigny, [2000],

335).

Returning to France with 400 previously unknown species, d’Orbigny

was awarded numerous medals and was appointed to the first chair of paleon-

tology at the Museum of Natural History; however, seven attempts to become

a member of the revered Scientific Academy were unsuccessful (Boone,

391). Of the three voyages to be discussed in this paper, Alcide d’Orbigny’s

was the most similar to Humboldt’s in terms of its multi-faceted elements

combining science, nature, and commentary (figs. 26-11, 26-12, 26-13).

Unfortunately, d’Orbigny never attained the renown of his predecessor, most

likely because of less rigorous scholarship, a less entrepreneurial nature, and

332 Life and Travels

the changing mores of the scientific community. The younger scientist had

been so inspired by his German mentor that in 1839 he dedicated his book,

“l’Homme Americain” to Humboldt, citing him as “the genius that Europe

has proclaimed the example and model of a ‘philosopher/voyager’”

(d’Orbigny, 1836, dedication page).

FIGURE 26-9. Drawing of the Gateway of the Sun, Alcide d’Orbigny

Léonce Angrand was sent to Peru in 1848 for slightly more than one year

as the vice-consul in charge of commercial relations between France and

Peru (fig. 26-14). The internal discord in Bolivia at that time negatively

impacted commerce and gave Angrand an opportunity to satisfy his interest

in recording ancient monuments. Although his upbringing was similar to

Humboldt’s, having come from a well to do family and traveled at a young

age, he lacked Humboldt’s extensive education in the sciences. The most

likely post chronicle references about Tiwanaku he would have read before

embarking were those by Humboldt and d’Orbigny (fig. 26-15).

Angrand’s reputation rests largely upon the many objects he transported

to France that become the basis of the new Musée Trocadero, later the Musée

de l’Homme and now to be the Musée du Quai Branly (fig. 26-16). As Eliza-

beth Williams has suggested, from the 19th century on the French saw them-

selves as “cultural arbiters of universal history” (Williams, 127), justifying

their relentless acquisition of objects.

Recording civilization 333

FIGURE 26-10. Head of a Colossal Statue and Details from the Gateway of the Sun,

Alcide d’Orbigny

FIGURE 26-11. Men in a reed boat, Alcide d’Orbigny

334 Life and Travels

FIGURE 26-12. Aymara Indians, La Paz, Alcide d’Orbigny

FIGURE 26-13. left: Michoacan dolls, from Vues des Cordilléres (detail); right:

Indians from the Province of Chiquitos, Alcide d’Orbigny (detail)

Recording civilization 335

FIGURE 26-14. Gateway of the Sun, Tiwanaku by Léonce Angrand

FIGURE 26-15. Tiwanaku, December 26, 1848 by Léonce Angrand

336 Life and Travels

FIGURE 26-16. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce Angrand

Rendered in a style of photographic precision far superior to d’Orbigny’s

rather inaccurate examples, Angrand’s drawings were unfortunately not

widely published. Today these drawings and Angrand’s papers reside in the

Biblioteque Nationale de Paris and are valuable records of the site. Angrand

viewed the New World from a perspective that was more anthropological

than that of his two predecessors. One might even say Angrand was capti-

vated by anthropology as many of his drawings are of indigenous people per-

forming every day chores or engaged in activities such as dancing (figs. 26-

18, 26-19). A romantic subjectivity pervades Angrand’s anthropological

work, his was an aesthetic intertwined with the human subject, an approach

that differed from the way Humboldt represented native peoples (fig. 26-20).

The Mission Scientifique Française à Tiahuanaco was organized by the

French government in 1903 (fig. 26-21). It is certainly safe to assume that

before embarking, the members involved would have been aware of Hum-

boldt, especially since he transported artifacts to France that were housed in

institutions in Paris. The mission is often referred to by the name of its spon-

sor, Le Comte Georges de Créqui-Montfort, who spent only five days in

Tiwanaku. Because the principal archaeologist of the mission, Adrien de

Mortillet, returned shortly thereafter to France due to ill health, George

Courty volunteered to finish the mission’s work. Courty stayed three months,

after which his return to France was also precipitated by ill health. Mortillet’s

absence from the excavations was disastrous. Courty did not have any trained

assistants, and he almost certainly had a surreptitious plan to amass artifacts

Recording civilization 337

that would then be shipped to France to further glorify its hegemony. The

Sintich brothers, local photographers working in La Paz, were engaged to

formally record the results and these photographic images are in many ways

the most complete records extant of the excavations (fig. 26-22). One of only

two known copies, the album from which these images were taken is pres-

ently in the collection of the Art Reference Library of The Brooklyn Museum

of Art and has recently become accessible on the Internet.

FIGURE 26-17. Monolithic gateway at Tiwanaku, Léonce Angrand

Créqui-Montfort refers to Courty’s “researches,” a hint as to how the

work was perceived (Créqui-Montfort, 532) (fig. 26-23). In accordance with

the developments of formalized disciplines of anthropology and archaeology,

the Count de Créqui-Montfort described the Mission as a “study of men of

the High-Plateaus, of their languages and their environment both past and

present”; the scant published reports of the expedition deal with these

themes. In a review of an exhibition of the material taken to France by the

French Mission, the author Leon Lejeal refers to the grand success of the

exhibition and to the brilliant debut of Courty in his new research. He men-

tions Courty’s reaction to his geological background which mutated into an

archaeological bent, “Creusez et vous trouverez!” or “Excavate and you will

discover!” (Lejeal, 325), no doubt an excellent assessment of the objective of

the expedition. In contrast to Lejeal’s glowing assessment of the mission,

modern scholars have described it with such words as “destructive”, “acquis-

338 Life and Travels

itive” (Kolata 1993, 149), or “deplorable” and “devastating” (Ponce San-

guinés 1995, 112).

FIGURE 26-18. left: Alcaldes at the Fiesta of the Conception, Léonce Angrand; right:

detail from the Gateway of the Sun, Léonce Angrand

FIGURE 26-19. Scenes of local women, Léonce Angrand

Recording civilization 339

FIGURE 26-20. Balsa boat, Léonce Angrand

FIGURE 26-21. Members of the French Scientific Mission, 1903

340 Life and Travels

FIGURE 26-22. left: Statue discovered by the French Mission; right: Grand staircase,

Tiwanaku

FIGURE 26-23. Discoveries of the French Mission, three small rooms to the west of

the “grands alignments”

Similar destruction from earlier excavations in the New World had argued

compellingly for the establishment of more stringent parameters governing

Recording civilization 341

archaeological access (fig. 26-24). In response, new methodologies of guard-

ianship of patrimony were established by the host countries and are still in

effect today. During the second half of the 19th century, Mexico and Peru

passed legislation protecting their patrimony from export (Riviale, 95). This

legislation was in clear conflict with the French Mission of 1903 that set off

with a goal of recording the origins of Tiwanakan civilization in conjunction

with a certain competitive expectation that the already large French collec-

tions of New World material would be augmented by carrying on the tradi-

tion of grand collecting of ethnographic specimens (Hamy, 285).

FIGURE 26-24. Rear view of the Gateway of the Sun, the French Mission

The French Scientific Mission of 1903 has to be judged a failure (fig. 26-

25). Nonetheless, its impact on future expeditions and attitudes of inhabitants

in countries in which expeditions were sponsored and took place was pro-

found. When Courty attempted to leave Bolivia nefariously with excavated

objects and ship them to France via Antofagasta in Chile, The Geographic

Society of La Paz became aware of his plan and demanded that all the crates

be returned to La Paz where the material was divided under the auspices of

officials from both France and Bolivia (Ponce Sanguinés, 115). Shortly after

Courty’s return to Paris, the French Government handed down an official

reprimand to Courty for his surreptitious actions, a reprimand that suggested

a changed attitude. In reaction to the damages of this mismanaged expedition,

legislation was passed in 1906 by the Bolivian senate stating that Tiwanaku

was the property of the state. It prohibited removal of objects from the ruins,

342 Life and Travels

unauthorized excavating, and the destruction of the monument by indigenous

people (Ponce Sanguinés, 110). In terms of the French involvement in

Bolivia, this was the distressing end of an era, one that consistently felt the

echo of Humboldt’s influence in its grand scheme of exploration, yet was

seemingly not yet fully equipped, from both the French and the indigenous

standpoint, to take on the responsibilities of new models of the investigative

process.

FIGURE 26-25. Gateway of the Sun. French Mission

343

CHAPTER 27 Witkiewicz and the Course

of Mid-Eastern History

Daniel Gerould

In January, 1812 Alexander von Humboldt wrote to his Russian friend, Gen-

eral Rennenkampf in St. Petersburg, about the invitation extended by Czar

Alexander I to explore the Ural Mountains and the ranges of Mongolia, to

offer advice about mining, and collect scientific data for the Russians.

Humboldt explained that what he now had in mind was a journey of

exploration to Russia lasting seven or eight years that would also take him to

Bukhara, Kabul, and Tibet. Politics intervened – in the form of the war

between France and Russia and its aftermath – and that trip did not take

place.

When his long awaited dream did materialize in 1829, Humboldt was

sixty years old and the expedition was scaled down to six months travel that

took him and his party through the Ural Mountains and Siberia to China and

on the return to the Caspian Sea.

During that trip, at Orsk he met a handsome young man forty years his

junior who would fulfill his dream by penetrating to Bukhara and Kabul. It

was Humboldt who launched the short, extraordinary, and tragic career of

that young man, thus becoming indirectly responsible for a major diplomatic

confrontation that took place ten years later between Britain and Russia. The

young man was Jan Witkiewicz, and my paper tells the story of his meeting

with Humboldt and its consequences.

Jan Witkiewicz’s Road to Orsk

Born in 1809 in Samogitia, Zmudz, Jan Witkiewicz was a well-to-do young

nobleman in Polish Lithuania. The Witkiewicz family of small landowners

was a large one; Jan was one of ten children. In 1824 as a student at the Pol-

ish gymnasium in Kroze (some 100 miles from Vilnius), he was one of the

344 Introduction

founders of a semi-clandestine patriotic student association, the Black Broth-

ers. In the early 1820s, twenty-five years after the final partition of Poland,

secret societies started to spring up at Polish educational institutions, espe-

cially at Vilnius University.

The Black Brothers were essentially a social group devoted to playful

games, discussions, and songs that occasionally took on a patriotic tone

alarming to the Russian forces of occupation. One month after the establish-

ment of the group, on the basis of information provided by another student,

Jan Witkiewicz – along with five other members – was arrested by the Czar-

ist secret police and accused of anti-Russian political activity.

FIGURE 27-1. Jan Witkiewicz in a Czarist army uniform. A lost portrait attributed to

Walenty Wankowicz. Reproduced in Jan Reychman, Peleryna, ciupaga i znak tajemny, Cracow,

1976

After a thorough investigation was launched from St. Petersburg, both the

students at Vilnius University and those at the secondary school at Kroze

were tried by a military court. The university students, including the twenty-

four-year-old poet Adam Mickiewicz, received relatively light sentences of

banishment to Russia (where Mickiewicz was treated as a celebrity); but, in

an attempt to make a frightening example of the high school students, Jan

Witkiewicz was condemned to death at the age of fifteen.

Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 345

Because of his youth Witkiewicz’s sentence was commuted to life impris-

onment. He lost all rights to his property and was stripped of his title of nobil-

ity. He was to be sent in exile to serve one year at a fortress at the foot of the

Ural Mountains and then to remain for life an ordinary conscript in the Rus-

sian army without the right to promotion and subject to punishment by flog-

ging.

The young Polish prisoners were sent to Moscow by wagon (and obliged

to pay for the trip). Then from Moscow they were transported on foot and in

manacles (weighing twenty-pounds), each to a different place of exile along

the so called Orenburg line, which consisted of a number of military posts

along the eastern border of the Russian empire clustered around the Orenburg

fortress. The entire journey of 1500 miles took seven months. Witkiewicz’s

destination was the Orsk fortress. To the south lay wild, dangerous, and

uncharted territory full of Kazakh and Uzbek tribes, where the Russian colo-

nizers dared not penetrate too deeply.

The barracks at Orsk were primitive with long rows of wooden platforms

serving as bunks. Military service for an ordinary conscript like Jan Witk-

iewicz meant endless mind-deadening drill and inhumanly strict discipline,

any slight breach of which could result in flogging.

Jan Witkiewicz had good luck in having as the fortress’s commander a

humane and educated officer, Colonel Isayev, who was highly impressed

with the boy’s energy and determination in finding time to study the totally

unknown languages, history, and ethnography of the peoples of Central Asia.

Isayev took Witkiewicz under his wing, made him a tutor to his children, and

used him as an interpreter in negotiations with the nomadic Kazakh tribes.

Well-educated and highly motivated, the Polish political prisoners had intel-

lectual abilities the Russian colonizers badly needed, and they did not hesi-

tate to make use of them.

After a year at the fortress, Witkiewicz was allowed to live in private

quarters outside the barracks. Required to pay for his room and board (which

included a servant), he received money from his family for his upkeep. Now

relieved of the drudgery of camp life, Witkiewicz diligently pursued his study

of the Central Asian languages (including local dialects) as well as Persian,

and mastered the geography, customs and manners of the entire area.

It is possible that Jan Witkiewicz was plotting his escape through the

steppes and then to Persia and India, but it is more likely that he was already

planning a career with the Russians. For that to be possible, however, he

needed to move up the ladder and gain freedom of movement.

In 1828 the general governor of Orenburg supported the request of the

Polish exiles from Kroze that, in reward for their good behavior, they be

transferred to active service and sent to the Turkish-Balkan front where a war

346 Introduction

was raging. Distinction on the field of battle would mean restoration of their

titles of nobility and property as well as their receiving the rank and pay of

officers. The Russian Minister of Military Affairs had to decide the issue and

then the Czar must give his approval. Nothing came of this matter until Hum-

boldt appeared on the scene and intervened. Were it not for his meeting with

Humboldt, Witkiewicz might well have spent the rest of his life in Orsk.

Humboldt’s Road to Orenburg

Humboldt’s long deferred trip to Russia (conceived as early as 1794) finally

became a reality in 1829. A member of the Russian Academy of Sciences

since 1818, Humboldt held a high opinion of Russian science and maintained

contact with a large number of Russian scientists.

When he reached St. Petersburg, he was feted everywhere and dined with

the imperial family almost everyday. “Everywhere I go they offer me money

like hay and anticipate every wish,” he wrote. Humboldt received twenty

thousand rubles for the trip; over seven thousand remained unspent, which he

requested be used to facilitate the research of two young Russian scholars,

Helmersen and Hofman.

Even though the trip had been scaled down from his earlier grandiose

dreams, the twenty-five-week journey in 1829 took Humboldt across nearly

every part of European Russia.

Because the Russian surveillance of their guest was so thorough, we

know that the Humboldt party (starting from Berlin) covered 11,500 miles –

500 miles on rivers with 53 river crossings – and that they stayed at 568 dif-

ferent accommodations and were transported by 12,250 horses.

These Russian documents indicate that the police kept a vigilant eye on

Humboldt’s every movement. His itinerary was prearranged in every detail,

and throughout the entire trip Humboldt and his party were provided with

German or French speaking guides and monitors, entertained by pre-chosen

local officials, scholars, and mining engineers. Nothing was left to chance.

Secret reports were submitted covering all of Humboldt’s activities. I

should like to quote from the surveillance letter of the mayor of a small town

in Siberia, which reads as though it came from the pen of Gogol.

To the Governor General:

A few days ago a certain German, named Humboldt, arrived here, a slim fel-

low of unimpressive stature, but since he presented a letter from Your Excel-

lency asking me to be polite to him and extend him all possible assistance…I

followed your orders and treated the German accordingly…However, I take

the liberty to inform Your Excellency that this man seems to me a highly sus-

picious and even dangerous type. I disliked him from the start, he’s been com-

Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 347

plaining and turning up his nose at my food that I offered him from the

goodness of my heart He wouldn’t even touch a delicious cordial of my own

concoction…thus treating slightingly my person and my hospitality…More-

over, he clearly disdained the most respected citizens and civil servants of our

town and allegedly called them idiots. On the other hand, he’s always been

seen in the company of those political criminals, the Poles, who have been

sent to our town for resettlement and placed under my steadfast supervision…

I humbly ask Your Excellency’s forgiveness for my being so bold…but these

relations with the political criminals could not escape my attention, all the

more so that in recent days after a long meeting that he held with those Poles,

they all went out at night to a nearby mountain and from a case that they were

carrying with them took out some implement resembling a long pipe, which

to my mind…looked like a large cannon, placed said cannon on a tripod-

shaped gun-carriage pointing at our town, and then every person in the com-

pany took his turn by coming over to it and taking aim at the town. Seeing a

danger to the inhabitants of our town, for whose safety I am responsible and

taking into account that all the structures are wooden, I have immediately

ordered the internal guard, consisting of six soldiers and one junior officer, to

have arms at the ready and keep a constant watch on the activities of this Ger-

man. If the incendiary plans of this individual should prove a menace to us,

we would gladly give our lives for Our Czar and Holy Russia.

FIGURE 27-2. Jan Witkiewicz in an Eastern costume. As Fig. 1

348 Introduction

Known throughout the world as an impassioned opponent of slavery, for

the trip to Russia Humboldt was required by the Czarist authorities to limit

his public comments to scientific matters. After all, serfdom was the law of

the land, and political prisoners in manacles were widely visible. Humboldt

had been obliged to write to the Russian Minister of Finances, “It will be well

understood that we confine ourselves to observations of an inanimate nature,

and avoid everything connected with the government or the conditions of the

poorer classes.” But, as we shall see, Humboldt made efforts to help both

Polish exiles and Russian victims of autocracy.

It was on September 19, 1829 on the return loop of his trek through the

Urals and Siberia that the Humboldt expedition reached Orsk. Humboldt pro-

ceeded the same day to Orenburg, but his companions, the geologist Rose

and the botanist Ehrenberg, remained at Orsk to collect samples and data, and

Witkiewicz accompanied them. Members of the group rejoined Humboldt at

Orenburg where they stayed six days from September 20 to 26 before leaving

for the Caspian Sea.

Humboldt was deeply impressed with the handsome young Pole’s knowl-

edge of the geography, ethnography, and languages of the area, and he pitied

Witkiewicz’s fate. He was also astounded by the fact that Witkiewicz – an

exile in a distant outpost – had in his possession one of his works: volume

three of “Essai politique sur la Nouvelle Espagne.”

Back in St. Petersburg on November 13, Humboldt intervened with the

Czar on behalf of Witkiewicz and the other Poles. It is possible that Hum-

boldt met with the Czar and spoke directly to him on this matter; it is certain

that he wrote to the Czar twice to help Witkiewicz. Humboldt’s letters to

Nicholas I – one dated November 26, 1829, one undated – were responsible

for getting the Polish conscripts promoted to the rank of junior officers.

Now as a second lieutenant, Witkiewicz was granted the all-essential free-

dom of movement previously denied him, as well as immediate opportunities

for advancement.

Highly ambitious and a personal friend of the Czar’s, Major General

Vasilii Perovsky, the new Governor General of the province of Orenburg, had

his own program for expanding Russian influence in Central Asia. In need of

a clever secret agent, Perovsky appointed Lieutenant Witkiewicz to his per-

sonal staff as adjutant, claiming that the young Pole knew more about the

region than any other officer past or present and that his negotiating skills

were indispensable.

Lt. Witkiewicz was now widely used for gathering intelligence among the

Muslim tribes along the frontier between Russia and Kazakhstan. He traveled

freely throughout the entire region, often wearing native garb, sometimes in

disguise. In 1835 he penetrated by unknown routes as far as the emirate of

Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 349

Bukhara – an unheard of exploit – sounding out the emir’s possible support

for Russia and preparing extensive maps for future use.

Interested in the regional independence movements, at home among the

local tribes, and accepted by their leaders, Witkiewicz was sometimes sus-

pected of being a double agent; for this was a time of romantic Byronic

attachments to the political causes and struggles for independence of captive

nations and people. Here is an eyewitness account:

With clean-shaven head, dressed in Tartar clothing, he used to mount a camel

and penetrate the steppes in the company of Bashkirian caravans…During his

reconnaissance trips in the steppes he would appear in various Asiatic cos-

tumes, and in keeping with Koran would join in prayers many times a day,

saying them in the language of the region he happened to be in so faultlessly

that he was considered as one of them.

If Witkiewicz had wished to flee, he obviously could have done so. In

fact, he was even granted a leave to visit his family in Lithuania at Christmas

in 1835; he went in December with his Kirghiz servant and in January

returned to his post in Orenburg, realizing his career lay with Russia.

Jan Witkiewicz becomes a Player in the Great Game

as the Result of Meeting Humboldt

At the time of Humboldt’s trip, Russia was in the process of becoming an

expansive empire and the dominant power in Central Asia. Russia’s rise to

great power status alarmed Great Britain, concerned for its own commercial

supremacy in the region and for the security of its Indian colonies, and

caused intense rivalry in Anglo-Russian relations. From its base in India Brit-

ain sought to extend its control into Afghanistan and to oppose the intrusion

of Russian influence there. This imperial struggle, involving conspiratorial

moves in a shadowy battle of wits, was called by the British “The Great

Game,” and it would eventually lead to one of the worst catastrophes ever to

befall a British army. For a brief but crucial period the obscure Polish politi-

cal prisoner Jan Witkiewicz became a major Russian player in “The Great

Game.”

At this time Afghanistan was divided into different feudal centers – Herat,

Kabul, Kandahar, and Peshavar – each ruled over by a different leader. Dost

Muhammad, the Emir of Kabul – an intelligent and farsighted statesman –

began the struggle for the reunification of the Afghan territories, a move

encouraged by the Russians and opposed by the British as a threat to their

Indian frontiers.

Acting on the basis of Witkiewicz’s observations and advice, Perovsky

decided to counter the British actively. The unification of Afghanistan and its

350 Introduction

alliance with Persia now became the main object of Russia’s diplomacy in

Central Asia. When the Persians laid siege to Herat, the Russians supported

them. Because of his enormous skill as a linguist and diplomat, Witkiewicz at

the age of twenty-seven was made head of the Russian mission to Kabul. He

first went to Teheran to confer with Count Simonich, the Russian Minister to

Persia.

On his way to Kabul on November 1, 1837 he was spotted in eastern Per-

sia by Major Henry Rawlinson, who became suspicious of his activities and

rushed back to Teheran some 700 miles away to inform the British legation

about meeting an enigmatic Russian who was en route to Kabul. Since Sep-

tember the British already had their secret agent at the court of Dost Moham-

med in Kabul in the person of Captain Alexander Burnes, (who had come up

from India posing as head of the British trading mission.

As Witkiewicz rode into Kabul on December 19, 1837, he was the first

ever Russian representative in Afghanistan. In the high style of “the Great

Game,” Lt. Witkiewicz was invited by his rival, Captain Burnes, to Christ-

mas dinner, where the Pole made a most favorable impression both because

of his fluency in Turkish, Persian, and French as well as in many Central

Asian languages and also because of his diplomatic skills and gentlemanly

behavior.

In Kabul Witkiewicz succeeded in winning over Dost Mohammad and in

advancing the Persian-Kandahar alliance that would unite Afghanistan and

Persia in an anti-British coalition and check British expansion in Central

Asia. But finally, as war seemed close to breaking out between the two great

powers, the British Prime Minister Palmerston insisted that Simonich and

Witkiewicz be withdrawn and that the Russians declare that they did not have

the authority to negotiate the Persian-Kandahar pact in the Czar’s name.

Unwilling to risk a war with Britain, the Russians backed off. Witkiewicz

– a pawn in the game – was recalled to St. Petersburg, where he was pro-

moted to rank of captain, warmly received in military and diplomatic circles,

and declared in line for the award of an order and transfer to the guards.

But a week after his return, on May 8,1839 Captain Witkiewicz was found

dead in his hotel room. The official account was that he shot himself after

having destroyed all his Afghanistan notes.

His suicide could have been motivated by his feeling that he had been

repudiated by the Russian Foreign Minister Nesselrode as “an adventurer”

and his brilliant strategy for an anti-British coalition scuttled at the last

minute.

Or Witkiewicz might have been driven to suicide by shame and guilt

because a fellow Polish exile called him a traitor for serving the Russian

empire while Poland remained captive. On the other hand, he could equally

Witkiewicz and the Course of Mid-Eastern History 351

well have been attempting to foment trouble between Russia and Britain so

that Poland would have the opportunity – in the resulting chaos – to regain its

independence.

Other theories hold that Witkiewicz was recalled to St. Petersburg to be

murdered on the orders of the Russian government as a player who knew too

much or because of his alleged double-dealing with the British.

FIGURE 27-3. Jan Witkiewicz. Pencil sketch in the Tatras Museum, Zakopane.

Photograph by K. Goradowska.

The mystery of Witkiewicz’s death remains unsolved. Was he a hero or a

traitor, a devious agent or a disillusioned one? Was he a suicide or the victim

of a political murder? Why and in what circumstances did all the documents

relating to his life and activities disappear without a trace?

Jan Witkiewicz was a product of the age of Romanticism, a hero in quest

of great adventure as well as the victim of diplomatic intrigues. In this he

resembled his British counterpart, Burnes, who was the also a master of lan-

guages and disguises. For his services to Britain, Burnes was knighted, but

along with his brother, Sir Alexander was murdered in Kabul by the insurgent

352 Introduction

crowd in November 1841 at the start of a disastrous war in which the British

lost some 20,000 troops.

Because of his views on Russian autocracy, hatred of all forms of oppres-

sion, and compassion for its victims, Humboldt had identified strongly with

the fate of the young Polish exiles deprived of liberty to move about or to

express themselves freely. The Witkiewicz episode was one he did not want

to talk about later on. “The Russian journey,” Humboldt wrote, “has changed

my outlook on life more than any of my explorations. It made me more seri-

ous and conscious of my age. ”Humboldt’s responses to his Russian journey

were varied. The scientific accomplishments of the trip were immensely grat-

ifying: all across Russia observation stations on earth magnetism were estab-

lished. Extensive studies on Russia’s geology resulted; diamonds were

discovered in the Urals; and thousands of mineral and rock specimens were

collected.

We know, however, that he followed the subsequent destiny of Jan Witk-

iewicz. He was regularly informed by various people he had met in Russia

about the young Pole’s exploits. Witkiewicz’s enterprise, valor, brains, and

charisma were human qualities that Humboldt prized highly. In the Preface to

the first volume of the three that constitute his great work on Central Asia

published in 1843, Humboldt recalls Witkiewicz, mentions how talented he

was, and laments his tragic fate.

Always generous to others, and yet a skillful courtier, Humboldt main-

tained his good relations with the Russian authorities and at the same time

succeeded in helping not only Witkiewicz and his fellow Poles, but others as

well, including many Russians. But that is another story.

353

CHAPTER 28 Influencia en los

artículos de Bello

Alister Ramírez Márquez

El presente estudio trata con mayor amplitud la influencia de Humboldt en

los delineamientos de la crítica literaria que Bello publicó en “Biblioteca

Americana” (1823) y “Repertorio Americano” (1826-27). “Biblioteca Amer-

icana” y “El Repertorio Americano” fueron publicadas en Londres por una

Sociedad de Americanos. Sus redactores principales fueron Andrés Bello

(1781-1865) y el colombiano Juan García del Río(1794-1856)1. Otros miem-

bros colaboradores eran: Agustín Gutiérrez Moreno, Luis López Méndez, y

P. Cotez, quien trabajó para Francisco Miranda en la redacción de “El Colom-

biano”. La responsabilidad económica no recaía ni en Bello ni en García del

Río, sino en la de un grupo de americanos y españoles que estaban interesa-

dos, en la difusión de sus propios escritos, pero también en la emancipación

cultural y política de las nuevas naciones hispanoamericanas.

Humboldt y Bello

La llegada del explorador alemán y del médico naturalista a Caracas causó

curiosidad y admiración. Fueron acogidos con el beneplácito de las autori-

dades españolas en la Capitanía General. Humboldt se convirtió en partícipe

de las tertulias caraqueñas y allí conoció a Andrés Bello. Desde el primer

encuentro hubo simpatía entre ambos. Sin duda Bello estaba en una etapa

fundamental de su formación, y quería absorber conocimientos de primera

mano. Aristídes Rojas comenta: “Ninguna ocasión más brillante para un

1. Juan García del Río: escritor nacido en Cartagena, Colombia y fallecido en Ciudad de

México. Fue secretario del general José de San Martín, en Argentina, de Simón Bolívar en

Perú, de Santa Cruz en Bolivia, y de Juan José Flórez en Ecuador. Fundó en Valparaíso “El

Argos de Chile”. Se fue a vivir a Inglaterra en 1822 y estableció amistad con Bello y los

españoles exiliados. En Bogotá publicó sus “Meditaciones colombianas” (1829). En 1843

trabajó en “El Mercurio” en Chile. Véase el estudio de Miguel Antonio Caro. “Escritos de

don Andrés Bello”. Introducción y notas de Carlos Valderrama Andrade. Bogotá: Instituto

Caro y Cuervo, 1981, pág. 42-43.

354 Life and Travels

joven entusiasta, tan ávido de instrucción, como Bello, que la amistad del

viajero naturalista”2. En efecto, Bello formó parte de la expedición vene-

zolana de Alejandro de Humboldt y Aimé Bonpland (1800)3. Asimismo, el

alemán conservó su aprecio por el venezolano. En su relación de las “Provin-

cias de la Capitanía General de Venezuela” destacó los datos recogidos por

Bello: “según las evaluaciones parciales hechas por tres personalidades ilus-

tradas de la localidad, don Andrés Bello, don Luis López Méndez y don

Manuel Palacio Fajardo [...]”4 El encuentro entre el barón alemán y el apren-

diz caraqueño tuvo gran trascendencia en la perspectiva americanista de

Bello. Es notable la publicación de varios artículos científicos y traducciones

de los escritos de Humboldt en las dos revistas ya mencionadas, que fundó y

editó Bello en Londres: “Biblioteca Americana y El Repertorio Americano”.

Algunos ejemplos de la obra humboldtiana que el caraqueño estudió fueron:

“Paisaje de la naturaleza, Viaje a las regiones equinocciales, Relación

histórica, Ensayo político de la Nueva España y Atlas Geográfico”. En “El

Censor Americano” (3 de septiembre de 1820) se publicó la versión que hizo

Bello de la “Relación histórica” de Humboldt y Bonpland: “Topografía de la

provincia de Cumaná, San Fernando, Arenas, Turimiquire, valle de Capire y

cueva de Guácharo”5. En “Biblioteca Americana” (tomo I, 1823) Bello pub-

licó un artículo, “Palmas americanas,” basado en los “Viajes de Humboldt y

Bonpland”.

Cesia Ziona Hirshbein subraya la influencia de Humboldt sobre el trabajo

de Bello:

“[...] tanto su visión de la naturaleza que expresa en su poesía, como en sus

ensayos, traducciones y fundamentalmente en su obra de divulgación cientí-

fica para los países recién fundados por la emancipación americana: Cos-

mografía. Ambos sabios americanistas, a su estilo, se relacionaron, y

debemos decir en la obra de Bello es apreciable la huella de Humboldt, pero

que igualmente Humboldt siempre se interesó por la obra de Bello [...] Vidas

tan distintas las de Alejandro de Humboldt y Andrés Bello. El primero que

prefirió siempre los palpables placeres de la experiencia aventurera y el otro

2. Véase nota en “Obras Completas” de Bello, tomo 24. Caracas: Ministerio de Edu-

cación, 1951, pág. 271.

3. Humboldt y Aimé tenían como misión ascender a la silla del Ávila, cima del monte de

Caracas. Permanecieron en Venezuela desde noviembre de 1799 hasta enero de 1800.

Véase escritos de Bello sobre Humboldt como “Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del

Nuevo Continente por Alejandro de Humboldt y Amado Bonpland” en “Obra completa de

don Andrés Bello”. Caracas: Fundación de Casa Bello, 1986, volúmen XX, págs. 271-279.

Para profundizar en los viajes del barón alemán al Nuevo Mundo, véase el libro de Jaime

Labastida. “Humboldt, ciudadano universal”. México, D.F: Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 1999.

En el capítulo tercero de mi estudio se establece la influencia de Humboldt en los escritos

de Bello, y en particular los artículos publicados por Bello en “Biblioteca Americana”

durante su etapa de Londres.

4. Alejandro de Humboldt y A. Bonpland. “Relation Historique”, tome troisi

鑪

5. Véase “Obras Completas”, tomo 24, pág. 271-2.

Influencia en los artículos de Bello 355

los placeres del pensamiento y la secretas aventuras del espíritu [...] Toda

colaboración es misteriosa, porque eran muy distintos los dos y las vicisitudes

y el tiempo sirvieron para que el uno supiera del otro y fueran ambos poetas

en el sentido más amplio de la palabra6.

En efecto, el interés, estudio y admiración de Bello por la naturaleza serán

fundamentales para realizar sus escritos literarios. Un ejemplo es “Poesías de

José María Heredia.” Este ensayo fue publicado en “Repertorio Americano”

en el tomo segundo de enero de 1827. En el tomo primero de octubre de

1826, Bello ya había anunciado en la sección de notas bibliográficas la apar-

ición de este libro: “producciones de un joven habanero, en las cuales, a vuel-

tas de algunos descuidos de lenguaje, se descubre una fantasía vivaz y rica,

un corazón afectuoso, y otras eminentes calidades poéticas”7.

Bello comenta la edición de 1825, preparada y publicada en Nueva York

por el mismo Heredia (1803-1839)8. Se refiere a la juventud del poeta

cubano. Con sólo veintitrés años, su pluma es precoz e inquieta: “aunque

imita a menudo, hay, por lo común, bastante originalidad en sus fantasías y

conceptos; y le vemos trasladar a sus versos con felicidad las impresiones de

aquella naturaleza majestuosa del ecuador, tan digna de ser contemplada,

estudiada y cantada”9. Conviene observar que Bello es conocedor de esa

misma naturaleza, no sólo por las imágenes que ha plasmado estéticamente

en sus “Silvas”, sino, como ya se ha indicado previamente, por experiencia

personal en Caracas durante sus excursiones como ayudante de Humboldt.

De hecho en el “Boletín Bibliográfico de Repertorio Americano” de abril de

1927 (tomo tercero), Bello hizo una reseña de una traducción al español de

“Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del nuevo continente hecho en 1799 hasta

1804” por A. Humboldt y A. Bonpland, redactado por A. de Humboldt, con

mapas geográficos y físicos. El libro del barón alemán fue publicado en París

en 1826. En verdad, Bello es uno de los pocos redactores de la revista que

puede leer una obra de esta naturaleza y ofrecer juicios acertados: se queja de

la mala traducción al español: “ […] y nos dolemos de que no haya empren-

dido esta obra algún traductor dotado de las cualidades necesarias para su

empeño, que además del cabal conocimiento de los dos idiomas, requiere

cierta familiaridad con el lenguaje técnico de las ciencias físicas, y nociones

más que medianas de historia natural”10. ¿Quién más que un estudioso como

6. Cesia Ziona Hirshbein. “Andrés Bello (1785) y Humboldt (1769-1859)”,

www.humboldt200.cl/bello, 2002

7. “Obras completas”, tomo IX, pág. 234.

8. José María Heredia. Nació en Santiago de Cuba y murió en México. Poseía un íntimo

convencimiento de su frustración y de su fracaso lo cual lo acercó más al Romanticismo.

Véanse los estudios de Pedro Manuel González. “Historia y crítica de la literatura hispan-

oamericana, tomo II, del Romanticismo al Modernismo”. Barcelona: Grupo Editorial Gri-

jalbo, 1991, págs. 129-134. Véase también el prólogo de Arturo Uslar Pietri. “Obras

Completas. Temas de crítica literaria”, tomo IX, pág. XXII.

9. “Obras Completas”, tomo IX, pág. 235.

356 Life and Travels

Bello puede tener los conocimientos científicos generales para señalar sin

arrogancia los problemas de una traducción?; y prosigue Bello:

“Por falta de estos indispensables requisitos está plagada de errores de traduc-

ción, señalándose a menudo los objetos con denominaciones bárbaras e inin-

teligibles. He aquí unos pocos ejemplos que nos han saltado a los ojos en

menos de treinta páginas del tomo I, y aún no son todos. A las hojas pintadas

llama el traductor peludas; a los cocos, cocoteros […] ; a las tunas o cactos,

raquetas y cacteros […]; a la culebra de cascabel (serpent à sonnettes), serpi-

ente de campanillas […] ; a las palmas, palmeros”11.

En tal sentido, suena la voz precisa del Bello que se preocupa por escoger

el vocablo correcto del idioma. Siempre está presente el pensamiento

sistemático de un catalogador que reclama un lenguaje propio para denomi-

nar las especies del Nuevo Mundo. Asimismo tanto Humlboldt como Bello

reflejan en sus obras la concepción de la naturaleza como un todo. El alemán

afirma que: “Para que esta obra se digna de la bellísima expresión de Cos-

mos, que significa el orden del universo, y la magnificencia en el orden, es

necesario que abrace y describa el gran todo”12. Por su lado, Bello dice: “[...]

todas las verdades nos tocan, desde las que formulan el rumbo de los mundos

en el piélago del espacio; desde las que determinan las agencias maravillosas

de que dependen el movimiento y la vida en el universo de la materia [...]”13

Luisa Veracoechea de Castillo afirma:

Ambos creían en la educación integral del ser humano. Humboldt lleva a

Europa la más grande obra de divulgación cultural, de independencia en el

vivir, en el saber en sí mismo. Bello realiza en el continente americano la obra

de mayor trascendencia. Los encuentros en la Caracas colonial son el preludio

de la obra humboldtiana en Bello. Ambos sabios le dejaron a la humanidad el

legado de sus obras inmortales [...]14

Es así como Bello sostiene que la literatura obedece a un proceso con-

tinuo de creación, lo cual es consecuente con su concepto de un cuerpo

sistemático e integrado que se moviliza a través de distintas épocas; por

ejemplo de ello son los distintos géneros en diversos períodos. De hecho

establece relaciones importantes entre la Edad Media y la Moderna para mos-

trar el lazo íntimo que vincula épocas diferentes. Sin duda, Bello mostró una

posición equilibrada tanto en sus estudios filosóficos como en sus ensayos

10. “Repertorio Americano”, tomo III, pág. 297.

11. Ibid.

12. Andrés Bello. “Obras Completas. Cosmografía y otros escritos”. Caracas: La Casa de

Bello, 1981, tomo 24 pág 16. Véanse también las alusiones a la obra de Humboldt, págs.

67, 79, 98, 157, 211, 212, 213, 656 y 665.

13. Andrés Bello. “Discurso pronunciado en la Universidad de Chile el día 17 de septi-

embre de 1843. “Obras Completas”. Caracas: La Casa de Bello, pág. 29.

14. Luisa Veracoehea de Castillo. “Alejandro de Humboldt y Andrés Bello” “El asombro”

(1999): 93-97.

Influencia en los artículos de Bello 357

críticos, que fue producto de una visión universal heredada de Humboldt, y

desarrollada a través de sus lecturas, reflexiones y experiencia personal.

El paisaje americano a través de los ojos de

Humboldt: Ilustraciones publicadas por Bello en

Biblioteca

Las escasas ilustraciones en “Biblioteca”, una del ñandú o avestruz de

América y la otra de una vista del Chimborazo desde la mesa de Tapia por D.

Harding, muestran paisajes, plantas y animales exóticos americanos. Estas

refuerzan no sólo la imagen de una naturaleza exuberante que aún tienen los

europeos del Nuevo Mundo sino que también funciona como un espejo para

los propios habitantes de los estados americanos. Los textos y las ilustra-

ciones que se publican en la revista tienen un doble objetivo: informar y a la

vez ayudar a los lectores americanos para que se reconozcan en su propio

mundo. Cabe precisar que la imagen de América es mediada a través de los

ojos civilizadores de Europa. De hecho Alejandro de Humboldt viajó durante

cinco años por el territorio que comprende Venezuela, Ecuador, Perú, Colom-

bia, Cuba y México, que en ese tiempo formaban parte del imperio español.

Humboldt desembarcó en Cumaná, capital de la Nueva Andalucía en Vene-

zuela, el 16 de julio de 1799, procedente de España y con amplias recomen-

daciones del rey Carlos IV. Bello conoció a Humboldt en Caracas hacia

finales de 1799 y lo acompañó en varios de sus recorridos por la capital. Es

fundamental reconocer la huella que Humboldt dejó en Bello, tanto en la

visión de la naturaleza que Bello expresa en su poesía, como en sus ensayos,

traducciones y principalmente en sus artículos de divulgación científica, en

los cuales se destaca la gran admiración e influencia de los trabajos de Hum-

boldt15.

Un día cotidiano de Humboldt por tierras

venezolanas

Al llegar a la Capitanía General de Venezuela el aristócrata alemán iba acom-

pañado de un grupo selecto de pintores europeos que dibujaban con precisión

científica la flora y la fauna. Asimismo, Humboldt también enviaba las plan-

tas secas a los ilustradores más famosos de la época en el Viejo Continente

para que hicieran un dibujo fiel del modelo original. Jaime Labastida, al

comentar el método de trabajo de Humboldt, advierte:

15. Véase escritos de Bello sobre Humboldt como “Viaje a las regiones equinocciales del

Nuevo Continente, por Alejandro de Humboldt y Amado Bonpland” en “Obra completa de

don Andrés Bello”. Caracas: Fundación de Casa Bello, 1986, volúmen XX, págs. 271-279.

358 Life and Travels

“Podemos comentar cualquier otro día de trabajo, otro más de las jornadas

científicas de Humboldt en América. En cada caso, desde luego, cambiará el

objeto y el lugar será otro; el instrumento usado será otro también. Pero Hum-

boldt no se apartará nunca de su rutina. Telescopio, péndulo, sextante,

microscopio, barómetro, termómetro, cianómetro o hidrómetro le permitirán,

antes que nada, determinar con exactitud los datos. Esto quiere decir, por lo

tanto, que los datos que Humboldt ofrece no son nunca los datos brutos de los

sentidos […] Se trata, quiero subrayarlo así, al mismo tiempo, de una obra

que jamás abandona su propósito científico, por un lado (o sea que es rigu-

rosa); pero, por otro lado, se trata de una obra de arte: bella plástica, estética-

mente impecable, con grabados realizados por los mejores artistas de Europa,

en el mejor papel, con las mejores tintas, en los mejores talleres de Roma,

París o Berlín. Es un trabajo editorial de primer orden, hecho a lo largo de casi

30 años y que arruina al barón prusiano”16.

Aunque los redactores de “Biblioteca” continúan dentro de la línea del

grabado paisajista, tan popular, en Inglaterra en las primeras décadas del

siglo XIX, prefieren las cordilleras y los ríos americanos en vez de las senti-

mentales escenas en las campiñas inglesas. Pues bien, las ilustraciones en la

revista fueron realizadas por ingleses; los temas son recogidos de los diarios

y los dibujos de los viajeros europeos, pero la técnica sigue siendo parte de la

tradición del grabado en la literatura inglesa de finales del siglo XVIII y prin-

cipios del XIX17.

No cabe duda que en la primera etapa literaria de Bello recibió formación

bajo la influencia neoclásica del siglo XVIII español. De igual forma, ciertas

circunstancias históricas de la segunda mitad del Siglo de las Luces, como las

políticas borbónicas del despotismo ilustrado español y el contacto directo

con Humboldt, repercutieron directa e indirectamente en la educación y

evolución del pensamiento crítico de Bello. Su conocimiento de latín, inglés

y francés lo pusieron en contacto, a través de su trabajo en la “Gazeta” de

Caracas, con la información más reciente que llegaba de Europa a la capi-

tanía venezolana. El aprendizaje de los idiomas lo prepararon también para

realizar sus estudios críticos de las obras de los autores sobresalientes del

romanticismo europeo, en particular de la lengua inglesa.

16. Jaime Labastida. “Humboldt, ciudadano universal”. México, D.F: Siglo Veintiuno

Editores, 1999, págs. 31-32.

17. Para estudiar las técnicas de grabado europeo de finales del siglo XVIII y principios

del XIX, que se usaban para representar el Nuevo Mundo, véanse los grabados de las car-

tas geográficas, por ejemplo, del istmo de Panamá hecha por el mismo Humboldt, o las

impresiones en su libro “Sitios de las cordilleras y monumentos de los pueblos indígenas

de América”, en una edición en español de 1878, publicada por la Imprenta y Librería de

Gaspar Editores. Además, véanse las ilustraciones de especies animales y vegetales en los

estudios sobre Humboldt que hizo Jaime Labastida. “Humboldt, ese desconocido”. México:

Secretaría de Educación Pública, 1975, y en “Humboldt, ciudadano universal; con una

antología de los textos de Alejandro de Humboldt”. México, D.F: Siglo Veintiuno Editores,

1999.

Influencia en los artículos de Bello 359

Bibliography

Alexander, David S. Affecting Moments: Prints of English Literature Made

in the Age of Romantic Sensibility. 1755-1800. New York: New York

University Press, 1993.

Álvarez O., Federico. Labor periodística de Andrés Bello. Caracas: Univer-

sidad Central Venezuela, 1981.

Arciniégas, Germán. América tierra firme. Buenos Aires: Editorial Sudamer-

icana, 1966.

El pensamiento vivo de Andrés Bello. Buenos Aires: Editorial Losada, S.A.,

1946.

Bello y la América Latina. Cuarto Congreso del Bicentenario, Caracas: Fun-

dación de la Casa Andrés Bello, 1982.

Bocaz, Luis. Andrés Bello. Una biografía cultural. Bogotá: Convenio Andrés

Bello, 2000.

Brown, David B., Noon Patrick Crossing the Channel. British and French

Painting in the Age of Romanticism. London: Tate Publishing, 2003.

Caro, Miguel Antonio. Escritos sobre don Andrés Bello. (Edición, introduc-

ción y notas de Carlos Valderrama Andrade). Bogotá, Instituto Caro y

Cuervo, 1981.

Cussen, Antonio. Bello and Bolívar. Poetry and Politics in the Spanish Amer-

ican Revolution. New York: Cambridge UP, 1992

Crema, Eduardo. Andrés Bello a través del Romanticismo. Caracas: Ministe-

rio de Educación de Venezuela, 1956.

Estudios sobre Andrés Bello. Caracas: La Casa de Bello, 1987.

Los dramas psíquicos y estéticos de Andrés Bello. Caracas: Presidencia de la

República, 1973.

Ercilla y Zúñiga, Alonso de. La Araucana (Introducción y notas por Isaías

Lerner) Madrid: Ediciones Cátedra, 1993.

Goic, Cedomil. Historia y crítica de la literatura. Del Romanticismo al Mod-

ernismo. Barcelona: Editorial Crítica, 1990.

Grases, Pedro. Andrés Bello. Obra Literaria. Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho,

1979.

El tiempo de Bello en Londres y otros ensayos. Caracas: Ediciones Ministe-

rio de Educación, 1962.

España honra a don Andrés Bello. Caracas: Presidencia de la República,

1972.

Labastida, Jaime. Humboldt, ciudadano universal. México, D.F.: Siglo Vein-

tiuno Editores, 1999.

Subero, Efraín. Las ideas estéticas de Andrés Bello: Bello y la situación

actual de la cultura latinoamericana. Caracas: La Casa de Bello, 1994.

Obras de Andrés Bello:

Biblioteca Americana. Londres: Imprenta de don G. Marchant, 1823.

Filosofía del entendimiento (Introducción de José Gaos). México: Fondo de

Cultura Económica, 1948.

Obras Completas. Caracas: Ministerio de Educación, 1951, 24 volúmenes.

Tomo V. Estudios gramaticales. Prólogo por Ángel Rosenblat, "Las ideas

ortográficas de Bello". 1951.

360 Life and Travels

Tomo IX. Temas de crítica literaria. Prólogo de Arturo Uslar Pietri, "Los

temas del pensamiento crítico de Bello", y "Advertencia editorial", de la

Comisión Editora. Caracas, 1956.

Tomo XV. Temas jurídicos y sociales. Prólogo de Rafael Caldera.

Obras completas. Caracas: Fundación de Casa Bello 1981-1986, 26

volúmenes. 1986.

Repertorio Americano. Londres: Librería de Bossange, Barthes I Lowell,

1826-27.

Artículos

Arciniegas, Germán. “Bello, republicano” El Tiempo. Lecturas Dominicales

(1981): 3-4.

Cacua Prada, Antonio. “Andrés Bello, periodista” Revista del Convenio

Andrés Bello 14 (1981): 28-34.

Gómez Hoyos, Rafael. “Andrés Bello, periodista” El Tiempo. Lecturas

Dominicales (1981): 5.

Gómez, Miguel. "Selected writing of Andrés Bello" Hispanic Review 67

(1999): 285-87. "La Silvas americanas de Andrés Bello": una relectura

genealógica" Hispanic Review 66 (1998): 181-96.

Hirshbein, Cesia. “Andrés Bello (1785) y Humboldt (1769-1859)”

www.humboldt200.cl/bello, 2002.

Puerta Florez, Ismael. “Bello y la escondida senda de historiador” Páginas

Andresinas (1991): 23-34.

Torres Quintero, Rafael. “Andrés Bello y su lucha contra el colonialismo cul-

tural en Hispanoamérica” Revista del Convenio Andrés Bello 14 (1982):

27-30.

"Bicentenario del nacimiento de don Andrés Bello" Boletín de la Academia

Colombiana 31 (1981): 1-4.

“Modernidad en la gramática de don Andrés Bello” Boletín del Instituto Caro

y Cuervo 1 (1993): 143-157.

Veracochea de Castillo, Luisa. “Alejandro de Humboldt y Andrés Bello” El

asombro (1999): 93-97.

Ibid.

361

CHAPTER 29 A Humboldtian

Explorer in New York1

Aaron Sachs

In April, 1818, Secretary of State John Quincy Adams received a bizarre

handbill in the mail, from a man called John Cleves Symmes, Jr., of Ohio. It

was addressed “TO ALL THE WORLD!” In it, Symmes declared that “the

earth is hollow, and habitable within…and that it is open at the poles 12 or 16

degrees.” Thus was born the Symmes Theory of Concentric Spheres.

“I pledge my life in support of this truth,” Symmes wrote, “and am ready

to explore the hollow, if the world will support and aid me in the undertak-

ing…I ask one hundred brave companions, well equipped, to start from Sibe-

ria in the fall season, with Reindeer and slays, on the ice of the frozen sea; I

engage we find warm and rich land, stocked with thrifty vegetables and ani-

mals if not men, on reaching one degree northward of latitude 82; we will

return in the succeeding spring.” Symmes also took the opportunity to

announce his forthcoming “Treatise, on the principles of matter, wherein I

show proofs of the above positions [and] account for various phenomena.”

And, finally, Symmes listed his three “protectors:” the famous physical

chemist Sir Humphry Davy; Samuel L. Mitchill of the New York Lyceum of

Natural History; and “Baron Alex. de Humboldt.”2

It’s becoming more common to talk about Humboldt’s influence on vari-

ous aspects of American culture in the mid-19th century: you can find it in

mainstream writers like Emerson and Thoreau; artists like Frederic Church;

the work of the U.S. Army Corps of Topographical Engineers; and the devel-

opment of German-American communities and institutions. My own work

has to do with Humboldt’s influence on American explorers, and here I want

to focus on one in particular – someone closely associated with Symmes –

1. This paper is adapted from my Ph. D. dissertation, “The Humboldt Current: Avant-

Garde Exploration and Environmental Thought in 19

-Century America,” filed in 2004, at

Yale University, in the American Studies program. The book version is forthcoming in

2006, to be published by Viking Penguin.

362 Life and Travels

whose career suggests that Humboldt was already an incredibly strong influ-

ence in the 18-teens, 20s, and 30s. This paper, then, lines up with research

done by other scholars on Humboldtian elements in the early-19th-century

careers of people like George Catlin, Washington Irving, and Albert Gall-

atin.3

Now Symmes, of course, was a total quack. Even Humboldt, normally so

generous and open-minded in his treatment of aspiring scientists, wound up

making fun of him: the infamous “hollow sphere,” Humboldt wrote, in the

first volume of Cosmos, “has by degrees been peopled with plants and ani-

mals, and...it was further imagined that an ever-uniform temperature reigned

in these internal regions...Near the north pole, at 82 latitude, whence the polar

light emanates, was an enormous opening, through which a descent might be

made into the hollow sphere, and Sir Humphrey Davy and myself were even

publicly and frequently invited by Captain Symmes to enter upon this subter-

ranean expedition: so powerful is the morbid inclination of men to fill

unknown spaces with shapes of wonder.”4 Yet Humboldt himself had fed

Symmes’ fire through his early publications by providing isothermal evi-

dence that the equatorial regions were not always the hottest on the planet.

One of Symmes’ most learned boosters even cited Humboldt’s description of

fish being erupted from a volcano as possible evidence for Symmes’ idea that

another world existed inside the earth’s core. Certainly, the Captain’s conten-

tion that there were open polar seas rather than ice caps was based not on his

2. The handbill, now in the National Archives, is reproduced in Herman J. Viola and

Carolyn Margolis, eds.,

The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-1842

(Washington, D.C.:

Smithsonian Institution Press, 1985), p. 10.

On Symmes in general, see Elmore Symmes, “John Cleves Symmes, The Theorist,” an arti-

cle in three installments in the

Southern Bivouac

, New Series 2 (February, March, and

April 1887), pp. 555-66, 621-31, and 682-93; Paul Collins, “Symmes Hole,” in

Banvard’s

Folly: Thirteen Tales of People Who Didn’t Change the World

(New York: Picador, 2001),

pp. 54-70; P. Clark, “The Symmes Theory of the Earth”

Atlantic Monthly

31 (April 1873),

pp. 471-80; E.F. Madden, “Symmes and His Theory,”

Harper’s New Monthly Magazine

(October 1882), pp. 740-4; John Wells Peck, “Symmes’ Theory,”

Ohio Archaeological and

Historical Publications

18 (1909), pp. 28-42; and Reginald Horsman, “Captain Symmes’s

Journey to the Center of the Earth,”

Tim eline

(Sept./Oct. 2000), pp. 2-13.

3. See, for instance: Laura Dassow Walls,

Seeing New Worlds: Henry David Thoreau and

Nineteenth-Century Natural Science

(Madison: U. Wisconsin Press, 1995), pp. 76-166;

Kevin J. Avery,

Church’s Great Picture: The Heart of the Andes

(New York: Metropolitan

Museum of Art, 1993), pp. 12-22; Kent Mathewson, “Humboldt and the Development of

North American Geography,” paper delivered in Washington, D.C., June 4, 2004, at the

conference “Alexander von Humboldt and North America,”; Andreas Daum, “Celebrating

Humanism in St. Louis: the Origins of the Humboldt Statue in Tower Grove Park, 1859-

1878,”

Gateway Heritage

15 (Fall 1994), pp. 48-58; Ingo Schwarz, “‘Shelter for a Reason-

able Freedom’ or Cartesian Vortex: Aspects of Alexander von Humboldt’s Relation to the

United States,”

Debate y Perspectivas

1 (2000), pp. 169-70; Schwarz, “The Second Discov-

erer of the New World and the First American Literary Ambassador to the Old World: Alex-

ander von Humboldt and Washington Irving,”

Acta Historica Leopoldina

27 (1997), pp. 89-

97; Michael Anthony Wadyko, “Alexander von Humboldt and 19

-Century Ideas on the

Origin of American Indians,” Ph.D. Dissertation, W. Virginia U., 2000.

4. Humboldt,

Cosmos

, Vol. 1 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997), p. 171.

A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 363

imagination but on his compulsive reading of exploration narratives, many of

which did mention that there were whales and seals and birds and even signs

of vegetable life at the highest latitudes attained, and that the ocean was in

fact more navigable once you passed through the thickest ice fields between

about 60 and 65 degrees North or South.5

Indeed, Symmes actually achieved a degree of fame in the 1820s, and

when his disciple J.N. Reynolds started lecturing about exploration and glo-

bal dynamics in New York City, his ideas were warmly embraced by the

intellectual community. The Yale chemist Benjamin Silliman, a devoted

Humboldtian and probably America’s leading scientist, noted publicly that

“Mr. Reynolds…handled his subject like an accomplished scholar,” and Silli-

man even invited Reynolds to his home in New Haven on a number of occa-

sions. Reynolds’s candle-lit lectures at New York’s Tammany Hall in May

and June of 1826 were the sensation of the season; they attracted many o

New York’s self-styled intellectual sophisticates. Here’s a writer from the

New York “Mirror” talking about himself in the third person:6

A gentleman of this city, who, never having heard the theory of the concentric

spheres properly explained, had always viewed it as the wild chimera of a

half-disordered imagination, lately attended one of Reynolds’ lectures. He

went, as he himself confessed, in hopes of hearing something sufficiently

absurd to give good exercise to his risibles; but soon felt more inclined to lis-

ten than to laugh, and by the time the discourse was finished, became a thor-

ough believer in what he had lately derided. Such sudden conversions,

perhaps, are not the most permanent; but they are sufficient to prove that the

above theory is more worthy of investigation than of ridicule.”

5. Humboldt’s most widely read study of isotherms is “Des Lignes Isothermes et de la

Distribution de la Chaleur sur le Globe [On Isothermic Lines and the Distribution of Heat

on the Planet],” in

Mémoires de Physique et de Chimie de la Société d’Arcueil

3 (1817), pp.

462-602.

The Symmes supporter who cited Humboldt is James McBride, “Symmes’s Theory of Con-

centric Spheres” (Cincinnati: Morgan, Lodge, and Fisher, 1826), p. 105. Belief in the Open

Polar Seas lasted well into the 19th century: see Edward L. Towle, “The Myth of the Open

Polar Sea,” “Proceedings of the Tenth International Congress of the History of Science”

(Paris, 1965), Vol. 1, pp. 1037-41.

J.N. Reynolds discusses the possibility of an open sea in

the Antarctic in his official report of 1828 to Navy Secretary Samuel Southard, “Pacific Ocean

and South Seas”, reprinted in 1835 as House Document 105, 23rd Congress, 2nd Session, p.

26. Of the sealers he interviewed who had been South of 70º, Reynolds noted: “They all agree

that… the greatest impediment to navigation from ice will be found from 62º to 68º S.” Also see

his “Remarks on a Review of Symmes’ Theory, which appeared in the American Quarterly

Review” (Washington, D.C.: Gales and Seaton, 1827), p. 40.

Edmund Fanning, in

Voyages Round the World

(New York: Collins and Hannay, 1833), pp.

473-4, notes: “The report of all (within the author’s knowledge) that have passed beyond

the 68

degree is, that above this degree of latitude, the sea was found to be mainly clear of

ice, and the climate becoming more mild, with prevailing winds from the southward. “The

report of that persevering navigator, Weddel, who has sailed farther south than any other

navigator has been known to do, is this, viz., to the latitude of 74º 15’ S., he states, that at

this position the weather was mild as summer, the wind at the time being from the south,

while the sea was clear in that quarter, as far as the eye could discern from the masthead.”

364 Life and Travels

Of course, there were also listeners who were content to respond with rid-

icule. Reynolds had become increasingly popular in part because he had

aligned himself with New England’s whaling and sealing industries and had

begun lobbying for an expedition directed toward the South Pole, leaving the

North to the British and to Captain Symmes, with whom he had broken.

Symmes in fact felt so betrayed by Reynolds that he challenged him to a duel.

Reynolds refused, but one newspaper editor suggested that the U.S. govern-

ment could step in and resolve the dispute: all Congress had to do was “grant

two appropriations, one to Reynolds for the antarctic regions, another to

Symmes for the arctic regions, furnish them with cannons, and let them fight

their duel” through the earth’s hollow core, using “snow-balls as ammuni-

tion.”7

Reynolds simply ignored such abuse and continued laying down the core

principles of his science, based squarely on Humboldt’s cosmopolitan empir-

icism: we don’t know what’s out there and how it all fits together, Reynolds

argued, so we’d better join the universal effort to collect facts, make contact

with other nations, and start figuring out the best ways of living in harmony

with nature. “Inquiries concerning the figure of the earth we inhabit, are

among the noblest speculations of the human mind. They enlarge our views,

and frequently bring remote parts of the earth into a knowledge and inter-

change with each other.” In the end, the proposed expedition could help us

6. New York

National Advocate

, May 28, 1828, cited in Elmore Symmes, p. 565;

New-

York M i r r or

3 (June 17, 1826), p. 375. For more coverage of Reynolds and Symmes in New

York, also see the

Mirror

of April 15 (p. 303) and May 27 (pp. 350-1). Silliman quote is

from the

New England Palladium and Commercial Advertiser

, June 16, 1826, p. 1; also see

Philip I. Mitterling,

America in the Antarctic to 1840

(Urbana: U. Illinois Press, 1959), p.

86. For more on Silliman and Reynolds, also see Reynolds,

Address on the Subject of a Sur-

veying and Exploring Expedition to the Pacific Ocean and South Seas. Delivered in the Hall

of Representatives on the Evening of April 3, 1836

(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1836),

pp. 112-15. For more on Silliman and Humboldt, see Benjamin Silliman,

A Visit to Europe

in 1851

, Vol. 2 (New York: George P. Putnam, 1853), pp. 317-22. For background on Rey-

nolds, the best source is an unpublished biography, the typescript of which is in the Special

Collections at the Princeton University Library: Richard G. Woodbridge III,

J.N. Reynolds

– American

. Woodbridge has made snippets of his research more readily available in Wood-

bridge, “J.N. Reynolds: Father of American Exploration,”

Princeton University Library

Chronicle

45 (Winter 1984), and Woodbridge,

Condensed Biography of J.N. Reynolds –

American

, typescript (Princeton, 1995), New York Public Library. There’s also an important

cache of Reynolds’s letters in the Samuel L. Southard Papers, Special Collections, Prince-

ton University Library. Other Reynolds sources include: Kenneth J. Bertrand,

Americans in

Antarctica

, 1775-1948 (New York: American Geographical Society, 1971), pp. 144-97;

Robert F. Almy, “J. N. Reynolds: A Brief Biography with Particular Reference to Poe and

Symmes,”

Colophon

2 (New Series) (Winter 1937), pp. 227-45; Aubrey Starke, “Poe’s

Friend Reynolds,”

American Literature

11 (May 1939), pp. 152-9; William Coyle, ed.,

Ohio

Authors and Their Books

(Cleveland: World Publishing Co., 1962), pp. 523-5; and Henry

Howe, “The Romantic History of Jeremiah N. Reynolds,” in Howe,

Historical Collections of

Ohio in Two Volumes: An Encyclopedia of the State

(Columbus: Henry Howe and Son,

1889), Vol. I, pp. 430-2. Most scholars refer to Reynolds as Jeremiah, but he always

referred to himself by his initials, and there is good reason to believe that his real name was

probably James Neilson Reynolds.

7. Elmore Symmes, p. 623.

A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 365

acquire “much useful information in the hydrography and geography of the

Antarctic regions; as well as many important and interesting observations on

the atmospherical, magnetical, and electrical phenomena, which cannot fail

materially to advance the science of Meteorology; and also in many valuable

collections of objects in natural history, which inhabit a part of the globe,

where few researches have yet been made in this branch of science.”8

A little later in his career, Reynolds made his Humboldtian program of

research even clearer: he wished “to collect, preserve, and arrange” speci-

mens from all over the globe, “from the minute madrapore to the huge sper-

maceti,” and figure out how they connected to each other and to “man in his

physical and mental powers, in his manners, habits, disposition, and social

and political relations”; scientists should feel duty-bound “to examine vege-

tation, from the hundred mosses of the rocks, throughout all the classes of

shrub, flower, and tree, up to the monarch of the forest,” all in relation to “the

phenomena of winds and tides, of heat and cold, of light and darkness.” And,

indeed, in lobbying for the scientific exploration of the South Seas through-

out the 1820s and 30s, Reynolds frequently cited Humboldt explicitly, and

between 1829 and 1834 he actually got to follow in Humboldt’s footsteps –

sailing along the South American coast taking temperature and pressure read-

ings and also climbing some Andean volcanoes.9

I want to say a little more about his experiences in South America, but

first let me just explain my own background understanding of Humboldt’s

significance in the realms of environmental history and colonial politics. I

think Humboldt was clearly the first ecologist, and I also consider him a

fairly radical critic of colonialism and defender of native cultures. This per-

spective flies in the face of a fair amount of scholarly literature, and espe-

cially Mary Louise Pratt’s scathing critique of Humboldt in her now-

canonical book, “Imperial Eyes.” But I’ve tried to establish my own position

in an article that came out last December in a special environmental issue of

the journal History and Theory.10

And this perspective on Humboldt has in turn led me to re-evaluate the

scholarly assumption that all 19th-century American explorers were essen-

tially agents of empire and the exploitation of peoples and resources.11 I think

people like J.N. Reynolds went out into the world eager to question their

assumptions and expose themselves to new perspectives and especially to the

8. Reynolds, “Remarks on a Review of Symmes’ Theory”, pp. 42 and 69

9. Reynolds, “Address”, p. 72. For a couple of direct citations of Humboldt, see Rey-

nolds,

Voyage of the United States Frigate Potomac, under the command of Commodore

John Downes, during the Circumnavigation of the Globe, in the years 1831, 1832, 1833,

and 1834

(New York: Harper and Brothers, 1835), pp. 438 and 445.

10. Aaron Sachs, “The Ultimate ‘Other’: Post-Colonialism and Alexander von Humboldt’s

Ecological Relationship with Nature,”

History and Theory

42, Theme Issue on the Environ-

ment (Dec. 2003), pp. 111-35.

366 Life and Travels

power of Nature. And I think Reynolds’s responses to South America and the

South Seas bear this out.

For one thing, Reynolds followed Humboldt in quite simply celebrating

“the Titan scale upon which nature has operated, and is continuing to operate

in these regions.” Also, despite having very little scientific training, he did

with islands, reefs, rocks, winds, currents, and marine mammals what Hum-

boldt had done with mean temperatures and vegetation patterns. His efforts to

collate data even led him to perhaps the first American statement of concern

about the limits of natural-resource extraction: he calculated in 1828 that

American whalers were killing some 10,000 whales a year, and thus decimat-

ing certain whaling grounds. Fascinatingly, he became America’s foremost

proponent of scientific exploration, but at the same time he railed against

capitalist expansion: “what place is exempt,” he asked, “what creature safe,

from the intrusion of man! Boast as he may of his humanity, he is in a state of

perpetual warfare with every living thing which can satisfy his wants or pam-

per his appetite, for luxuries; and his path, almost the world over, may be

tracked by blood.”12

Perhaps most importantly though, Reynolds followed Humboldt in

attacking colonial governments – including that of the United States – for

their brutal exploitation of native peoples. When Reynolds returned from his

expedition in 1834 to find that President Jackson had forced through the

Indian Removal Bill in 1830, he felt it was his duty to point out that through-

out the world, “the kind reception and hospitality of the natives have been

requited by acts of rapine, cruelty, and oppression.” Indeed, Reynolds hoped

that by pointing out the admirable qualities of native peoples around the

globe, he might elicit more sympathy among his fellow-citizens for “the

much wronged and oppressed aborigines of our own country.” Taking his cue

directly from Humboldt’s writings, Reynolds even compared the United

States’ treatment of Indians to that of Spain, and made explicit the systematic

connection between resource extraction and violent repression: “From

whence issued those immense streams of wealth which flowed from the colo-

nies into the lap of the mother country, during the three hundred years of her

tyranny and dominion, but from the poor and subjugated Indian? Who can

reflect, without horror, on the destruction of eight millions of these wretched

beings, who, in Peru alone, perished under the cruel and unjust exactions of

the Mita?”13

11. See, for instance, John L. Allen “Where We Are and How We Got There: Surveying

the Record of Exploration Studies,” in Edward C. Carter III, ed.,

Surveying the Record:

North American Scientific Exploration to 1930

(Philadelphia: American Philosophical Soci-

ety, 1999), pp. 3-18.

12. Reynolds, “Leaves from an Unpublished Journal,”

New-York Mirror

15 (April 21,

1838), pp. 340-1; Reynolds, “Pacific Ocean and South Seas”, p. 3.

13. Reynolds,

Voyage of the United States Frigate ‘Potomac’

, pp. 81, 105, and 478.

A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 367

Reynolds’s own experiences among native peoples in Peru, and especially

Chile, had convinced him for good that it was only on frontiers that you could

judge the true character of your civilization. Reynolds knew that the Indian

Removal Bill had passed only by the skin of its teeth – a the vote in Congress

was 103-97 – and he felt sure that if the people’s representatives had better

understood the possibility of white-Indian consort and cooperation, they

never would have passed such an abominable law. So in his speeches and the

narratives he wrote of his expedition, Reynolds consistently evoked his own

finding that native peoples tended to be not warlike brutes, nor merely noble

savages, but members of reasonable, complicated, generally peaceful com-

munities.

The Araucanians had a particularly savage reputation, and the first chief

Reynolds meets, whom he at first describes as “warlike” and “splenetic,”

paces and mutters when he hears that Reynolds wants to explore in his area –

but then Reynolds suddenly realizes, with the help of his interpreter, that

Uaiquimilla’s rage is “related to the former wars of his people with the Span-

iards, and his belief that we, like them, were come to search for gold and sil-

ver.”14 So the violence of these Indians is not some sort of natural

characteristic, but a moral response to a political situation, and it is now

incumbent on the invading white man to prove that he is not like the Spanish

gold seekers – or even, say, like American sealers, intent upon extracting

valuable natural resources from distant lands.

The rest of Reynolds’ experience among the fierce Araucanians turns out

to be essentially a pastoral gambol. You thought they were savage hunters?

No – their “farms displayed a perfection of agriculture that would have done

credit to a civilized people.” Native communities feed him dinners of lamb

and green peas, and in the morning the entire village comes to see if he has

slept well in the humble bed they have provided. And besides being hospita-

ble, they seem amazingly savvy in the political realm: “These people…not

only kept aloof from the colonial contests, but, what is better and more won-

derful, they have continued almost from time immemorial at peace with all

their neighbors. They lived comfortably on the fruits of their industry.” The

Araucanians were even “well clothed: indeed we had not seen an Indian

poorly clad since crossing the river Imperial.” It is only the touch of Empire,

in other words, that turns Indians into warring savages.15

In 1834, when he got back to the United States, Reynolds stopped briefly

in Boston and deposited his collections with the Boston Society of Natural

History. But then he settled back in New York and continued lecturing and

writing on scientific exploration. There were articles about him in periodicals

14. Reynolds, “Rough Notes of Rough Adventures,”

Southern Literary Messenger

(December 1843), p. 709.

15. Ibid., pp. 711-12.

368 Life and Travels

like the New-Yorker describing the apartments where he lived and did his

work (one on Astor Place, for instance), with books and Congressional

reports scattered all around him.16 In 1835, he received an honorary degree

from Columbia (a small college just north of CUNY), which put him in the

company of many other Humboldtians, including Gallatin and Irving.17 He

corresponded with Poe, and Poe stole passages from his work to use in his

own imaginative writings, especially his only novel, The Narrative of Arthur

Gordon Pym (and it is worth noting here that Poe’s final book, Eureka, was

dedicated to Humboldt “with very profound respect”).18 In 1839, when Her-

man Melville was just 19 and still hadn’t even set out on his own South Seas

adventures, Reynolds published Mocha Dick, about an aggressive white

whale that swam the Humboldt Current near the Isle of Mocha just off the

Chilean coast.19 And from various lecterns in New York, Reynolds became

the foremost proponent of what eventually became the famous United States

Exploring Expedition (often called simply the Ex Ex, or the Wilkes Expedi-

tion, of 1838-42), which confirmed the existence of the Antarctic continent.

Because of various political conflicts and controversies during the prepara-

tions for the expedition, however – Reynolds attacked Wilkes for, among

other things, failing to stock the ships’ libraries with a complete set of Hum-

boldt’s writings – Reynolds himself got left off the expedition, and quickly

faded into obscurity.20

It’s my opinion that Reynolds did more than anyone except Humboldt

himself to establish the significance of scientific exploration in American

culture in the 19th century. This conference represented an important effort to

begin restoring Humboldt’s legacy – and it seems to me that a huge amount

of work also remains to be done to recapture Reynolds’s significance.

16. See J.F. Otis, “Current Calamosities,”

Southern Literary Messenger

5 (April 1839), pp.

254-6; reprinted in the

New-Yorker

7 (April 27, 1839), p. 100.

17. On the 1835 Commencement, see the

Columbia University Annual Commencement

Scrapbook, 1830-1849

, in the Columbiana Archives, Columbia University. The scrapbook

also has a clipping from the

New York Evening Post

of October 8, 1835. Also see

Minutes of

the Trustees of Columbia College

, Vol. 3, Part 2 (May 6, 1828, to December 4, 1837), p.

1618 (typescript in the Columbiana Archives). I am grateful for the skillful assistance of

Jocelyn Wilk, Assistant Director of the University Archives and Columbiana Library. For

the honorees, see the

Columbia University Alumni Register

, 1754-1931” (New York: Colum-

bia U. Press, 1932), pp. 594, 723, and 1182-3. Also see Reynolds’ letter to Columbia Pres-

ident William A. Duer, dated October 13, 1835, New York, in the College Papers, Special

Manuscript Division, Columbia University.

18. Poe, “Eureka”, in James A. Harrison, ed.,

The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe

Vol. 16 (New York: AMS Press, 1965), pp. 179-315, quote on p. 181. Also see Almy;

Starke; Robert Lee Rhea, “Some Observations on Poe’s Origins,”

University of Texas Bulle-

tin, Studies in English

10 (July 8, 1930), pp. 135-46; J.O. Bailey, “Sources for Poe’s

“Arthur Gordon Pym”, ‘Hans Pfaal,’ and Other Pieces,”

PMLA

57 (June 1942), pp. 513-35;

Keith Huntress, “Another Source for Poe’s ‘Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym,’”

American

Literature

16 (March 1944), pp. 19-25; and Randel Helms, “Another Source for Poe’s

‘Arthur Gordon Pym,’”

American Literature

41 (January 1970), pp. 572-5.

19. “Mocha Dick: Or The White Whale of the Pacific: A Leaf from a Manuscript Journal,”

Knickerbocker

13 (May 1839), pp. 377-92.

A Humboldtian Explorer in New York 369

20. See William Stanton,

The Great United States Exploring Expedition of 1838-1842

(Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975), esp. pp. 8-72; William H. Goetzmann,

New Lands, New Men: America and the Second Great Age of Discovery

(Austin: Texas State

Historical Association, 1995; originally published 1986), pp. 273-97; and Nathaniel Phil-

brick,

Sea of Glory: America’s Voyage of Discovery, The U.S. Exploring Expedition, 1838-

1842

(New York: Viking, 2003), esp. pp. 3-41. For the reference to Humboldt, see Rey-

nolds,

Exploring Expedition Correspondence

, undated pamphlet, copy consulted at Bei-

necke Library, Yale University, Letter 6, July 28, 1837, New-York, pp. 39-41.

371

CHAPTER 30 Influences of ‘Kosmos’

in ‘Earth and Man’

Philip K. Wilson

In January and February 1849, a newly emigrated European natural philoso-

pher, Arnold Guyot, delivered a series of twelve lectures before the Lowell

Institute in Boston. These “enormously popular” lectures introduced several

hundred listeners to a new depth of geographical understanding.1 For in these

lectures, Guyot expanded the view of geography from a descriptive gazetteer

of places and chronology of discovery to an all encompassing view of geog-

raphy as “the mutual [inter]actions of . . . different portions of physical nature

upon each other . . . the perpetual play of which . . . might be called the life of

the globe.”2

Although the newly arrived Guyot was, beyond his investigations into

glacial motion, still a relatively unknown figure in the world of science, his

lectures attracted many New England savants including Edward Everett,

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Horace Mann, Ben-

jamin Pierce, George Ticknor, and Cornelius Conway Felton, the Elliot Pro-

1. Antonello Gerbi,

The Dispute of the New World: A History of a Polemic, 1750-1900

(Pittsburgh, PA; University of Pittsburgh Press, 1973), p. 525.

2. Arnold Guyot,

Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography, in its

Relation to the History of Mankind

, 2

ed., rev., (Boston: Gould, Kendall and Lincoln,

1849), p. 21. For relatively recent assessments of Guyot, see especially Edith Ferrell,

“Arnold Henry Guyot 1807-1884,”

Geographers: Biobibliographical Studies

5 (1981): 63-

71; George Kish, “Carl Ritter’s Influence on American Geography,” in Karl Lenz (ed)

Carl

Ritter – Geltung und Deutung

(Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1981), pp. 205-211; Philip K. Wil-

son, “Arnold Guyot and the Pestalozzian Approach to Geology Education: A Model for

21st-Century College Science?,”

Eclogae Geologicae Helvetiae

92 (1999): 321-325; and

Richard J. Schneider, “’Climate Does Thus React on Man’: Wildness and Geographical

Determinism in Thoreau’s ‘Walking,” in Richard J. Schneider (ed)

Thoreau’s Sense of Place:

Essays in American Environmental Writing

(Iowa City, IA: University of Iowa, 20000), pp.

45-60. Philip K. Wilson is currently preparing a book-length scientific biography of Guyot,

tentatively entitled

Glaciers, God, and Geography: Neuchâtel’s Arnold Guyot (1808-1884)

Princeton

Guyot is also featured in the collaborative work that Robert H. Silliman and

Philip K. Wilson are preparing, tentatively entitled,

Naturalists from Neuchâtel: The Agas-

siz Circle in American Science

372 Life and Travels

fessor of Greek Language and Literature who worked with Guyot to translate

the lectures, delivered in French, into English for readers of the Boston Daily

Traveler newspaper. These translations were gathered later that year into the

book titled, Earth and Man: Lectures on Comparative Physical Geography,

in its Relation to the History of Mankind.

As a brief testimony of Earth and Man’s immediate success, I turn to a

few contemporary commentators. American Congregational mission admin-

istrator Rufus Anderson regarded it as “among the most valuable works pro-

duced in the age to which we belong.”3 Benjamin Pierce, Harvard’s Perkins

Professor of Astronomy and Mathematics, claimed that Guyot “set himself to

work at the foundation of an almost new science, with the ability and simplic-

ity of a true master; he has developed profound and original views . . . in the

most attractive and eloquent . . . language.” The new publication, he contin-

ued, shows Guyot’s “ingenious investigations, sustained by faithful and con-

scientious research,” to be “an invaluable addition to science; while the vivid

and picturesque earnestness of their utterance, cannot fail to charm the least

learned of his readers.”4

Given Guyot’s Swiss heritage, one might expect his geohistorical view to

have taken the form of a vast paysage or landscape. The Swiss portrait of

nature was, after all, an archetype of the Romantic vision. Guyot’s pursuits,

however, extended far beyond the aesthetic, metaphysical appreciation of the

earth so common among Romantic period writings. Having studied both his-

tory and geography, Guyot combined these two fields in his vision of the

earth as a primary document and argued that the earth held special signifi-

cance to everything that had been connected to it throughout its history.

Interrogations and interpretations of the earth depended upon the observ-

ers’ viewpoint and refinements in the observer’s instrumentation; both cate-

gories that typified the Humboldtian scientific traveler of Guyot’s era.5 By

considering the earth as an interpretable document, Guyot, like Humboldt,

began to shift the paradigm of earth studies from the subjective theoretical

realm to one which perceived the earth as a measurable object. This paper

examines how Guyot promoted reading the earth primarily within a Hum-

boldtian context. A brief background of Guyot shows that he developed

views consistent with Humboldt in explaining the earth as a diverse, yet

interconnected organic whole. Guyot’s explicit reliance upon Humboldtian

3. Rufus Anderson to Arnold Guyot, July 11, 1849, Princeton Historical Society.

4. “Advertisement,” in Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 3.

5. For a generalization of Humboltian science, see Susan Faye Cannon, “Humboldtian

Science,” in her

Science in Culture: The Early Victorian Period

(New York: Dawson and

Science History Publications, 1978), pp. 73-110, and Anne Marie Claire Godlewska,

“From Enlightenment Vision to Modern Science? Humboldt’s Visual Thinking,” in David

N. Livingstone and Charles W.J. Withers (eds)

Geography and Enlightenment

(Chicago:

University of Chicago, 1999), pp. 236-275.

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 373

methods of observation and measurement as physiographical explanations of

the world around him is examined, although one key distinction between

their world views is acknowledged. Curiously, Guyot’s elaboration upon this

physiographical distinction points to another similarity between his views

and those of Humboldt on the issue of slavery. Finally, Earth and Man is

argued to be one of the best known U.S. popularizations of the physical geog-

raphy sections that Humboldt addressed in Kosmos.

Arnold Guyot’s Berlin Influences

Prior to migrating to the States, Guyot had gained renown for his University

of Berlin studies on the morphology and temperatures of lakes and for his

post-doctoral scientific investigations demonstrating that the earth and its

coverings co-existed in a dynamic relationship.6 Spending six weeks studying

the Central Alps with Louis Agassiz during the summer of 1838 had pro-

vided Guyot with new insight into his Helvetic homeland.7 As he reported to

the Geological Society of France in the following September, Guyot had

uncovered some key findings regarding glacial structure and motion.8 His

explanations were consistent with a view that all nature experienced an ongo-

ing conflict between progress and regress over time. Like glaciers, the earth

itself had developed according to struggles between opposing physical

forces. If the earth appeared to be a static organism, it was only because the

counterpoised forces had reached some temporary state of resolution or equi-

librium.9

Guyot’s explanation of nature’s eternal struggle resonated with much of

the natural philosophy and theology he had studied in Berlin. Guyot matricu-

lated at the University of Berlin in 1829 intending to study theology, but soon

turned his interest toward natural philosophy (i.e., science).10 While in Berlin,

Guyot was directly exposed to the Naturphilosophe influence of the Univer-

6. Guyot’s 1835 doctoral dissertation,

De Naturali Lacuum Divisione

, is dedicated to

Humboldt and Ritter.

7. James D. Dana, “Memoir of Arnold Guyot 1807-1884,”

Biographical Memoirs of the

National Academy of Sciences

2 (1886): 321.

8. Guyot’s talk, “Observations sur Les Glaciers des Alpes,” before the Société

Géologique de France in Porrentruy was noted in the

Bulletin de la Société Géologique

(1838): 407. Guyot gained geological renown in Switzerland for his studies on the morphol-

ogy and temperatures of the lakes of Neuchâtel and Morat, and for uncovering the laws of

glacial motion. In the US, his extensive and comparative hypsometrical measurements

allowed him to produce accurate topographical maps of the Appalachian, Allegheny and

Catskill Mountain ranges. In addition, through the support of Joseph Henry, then Secretary

of the Smithsonian Institution, Guyot established fifty weather stations in New York state –

modeled upon the earlier stations he designed in Switzerland – from which he gathered

standardized climatological data. As James Roger Fleming discussed in

Meteorology in

America, 1800-1870

(Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1990), pp. 117-122,

Guyot’s stations expanded into the Government Signal System, now known as the U.S.

Weather Bureau.

374 Life and Travels

sity’s elite. Many of these individuals focused Guyot’s thinking of the strug-

gles represented in history and geography in terms of progressive

evolution.Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel analyzed the progressive migra-

tion across the globe in terms of the intermingling of the folksongs of one

nation with another. Leopold Ranke reinforced the idea of progress in the

content of nation building. Heinrich Steffans encouraged Guyot to look at

natural history and geography in terms of moral and physical evolution.

Johann Neander, who approached theological history through biography,

viewed progress as the result of divine influence upon individual human life.

But an even greater influence upon Guyot’s progressive view of geohis-

tory came through the ideas of the Berlin geographer and pedagogue, Carl

Ritter. The earth, according to Ritter, had been divinely provisioned as “the

school of man; its highest function being to assist him in his training, and to

prepare him for the discharge of the noblest duties of life.”11 It was a

dynamic, living organism, that contained regions of text like a book within

which the history of all life forms could be found and upon which the history

of mankind’s progress could be read.

Guyot focused primarily upon the regional development of the continents.

Peculiar characteristics “lead US to suspect the existence of a general law,”

he surmised. The continents “disclose an arrangement which cannot be with-

out purpose . . . [and it is] our duty to seek to comprehend it.”12 “[S]cience

may attempt to comprehend . . . the destinies of nations, by examining with

care the theatre, seemingly arranged by History for the realization of the new

social order, towards which humanity is tending with hope.”13 Guyot hoped

9. After orally sharing his discoveries with the natural philosophy community in Septem-

ber 1838, Guyot was persuaded by Agassiz to contribute his findings into the collective

pool of knowledge that Agassiz was assembling. These findings were published as

Études

sur les Glaciers in 1840

, with Agassiz receiving recognition for what, in actuality, was a col-

lective effort. This work secured Agassiz’s recognition as the glacial evangelist of Ice Age

geology. The extent to which Guyot and others received due recognition for their respective

discoveries during their lifetimes remains unresolved. It is clear, however, that Guyot

remained faithful to the agreement made with his lifelong friend and countryman. Only

after considerable persuasion did Guyot publish the true account of the discoverers’

respective findings in “Observations sur Les Glaciers des Alpes en 1838,”

Bulletin de la

Société des Sciences Naturalles de Neuchâtel

13 (1883): 156-169, long after Agassiz’s death.

10. William Libbey, Jr., Memoir of Arnold Guyot,”

Third Annual Report from the E.M.

Museum of Geology & Archeology

(Princeton: The Princeton Press, 1884), p. 16.

11. Cark Ritter, “The External Features of the Earth in their Influence on the Course of

History,” a paper delivered before the Royal Academy of Berlin, translated by William

Leonhard Gage in Gage’s edited

Geographical Studies of the late Professor Carl Ritter of

Berlin

(Cincinnati and New York: Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., 1861), p. 314. Ritter’s influ-

ences upon geographical thinking are developed nicely in Hanno Beck,

Carl Ritter Genius

of Geography: On His Life and Work

(Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1979), Manfred Büttner (ed)

Carl Ritter: Zur Europäisch-Amerikanischen Geographie an der Wende vom 18. zum 19.

Jahrhundert

(Paderborn: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1980), Karl Lenz (ed)

Carl Ritter – Geltung

und Deutung

(Berlin: Dietrich Reimer, 1981), and

Carl Ritter: Werk und Wirken

(Gotha:

VEB Hermann Haack, 1983).

12. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 48.

13. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 33.

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 375

to “disclose” this “hidden influence” which the arrangements of and life on

the continents “exercise upon the life of man.”14

Humboldt’s Influence upon Guyot

Guyot’s thinking was also profoundly influenced by Alexander von Hum-

boldt. No one during Guyot’s formative years had personally observed more

of the total earth and its inhabitants than the polymathic naturalist, explorer,

and bio-geographer, Humboldt. Guyot arrived in Berlin shortly after Hum-

boldt had gained wide acclaim from delivering what became the foundation

for his magnum physiographical opus, Kosmos published two decades later.

Humboldt was a regular attendee at Ritter’s lectures on geography – lectures

that Guyot also attended as a student.15 Guyot paid tribute to Humboldt in

many of his own writings and employed Humboldtian empirical skills in his

physiographical explorations and measurements throughout Europe and

North America.16

Guyot adopted Humboldt and Ritter’s expressed belief in Zusammenhang

– or a literal “hanging togetherness” of all things. In organicist terms, the

earth must be viewed as a whole, dynamic, developing organism comprising

Nature, man, and moral and intellectual life all interconnected or “hanging

together.” Humboldt’s brother, Wilhelm, acknowledged that it was Alexander

who had brought “for the first time true harmony” into the study and measure

of the universe. This interconnectedness implied a “grand harmony,” but a

harmony that could be discussed in terms of unifying many diverse geo-

graphical parts.17

Unity, for these comparative physiographical geographers, frequently

implied uncovering laws of nature. As Guyot stated in his regionalized dis-

cussion of the continents, a “comparison of the characteristic[s]” of these

landforms leads to “certain features of resemblance” that suggest the “exist-

ence of a general law” accounting for all landforms across the globe.18 Such

similarities, he noted, included the finding that “the southern points of all the

continents [were] high and rocky . . . extremities of mountain belts,” that east

of each of these southern points one finds a large island or groups of islands,

14.

Guyot, Earth and Man

, p. 241.

15.

The Life and Times of Alexander von Humboldt

(New York: Rudd and Carleton, 1859),

pp. 426-427.

16. Upon Humboldt’s death, Guyot was invited to speak in New York at the American

Geographical and Statistical Society’s Tribute to the Memory of Humboldt. His remarks

were later published in

Journal of the American Geographical and Statistical Society

(1859): 242-245.

17. Margarita Bowen,

Empiricism and Geographical Thought: From Francis Bacon to

Alexander von Humboldt

(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981), p. 215.

18. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 48.

376 Life and Travels

and that a “deep bend” is found along the western sides of these southern

continents.19

Guyot’s fixation upon terrestrial distinctions was greatly enhanced

through Humboldt’s new views of the New World. Indeed, Guyot embedded

Humboldts’ findings within a system of geographical ordering that he delin-

eated as the three Laws of Contrasts:20

•Contrasts between the Continental (Northern) Hemisphere and the Oceanic (Southern)

Hemisphere.

•Contrasts between the Old and New Worlds.

•Contrasts between the 3 Northern and 3 Southern Continents.

In regard to the first contrast, Guyot shared Humboldt’s views that the

seas held significant influence upon the distribution of temperatures, rain and

winds over land. As to the second contrast, here relying heavily upon both

Ritter and Humboldt, Guyot developed general distinctions between Old and

New world geography. He characterized the Old World as being more of a

continental mass, elongated by countries East to West, most of which experi-

enced similar temperate climates. In contrast, most parts of the New World

were, he argued, relatively closer to the vast oceans, elongated North to

South, and they experienced a gradual transition in climates, temperate and

tropical, across the long axis. Guyot also compared the “assemblages” of

physical characteristics on the Northern versus the Southern continents, sug-

gesting what he called “three double worlds” of varying habitation.21 Histori-

cal contrasts between northern/southern, temperate/topical regions of the Old

World were, he argued, “reproduced in the New World more

strongly...between North America with its temperate climate, its Protestant

and progressive people, and South America, with its tropical climate, its

Catholic and stationary inhabitants.”22

In the words of historian Susan Faye Cannon, “Any romantic can climb a

mountain; the Humboltian wanted to use its height as a laboratory for observ-

ing extreme conditions of existence.”23 Many of Guyot’s early investigations

of nature and his Earth and Man lectures show his alignment with the Hum-

boldtian, empirically-based Naturforscher (students of nature) who relied

upon direct observation, measurement and experimentation of the physio-

graphical world around them. He found the isothermal lines that Humboldt

had introduced to be visually helpful to his own mapping of geographical

spaces. He also found a great “usefulness” of employing continental “pro-

files” based upon the altitude of specific regions to add another visual dimen-

19. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, pp. 36-37.

20. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, pp. 115-116.

21. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 42.

22. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 317.

23. Cannon,

Science in Culture

, p. 78.

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 377

sion to geographical knowledge. Although a “few thousand feet of

height...are nothing to the mass of the globe,” he argued, they “change

entirely the aspect and the character of a country.”24 Thus learning the altitude

of a place was a “necessary complement” to knowing its geographical place-

ment in order to fully appreciate its habitability.

Humboldt had closely related his hypsometric measurements of altitude

with plant biogeography. His identification of similar plant assemblages in

similar topographical spaces exalted him to the level, in historian Janet

Browne’s view, of the “statesman...of the vegetable world.”25 But, as evi-

denced in the title of his work, Earth and Man, Guyot focused more upon the

importance of altitude and climate to human assemblages.

In his 1849 Earth and Man, Guyot placed human history within the

earth’s geological past. In this way, the progressive development of the earth

since the origin of mankind was mutually dependent upon the progressive

development of humanity. Humans and nature were thought to “share the

same destiny.” By working towards an in-depth understanding of nature,

humans began to better appreciate the necessity of their care and conserva-

tion of nature. Humans’ social responsibility for nature was, in essence, a

form of self preservation. It was a dynamic, living organism that contained

regions of text like a book within which the history of all life forms could be

found and upon which the history of mankind’s progress could be read.

Key Distinction between Guyot and Humboldt

For a discussion of man, however, Guyot found Humboldt’s 1820s lectures

and his later Kosmos to be incomplete. Only two of Hulmboldt’s 61 lectures

in 1827 had been devoted to ethnography.26 Although Kosmos clearly docu-

mented the “intellectual advancement of man,” Humboldt left the place of

human geography over the course of history as “unresolved.”27 To advance

these ideas further, Guyot relied upon the input of the Berlin geographer, Carl

Ritter – the individual whom he claimed actually “put a soul into the material

body of Humboldt’s Cosmos.”28 According to Ritter, “It is a strong faith that

our globe, like the totality of creation, is a great organism, the work of an all-

wise Divine Intelligence, an admirable structure, all the parts of which are

purposely shaped and arranged, are mutually dependent, and by the will of

the Maker fulfil, like organs, specific functions which combine themselves

24. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 52.

25. Janet Browne,

The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography

(New Haven:

Yale University Press, 1983), p. 52.

26.

The New Englander

70 (1860): 293.

27. Bowen,

Empiricism and Geographical Thought

, p. 246.

28. Arnold Guyot, “Carl Ritter: An Address to the Society,” J

ournal of the American Geo-

graphical and Statistical Society

2 (1860), Pt. I, 62-63.

378 Life and Travels

into a common life.”29 Through Ritter, Guyot began to perceive that the

dynamic progressive forces associated with structural changes on the earth

and in man were processes that were employed by the creator since the cre-

ation of the globe. In striking distinction from Humboldt, Guyot argued that a

complete understanding of the interconnectedness of earth and man was

interpretable only within a teleological context – one which would also pro-

vide an enhanced understanding of the Creator.

Ritter has argued that the progressive development of human civilization

was dependent upon the diversity of physical terrestrial features. Similarly,

Guyot’s dual investigations into history and geography led him to conclude

that when we “glance upon the annals of Nations” we find that “the civiliza-

tions representing the highest degrees of culture...at different periods of his-

tory, do not succeed each other in the same places, but pass from...one

continent to another, following a certain order.”30 This arrangement of and

life on the continents he deemed the geographical march of history. Asia,

Europe, and North America represented what he claimed to be “the three

grand stages of humanity in its march through the ages.”31 By virtue of the

physical structure and qualities, each continent contributed towards particular

developmental stages in mankind’s “education.” Asia was the “cradle where

man passed his infancy, under the authority of law, and where he learned his

dependence upon a sovereign master.” Europe provided the “school where

his youth was trained, where he waxed in strength and knowledge, grew to

man, and learned at once his liberty and moral responsibility.” America,

according to Guyot, served as “the theatre” of man’s activity “during the

period of manhood; the land where he applies and practices all he has

learned, brings into action all the forces he has acquired, and where he is still

to learn that the entire development of his being and his own happiness, are

only possible by willing obedience to the laws of his Maker.”32

Guyot’s argument appeased many progressive-minded U.S. readers who

envisioned grandiose future developments within their own country. Support-

ing the Manifest Destiny thinking that resonated with many of his Lowell

Lecture listeners, Guyot argued, that history and geography have worked for

America “not to give birth and grow [in]to a new civilization, but to receive

29. Guyot,

Carl Ritter

, p. 48.

30. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 300.

31. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 327.

32. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 327. Curiously, Guyot omitted Africa in this grand march.

Ritter had described Asia as the sunrise, Africa, as the noon, and Europe as the sunset of

this progress, with North America representing a new sunrise. For Ritter, who had written

extensively on this continent, as being in the “consistent midday” position of the grand

march. This position was attributed to its “smoothness of outline as well as the uniformity

of climate” which enticed its inhabitants to “slumber and to shun outside contacts.” Pre-

ston E. James and Geoffrey J. Martin,

All Possible Worlds: A History of Geographical Ideas

ed., (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1981), p. 129.

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 379

one ready-made, and to furnish forth for man, whose education the Old

World has completed...the scene most worthy of his [future] activity. It is

here that all the peoples of Europe may meet together, with room enough to

move in; may commingle their efforts and their gifts; and carry out, upon a

scale of grandeur hitherto unknown the life-giving principle of modern time –

the principle of free association.”33 “Will any one believe that...[it] was only

an accidental occurrence” that “Luther drew the Bible forth from the dust of

libraries...at the moment when Columbus discovered the New World.”34

Similar Abolitionist Perspectives

Although Humboldt did not share Guyot’s views about this progressive

march or, more especially, the role of the Creator, it was this part of Guyot’s

work that brings out a strikingly similar viewpoint between these two geohis-

torians. Earth and Man garnered the support of several leading Boston aboli-

tionists including Charles Sumner, a leader among US political opponents to

slavery; George Hillard, Sumner’s one-time law partner who had also written

on geography and history, though more from a view of commerce that was

evident in Guyot’s work;35 and Edward Kirk, the Congregationalist minister

who would later travel with Guyot in the Southern States.36 Boston publishers

Gould, Kendall and Lincoln, included these abolitionists’ views as testimo-

nial support in the preliminary pages of several editions of this work. What

was the special appeal of this work among these abolitionists? Guyot had,

after all, only recently arrived in the States and was still a relatively unknown

figure in the world of science. Moreover, his close friend and previous Acad-

emy of Neuchatel colleague, Louis Agassiz, had already offered support to

polygenist thinking, noting that negroes descended from a different ancestral

lineage than whites – a view that garnered Agassiz considerable support from

Southern slave owners.37 Indeed, many may have assumed that Guyot, whose

work also received Agassiz’s strong endorsement, held similar but, as of yet,

unspoken beliefs. Such assumptions, however, would have been false.

Perhaps the abolitionists supporting Guyot coincidentally represented a

sampling of the Boston’s intelligentsia whose words any publisher would

have been all too happy to cull from in order to enhance book sales. Alterna-

33. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 297.

34. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p, 322.

35. George S. Hillard,

The Connection Between Geography and History

(Boston: William

D. Ticknor, 1846).

36. David O. Mears,

Life of Edward Norris Kirk, D.D.

(Boston: Lockwood, Brooks, and Co.,

1877), pp. 257-269.

37. Louis Agassiz’s “Sketch of the Natural Provinces of the Animal World and their Rela-

tion to the Different Types of Man,” previously published in 1845 as “Notice sur la Géogra-

phie des Animaux” in “Revue Suisse” appeared as a prefatory essay in J.C. Nott and G.R.

Gliddon,

Types of Mankind

(London: Trübner, 1854), pp. lviii-lxxvi.

380 Life and Travels

tively, perhaps these men were selected as local supporters of Manifest Des-

tiny – a theme that had attracted proselytizers on both sides of the slavery

issue.38 Many in the U.S. held high hopes that their young nation would con-

tinue to look into her own soil and substance for something more than agri-

cultural almanac wisdom. Fulfilling such a plan required devotion to the

study of both earth and man. In their view, Guyot had arrived at precisely the

right time, with a new scientific outlook, that would accelerate the fulfillment

of their destined quest.

All of this may have been true, but perhaps the abolitionists also envi-

sioned Guyot as offering something more to United States’ readers. His

appeal to abolitionist ideology is evident through the narrative he crafted,

particularly regarding the interconnectedness between the earth and its inhab-

itants. To further explore this appeal, I turn briefly to two different focal

points.

As one point, Guyot’s endorsement of the progressive geographical

march of history turned his readers’ attention specifically to North America.

But in the minds of many, the despicable, savage nature of slavery would for-

ever impede the United States from reaching its geohistorically determined

destiny. As another point, interspersed among his Humboldtian descriptions

of continents, oceans, and climates, Guyot crafted his narrative with meta-

phors that vividly involved the image of slavery. As such, the work of this

newcomer held a timely appeal for his North American audiences.

History, Guyot noted, had unfolded according a pattern of distinct human

races, all descended from one common ancestor, but diversely distributed

throughout the globe. Similar to the forces underlying continent develop-

ments, the forces of history, too, may have been universal, but they were not

universally distributed. The balmy tropics, he argued, were inhabited by

inward looking beings who, isolated from other cultures, were forced to look

only upon their own earthly surrounds to discern intellectual and spiritual

meaning. Being isolated, they had “nothing to temper or correct them,” and

thus they remained a stationary culture for thousands of years. Change may

have affected the natural history of these lands, but tropical humans remained

as savage and uncivilized as they had since the beginning of man. Guyot also

sought evidence of a progressive march across continents in terms of moving

towards advanced stages of moral and intellectual character.

Looking further into the specifics of this moral progressiveness, we find

Guyot’s heavy reliance upon the rhetoric of slavery. For example: When man,

“a child still” is “brought into the presence” of the “massive forms” and

38. For recent overviews that discuss slavery within Manifest Destiny thinking, see Tho-

mas R. Hietala,

Manifest Design: American Exceptionalism & Empire

(Ithaca: Cornell Uni-

versity Press, 1985, revised edition 2003), and Anders Stephanson,

Manifest Destiny:

American Expansion and the Empire of Right

(New York: Hill and Wang, 1995).

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 381

“physical vigor” of nature, he “must have felt himself, not merely a depen-

dent, but a slave.” The river, the sun – “everything becomes to him an object

of worship. He acknowledges the powers of nature as his gods, to whose

mercy he feels himself to be committed, and accepts for his supreme rule the

inflexible law that governs the heavenly bodies. He is falling from the world

of liberty into that of necessity.”39 “During long centuries of these first ages,

man has...learned...that he depends on the will of a master, but that master is

an inexorable despot, devoid of love. He can only fear him, if he obeys him,

it is as a slave; he loves him not, nor adores him, for love presupposes lib-

erty.”40

Guyot’s physical geography was, in essence, comparative geography. In

regards to man’s enslavement to nature, he argued that in the tropics, the “life

of the body over masters that of the soul; the physical instincts of our nature

[over] those of higher faculties; passion, sentiment, [and] imagination pre-

dominate over intellect and reason.” Here, man is “conquered” by nature – he

“submits to the yoke, and becomes again the animal man, in proportion as he

abandons himself to these influences, forgetful of his high moral destina-

tion.”41 This enslavement was contrasted to life in the temperate regions

where “physical nature is not a tyrant, but a useful helper” and the “soul

[rules] over the body” as man does over nature.42 People within these regions

have experienced what he called a “great emancipation from the dominion of

nature.”43

I find that many times Guyot appears to have been talking about the free-

dom from enslavement in a specific religious context. That is, the freedom

offered by turning to Christ, more specifically a Protestant perspective of

Christ. The “physical man,” Guyot argued, “is not the true man...but a begin-

ning. There is another, new-born, but destined to grow up in him, and to

unfold the moral and religious nature until he attains the perfect stature of his

master and pattern, who is Christ.”44 Living with Christ, there is “no more

idolatry, no more servitude; for he liberates man from the yoke of evil that

restrains the freedom of his moral being.”45

The “progress, whereto at present all civilized society aspires,” Guyot

claimed, is shown “by the beautiful formula, drawn from the gospel, but so

shamelessly perverted by the false friends of progress...in words that are the

motto of the present age – Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.” Liberty to “unfold

39. Guyot,

Earth and Ma

n, p. 305.

40. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, pp. 305-306.

41. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 269.

42. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 270.

43. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 323.

44. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, pp. 264-265.

45. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 311.

382 Life and Travels

all the living forces, and all the good tendencies of man.” Equality of “rights

lying in the moral nature of man.” Fraternity, “which is the law of the gos-

pel...that unites and makes alive; a free people...unobstructed [in their] indi-

vidual growth...[yet maintaining a] diversity in [their] unity.”46

However, this gospel-based freedom is also tied in to the U.S. fulfilling

her destiny in the great march. Just how America will reach her goal, Guyot

argued, “will be in proportion as man shall be faithful to the law of his moral

nature, which is the divine law itself.”47 Moving from the rhetorical to the lit-

eral, Guyot admonished slavery. Fulfillment of the divine destiny in the U.S.

will only be achieved, he argued, “when slavery, that fatal heritage of another

age, which the Union still drags after it, as the convict drags his chain and

ball, shall have disappeared from this free soil, freed in the name of liberty

and Christian brotherhood, as it has disappeared from the fundamental princi-

ples of its law.”48 Slavery was a “taint” in the United States that “continued to

betray the nature of the continent and the period of human progress to which

[the United States] belongs.”49

For Guyot, slavery was the lingering impediment that kept the U.S. from

fulfilling her divinely inspired geohistorical destiny. He was confident that, in

due course, freedom would win over slavery. He was a visionary, promoting

scriptural and scientific reasons for reforming the racial injustices. Yet, at

least in Earth and Man, Guyot does not appear to have been as agitated about

a pressing need to immediately free the slaves as were abolitionists like Sum-

ner, and Hillard, and Kirk and Humboldt. Rather, he was a believer in gradual

processes. Destiny was of critical concern to this devout Calvinist. However,

he appreciated that change over time, progress over the earth and in man

moved, we might say, with glacial swiftness. His belief about this rate of

change was consistent with what he observed in determining the laws of gla-

cial motion. Although more of a gradualist in this thinking, his sentiment was

similar to that of the immediatist thinking of Humboldt. “Without doubt,”

Humboldt argued, slavery was the “greatest of all the evils which have

afflicted mankind.” Humboldt has criticized the savagery of slavery he found

in Cuba and in New Spain, but he directed his greatest ridicule against the

slavery perpetuated within that country that proclaimed freedom as its cor-

nerstone – the United States.

Curiously, Humboldt and Guyot’s writings both faced unwanted abridge-

ments in the hands of others. Humboldt’s findings on slavery in Cuba were

first published in French (1826) and Spanish (1827); the first English transla-

tion appearing in 1856. In the English version, the pro-slavery Southern

46. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, pp. 319-320.

47. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 327.

48. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 298.

49. Guyot,

Earth and Man

, p. 302.

Influences of ‘Kosmos’ in ‘Earth and Man’ 383

translator, J.S. Thrasher, omitted any reference to slavery in attempt to down-

play Humboldt’s characterization of its savage brutality. Humboldt’s indigna-

tion with Thrasher’s treatment played out in a number of New York

newspapers until the end of Humboldt’s life (1859).50

In an 1850 British publication of Guyot’s Earth and Man, an editor

expunged “every sentence favourable” to the United States.51 It seems that

three-quarters of a century after the American Revolution had not quelled all

of England’s animosity towards the States. Although the editor sought to

popularize much of Guyot’s new view of geography, he prevented readers

from encountering Guyot’s argument that the New World, and especially the

United States, was the ultimate seat of humankind’s perfection.

Guyot, who was otherwise generally reserved and reticent in his manner-

isms, launched an attack against this publication in the revised U.S. edition of

Earth and Man also published in 1850. This “mutilated edition,” Guyot

argued, included many passages “not advanced by the author.” Moreover, in

other places, “over thirty pages of the original edition...have been sup-

pressed” which were “essential to the continuity of the argument” as well as

“containing [the] conclusions” about the United States that Guyot had previ-

ously drawn.52

‘Earth and Man’ popularizes ‘Kosmos’

Although new and original to many U.S. readers, Guyot’s Earth and Man

popularized a geohistorical view that had been central to German Romantic

idealism. Employing the ethos of Humboldt, Guyot guided his readers both

across the globe and through history. Like Humboldt, he took his argument

one step further than many of the romantics, venturing from the realm of the

speculative to that of a measurable reality. Guyot evoked Ritter’s belief that

Humboldt “endowed with the spirit of antiquity and with a mathematical

method, passed through the entire domain of physics...astronomy, geology,

and...physiology” whereupon he convincingly “employed his method as the

measuring rod of the world.”53 For Guyot, the Totalorganisation of the Cos-

mos was physically observable within the earth and in its inhabitants. Civili-

zation became perfected in proportion to developmental advances. The

“physical domain” of the civilized nations of each continent expanded its

50. For a documented overview of Humboldt and slavery, see Philip S. Foner (ed),

Alex-

ander von Humboldt on Slavery in the United States

(Berlin: Humboldt-Universität zu Ber-

lin, n.d.)

51. “E. Gover, Sen.” published this so called “Revised” edition. Review of

Earth and

Man

, The Princeton Magazine” 1 (1850): 335.

52. Guyot, Earth and Man, Preface to the Second Edition, p. 8.

53. Carl Ritter, Introductory Essay to General Comparative Geography (Erdkunde), Will-

iam Leonhard Gage, trans.,

Geographical Studies of the late Professor Carl Ritter of Berlin

(Cincinnati and New York: Van Antwerp, Bragg & Co., 1861), p. 128.

384 Life and Travels

extent and population accordingly. Physical development of both the earth

and humanity corresponded to moral development. Progress occurred,

according to divine guidance, in precisely the regions that allowed for the

passage of both the geographical and the human soul.

The popularity of Earth and Man prompted at least thirty one printings in

the U.S. into the twentieth century, as well as five British editions, and for-

eign translations in German (1851, 1873) and French (1888). Although it

may be virtually unknown today, Guyot’s Earth and Man was the National

Geographic of its age. Contemporaries had argued that Humboldt’s Kosmos

and Ritter’s Erdkunde would “together be handed down to posterity as an

enduring monument of the extent to which the knowledge of nature, and

especially of its relation to man, had been carried into the nineteenth cen-

tury.”54 To “define the relative value” of Humboldt and Ritter was “needless,”

contemporaries argued, since their works complemented each other, adding

to a grand and complete summation of knowledge of the natural world. Per-

haps the lasting appeal of Guyot’s Earth and Man was primarily due to the

author’s ability to extract key components from both Humboldt and Ritter

and to synthesize them into what one contemporary reviewer claimed to be

the “most clear, attractive, and simple introduction to one of the most useful

and grand studies to which the human mind can be devoted.”55

54.

The New Englander

, p. 280. Ritter’s “

Die Erdkunde im Verhältniss zur Natur und zur

Geschichte des Menschen”

appeared in German in 19 volumes between 1822 and 1859.

55.

The Methodist Magazine

(New York) 3

Series, 9 (1849): 501.

Part V

Knowledge and Worldview

387

CHAPTER 31 Rousseau’s Anticipation

of Plant Geography

Alexandra Cook

Points of connection between Rousseau and

Humboldt1

Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Alexander von Humboldt shared a deep appreci-

ation of magnificent, abundant nature. Rousseau has often been identified as

one of the founders of the so-called romantic feeling for nature: “I feel ecsta-

sies and inexpressible raptures in merging myself so to speak with the system

of beings, in identifying myself with all of nature” (Rousseau 1959, 1065-6).

Humboldt writes to to Don Antonio Joseph Cavanilles (Spanish ecclesiastic

and botanist [1745-1804]), from Mexico on 22 April 1803, “…in our own

experience we have never enjoyed such energy as in contemplating the beau-

ties and magnificence that nature offers here. Its grandeur, its infinite and

new productions electrify us, they transport us with joy and make us so to

speak invulnerable” (Humboldt 1869, 162).2

Rousseau believes that plants could not be fully appreciated if examined

from motives of greed or physical self-interest. In Rêveries du promeneur

1. Some links have been made between Humboldt and Rousseau; as Hermand (1996)

points out, Goethe and Humboldt are often invoked together with Rousseau as proponents

of the natural or English gardens on the Continent. The naturalistic Elysium garden in

Julie

prepared the popular ground for a new style in gardening. Minguet’s study (1969, 29, 65)

points to direct and indirect Rousseauean influences on Humboldt. But I believe the con-

nections are even more extensive, marking Rousseau’s botany as transitional between the

classificatory impulse of the seventeenth and eighteenth-century botanists and the ecologi-

cal science of Humboldt and his successors. I have yet to locate any scholarship linking

Rousseau’s botanical work as such with that of Humboldt.

2. “…d’après notre propre expérience…jamais nous n’avons joui d’autant de forces

qu’en contemplant les beautés et la magnificence qu’offre ici la nature. Sa grandeur, ses

productions inifinies et nouvelles nous electrisaient, elles nous transportaient de joie et

nous rendait pour ainsi dire invulnerables.”All translations mine, unless otherwise indi-

cated.

388 Knowledge and Worldview

solitaire he writes, “as soon as we mingle a motive of interest or vanity with

[botany]…as soon as we want to learn in order to instruct, as soon as we look

for flowers only in order to become an author or professor, all this sweet

charm vanishes. We no longer see in plants anything but the instruments of

our passions. We no longer find any genuine pleasure in their study…”

(Rousseau 1959, 1069).

In Cosmos Humboldt explores the effect of nature upon the human spirit,

expressing himself in a way that Rousseau could have appreciated:

In speaking of vegetal forms, I think of the emotion that their appearance can

produce, not at all of the assistance that one can derive from them for the

study of botany…. In this exuberant nature, what should fix our gaze…is the

picturesque union of the great and noble plant forms that cover the western

part of the course of the Orinoco and wooded shores of the Amazon and Hua-

llaga rivers… (emphasis added; Humboldt 2000, 423-4).

Humboldt explicitly recognized Rousseau‘s appreciation of nature; Hum-

boldt praises Rousseau for his descriptions of Swiss landscapes in Julie, ou la

nouvelle Heloïse. “…I recall here the entrancing eloquence of Rousseau, the

picturesque descriptions of Clarens and la Meillerie on the shores of lake

Geneva.” These compared favorably in Humboldt’s view, with “the immortal

poetry of Klopstock, Schiller, Goethe [and] Byron” (Humboldt 2000, 399).

Three particular features of Rousseau’s botanical thought are, I argue,

central to Humboldt’s geographical perspective on plants: (1)the observation

that climate and other features of habitat play a crucial role in whether plants

flourish or languish; (2)that transplantation therefore leads to changes, even

degeneration (a phenomenon already well-established in the botanical litera-

ture of Rousseau’s day); and (3) the conclusion that the best way to study

nature is to observe it in situ. Rousseau’s criticism of Linnaeus in his Confes-

sions sums up this position: “he [Linnaeus] studied botany too much in her-

baria and gardens and not enough in nature itself” (Rousseau 1959, 643).3

Humboldt, perhaps more than any naturalist of his era, demonstrated the

validity of Rousseau’s criticism of Linnaeus. Inspired from a young age by

tropical vegetation – the dragon tree of the Berlin botanical garden and his

father’s collection of exotic trees at Schloss Tegel – as well as by the paint-

ings of the Ganges by William Hodges (who accompanied Cook’s second

world voyage and traveled in India and Russia) and Bernardin de Saint

Pierre’s Paul et Virginie, he set out to explore nature as no European before

him had ever done (Humboldt 2000, 346).

3. It should be noted that Rousseau is no mere rote classifier, pace Starobiniski (1971,

279); his perception of the importance of habitat, as well as his other botanical activities,

described briefly below, demonstrate that he saw plants situated within the larger natural

and global context. See also Cook 2003b, 108.

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 389

Humboldt and Rousseau both argued that organisms should be studied in

their native habitats, and for the same reasons: plants in their native habitats

are (1) free, and therefore (2) vigorous: “The ideas of vigor and liberty are

also inseparable in the profusion of nature...(Humboldt 2000, 425). The plant

in its native habitat has not been changed or diminished by transplantation to

a foreign clime. We now understand, as beneficiaries of Darwin’s investiga-

tions, that organisms adapt themselves to their habitats through generations

of natural selection.4 Before Darwin, Rousseau and Humboldt were already

aware of the intimate connection between geography (understood as climate

and habitat) and plant life.

It likewise follows from the principles laid down by Rousseau and Hum-

boldt that naturalists must travel in order to compile a complete inventory of

nature because organisms cannot be understood if torn from their habitats,

transplanted or observed as dead specimens.

Finally, both men abhorred slavery, a topic that I do not have the scope to

explore here.5

In what follows I discuss those aspects of Rousseau’s botanical views and

undertakings that illuminate the ways in which he may have influenced Hum-

boldt. Given limitations of space, I do not attempt any extensive elaboration

of Humboldt’s theory of the geography of plants. I shall merely note that

Humboldt held that similar (but not the same) plant species appear in climati-

cally similar zones, such that species akin to European ones (e.g. from the

same genera) can be found in elevated regions of the torrid zones, but not in

the same ratios. The species in the torrid zones always differ from those in

the temperate zones because the “distribution of heat” is different over the

course of the seasons (Humboldt 1816, 8-9).6

Jean-Jacques Rousseau

Jean-Jacques (1712-1778) encountered the chemistry of plants as a young

man; this encounter had two modes: (1) the herbalist-pharmaceutical variety

of botany practiced in the household of Mme de Warens, and (2) the aca-

4. This view echoes that of Michel de Montaigne who analogizes wild peoples to wild

plants, neither as yet ‘bastardized’ by civilization; they are products of nature acting “by

herself and in her own way” (Montaigne 1958, 109).

5. See his condemnations of slavery in Book I, ch. 4 of

Du Contrat Social

(Rousseau

1964, 355-8) and in

Julie

(Rousseau 1997, 339-40).

6. Humboldt does not consider himself the originator of the idea; rather, he attributes the

notion even to primitive peoples, such as the Orinoco, and finds the germ of the idea

already in Tournefort’s “Relation d’un voyage au Levant” (Paris, 1717) and in the disserta-

tions (186 in all) of Carolus Linnaeus, “Amœnitates academicae,” 10 vols. (Stockholm,

Leiden, Erlangen and Amsterdam, 1749-1790). Terms such as “alpine plants” and “plants

of hot countries” in ordinary language “prove that men’s attention has been constantly fixed

on the distribution of plants and their relations with air temperature, the elevation of the

soil, and the nature of the terrain they inhabit” (Humboldt 1816, 1-2).

390 Knowledge and Worldview

demic variety Rousseau later pursued with his patron, Dupin de Francueil

(Rousseau 1959, 180-1, 293). He later wrote that “[i]t must certainly be that I

was born for this art,” that is, botany (Rousseau 1959, 181). In 1762 Emile

and Du Contrat Social were condemned as subversive and Rousseau had to

flee France, going first to Switzerland. While in Switzerland, he became

acquainted with a physician who taught him the rudiments of Linnaean bot-

any. He later studied with a close associate of the great Swiss botanist, Albre-

cht von Haller, Abraham Gagnebin of La Ferrière in the Swiss Jura. In 1765

Rousseau likewise had to leave Switzerland (ejected from the Île St. Pierre in

the lake of Bienne by the Senate of Bern), and his next port of call was

England, where he was a guest of David Hume. Rousseau soon fell out with

Hume, and left London with all its social pressures; he spent much of his time

botanizing in the English countryside with Margaret Cavendish Harley

Bentinck, Duchess of Portland (1715-1785), through whom he became

acquainted with English botanists such as John Ray.

Rousseau left a number of writings on botany, all published posthu-

mously; he worked on a dictionary of terms of usage in botany, which he

never finished7 and corresponded with several botanists, among them leading

Linnaean botanists in France: Antoine Gouan and Marc-Antoine-Louis

Claret de Latourrette, as well as Carolus Linnaeus himself. At the same time,

Rousseau was well-acquainted with the French botanists who followed Ber-

nard de Jussieu’s natural family system (as opposed to the artificial sexual

system of Linneaus). He herborized with Jussieu’s nephew, Antoine-Laurent,

as well as with André Thouin, both of the Jardin du roi, Paris; he also visited

the garden of the Trianon at Versailles, which housed more species (many

exotic) than any other garden in France (Cook 2003b). He read the largely

Latin botanical literature starting with Theophrastus and ending with Reg-

nault; he owned many botany books, and took notes from texts on South

American flora.8

Rousseau’s most famous botanical work is his so-called Lettres élémen-

taires sur la botanique, eight letters framed as a botany course for a friend’s

young daughter. These were read with interest by, among others, Johann

Wolfgang von Goethe. Rousseau also made herbaria in various formats, some

intended to be portable, one even miniature, to serve as an introduction to

7. The

Dictionnaire des termes d’usage en botanique

may have been composed as late as

1777-78 when Rousseau had access during the winter to the Abbé de Pramont’s copy of

Nicolas Regnault,

La Botanique mise à la portée de tout le monde

(Paris, 1774); Rousseau

returned the Abbé’s copy by a letter of 31 April 1778 (Rousseau 2000, 249). This conclu-

sion is based on an analysis of the entries, many of which he appear to follow Regnault,

Michel Adanson or Joseph Pitton de Tournefort. See Kobayishi 2003, 19.

8. Cook 2002 and Cook 2003a. See also the notes to Rousseau’s botanical writings,

which document his extensive reading in upwards of seventy botanical sources (Rousseau

2000, 298- 333). Since compiling these notes, I have located references to additional works

that Rousseau owned and/or consulted. This material is in preparation for publication.

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 391

botany; several of these survive, notably in collections at the Musée Jean-

Jacques Rousseau, Montmorency, the Zentralbibliothek Zürich and the

Musée des arts décoratifs, Paris; these make a striking impression, presenting

specimens in dramatic ways, as in Fig. 31-2.9 There is only one plant on the

page, framed by thin lines in ink. It is carefully attached with bands rather

than with glue or wax. The entire impression is one of elegance and concern

for the preservation of the specimen.

FIGURE 31-1. L’homme de la nature.

Colored lithograph by C. de Last, after Mayer, Vues de différentes habitations de Jean-Jacquen

Rousseau, 1819.

Rousseau studied methods of plant preservation and herbarium fabrica-

tion, and devoted one of his eight letters on botany to Mme Delessert to a

thorough discussion of this exacting practice (Rousseau 2000, 159-63). Rous-

seau demonstrates his interest in plant habitat and habit in the notes he

included with the specimens in his herbaria, a practice he may have adopted

from his correspondent, the jurist and botanist, Marc-Antoine-Louis Claret de

Latourrette. For example, the note accompanying the specimen in Fig. 31-2

9. I am currently preparing an article on Rousseau’s herbaria, a topic that has received

very little scholarly attention.

392 Knowledge and Worldview

reads: “This plant flowers only at the end of autumn. Its pretty flax-gray

flower that emerges directly from the earth, with neither stem nor leaves,

makes a charming effect in the meadows, which are sometimes completely

covered with it. The top and the fruits do not appear until the following year,

such that the flower and the leaf never appear at the same time” (Dufour

1906, 263).

FIGURE 31-2. Colchicum autumnale

From the herbarium of 100 plants and one alga prepared by Rousseau for Julie Willading-Boy de

la Tour, 1772 (Rousseau 2000, 136). Permission to photograph courtesy of the Handschriften-

abteilung, Zentralbibliothek Zürich.

Latourrette, founder of the botanical garden of the Veterinary School of

Lyon, created a personal herbarium of considerable scientific significance,

containing seven thousand plants, four thousand indigenous to the Lyon

region (Magnin 1885, 49). Rousseau visited his correspondent in Lyon and

no doubt saw his herbarium, as suggested by the description of “his rich col-

lection [that] gathers in a small space almost all the productions of nature”

(Rousseau 2000, 225). Magnin points out that Latourrette’s ecological notes

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 393

were unusual for his day: “at this time, the majority of naturalists attached lit-

tle significance to these detailed reports of localities, stations, etc.” (Magnin

1885, 50).10

Rousseau’s awareness of the intimate relation between plant and habitat is

likewise evident in his critique of acclimatization of so-called exotic plants in

Europe, describing them as “exiled and denatured in the gardens of the curi-

ous” (Rousseau 2000, 248). In his Dictionnaire des termes d’usage en bota-

nique, he writes, “[p]lants transported out of their climate are subject to

variation….Some plants that are perennials in hot counties become annuals

among us, and this is not the sole alteration that they undergo in our gardens.”

He concludes: “Hence the exotic Botany studied in Europe provides often

very false observations” (Rousseau 2000, 129). “Exotic botany,” the practice

of acclimatizing non-native plants to Europe had been taking place since at

least Antiquity; it gained considerable momentum during the Renaissance in

conjunction with European voyages of exploration; by the eighteenth century

it had become a matter of state scientific and economic policy in Britain and

France (Cook 2002).

Transplantation schemes were taken to extremes by Linnaeus, who devel-

oped his “faulty hypothesis” that held it would be possible to transplant tea,

cotton and other non-European species to northern Europe.11 Yet Linnaeus

himself was aware of the phenomenon of degenerate transplants, and advo-

cated special scientific “gardens of paradise” where they could receive the

best possible cultivation (Mueller-Wille 1999, 189-90).

The degenerate transplant was already attested in the literature by 1727, if

not earlier; the Dutch botanist Hermann Boerhaave put the matter thus:

“…when they [exotics] are transplanted from other Climates, they change in

this foreign soil, if therefore one wants to depict them one represents the

same plant under the form of several different ones…” (Boerhaave 1727,

n.p.).12 The Dutch-Austrian botanist Nicolaus-Joseph Jacquin wrote, “I must

warn botanists that plants in hothouses will often have a habit of growth

which differs greatly from that in the wild. Some are beautiful in nature and

unseemly in cultivation, with others it is the other way around” (Jacquin

1971, F20).

Rousseau gave these views wider currency by incorporating them in pop-

ular works such as Emile and Julie. Rousseau’s general thesis is that what

nature does is best, and what man does in imitation of nature (e.g. Emile’s

10. “…à cette époque, la plupart des naturalistes attachaient peu d’importance a ces con-

stations minutieuses de localités, de stations, etc.”

11. Koerner 1994, 144-169, and Koerner 1999, ch. 6.

12. “…lorsqu’elles sont transplantées dans d’autres Climats, elles changent de naturel

dans ce fond étranger, si alors on veut les dépeindre, on répresente la même plante sous la

figure de plusieurs différentes…”

394 Knowledge and Worldview

education and Julie’s Elysium) is good. When man disturbs or alters the

course of nature, he does ill: “Everything is good, coming from the hands of

the author of all things: everything degenerates in the hands of man. He

forces one soil to nourish the productions of another, one tree to carry the

fruits of another. He mixes and confounds the climates, the elements, [and]

the seasons” (Rousseau 1969, 245). In Julie Rousseau creates Elysium, his

answer to the French geometric garden with its imported contents. Elysium

appears completely natural, but is in fact entirely the product of art. In Ely-

sium St Preux reports, “I thought I was looking at the wildest, most solitary

place in nature” (Rousseau 1999, 387). Elysium avoids degenerate horticul-

ture, using only local vegetation: “I did not find exotic plants and products of

the Indies, I found the local ones arranged and combined in a manner that

yielded a cheerier and pleasanter effect…A thousand wild flowers shone

there, among which the eye was surprised to detect a few garden varieties,

which seemed to grow naturally with the others” (Rousseau 1999, 388).

Rousseau’s writings on botany reflect these general views. In a letter to

Chrétien-Guillaume de Lamoignon de Malesherbes of 19 December 1771

Rousseau writes, “the long habit of rummaging through the countryside has

made me familiar with the majority of indigenous plants. It is only in gardens

and among exotic productions where I find myself in unknown territory.”

Further on in the same letter he comments, “in my view the greatest charm of

botany is to be able to study and know the nature around one rather than

nature as it is in the Indies” (Rousseau 2000, 231). This idea was congenial to

Goethe, who commented, “he [Rousseau] takes examples from the immedi-

ate vicinity, speaking only of indigenous plants, and not presuming to con-

sider exotic ones, even those known and cultivated domestically” (Goethe

1989, 158; Goethe 1955, 158-9).13 Goethe suggests Rousseau does this in

order to communicate effectively with women in the eight letters, but this

hardly seems the case given his repeated references to studying and enjoying

indigenous nature, most notably in Julie, and his characterizations of trans-

plants as “exiled and denatured” (Rousseau 2000, 248).

This should not be taken to suggest, however, that Rousseau rejected the

study of exotic nature, but he thought this study should be conducted to its

own habitat, and that exotic plants should not be exported, trafficked or trans-

planted, for these exercises yield only profits, not knowledge or spiritual ben-

efits. Like Humboldt, Rousseau took a particular interest in the flora of South

America and the Caribbean, although he never traveled there; he took notes

13. “Denn da er an Frauenzimmer zu reden hat, versteht er…auf Gebrauch, Nutzen and

Schaden hinzuweisen, und dies um so schicklicher and leichter, da er, alle Beispiele zu

seiner Lehre aus der Umgebung nehmend, nur von dem Einheimischen spricht und auf die

exotsichen Pflanzen, wie sie auch gekannt sein und gepflegt werden mögen, keine

Ansprüche macht.”

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 395

from Jacquin’s Selectarum stirpium Americanarum (Vienna 1763), and he

owned a copy of Fusée Aublet’s Histoire des plantes de la guiane françoise,

4 vols. (Paris 1775). He may have even been personally acquainted with

Aublet, the first European to explore French Guiana since he acquired one of

Aublet’s herbaria in May 1778; specimens from this herbarium can be seen in

the Rousseau collection at the Musée Jacquemart-Andre, at the Abbaye de

Chaalis, outside Paris.

Rousseau applauded voyages of exploration such as those of Cook, and

read travel accounts, as is clear from the lengthy notes to the Discours sur

l’origine de l’inegalité: “The accounts of voyagers are full of examples of the

force and vigor of men of barbarous Nations and Savages” (Rousseau 1964,

198). In a letter to the Duchess of Portland of 23 January 1772 he wrote of

Cook’s second Endeavour voyage, “I learn that animated by his success

[Daniel Solander] is going to brave new perils in order to extend the inven-

tory of riches of the human species…O great and worthy enterprise! What

would have I not given to be able to follow in his footsteps…” (Rousseau

2000, 189).

Like most Enlightenment philosophers, Rousseau was intrigued by the

potential of voyages of exploration for advancing the understanding of nature

and man. Particularly appealing was the possibility of finding the most prim-

itive of men still living in the state of nature: Caribs, Tahitians, or even the

“forest-man” of the East Indies, the orang-hutan. Rousseau cites a wealth of

examples available to him at the time of writing the Discours sur l’origine de

l’inegalité. He was no more sanguine, however, about the transplantation or

acclimatization of people, than he was about exotic botany, writing in a note

to the Discours: “It is an extremely remarkable thing that, for the many years

that Europeans torment themselves in order to bring the Savages from vari-

ous countries to their manner of living, they still have not been able to win

over a single one of them….Nothing can overcome the invincible repugnance

they [the Savages] have against…living in our way” (Rousseau 1964, 220).

Rousseau’s mediators: Goethe and Bernardin de

Saint Pierre

Humboldt no doubt knew Rousseau already from his youth; as Minguet

argues, Goethe and the Sturm und Drang are unimaginable without Rousseau

(Minguet 1969, 65). Humboldt likewise knew the works of Rousseau’s disci-

ple, Bernardin de Saint Pierre; Bernardin had served as an army engineer in

Mauritius, the French colony then known as the Île de France. His account of

that experience, Voyage à l’Île de France, made him known to Rousseau,

with whom he botanized in the 1770’s. Indeed, it is to Bernardin that we owe

396 Knowledge and Worldview

the sole written description of Rousseau’s attempt to render in symbols what

others unsuccessfully tried to do in words (Bernardin 1799, 2: 78-9).

Bernardin’s Paul et Virginie was one of Humboldt’s favorite works and

accompanied him to the tropics, while Bernardin’s Études de la nature was “a

work which, among a large number of inexact ideas concerning the nature of

the earth, includes some profound and ingenious views about the forms, rela-

tions and habits of plants” (Humboldt 1816, 2).14 Humboldt attributes the

notion of the geography of plants to a number of precursors, including Ber-

nardin: “The same name [that of the geography of plants] is found in the

Studies of Nature of Bernardin de Saint Pierre, a work of the imagination, it is

true, but one of a lively and brilliant imagination” (Humboldt 2000, 334; see

also Bernardin 1799, I: 43).15

Bernardin’s Études were influenced by his conversations with Rousseau;

Bernardin shares with Rousseau a teleological, theistic perspective on nature

that is not Humboldt’s. Yet Bernardin could also be an acute and exact

observer, using quantitative observations to make his case for God the benef-

icent Creator, and nature, which makes nothing in vain. For example, he mea-

sured the angle of inclination the branches form with the stem to illustrate the

marvelous adaptation of mountain vegetation to damp environments. Bernar-

din found this angle consistently to be thirty degrees, “the same with that

which is formed, in a flat country, by the course of many rivulets and smaller

rivers, with the great rivers into which they discharge themselves…The same

Wisdom has regulated the level of the branches in trees, and the course of the

stream through the plains” (Bernardin 1799, II: 124).

While all German intellectuals of the late eighteenth century can be

assumed to have read Rousseau, another important figure could have medi-

ated the connection between Rousseau and Humboldt, namely, the poet and

statesman, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Goethe’s view of Rousseau

Rousseau enjoyed great popularity among German Aufklärer in the late eigh-

teenth century; Goethe read Rousseau’s posthumous works soon after their

appearance in 1782, when he was starting his career as Privy Councillor in

the Duchy of Sachse-Weimar, with forestry as one of his portfolios. His offi-

cial duties set him on the path of nature study, and he claims Rousseau played

a pivotal role in making that path accessible and attractive. In the history of

14. “…ouvrage qui, parmi un grand nombre d’idées inexactes sur la physique du globe,

renferme quelques vues profondes et ingénieuses sur les formes, les rapports et les habi-

tudes des végétaux” (Humboldt 1816, 2).

15. “Le même nom [géographie des plantes] se retrouve dans les “Études de la nature” de

Bernardin de Saint Pierre, œuvre d’imagination il est vrai, mais d’une imagination vive et

brillante.”

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 397

his botanical studies Goethe spends several pages discussing Rousseau’s bot-

any, citing him as a critical influence:

His method of narrowing down the plant world lends itself to the classifica-

tion of plants according to families...and since I too at that time had been led

to conclusions of this kind, I was all the more forcibly impressed by his pre-

sentation.

And just as young students prefer young teachers, so also does the dilettante

like to learn from the dilettante. This would of course be questionable...if

experience did not show that dilettantes contribute a geat deal to sci-

ence....(Goethe 1989, 158-9).16

Goethe and von Humboldt became acquainted in late 1794 through Alex-

ander’s older brother Wilhelm; Goethe alludes to his cordial relations with

the brothers in a letter of December 1794 (Goethe 1964, 191). Goethe was

serving as a Privy Councillor to the Duke of Sachse-Weimar, while Hum-

boldt was still an official on the fast track in the Prussian Ministry of Mines.

They remained in contact from this time onwards and were particularly close

in the mid-1790s when they studied anatomy together in Jena under J. Ch.

Loder (Minguet 1969, 49). On 18 June 1795 Goethe writes of wishing to visit

Ilmenau (where he had ministerial obligations in the mining sector) with

Humboldt. Goethe expresses to Humboldt the hope of seeing him from time

to time, and having the opportunity to “become ever more familiar with what

you think and do” (Goethe 1964, 198).17

Despite their mutual interests, the profound differences in their way of

working and thinking about the natural world soon became apparent; in a let-

ter of 18 June 1795 Goethe wrote to Humboldt: “Since your observations

proceed from the element, mine from the form, we cannot therefore move

quickly enough to meet each other in the middle” (Goethe 1964, 197-8).18

Humboldt studied nature into the minutest details, employing quantitative

measures whenever possible, while Goethe sought to grasp the Phänomen in

its essence. Humboldt nonetheless shared with Goethe the view that nature is

ultimately one great whole.

Goethe continued to take an interest in Humboldt’s work. Writing to

Sulpiz Boisserée on 14 June 1816, Goethe comments, “Alex. Von Humboldt

16. “Seine methode das Pflanzenreich ins Engere zu bringen, neigt sich, wie wir oben

gesehen haben, offenbar zur Einteilung nach Familien; und da ich in jener Zeit auch schon

zu Betrachtungen dieser Art hingeleitet war, so machte sein Vortrag auf mich einen desto

größeren Eindruck.

Und so wie die jungen Studierenden sich auch am liebsten an junge Lehrer halten, so mag

der Dilettant gern vom Dilettanten lernen. Dieses wäre freilich…bedenklich, wenn nicht

die Erfahrung gäbe, daß Dilettanten zum Vorteil der Wissenschaft vieles beigetragen

[haben]” (Goethe 1955, 159).

17. “mit dem, was Sie denken und tun, immer bekannter zu werden.”

18. “Da Ihre Beobachtungen vom Element, die meinigen von der Gestalt ausgehen, so

können wir nicht genug eilen, uns in der Mitte zu begegnen.”

398 Knowledge and Worldview

has sent me a short but extremely significant work: on the laws that are

observed in the distribution of plant forms, which has, despite all distraction,

once again set me on the long trod and familiar nature path…” (Goethe 1965,

358; see also Humboldt 1816). As a sign of his regard, Humboldt dedicated

the first volume of the German translation of the Relation historique du voy-

age aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent to Goethe. Upon receiv-

ing the second volume of the Relation historique, Goethe wrote to Humboldt:

“...I must add that among the most pleasant memories of an earlier time the

cohabitation with you and your brother remains a bright spot...” (Goethe

1965, 505-6).19 Finally, Goethe commented to Eckermann, 11 December

1826: “What a man he is! I have known him so long, and nevertheless I am

astonished by him anew. One could say he does not have his equal in infor-

mation and lively knowledge. And a many-sidedness, which I have also

never seen before. Wherever one turns, he is everywhere at home and show-

ers us with spiritual gifts” (Goethe 1984, 109; Moheit 1999, 246).20

Goethe could have conveyed his regard for Rousseau’s botany to Hum-

boldt during their scientific labors in Jena or at any other time. My point is

that Goethe attributed his own inspiration to study botany to a very large

extent to Rousseau, and it would be only natural for him to relay that enthusi-

asm to Humboldt.

Humboldt’s View of Rousseau

Humboldt considered Rousseau to have evoked the beauty of nature for his

readers in a peculiarly effective way. Had Humboldt seen Rousseau’s her-

baria, he might have expressed a similar opinion of them as well; these were,

however, all in private hands at the time, and there is no evidence that Hum-

boldt was even aware of their existence. Goethe refers to them in the account

of his botanical studies, but concludes, quite erroneously, that Rousseau

“probably had neither the skill nor the perseverance to give much attention to

the preservation of plants on his many excursions…” (Goethe 1989, 159). In

Cosmos, Humboldt writes:

If I recall here the entrancing eleoquence of Rousseau, the picturesque

descriptions of Clarens and la Meillerie on the shores of lake Geneva [in

Julie], it is in the main writings of this zealous, but unschooled, herborizer,

19. “Wie ich denn hinzusetzen muss, dass unter den angenehmsten Erinnerungen

früherer Zeit mir das Zusammenleben mit Ihnen und Ihren Herrn Brueder ein lichtester

Punkt bleibt: denn wie viele hoffnungs- und tatenreiche Anfänge habe ich denn in mein-

men Leben so folgereich fortsetzen und glanzreich wachsen sehen?”

20. “Was ist das für ein Mann! – Ich kenne ihn so lange, und doch bin ich von neuem über

ihn im Erstaunen. Man kann sagen, er hat an Kenntnissen und lebendigem Wissen nicht

seinesgleichen. Und eine Vielseitigkeit, wie sie mir gleichfalls noch nicht vorgekommen

ist! Wohin man rührt, er ist überall zu Hause und überschuettet uns mit geistigen Scha-

etzen.”

Rousseau’s Anticipation of Plant Geography 399

writings that are twenty years in advance of the Epochs of nature of Buffon,

in which enthusiasm [for nature] overwhelms [the reader] as much as in the

immortal poetry of Klopstock, Schiller, Goethe [and] Byron[,] and manifests

itself especially in the precision and originality of the language. A writer can,

without having had the direct results of science in view, inspire a lively taste

for the study of nature, by the appeal of his poetic descriptions, even when

they concern very circumscribed and well-known places (Humboldt 2000,

399).21

While it would appear that for Humboldt, Rousseau is a mere herborizer,

a plant collector – zealous, but possessing little or no scientific knowlege,

this assessment in Humboldt’s masterpiece tells only part of the story, for

Rousseau’s influence is apparent in many aspects of Humboldt’s life and

work: (1) his desire ca. 1795 to lead a peaceable life in a naturally idyllic set-

ting such as that of lake Lucerne (Minguet 1969, 96); (2) his emotional

response to the beauty and magnificence of nature (cited in the introduction

to this paper), and (3) his advocacy, above all, of studying plants in their

native habitat.

More telling are Humboldt’s comments about the relative value of trans-

planted plants versus herbarium specimens. Hothouses, he writes, are “hospi-

tals for languishing plants,” offering “a weakened reflection” of “the

spectacle, of which we cannot think without sighing after those countries

where the life force flows with greater abundance” (Humboldt, 2000, 424).

Herbaria are preferable to such weakened transplants: “The ideas of vigor

and liberty are inseparable also in the profusion of nature, and to the eyes of

the zealous botanist who has traveled the world, the plants cut on the Cordil-

leres or on the plains of India and dried in a herbarium often have more worth

than the same living species that have grown up in one of our European hot-

houses” (Humboldt 2000, 424).

Humboldt agrees therefore with Rousseau that hothouses can only show

us degenerate plants, exiled and denatured from their native climes. Some-

what surprisingly, he privileges herbaria specimens over these hothouse

degenerates. On the other hand, transplants may preserve enough of their

original grandeur that they can move the hearts of sad Europeans dwelling

under gray skies surrounded by a relatively impoverished vegetation. “But

even if the general impression is diminished, this inferiority [of hothouse

21. “Si je rappelle ici l’éloquence entraînante de Rousseau, les descriptions pittoresques

de Clarens et de la Meillerie sur les bords du lac de Geneve, c’est que dans les principaux

écrits de cet herborisateur peu instruit mais zélé, écrits qui ont devancé de vingt années les

“Époques de la nature” de Buffon, l’enthousiasme déborde aussi bien que dans les immor-

telles poésies de Klopstock, de Schiller, de Goethe, de Byron, et se manifeste surtout par la

précision et l’originalité du langage. Un écrivain peut, sans avoir eu en vue les résultats

directs de la science, inspirer un goût vif pour l’étude de la nature, par l’attrait de ses

descriptions poétiques, alors même qu’elles portent sur des lieux très circonscrits et bien

connus.”

400 Knowledge and Worldview

plants] is compensated for by the domination that reality exercises every-

where on our senses” (Humboldt 2000, 424). “It is one of the most beautiful

fruits of European civilization that today it is possible for man, in the less

favored countries, to taste, thanks to collections of exotic plants, the magic of

landscape painting…” (Humboldt 2000, 430).

We thus return at the end of volume II, chapter 3 of Cosmos to Rousseau’s

gratitude for nature’s ability to move men: “…the earth offers man in the har-

mony of the three realms a spectacle filled with life, interest, and charm, the

only spectacle in the world of which his eyes and his heart never weary”

(Rousseau 1959, 1062).

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Hunter. 2nd ed. 3 vols. London. Eighteenth Century Collections online.

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Boerhaave, Hermann. 1727. Préface au lecteur. In Sébastien Vaillant, Botani-

con Parisiense. Leiden & Amsterdam: Jean & Herman Verbeek & Balth-

azar Lakeman.

Cook, Alexandra. 2002. Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Exotic Botany. Eigh-

teenth-Century Life special issue, Exoticism and the Culture of Explora-

tion. Ed. R. Maccubbin and C. Knellwolf. 26 (3): 181-201.

—. 2003a. Jean-Jacques Rousseau’s copy of Albrecht von Haller’s Historia

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—. 2003b. Jean-Jacques Rousseau et les réseaux d’échange botanique. In

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Dufour, Théophile. 1906. Petit herbier pour Mademoiselle Julie Boy de la

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Wankmüller, 148-68. Hamburg: Christian Wegner Verlag.

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. 1964. Briefe. Vol. 2. Ed. Karl Robert Man-

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—. 1965. Briefe. Vol. 3. Ed. Bodo Morawe. Hamburg: Christian Wegner

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—. 1984. Conversations with Eckermann. Trans. J. Oxenford. San Francisco:

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—. 1989. Goethe’s Botanical Writings. Trans. B. Mueller. Reprint ed. Wood-

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Humboldt, Alexander von. 1869. Correspondance scientifique et littéraire

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—. 1816. Sur les lois que l’on observe dans la distribution des formes

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403

CHAPTER 32 A German minerologist

visits Peru

Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy

Humboldt and Mining

Alexander von Humboldt became interested in mining in his youth. His first

book, Mineralogical Observations on Some Basalts in the Rhine Basin, was

published in 1790 when he was just 21. In 1791-92 Humboldt studied in the

renowned Mining Academy of Freiburg, under the supervision of Professor

Abraham Gottlob Werner, and was named “Asesor cum voto” in the Prussian

Department of Mines in 1792. In 1793 Humboldt began his work as Superin-

tendent of Mines in Franconia, and was appointed the following year as

Counsellor on Mines. In 1795 Humboldt was appointed as Minister of Mines,

the highest echelon below that of Prime Minister.1

His years in the Freiburg Academy placed Humboldt in direct contact

with mining deposits, as it was usual for the theoretical lessons to be supple-

mented with practical work. Therefore, like the miners, students had to make

their way on workdays to the mineshafts at six in the morning, where they

had to work all morning helping a miner. Lessons were given in the after-

noon. Professor Werner required his students to prepare monographs on spe-

cific topics, and stimulated them to collect minerals. Humboldt was

influenced in the Academy by the theories of Lavoisier – who turned chemis-

try into a modern, quantitative natural science – which he would later dissem-

inate in his journeys.2

International scientists gathered at Freiburg under Professor Werner’s

guidance during the time Humboldt was there; such as Spaniards, Portuguese

and Norwegians, and other foreigners. By the late eighteenth century the

Alejandro de Humboldt, 1769-1969

. InterNationes. Bad Godesberg, 1969, p. 162.

2. Ibid. p. 25.

404 Knowledge and Worldview

Academy had clearly become the most important centre in Europe in the min-

ing sciences.3

Humboldt’s strong knowledge of mining was obviously of great help to

him during his journey across America, not just when carrying out his geo-

logic and especially his vulcanological studies, but also in purely practical

terms – like when his advice on some mining deposits was requested during

his stay in the Viceroyalty of Mexico. A man of his time, Humboldt also

made some inventions, which were designed to assist miners in their surveys

and extractive tasks. For instance, he invented an “inextinguishable lamp”

and a “respiratory machine.” The lamp was a forerunner of the famed Davy

lamp, and the second was a predecessor of modern gas masks.4

Hualgayoc: A Second Potosí?

Humboldt entered Peru in 1802 from the north through the province of

Cajamarca finally arriving at the silver mines of Hualgayoc. In his own

words, “the mountain Hualgayoc somewhat recalls the effect of the dolomitic

cones, or rather the cracked crest of Montserrat in Catalonia, which I had the

opportunity to visit…the mountain reveals a hundred galleries that crisscross

it in all directions…the people call these apertures “the windows of Hual-

gayoc.’”5 (see plate 1) The previous visit Humboldt had made to the Quito

Audiencia allowed him to compare these apertures with those on the slopes

of the Pichincha volcano, which were also called the “windowlets of Pichin-

cha.”6 It has been stressed that Humboldt used to record the shape of the

mountains that called his attention, making a precise drawing of them.7

At the mines of Hualgayoc Humboldt was impressed by the ruggedness of

the landscape and the isolation of the town of Muicupampa, which lies at

3,620 metres above sea level, and where a population of 3,000-4,000 people

lived “in a wasteland, without vegetation.”8 The weather was also annoying

for him, as he noted that “the weather in Muicupampa is unpleasant.” Else-

where Humboldt pointed out that “the weather in these towns is horrible … at

night the thermometer remains at 0.2º, and at 7 or 8 hours (in the morning) is

still at 1º…it rarely goes over 8º at noon. Of course there are no trees nor nat-

3. Ibid. p. 26.

4. Ibid.p. 27. For further information on his inventions see: Douglas Botting.

Humboldt y

el Cosmos. Vida, obra y viajes de un hombre universal

. (1769-1859)

Ediciones del Serbal.

Barcelona, 1995. pp.32, 33.

5. Estuardo Núñez y George Petersen.

Alexander von Humboldt en el Perú. Diario de

viaje y otros escritos

. Banco Central de Reserva. Lima, 2002. pp.101,102.

6. Ibid. p. 102.

7. Jaime Labastida. “Una jornada de trabajo de Alexander von Humboldt: su método

científico.” Leopoldo Zea y Hernán Taboada (compiladores)

Humboldt y la Modernidad.

F.C.E. México, 2001. p.55.

8. Nuñez y Petersen.

Alexander

p.102

A German minerologist visits Peru 405

ural greenery.”9 One gets the impression that the combination of altitude and

low temperatures affected Humboldt10 and maybe discouraged him to explore

other mines located even higher as Pasco or Huancavelica. However, the

German traveller ascertained that despite the manifest aridity of the land, the

mines of Hualgayoc were not lacking in supplies at all insofar as goods were

constantly brought from Jaén, Chota, Chachapoyas, and Cajamarca.11 But the

commercial network provisioning Hualgayoc was actually far larger. For

instance, the customs records (Libros de Aduana) at Cajamarca registered the

arrival of fish from Lambayeque, coca from Chachapoyas, sweets from

Cajamarca and Lambayeque, brandy (aguardiente) from Ica through Callao-

Pacasmayo or Callao-Huanchaco sea route; and from Lima yerba mate, tex-

tiles and imported goods from Castille, and hardware.12

During his stay, Humboldt also noticed that whereas Hualgayoc and

Fuentestiana held a great amount of water, in the mine of Purgatorio (Purga-

tory) on the contrary there was a complete lack of it.13 This mine had been

given that name due “to the heat inside it, which is considerable in regard to

the altitude of the region as it comes to 19ºC, whereas outdoors it is 5ºC.”14

Hence the workmen carried out their tasks clothes-less, and considered the

heat in Purgatorio to be stifling.

The mines of Hualgayoc had been discovered in 1771 by Don Rodrigo de

Torres y Ocaña and Don Juan José de Casanova in the ranch of Apán, some

fourteen leagues from Cajamarca.15 By 1776 there were 96 running mills

(ingenios corrientes). The mines attracted many peninsulars who came not

only from the Basque region, as usually happen in the colonial mining cen-

ters, but also from Catalonia, Asturias, Jaén, Toledo, Galicia, Andalusia,

becoming mine owners. Labour, on the other hand, had a multi ethnical com-

position, including mestizos, zambos, mulattoes, and Indians from the neigh-

boring provinces of Cajamarca, Huamachuco, Pataz, and Conchucos16.

9. Ibid. p. 65

10. He was, for example, unable to reach the sumit of Chimborazo, in Quito. See: Wolf

Lepenies. “Alexander von Humboldt: su pasado y su presente.” Leopoldo Zea y Hernán

Taboada (compiladores)

Humboldt y la Modernidad

. F.C.E. México, 2001. p.65. Not sur-

prisingly Humboldt underlined the fact that Muicupampa was 700 mts. higher than Quito.

Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.132.

11. Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.65.

12. Archivo General de la Nación, Lima. Libros de Aduana de Cajamarca.

13. Nuñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p. 104.

14. Ibid. p. 145.

15. Joaquín Ramón Iturralde. “Relación Descriptiva del cerro de Hualgayoc descubierto

con poderosas vetas de plata en la provincia de Cajamarca, con noticias exactas de su fatal

estado, 1776.” Fernando Silva Santisteban, Waldemar Espinosa Soriano, Rogger Ravines

(compiladores).

Historia de Cajamarca. Siglos XVI-XVIII

. I.N.C. Cajamarca, 1986. p.316.

16. Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy. “Vivir y morir en el mineral de Hualgayoc a fines de la colo-

nia.”

Jahrbuch für Geschichte...Lateinamerika

. No.30 (1993). pp. 81, 86.

406 Knowledge and Worldview

Hualgayoc had not been granted mita labourers, as was the case of the

mines of Huancavelica and Potosi, and thus had to extensively rely on free

workers. Even so, a project was prepared by the Bishop of Trujillo, Don Bal-

tazar Jaime Martínez de Compañón, which intended to transfer settlers to the

areas surrounding the mines, who would be given patches of land in

exchange for their working in the mines.17 It was estimated that about one

thousand settlers were required, who according to José Ignacio de Lequanda

would have to settle permanently in the mines.18 This project was an answer

to the constant complaints made by the mine owners regarding the lack of

labourers, or the temporary condition of many of the workmen.19

Humboldt was a sharp critic of the mining techniques used in colonial

Peru. For him, the mines were worked following the whim of the owners and

without the supervision of a technician acquainted with the subject.20 On one

occasion he remarked that Peru was a country “where the government is not

concerned by technology.” Some work methods alarmed him, as when he

found that in some mines the counterforts, columns and props holding up the

roof had been removed, therefore causing their collapse.21 Humboldt was also

surprised to find that instead of installing carts or rollers (rodillos) to haul the

mineral, the workmen carried it in baskets and sacks on their back, along nar-

row and dangerous corridors22 (see plate 2). He was likewise astonished to

find that inside the mine the mineral was not moved through the ventilation

shafts but along galleries, and that no carts were used23 (see plate 3). Hum-

boldt also was intrigued by the fact that iron hammers, so widely spread

throughout Europe, were not used in the Andes. He wrote: “the wedges are

inserted with a dreadful instrument called a comba, a mace weighing between

28 and 30 pounds, [which is] too heavy to guide, [and] slow because two or

three successive blows cannot be given… It is somewhat understandable,

with such miserable tools, no piecework, and almost no supervision, why a

gallery [made] at an ass’s pace has, for example, cost 500-800 pesos, and

even 1,200 pesos.”24

But who were the miners who worked the deposits of Hualgayoc with

methods described as inefficient? During his stay, Humboldt had the opportu-

17. Ibid. p. 77. See also Carlos Contreras.

Los Mineros y el Rey. Los Andes del norte: Hual-

gayoc 1770-1825

. IEP. Lima, 1995. pp.98,99.

18. José Ignacio de Lequanda. “Descripción de la provincia de Caxamarca.”

Mercurio

Peruano

(1792), tomo X. p.210.

19. Baltasar Jaime Martínez Compañón y Bujanda. “Sobre el ruinoso estado de las minas

de Hualgayoc y modo de restablecerlas.”

Historia de Cajamarca. Siglos XVI-XVIII

. I.N.C.

Cajamarca, 1986. p.213.

20. Nuñez y Petersen

. Alexander

. p. 57.

21. Ibid. p. 60.

22. Ibid. p. 58.

23. Nuñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p. 63.

24. Ibid. p. 64.

A German minerologist visits Peru 407

nity to establish contact with some of them. His host seems to have been Don

Joaquín de Arvayza, whom he described as “a very wealthy man, and with an

open and energetic character.”25 Arvayza had been born in Cajamarca, but his

father came from Spain. Humboldt also mentioned three other families of

miners in Hualgayoc: the Espinach, the Casanova, and the Bueno.

The Arvayza and the Bueno were kin. Thus Tomás Bueno y Ravines was

a native of Cajamarca who had mining interests in Hualgayoc. Melchora

Torres y Sánchez, his first wife, bore him no children. After widowing, Don

Tomás married a second time with Ana María Arvayza y Escalante, the legit-

imate daughter of the wealthy miner Joaquín de Arvayza. He had a son with

his second wife, Jose Antonio, who was to be his heir.26 Endogamy seems to

have been wide spread among the mining guild in order to increase properties

and fortunes.

As for the Espinach, the reference obviously meant Don Miguel Espin-

ach, clearly one of the most important and influential individuals in Hual-

gayoc. A native of Catalonia, Espinach combined his mining activities with

those of a supplier. He had also held several positions of authority, such as

Mining Deputy for Hualgayoc, mayor of Cajamarca, and subdelegate of the

Partido of Chota. He was a man who wielded power. In 1798 Espinach

owned 7 mines, and had 18 employees and 167 labourers. He had smelted

343,830 silver marks (close to 20 pr cent of the total output of Hualgayoc) in

29 years dedicated to mining (1775-1803), thus amassing a sizable fortune.27

The Casanovas were another family mentioned by Humboldt. He clearly

meant the family formed by Don Juan José Casanova, a native of Pamplona,

Spain, and the discoverer of the mine, who died in 1791. At his death

Rudecindo, his son, took over the mining firm. He married Doña Isabel

Estrada and had no legitimate children. But he did have two illegitimate ones:

Blas and Casimiro, born in his illicit liaison with Doña Juana Urrutia.

Rudecindo left each of his sons 20 mine varas in the Purgatorio lode in Hual-

gayoc.28

According to Humboldt, the Espinach, Casanova and Bueno “seize every-

thing and labour to destroy one another. Lawsuits are filed and whoever can

sacrifice the most wins.” The German traveller even noted that whereas in

Saxony a miner was distinguished by his moral qualities, in Peru “this class is

the most profligate and licentious.” The truth is that colonial miners com-

prised all kinds: some, like the Count of the Real Confianza even boasted

25. Ibid. p. 57.

26. Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy. “Hijos naturales ‘sin impedimento alguno.’ La ilegitimidad

en el mineral de Hualgayoc, Cajamarca. (1780-1845)” Scarlett O’Phelan e Yves Saint-

Geours. (comp.)

El Norte en la Historia Regional

. Cipca/Ifea. Lima, 1996. p.227.

27. Carlos Contreras.

Los mineros y el Rey

. p.45.

28. Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy. “Hijos Naturales...” p.232.

408 Knowledge and Worldview

their titles of nobility, and in fact Don Juan José de Casanova himself was

related with the Marquises of Casa Boza.29 On the other hand, it is true that

there were miners who were “adventurers,” like those described by Tandeter

in his study on Potosí.30 However, Humboldt did have a better opinion of

Mexican families involved in mining activity, as the Fagoada or the Alamán,

whom, in his own words, were “well illustrated and phylantropists.”31

Despite all of the limitations noted by Humboldt in terms of mining in

Peru, he concluded that with a more enlightened government Hualgayoc

would be a second Potosí, “as in fact its minerals are richer than those of

Potosí itself, more stable in their yield than those of Huantajaya, and their

extraction is simpler than at Yauricocha.”32 His enthusiastic prediction would

not, however, be fulfilled. Hualgayoc entered a period of stagnation shortly

after his visit, and Cerro de Pasco became the major mining centre through-

out the nineteenth century.

Pasco, the Worst Managed Mines in Spanish America

The mines of Pasco were discovered in 1630. In 1758 a new gallery was

opened – an undertaking that was finished in 1760 with the extraction of

some 50,000-89,000 marks. The productivity of the mine rose to 122,000 sil-

ver marks in 1780, and by then Pasco was considered “the most valuable of

the mines.”33 In the 1790s the output level increased remarkably, reaching for

example 291,254 marks in 1794. It was precisely in this period that the pro-

tectionist policies the Bourbon project had for mining came into effect, and

crystallised in the establishment of the Tribunal de Minería and the Banco de

Rescates.

Unlike Hualgayoc, Humboldt did not visit the mines of Pasco. However,

he noted that “thanks to the mineralogical collection of Baron Nordenflicht,

and his many plans and descriptions of mines, I am perfectly able to form a

geognostic idea of the mining site of Pasco.”34 Again, the inefficiency of the

production system of Pasco astounded and worried Humboldt. For instance,

he noticed that the abundant waters present in Pasco were extracted, “not by

means of hydraulic wheels or malacatas – as is done in Mexico – but with

pumps powered by the arm of a man; … draining the mines is thus exceed-

29. Scarlett O’Phelan Godoy. “Vivir y morir...” p.77.

30. Enrique Tandeter.

Coacción y mercado. La minería de la plata en el Potosí colonial,

1692-1826

. Centro de Estudios Regionales Andinos Bartolomé de las Casas. Cuzco, 1992.

p.186.

31. Salvador Méndez Reyes. “Humboldt y las elites de origen colonial. Algunas notas

acerca de su relación con Alamán y los Fagoaga.” Leopoldo Zea y Mario Magallán. (com-

piladores)

El Mundo que encontró Humboldt

. F.C.E. México, 1999. pp.76, 77.

32. John Fisher,

Minas y Mineros

. p.53.

33. Nuñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.133.

34. Ibid. p. 136.

A German minerologist visits Peru 409

ingly costly … The mine of Yauricocha would yield the same amount of sil-

ver as Guanajuato if hydraulic machines or steam pumps were built in it…”35

The truth is that although there were plans to manufacture hydraulic

machines, these came to nothing. Thus in 1793 the Hualgayoc miner Don

Tomás Bueno hired the services of Don Ignacio Martorell, to build a “bronze

machine to drain said mines” for 3,000 pesos. Humboldt later mentioned

Martorell as “a mason who has himself called a maths professor, who prom-

ised the miners to make the water disappear through tin siphons.”36 For him,

the experiment was a complete failure. This incident shows that although

there were plans to modernise the production process in mining, the problem

here lay in the scant preparation of those who acted as technicians, and had

not received proper training. It should not be forgotten that although the

Bourbons had a plan to establish a Colegio de Minería in Perú, it did not

open, unlike Mexico, where since 1792 it benefited the miners and the min-

ing industry of New Spain. At the colegio students were taught mineralogy,

metallurgy and other subjects less specialized, such as French and Mathemat-

ics. Among the board of teachers there were distinguished professors, as

Andrés del Río, who did study with Humboldt in Freiburg.37

The Distressing Accident of the Mine of Santa

Bárbara, in Huancavelica

While Humboldt was in Peru, the famed mine of Santa Bárbara was com-

pletely abandoned due to the collapse that had taken place in the Brocal min-

ing claim. For the German traveller, “greed and neglect were the causes of

this distressing accident.” According to Humboldt’s account, the intendant of

Huancavelica removed the pillars which supported the ceiling of the mine in

order to increase productivity, thus causing its collapse. Humboldt once more

blamed this on the deficient training of Peruvian miners. He said: “the proce-

dure had consequences that any educated miner would easily have guessed:

with the support gone, the rock yielded to pressure, the roof caved in, and this

collapse affected most of the upper claim, namely, the Brocal, and therefore

work had to be stopped.”38 Entangled in the affair, the intendant defended

himself arguing that he had removed the pillars after consulting with master

miners. In other words, the incompetence pointed out by Humboldt had some

validity.

35. Ibid. p. 131.

36. Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.62.

37. David Brading

. Mineros y Comerciantes en el México borbónico, 1763-1810

. F.C.E.

México, 1975. p.227.

38. Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.139.

410 Knowledge and Worldview

Humboldt fully agreed with Nordenflicht in that it was false that the mine

of Santa Bárbara was worked out when it collapsed. What happened was that

the miners in charge of excavating the deposit had no knowledge of subterra-

nean geometry, and had therefore been digging where the mineral was least

abundant. In any case, his recommendation was that the collapsed mine

should not be cleared as this would require extensive resources, and the gal-

lery system was so poorly laid out that no benefit could be had in this state.39

Humboldt and the Expedition of Baron Nordenflicht

In order to place the journey of Humboldt to Peru in its proper context, a ref-

erence must be made to the mineralogical expedition under Baron Nordenfli-

cht that preceded him. Although Humboldt arrived at Peru twelve years after

the Baron, the connections are clear. It was not just that he lived in Lima in

the Baron’s house, using the laboratory the Tribunal de Minería had assem-

bled for his host; Nordenflicht also became his closest interlocutor in matters

regarding the extractive activity. Undoubtly the Baron’s experience in Peru

predisposed Humboldt’s opinion in several matters. It will be useful, there-

fore, to have a brief look at the Baron’s expedition in Peruvian soil.

In October 1790, after leaving Potosí, Nordenflicht reached Huancavel-

ica, where he joined Helms, who had been busy replacing the not-too-effi-

cient furnaces of Almadén used to process the mercury, with a smaller

number of the modern furnaces from Idria.40 But when Nordenflicht arrived

at Huancavelica, Helms and his work were paralysed due to an astounding

increase in the cost of the exploitation; this was because in order to benefit

with the operation, the intendant had supplied the building materials at exor-

bitant prices.41

FIGURE 32-1.

39. Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. pp.141, 142.

40. John Fisher.

Minas y Mineros

. p.131.

41. Ibid.

A German minerologist visits Peru 411

In early 1791 Nordenflicht, already established in Lima, presented a

report to the viceroy where he requested that the mines of Huancavelica be

closed for two years, while a central shaft and lateral galleries were built that

would allow the work to be done safely and efficiently. The Baron also

explicitly noted in his report that he had no intention of returning to Huan-

cavelica, and suggested that Friedrich Mothes, another member of his expedi-

tion, should relieve him at the command of the mine.

Although Mothes remained in Huancavelica until late 1792, he did not

receive the official permission to begin modernising the mine. He would

shortly thereafter be entrusted with the excavation of a shaft in Hualgayoc,

where the Saxon technician arrived in September 1794. For Fisher, Mothes

was “the most able of Nordenflicht’s assistants, after Helms.”42

The presence of Mothes in Hualgayoc was controversial, and it split the

miners into two sides—those who strongly resented the contempt Mothes had

for the local technical traditions, and those who showed an interest for the

proposed innovations, which could increase their profits. But the sector that

resisted Mothes included two of the most prominent miners: Miguel de

Espinach and Rudecindo Casanova. Both doggedly opposed the appointment

of Mothes as Perito Facultativo y Director del Mineral.43

FIGURE 32-2.

It is therefore very likely that in the many conversations he must have had

with Humboldt, Nordenflicht acquainted him with the opposition against

Mothes, and the campaign made to discredit him and the new techniques the

Baron and his mission were trying to implement, organised by the above-

mentioned miners of Hualgayoc. This would explain the acid comments

Humboldt made in his journal, specifically against Espinach and Casanova,

the main detractors of Mothes, and therefore of Thaddeus von Nordenflicht.

42. Ibid. Capítulo IV.

43. Carlos Contreras.

Los mineros y el Rey

. pp.132,133.

412 Knowledge and Worldview

It could be said, therefore, that in many occasions Humboldt saw things

through Nordenflicht’s eyes.

The Peruvian miners somehow felt that first Nordenflicht, and then Hum-

boldt, had arrived to convince them of the superiority the European tech-

niques had in processing the metal.44 Even Viceroy Gil de Taboada

commented that Nordenflicht had not realised that Peruvian minerals were

different from those found in Germany, and therefore required a different

treatment.45 Helms, in turn, did not hesitate in pointing out that the members

of the Mining Tribunal “lacked any mineralogical knowledge whatsoever.” In

other words, they were ignoramuses.

FIGURE 32-3.

However, the evidence suggests that although Born’s barrel method

helped save time and lowered the number of labourers required to extract the

silver, it was not necessarily better than the traditional patio system, and even

worse, it did not lower the consumption of quicksilver (see plate 4). Some-

thing similar happened in Mexico, were Sonneschmidt had to admit – in his

famed treatise on amalgamation – that “with ten years of work I have been

unable to introduce, either Born’s refining process or any other method pref-

erable to that of the patio.”46 Not surprisingly the Spanish minerologist

Fausto Elhuyar and Sonneschmidt concluded—in the Mexican case – that

Born’s method was not adequate for the type of extractive silver industry that

had developed in Spanish America, where the mining centres were scattered

and isolated; where good timber and iron were hard to come by; and where

miners had shown a preference for the existing systems over the risks

entailed by innovations of uncertain results.47 There was even the extended

opinion that Born’s method was only a slightly variation from the cazo

44. John Fisher.

Minas y Mineros

. p.134.

45. Ibid. p.139.

46. Ibid. p.141.

47. John Fisher.

Minas y mineros

. p.151.

A German minerologist visits Peru 413

method invented by the Peruvian Alonso de Barba in the XVIIth century.48

The poor reception given to the barrel technique comes through clearly in the

bitter remarks made by Humboldt: “during my stay in the Andean Cordillera,

I only saw two mining districts where Mr. Born’s method of amalgamation in

barrels was followed with some success, to wit, Tallenga and the Real de

Recuay, in the Partido of Cajatambo.”49 His visit to the Peruvian mines was

therefore, not very stimulating.

Miners and Military

In coming in contact with the miners, Humboldt was able to ascertain the

importance the military career was acquiring in Spanish America. The estab-

lishment of a regular army, subject to permanent training, was one of the

goals of the Bourbon project: ports had to be watched guarded, frontiers had

to be garrisoned, the plebeians had to be controlled, and the cities safe-

guarded. Even so, it was only in the 1760s that the reorganisation of the army

and militia came into effect in Spanish America. In Peru, the presence of

Viceroy Amat was crucial for the implementation of the military reforms.

FIGURE 32-4.

For the Bourbons, nobility and the army were no longer mutually exclu-

sive. The data Juan Marchena presents on the social composition of the vet-

eran officer corps in the Spanish American army is most revealing in this

regard.50 For example, whereas in 1740-49 only 12.5 percent of the veteran

corps were nobles, in 1770-79 the number of nobles included in the army had

risen substantially to 51.6 percent. This means that numerous individuals of

48. David Brading.

Mineros y Comerciantes

. p.227.

49. Núñez y Petersen.

Alexander

. p.143.

50. Juan Marchena Fernández, “The Social World of the Military in Peru and New Gran-

ada”. J. Fisher, A. Kuethe, and A. McFarlane (eds.)

Reform and Insurrection in Bourbon

New Granada and Peru

, Louisiana State University Press, 1990, p. 57.

414 Knowledge and Worldview

noble origins decided to follow the military career. Humboldt was astonished

to find, during his Peruvian sojourn, that even in the provinces merchants had

become colonels, captains and sergeant-majors. Members of notable families,

on the other hand, aspired to the rank of colonel or brigadier.51

During his stay in Cajamarca, Humboldt lodged in the house of Don San-

tiago Pizarro, a well-known miner in Hualgayoc. Don Santiago was a legiti-

mate son of Matías Pizarro, a native of the Canary Islands, and of Petronila

Rodríguez, who was born in Contumazá, Cajamarca. He must have been a

wealthy man, because when he married Manuela Guerrero, he contributed

with the Hacienda Galindo, for which he paid 36,000 pesos in cash. He also

owned land, mills where minerals were ground and several houses.52 Hum-

boldt must have stayed in one of these houses.

While being in Cajamarca, Humboldt was under the impression that there

were miners like Colonel Don Tomás Bueno or the Subdelegate Eduardo

Pimentel, who were “conceited with the militia regiments and all the officers

in the high command.”53 In the specific case of his host, the above-mentioned

Santiago Pizarro, Humboldt notes that he had offered to “give 25,000 pesos

to the king if he made him a colonel in the army.”54 According to Humboldt’s

estimates, “there were over 1,200 civilians dressed as officers, honouring one

another, but the soldiers only have wooden rifles, are not trained and surely

do not have 4,000 weapons.”55 In his opinion, all this paraphernalia was noth-

ing more than “a ridiculous comedy, harmful in the present state of public

service because the jurisdictional exceptions rose with the military commis-

sions.”56

But there was more. Humboldt noted that although in their present condi-

tion the militias would not be overly useful nor would they have any signifi-

cant role, they could become an imminent danger for the king of Spain

should their discipline and weaponry be improved. He was not mistaken in

this regard. With the development of a regular army, properly equipped and

trained, the Bourbons sowed the seeds of their own destruction, as was

clearly shown years later, during the wars of independence.

51. Ibid., p. 59.

52. Scarlett O’Phelan, “Hijos naturales…” p. 234.

53. Núñez y Petersen,

Alexander

. p. 71.

54. Ibid. p.71.

55. Ibid.

56. Ibid.

415

CHAPTER 33 Mexican Reception of

‘Political Essay’1

Richard Weiner

Introduction

One might argue that historians’ neglect of Carlos Díaz Dufoo’s 1918 work,

México y los capitales extranjeros (Mexico and Foreign Capital), is justified.

After all, it did not achieve its goal of stemming economic nationalism and

persuading policymakers to create a more favorable climate for foreign capi-

tal. But his book was significant in another way. It was the first comprehen-

sive critique of Mexico’s legendary wealth, that is, the popular narrative that

Mexico was immensely prosperous because of its rich and abundant natural

resources. He attacked the legend because he maintained that it erroneously

led Mexicans to believe that foreign capital was unnecessary, and even harm-

ful. His criticism, which influenced contemporaries, was a historic event

since the legend had a very long record. Díaz Dufoo dated its origin back to

Alexander von Humboldt’s extremely influential late-colonial-era work,

Ensayo Político sobre el reino de la Nueva España (Political Essay on the

Kingdom of New Spain). Interestingly, Díaz Dufoo’s attack was not based on

new knowledge about Mexico’s natural resources, but rather his distinct con-

ception of wealth, which emphasized capital investment above all else.

Despite his criticisms, his appraisal of the Mexican economy was very opti-

mistic. Thus, while he challenged the legend he did not undermine the idea of

Mexico’s economic greatness, which was associated with it. He maintained

that a different force was needed to achieve that prominence, however. In the

legend God’s creation, that is, Mother Nature was the source of Mexico’s

grandeur. But Díaz Dufoo maintained that Mother Nature was deficient.

Instead, he placed his faith in man, who could overcome the obstacles posed

1. I would like to thank Carlos Marichal, Tom Pasananti, and Paolo Riguzzi for their

insightful comments on an earlier version of this paper.

416 Knowledge and Worldview

by nature and generate wealth via modern technologies, which were financed

with heavy doses of foreign capital.

Díaz Dufoo was well aware that his positive portrayal of foreign capital

countered the revolutionary nationalism of the contemporary era. In fact, his

book was published on the heels of the 1917 Constitution, which manifested

some of the nationalist sentiments of the era by strengthening national sover-

eignty by limiting foreign capital’s property rights. Not only the content of

his work, but also the fact that he had been a member of the old científico

political clique (he had been a prominent journalist and a national politician),

which had wielded significant influence during the long reign of Porfirio

Díaz’s long (1876-1910), put him at odds with nationalist revolutionaries.

After all, revolutionists, who asserted that científicos had sold out the nation

to foreign interests prior to the 1910 Revolution, had branded científicos trai-

tors.

Díaz Dufoo’s Critique of the Humboldtian Legend

Díaz Dufoo referred to the conception of wealth associated with the legend as

“spontaneous.” That is, the popular legend conceived of Mother Nature as the

autonomous generator of riches, especially in the “mining” and “agricultural”

sectors. Stressing this point he asserted that “public opinion” perceived Mex-

ico’s mineral wealth as “exceptional, marvelous, spontaneous and free . . . it

was [like] a lottery, in which not one but all entered the game and all won the

prize.2 He recounted a colonial-era tale that captured this attitude: precious

metals were so abundant and accessible that they could be easily picked up

by hand. Underscoring this overflowing wealth that Mother Nature provided,

another fable claimed that there were such abundant riches that Spaniards felt

that it was only “dignified” to collect gold; they left the “silver” leftovers for

“Indians and slaves.”3 Díaz Dufoo had a parallel assessment about Mexicans’

notions of the nation’s oil wealth. He quoted Manuel Flores, a contemporary

who held a similar opinion. Flores maintained that “legends had been created

about the [oil] industry,” which suggested that little labor brought immense

profits, for Mother Nature did all the work. First, where the oil existed was

determined with “mathematical precision.” Second, a hole was made in the

correct spot, and gushing “torrents” of oil came forth.4

Díaz Dufoo spoke of this natural-resource-based notion of Mexico’s

wealth as a “fantastic concept” and maintained that Mexicans needed to be

“awoken” from this “dream.”5 He especially lamented the negative views

2. Díaz Dufoo,

México

, 170.

3. Ibid., 154.

4. Ibid., 186.

5. Ibid., 154.

Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 417

about foreign investment that stemmed from this surreal state. The legend of

immense and spontaneous natural resource wealth erroneously implied that

foreign capital was unnecessary to generate riches. But there was another

unfair charge against foreign capital, which he suggested was especially

strong during the revolutionary era he lived in: the legend encouraged the

wrongheaded idea that foreign capital robbed Mexico of its wealth. Díaz

Dufoo made this point several times, and put it this way on one occasion:

“The exaggerated concept of our wealth has as a corollary, namely, the ill will

of foreigners, who egotistically take our riches and use them for their own

benefit without contributing to the wealth of the nation.”6 For him, these were

gross misconceptions. He especially regretted their impact on policy. In a

chapter metaphorically entitled “the chicken with the golden eggs” he

explained the consequences. After discussing nationalist policies he stated

that “never has the fable of the chicken with the golden eggs been invoked

more absolutely.”7 Apparently Mexico was the fowl and the golden eggs

were her valuable resources. Foreigners would not be permitted to confiscate

them. Thus, the legend inspired economic nationalism and anti-foreign poli-

cies. (Díaz Dufoo spilled much ink combating this predatory depiction of for-

eign capital.8)

Díaz Dufoo located the source of the contemporary legend in Alexander

von Humboldt’s late-colonial multi-volume Ensayo politico. Diaz Dufoo did

not fully explain how Humboldt had started the legend, however. All he

stated was that Humboldt’s text had caused Mexicans to look at their nation

with rosy “tinted glasses.”9 Since Humboldt’s extensive discussion of Mex-

ico’s natural resources was so well known perhaps Díaz Dufoo thought his

reference to Humboldt was self explanatory.10 Indeed, Díaz Dufoo cited and

quoted a recent work entitled Humboldt en América that underscored Hum-

boldt’s impact in Mexico, which was by Mexican writer Carlos Pereyra.11

More importantly, throughout the nineteenth century, Mexican writers had

quoted and discussed Humboldt’s writings about Mexico’s resources exten-

sively. Humboldt, whose physiocratic conception of wealth underscored soil

quality, emphasized the centrality of nature in creating wealth.12 In keeping

with his assessment, leading post-independence thinkers, such as Liberal José

Mora and Conservative Lucas Alamán, called for population growth in order

6. Ibid., 214, 298, 326.

7. Ibid., 436.

8. Especially see chapter 12, which was entitled “what foreign capital has brought,”

365-98.

9. Ibid., 153.

10. On the impact of Humboldt’s work in Mexico see Bernecker, “el mito”; Miranda,

Humboldt

; and Weiner, “Mexico’s Economic Decline.”

11. Díaz Dufoo,

México

, 153.

12. For a discussion of Humboldt’s conception of wealth see Weiner, “Redefining Mexico’s

Riches.”

418 Knowledge and Worldview

to exploit the nation’s untapped riches.13 Consequently, Díaz Dufoo’s claim

that Humboldt’s work played a pivotal role in the dissemination of the legend

had merit.14

Given Díaz Dufoo’s assertions about the negative impact that mispercep-

tions associated with the legend had on policy, it is unsurprising that he spent

much of his book debunking the legend. Of course, he was by no means the

first to question Mexico’s natural resource wealth. And his book fully

acknowledged his forerunners. In fact, he cited dozens of authors (mostly

nineteenth century Mexicans) to sustain his critique.15 But his criticism was

not merely a rehashing of old arguments. Most of the authors Díaz Dufoo

cited were analyzing specific aspects of the economy rather than attempting

to dispel general perceptions. True, a few (most notably científico Justo

Sierra16) explicitly attacked the myth of Mexico’s natural-resource-based

wealth. Nevertheless, Díaz Dufoo made a novel contribution, for he cre-

atively wove all these writings together and thereby made the first sustained

and comprehensive attack on the legend. By stressing Mexico’s deficiencies

he provided a revisionist interpretation of the economy. He countered con-

temporary conventional wisdom, for, as scholar Paolo Riguzzi has shown,

during Porfirio Díaz’s reign (1876-1910) many (especially national and for-

eign promoters) depicted Mexico as very prosperous.17

Díaz Dufoo’s revisionism was evident in his depiction of Mexico’s natu-

ral resources, for he portrayed nature as a hindrance to economic progress.

He recounted a colonial-era story that emphasized how Mexico’s mountain-

ous topography was a severe obstacle to commerce. The tale, in which a

Spaniard crumbled up a flat sheet of paper to portray Mexico’s bumpy ter-

rain, underscored how difficult it was to transport goods.18 Rainfall also

posed a dilemma. Not only was it insufficient for agriculture, but it also was

irregular, which meant that both torrential rain and dry spells cause problems.

From the perspective of Díaz Dufoo’s human-centered notion of wealth, cli-

mate was another obstacle, for in some areas Mexico’s extreme climates

inhibited population growth. Adding to his incisive critique, Díaz Dufoo

directly challenged two tenets of the legend: Mexico’s rich soil and subsoil.

He countered the popular idea that Mexico’s soil was especially fertile and

13. Mora, México; and Alamán,

Documentos

, 16-17.

14. While all scholars agree that Humboldt played a pivotal role, some depart from Díaz

Dufoo by locating the origins of the legend in the age of the Spanish Conquest. Especially

see Cosío Villegas, “La riqueza.”

15. For an account of this broader nineteenth century critique see Weiner, “Mexico’s

Nineteenth Century Economic Decline.”

16. Díaz Dufoo extensively quoted Justo Sierra’s 1885 work entitled

México social y polit-

ico

”

17. Riguzzi, “México próspero.”.

18. Díaz Dufoo,

México

, 123.

Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 419

maintained that Mexico’s minerals (especially precious metals) had little

value in their natural state, for they were impure.19

In Díaz Dufoo’s description, Mexico’s natural resources by no means

autonomously created wealth. They did play a role, however. He frequently

called natural resources “latent” wealth or “potential” wealth.20 But to turn

this “latent” wealth into concrete riches the most significant factor was capi-

tal investment. He made this point over and over again. Díaz Dufoo showed

that key sectors of the economy (agriculture, mining, oil, and manufacturing)

all needed significant capital investment if they were to prosper. He lamented

the fact that only a fraction of Mexico’s land was currently utilized for agri-

culture and maintained that irrigation and transportation needed to be greatly

expanded if Mexico was to utilize more of its territory for growing crops. He

used Humboldt’s discussion of the Valencia mine as the exception that

proved the rule that greater investment was needed in the mining sector. The

Valencia mine had been so productive, Díaz Dufoo maintained, precisely

because significant amounts of capital had been invested in it.21 An obstacle

faced by the contemporary mining sector was a lack of coal, which was

needed in the refining process (wood sources, i.e., forests, had already been

depleted). Mexico had coal, but it was in the North and transport was so

expensive that it was sold mostly to the USA instead of being consumed

internally. (A shortage of coal also impeded the progress of Mexican manu-

facturing.) The transportation problem not only affected coal, but also oil. Oil

reserves existed; but even if they were exploited a transport system to ship

them to the coast did not.22

He complemented this empirical argument with a foray into theory, in

which he took on some major economic theorists.23 He summarized theories

about wealth creation by influential economists, including Pablo Leroy Beau-

lieu, John Stuart Mill, Charles Gide, and Alfred Marshall. Díaz Dufoo noted

that these economists stressed three main forces that worked together to gen-

erate wealth: the natural environment, human labor, and capital. Of the three,

Díaz Dufoo maintained that economists generally agreed that the natural

environment was most important and capital least important. He countered

this position by maintaining that capital was most significant. He supported

his assertion with many historical examples taken from different parts of the

globe, which were based on the scholarship of numerous researchers. Even if

his approach might have been more precise and focused, he nevertheless did

19. For Díaz Dufoo’s critique of Mexico’s resources especially see chapter 5, which was

entitled “Our Natural Wealth.”

20. For example, a subheading on page 69 was entitled “Potential Wealth and Public Mis-

ery.”

21. Ibid., 176.

22. Ibid., chapter 6, 151-194.

23. He critiqued economic theorists in chapter 2.

420 Knowledge and Worldview

effectively use examples to make his case. He argued that capital was more

significant than labor in numerous ways. Capital was a magnet for human

populations, and thus actually was the dominant of the two. For example,

areas that were uninhabitable for health reasons could be made more health-

ful via investment, which resulted in migrations to the region. Similarly,

areas that were uninhabited for lack of economic opportunity became popu-

lated after industries moved in. But capital not only created labor, but also

replaced it via mechanization. Shifting to the relative importance of capital

and the natural environment, he provided examples that showed capital was

more significant than soil in agriculture (via dry farming which enabled culti-

vation in areas it had previously been impossible) and mineral deposits in

mining (via the use of carbon). He especially highlighted capital’s impor-

tance in the “big industries,” which had arisen since the “first quarter of the

past century,” such as the textile and iron industries.24

Unequivocally, capital was the most significant factor in generating

wealth, according to Díaz Dufoo. In fact, stating that wealth was a modern

phenomenon which dated back only to the second half of the nineteenth cen-

tury (perhaps he selected this date since capital investment increased signifi-

cantly after this period), he suggested that without capital wealth could not

even exist.25 For him, capital was an all-powerful force that not only gener-

ated wealth, but also transformed the global economic landscape. He called

this transformation the “law of progress: the economy of power – has pre-

sided over the industrial evolution of societies: from the small industry, with

tools and machines of little value, to the large industry, with expensive instal-

lations, factories of vast size and concentration of business operations.”26 In

other words, the age of economies of scale, with massive production,

immense capital investment, and scores of workers, had dawned. Owing to

his unwavering belief in progress, he predicted that increased economic con-

centration was on the horizon. Ironically, aspects of Díaz Dufoo’s economic

vision resonated with Marx’s (of course, Díaz Dufoo did not make the associ-

ation). Both believed in the inevitability of material progress, which mani-

fested itself in increasing concentration and industrialization.

This notion of inevitable progress was evident in Díaz Dufoo’s predic-

tions about Mexico’s economic future. He described Mexico as one of the

“new countries,” which had significant latent wealth in resources, thus much

economic potential. All that was needed to realize that potential were large

doses of capital, more specifically, foreign capital, for “new” countries

lacked their own capital reserves. He cited Francisco Bulnes’ El porvenir de

las naciones latinoamericanas to bolster his predictions for Mexico’s promis-

24. Ibid., 34.

25. Ibid., 46.

26. Ibid., 50.

Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 421

ing future, maintaining that even the prominent científico Bulnes, who was

somewhat of a pessimist, acknowledged that Mexico could achieve economic

grandeur almost on par with the wealthiest nations.27

Díaz Dufoo maintained that capital investment would transform Mexico’s

agricultural and extractive industries. His discussion of Humboldt in this con-

text is telling about how economic attitudes changed over time. Díaz Dufoo

cited a section of Ensayo Político that asserted that northern Mexico could

not support agriculture owing to the arid climate. Díaz Dufoo maintained that

this region, which was now the U.S. Southwest, had been transformed from

deserts into gardens via capital investment.28 For Humboldt, Mother Nature

was the basis of wealth, thus where she was deficient the economy was

unproductive. But Díaz Dufoo, who wrote during an era in which technology

reached unprecedented heights, believed that humans could overcome the

limits imposed by nature.

Given Díaz Dufoo’s infatuation with industries that required extensive

capital and technology, it is unsurprising that his vision of Mexico broke with

the international division of labor. True, he underscored the need for capital

and technology in Mexico’s agricultural and extractive industries. But he also

emphasized the importance of creating manufacturing industries in Mexico,

as his lengthy promotions of protectionism and attacks on free trade and the

international division of labor demonstrated.29

Mexican reception of ‘México y Los Capitales

Extranjeros’

During the Revolutionary period in which he lived, Díaz Dufoo’s text had to

fight an uphill ideological battle. He boldly attacked the conventional wis-

dom of the era, severely criticizing nationalism and indigenism. Again and

again, he criticized nationalist policies, contending that they would scare

away foreign capital and lead to economic ruin. What made matters worse,

said Díaz Dufoo, was that during the age of WWI there was already a short-

age of capital, for Europe was reinvesting in its own reconstruction and thus

had little money to invest in Mexico. Consequently, the main source of for-

eign capital, he predicted, would be the United States.30 His message was

clear: create an environment which would be conducive to foreign capital, for

it was essential for Mexico’s industrialization. Unsurprisingly, his book

harshly attacked the economic vision of revolutionary ideologue Fernando

27. Ibid., 151. For an analysis Of Bulnes’ book see Weiner, “Mexico and the International

Division of labor.”

28. Díaz Dufoo,

México

, 84-6.

29. Ibid., 340-6, 501-5.

30. He re-emphasized these themes in chapter 15, the concluding chapter of his book.

422 Knowledge and Worldview

González Roa. Díaz Dufoo maintained that the revolutionist eschewed econ-

omies of scale and modern technology and instead championed small-scale

crafts-style production. Díaz Dufoo depicted this as an antiquated vision

which would deny Mexico of its rightful industrial grandeur. 31 His charge

against indigenism, that is, the popular ideological movement to return to

pre-Hispanic traditions and economies which emerged during the Revolution,

was consistently implied. After all, his modernizing vision had no sympathy

or use for indigenous production methods or culture. And his heavy criticism

of indigenous workers and high praise of laborers from Europe and the

United States made this implicit attack explicit.32

Given his strident attack on the conventional wisdom of his era, little

wonder that in the preface to a later edition of the book he confessed that in

1918 he had feared that the government would not allow his text to be pub-

lished.33 Obviously, his fears proved unfounded. But even if his book was not

forbidden, it was harshly attacked in the press. Before condemning his book,

Fernando González Roa summarized its contents, asserting that the book

worshipped “industrialism” as Mexico’s “salvation” and also championed

“protecting capitalism.” González Roa maintained Díaz Dufoo’s “thesis” was

a “grave error” that needed to be countered so it would not “wrongly sway

public opinion.”34 Ironically, according to Díaz Dufoo, González Roa’s attack

brought his book much publicity, for the headline on the long series of news-

paper articles in which González Roa put forth his counter-position featured

Díaz Dufoo’s name.35

Notoriety did translate into influence on policy, however. Indeed, during

the revolutionary period of the 1920s and 1930s nationalist and indigenist

policies prevailed. This was especially the case during the Cardénas adminis-

tration (1934-40), for not only did the president expropriate foreign oil inter-

ests, but also significantly expanded indigenous communal lands. Even if

Díaz Dufoo’s book did not impact policy, it appears that it did influence per-

ceptions of Mexico’s natural resource wealth. The eminent Mexican econo-

mist and social critic Daniel Cosío Villegas was the most clear-cut case in

31. Ibid., 530-35.

32. Ibid., 195-204.

33. The second revised edition was titled

Comunismo contra capitalismo

34. Fernando González Roa, “La reconstrucción de México: A proposito de la obra del

señor Carlos Díaz Dufoo,”

Diario Oficial

, 9 November 1918, 679-85.

35. Díaz Dufoo’s claim that the first edition quickly sold out lent support to his assertion

that González Roa inadvertently popularized his book. Díaz Dufoo,

Comunismo

, 5-7.

González Roa published a series of about 25 articles that featured Díaz Dufoo’s name in the

headline. (However, only the first article critiqued Díaz Dufoo’s book. The rest put forth

González Roa’s alternative economic vision.) They were originally published over a period

of several months in

El Economista

, beginning October 1918. They were all reprinted in

Diario Oficial

, and appeared from November 1918 through December 1919 (In 1918: Nov.

9, 16, 23, 30; Dec. 7 In 1919: Jan. 18, 25; March 8, 18, 22, 27, 29; April 21, 25, 28; May 3,

7, 9, 17; Oct. 21; Nov. 1, 4, 15, 24; Dec. 2, 11, 15).

Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 423

point. Not only did he repeat Díaz Dufoo’s critique of the legend, but also

credited Díaz Dufoo as being the originator of the analysis.36 Secretary of

education José Vasconcelos wrote descriptions of Mexico’s deficient natural

environment that bore resemblances to Díaz Dufoo’s portrayal, although Vas-

concelos did not credit Díaz Dufoo.37

Díaz Dufoo thought that there would be more sympathy for the policy

implications of his book after the Cardénas presidency ended. Indeed, he jus-

tified the publication of a second edition in 1941, in part, on his observation

that the conventional wisdom of the 1920s and 1930s was finally being ques-

tioned and “new ideas” were emerging.38 His judgment was perceptive, for

despite the persistence of economic nationalism, policies during the “Mexi-

can miracle” (a label selected for the 1940-70 period because of consistent

high economic growth rates) were more in keeping with his prescriptions.

His vision of economies of scale based on substantial investment finally

became a reality, as industrialization (the significant growth of the manufac-

turing sector) and “green revolution” (large-scale capital-intensive agri-busi-

ness) that characterized the era attests to. Mexico’s economic grandeur based

on man’s improvement upon deficient nature, which Díaz Dufoo had pre-

dicted, seemed to have finally been achieved. Díaz Dufoo was a forerunner to

this new trend in thought.

Nevertheless, there were dissenters to the new orthodoxy. In 1939, at the

onset of the “miracle,” Cosío Villegas’ critique of Díaz Dufoo was a kind of

warning against the new mentality. Cosío Villegas agreed with, and even

praised Díaz Dufoo’s somber account of Mexico’s natural resource wealth.

But Cosío Villegas stated that Díaz Dufoo was too optimistic about the power

of capital to generate wealth. For Cosío Villegas, the limits imposed by

nature could not totally be overcome by the volition of man. He, for example,

maintained that Mexico’s lack of coal would hamper industrialization. By

questioning imported technology’s ability to successfully adapt to local con-

ditions, he also problematized technology transfer, which was yet another

way to challenge Díaz Dufoo’s depiction of almighty capital. Based largely

on the nation’s limited natural resources, Cosío Villegas had much more

modest predictions for Mexico’s economic future.39 Despite the fact that he

challenged new dogma, I found no commentary on his article.

In 1950 U.S. scholar Frank Tannenbaum took Cosío Villegas’s critique a

step further.40 Like Cosío Villegas, Tannenbaum maintained that Mexico’s

36. See Cosío Villegas’ works “La riqueza” and “El territorio”.

37. In order to challenge racial explanations for Mexico’s economic woes, Vasconcelos

emphasized the ways that Mexico’s physical environment posed an obstacle to economic

development. See Vasconcelos, “The Latin American Basis of Mexican Civilization.”

38. Díaz Dufoo,

Comunismo

, 7.

39. Cosío Villegas, “La riqueza.”

40. Tannenbaum,

Mexico

424 Knowledge and Worldview

natural resources were extremely limited. He backed this assertion with an

in-depth description of Mexico’s natural environment. Also in keeping with

Cosío Villegas, he did not conceive of technology as a tool that could free

Mexico from the limitations posed by nature. His forecast of Mexico’s eco-

nomic future was more modest than Cosío Villegas’s, however. Tannenbaum

maintained that Mexico’s economic future lay in indigenous economic tradi-

tions: a small-scale agricultural economy, with production mostly for auto-

consumption. Mexican reception of his work departed significantly from the

silence that surrounded Cosío Villegas’s article, for many scathing critiques

were written that chastised his book. In fact, an entire issue of the significant

journal Problemas agrícolas e industriales de México critiqued his book.41

One can only speculate about why his book provoked such a strong reac-

tion and Cosío Villegas’s article did not. Even if Tannenbaum was an estab-

lished long-time friend to Mexico, he was still a foreigner, which might have

been a factor that accounted for the loud and critical response to his work.

But I think three other issues which centered on the distinct nature and timing

of his critique was more important. First, Tannenbaum’s critique (a full

monograph) was much more developed than Cosío Villegas’s. Second, Tan-

nenbaum’s challenge to accepted dogma was more radical than Cosío Ville-

gas’s. (Indeed, even Cosío Villegas, who defended Tannenbaum’s work,

admitted that it perhaps underestimated Mexico’s economic potential.42)

Finally, Tannenbaum’s work came out a decade after Cosío Villegas’s. Per-

haps by 1950 the Mexican elite, enamored with their own economic grandeur

after a decade of impressive economic growth, would not tolerate a naysayer.

In about three decades the ideological tables had turned completely. In 1918

Díaz Dufoo had been chastised for his grand modernizing anti-indigenous

economic vision. But by 1950 Díaz Dufoo’s idea had become hegemonic and

the small-scale Indianist position had been marginalized.

Conclusions

Carlos Díaz Dufoo’s 1918 work, México y los capitales extranjeros, was the

first comprehensive critique of Mexico’s legendary wealth, a colonial-era

narrative that had conceived of Mexico as immensely prosperous owing to its

rich and abundant natural resources, which had been popularized by Hum-

boldt’s Ensayo Político. Rather than a consequence of more complete or per-

fect knowledge about Mexico’s extant natural resources, Díaz Dufoo’s

critique was largely the product of distinct economic sensibilities that can be

dated back to the latter part of the nineteenth century that spilled over into the

twentieth century, even if political motivations were also a factor. The turn of

41.

Problemas agrícolas e industriales de México

4: 3 (1951).

42. Cosío Villegas, “Tannenbaum.”

Mexican Reception of ‘Political Essay’ 425

the twentieth century was an epoch marked by economies of scale, mass pro-

duction, sophisticated technological processes, unprecedented levels of

investment, and ballooning global trade. From Díaz Dufoo’s late-nineteenth-

century perspective, capital, not natural resources, was the most important

generator of wealth. But not only was his concept of what generated wealth a

departure from earlier analyses, but also his notion of what constituted riches.

Veering from raw resources associated with the legend, his conception of

riches stressed processed industrial products. Despite these distinctions, his

economic vision was in keeping with the legend in that he, too, envisioned a

Mexico of economic grandeur, albeit of a different type. In the context of the

Mexican Revolution, with its nationalist and Indianist elements, there was lit-

tle sympathy for his economic vision, but many aspects of it were embraced

about two decades later, when the era of the “Mexican miracle” began.

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Spain.’” In Travels, Travelers, and Travel Writing to and from Mexico,

426 Knowledge and Worldview

Latin America, and the Caribbean. Morelia: Universidad Michoacana de

San Nicolás de Hidalgo, forthcoming.

______. “Mexico’s Nineteenth Century Economic Decline: A Cultural Per-

spective.” Signos Históricos 12 (July-December 2004): forthcoming.

______. “Blurred Boundaries: Porfirian Mexico and the International Divi-

sion of Labor.” Unpublished Paper, 2004.

427

CHAPTER 34 The Mexican Mining

Bubble that Burst1

Ivani Vassoler

Similar to the 17th century “Tulipmania” in Holland when tulip bulbs

became a top commodity causing a speculative fever that, in the end, ruined

thousands of Dutch investors,2 Mexico, in the first decades of the 19th cen-

tury, became a hot spot for Europeans eager to reap huge profits from Mexi-

can silver mines. Yet the mine-investing rush quickly proved to be much less

profitable than European investors assumed, and foreign companies with-

drew from Mexico, thus souring the newly independent country’s relation-

ship with international investors. While the episode undoubtedly created a

bumpy start for an emerging nation desperately in need of capital to finance

its development, much less clear, however, is why it happened. As the expec-

tations of high investment returns went unfulfilled, financiers in Europe

alleged the one mostly to blame was Alexander von Humboldt (Kellner 1963,

110) for his assessment of the Mexican mines’ potential, described in details

in his Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (1811). The accusations

therefore raise questions as to what really prompted the cash. Did Humboldt

exaggerate the quality and abundance of minerals in Mexico and their poten-

tial for huge profits, or were his writings misinterpreted, and possibly dis-

torted, by financial experts? Was the crash, in the end, just the product of

investors’ greed?

1. During colonial times Mexico, was for the Spanish Crown, simply New Spain. In this

article New Spain and Mexico will be employed interchangeably for the sake and clarity of

my arguments.

2. According to one estimation, (

The Netherlands Flower Bulb Information Center

) the

market frenzy allowed traders of tulip bulbs to earn 60,000 florins (approximately US$

44,000) in a month. This was an astronomical sum that made people desperate to cash in on

the speculative bulb market. Local governments tried to outlaw the commerce, but they

were unsuccessful. As profits rose, family jewels were traded and small businesses were

sold, so the revenues could be invested in the tulip business. In 1637, when a group of mer-

chants was unable to get the high prices for the bulbs, the market crashed, leading inves-

tors to bankruptcy.

428 Knowledge and Worldview

Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) spent a year in Mexico, between

1803 and 1804 during a five-year journey of discovery in the Americas. The

trip included extended visits to Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru and Cuba, and a

three-week stay in the United States. In 1799 he set off on his expedition to

Latin America, at that time under control of the Spanish Crown, from which

Humboldt received full support to travel to the region. The Spanish king Car-

los IV issued Humboldt and his companion, Aimé Bonpland,3 a carte

blanche-style letter of recommendation, which allowed the two explorers to

travel all over the Spanish territories in the New World, with complete free-

dom to conduct research, make inquiries and collect materials as they wished.

Aware of the existence of extensive mineral reservoirs in the Spanish-con-

trolled colonies in the Americas, the king’s expectation was that Humboldt’s

expertise in mineralogy would contribute to an increase of gold and silver

production, which in turn would provide fresh resources to the Crown’s

dilapidated treasury.4

Humboldt was, in fact, highly qualified to examine the conditions of the

mineral sector in Mexico and possibly that of any other country at that time.

He studied geology in Saxony (now Germany) at the Mining Academy in the

University of Freiberg, an influential silver-mining community, where a min-

ing code was developed in the early 14th century.5 Studying in a mine-

focused town under the guidance of professor Abraham G. Werner,6 Hum-

boldt acquired conceptual and practical knowledge that he later employed in

his research and publications. In Freiberg, Humboldt met a miner scholar

from Spain, Andres Del Rio7, who was influential in Humboldt’s decision to

visit Latin America. After his studies in Freiberg, Humboldt started a career

3. Born in La Rochelle, France, in 1773; died in Santa Anna, Uruguay, in 1858. He

studied medicine and was also a botanist. During the expedition, in company of Humboldt,

Bonpland collected and classified about 6,000 plants, which he later described in details

Plantes Equinoxiales

(Paris 1810). In Buenos Aires, he was appointed professor of natu-

ral history, a position he left to explore other parts of South America. In Paraguay he was

arrested, in 1821, accused of being a spy and spent 10 years in jail. Once free, he moved to

Santa Anna. Experts consider his principal scientific work to be

Nova Genera et Species

Plantarum

(Paris, 1815). See Appletons (2001).

4. Increased revenue was a major objective of the Spanish Crown. As explained by Keen

(1992, 129) “a major purpose to which that revenue was applied was the strengthening of

the sea and land defenses of the empire.”

5. As cited in the

Encyclopedia Britannica.

6. Born in 1750; died in 1817. German geologist, who in the last part of the 18

century

was the most notable figure in the investigation of rocks and minerals. He was the first to

classify minerals systematically. Under his direction, the mining academy at Freiberg

became one of the leading schools in Germany (Columbia 2001).

7. Born in 1764; died in 1849. Studied chemistry and mineralogy at Freiberg, where he

befriended Humboldt. In 1794 he went to Mexico and taught at the newly founded

Colégio

Nacional de

Mineria

. Del Rio’s course in mineralogy is considered the first formal instruc-

tion in the subject in the New World. His book

Manual de Geologia

is the first textbook of

mineralogy to be published in the Americas (Watson 2004). Del Rio is also famous for the

discovery of vanadium, a metallic chemical element used in the strengthening of steel.

The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst 429

in mineralogy in his native country, first as an advisor to the Mining and

Smelting Department in Berlin, and later as director general of mines in Fran-

conia. Yet, a career as a government official was not what inspired Humboldt.

Taking advantage of a substantial family inheritance, which he shared with

his famous brother Wilhelm,8 Humboldt prepared what would be forever rec-

ognized as a pioneering and one of the most fruitful voyages of exploration

and discovery ever made in Latin America (Kellner 1963).

In the company of his friend Bonpland, and carrying almost four dozen

scientific instruments, Humboldt touched land for the first time in the New

World on July 15, 1799. The first stop on their scientific journey and personal

adventure was Cumana, Venezuela. Their travels led them to Mexico, where

they arrived on March 23, 1803. During the year in Mexico, which the Span-

ish Crown had named “New Spain”, Humboldt explored mountains, rivers

and volcanoes, examined the ruins of ancient civilizations, observed the traits

and attitudes of the native population, analyzed the country’s geography and,

its natural environment, and dedicated considerable time to the study of Mex-

ican mines. In Mexico City, Humboldt contacted his old colleague from

Freiberg, Andres Del Rio, then director of the National Mining School (Colé-

gio Nacional de Mineria) and author of a manuscript that later, with Hum-

boldt’s contribution, would become the first textbook of geology in the

Americas. Their partnership deepened Humboldt’s interest in the mineral

conditions in Mexico. The results of his meticulous research are presented in

Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain, a firsthand description of the

Mexican mining industry. His work, as a compilation of research and vivid

descriptions of the working conditions, has never been supplanted. Past and

present, those studying Mexico’s economy in the 18th and 19th centuries in

one way or another rely on Humboldt’s work and his findings.

Humboldt arrived in Mexico a few years before the end of a colonial era

that was financially based, almost exclusively, on the mining industry (Rod-

riguez O. 1980). Soon after the Conquista,9 the production of silver became

an unmatched influence on the lives of those residing in New Spain and

beyond it. The 3,000 mines scattered throughout the territory, employing

around 15,000 men, had a demographic impact, as people moved close to the

places of work. Distribution of population also affected agriculture and cattle

raising; in the mining towns, personal incomes grew, thus creating markets

for other industries (Florescano and Gil Sanches 1980). Writing about the

“silver boom” at that time, Mexican historian Lucas Alamán y Escalada

8. Born in 1767; died in 1835. A philosopher and philologist deeply involved in the

reform of Prussian education. His goal was to promote a school system capable of molding

citizens who would be able to think for themselves (Wertz 1993).

9. Officially started with the arrival of the first Spaniards in Mexico (1519), under the

command of Hernán Cortez.

430 Knowledge and Worldview

(1849) observed that “without mining neither agriculture, internal trade nor

industrious occupation of any kind prospers; population decreases or at any

rate is stationary; consumption falls and annihilation of foreign trade fol-

lows.” So influential was the mining industry in New Spain that even reli-

gious life felt its impact, as Franciscans used to say “where is no silver, there

is no bible” (Florescano and Gil Sanches 1980, 557-8). For Spain, the pre-

cious metals produced by the colonies in the Americas were a much-needed

source of income as the Spanish Crown was sinking into massive debt as a

result of its military adventures and interest payments to European bankers

(Lira 1974).

Beginning with the discovery of the first mines in Zacatecas (1546), Gua-

najuato (1554), Durango (1563) and subsequently several others, New Spain

in 1800 was the world’s number one producer of silver, responsible for more

than two-thirds of the global output (Lira 1974). The Spanish Crown allo-

cated the great wealth that resulted from holding the monopoly on silver pro-

duction to the interests of Spain, which meant very little of that considerable

income circulated in New Spain. In what is very revealing of the disastrous

economic policies of Spain in the colonies, the Spanish rulers imposed a 10

per cent tax on all silver extracted, and at the same time it monopolized the

sale of mercury, which was employed in the amalgamation process of silver

ore. Loaded with innumerable regulations and facing constant bureaucracy,

the Mexican miners operated without the freedom to invest in their opera-

tions and prosper. As expected, the monopolistic system, worsened by mis-

management, curtailed the efficiency and productivity of New Spain’s

mining sector. The situation was aggravated by labor shortages caused by

epidemics among natives, who were victims of poor working conditions, and

sickened by the effects of mercury exposure (Lira 1974).

The antiquated Mexican mines did not escape Humboldt’s attentive eyes.

His writings stress the shortcomings of the mining methods, including the

absence of machines, and that bags of ore weighing between 150 and 350

pounds were lifted to the surface by ropes; in other cases, the ore was brought

to the surface by workers who had to climb ladders of about 1,800 steps. His

narrative details the difficult experiences of 5,000 men who mixed mercury

and pounded metal while working bare feet, and condemns the practice of

extracting water from the mines using animal traction. His views on the back-

wardness of the Mexican mines were, however, tempered by his estimations

that productivity could be increased threefold through a variety of technical

improvements and more efficient means of pumping out water.10

During the year Humboldt spent in New Spain, the country’s mining sec-

tor produced $4,620,000 sterling pounds of silver. He estimated that under

better conditions, production would increase. He stressed the comparative

The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst 431

advantage of Mexican mines for their location at lesser heights and in a tem-

perate climate, contrasting to the higher elevation of Peruvian mines that

operated in cold weather. According to him, silver production at Guanajuato

mines alone (Central Mexico) was much higher than at the famous mines of

Potosi (now Bolivia). Humboldt also recognized the superiority of the Mexi-

can mines when compared to those in Himmelsfurst, Saxony’s richest mine at

that time (Humboldt 1811). Despite his critical view of mining conditions,

Humboldt left New Spain in 1804 convinced that Europeans knew little, if

anything, about the wealth of the New World. His faith in the Mexican mines

may have awakened the interest of European investors, until then oblivious to

the Americas’ potential (Kellner 1963). But did his enthusiasm cloud his

assessments to a point of misleading investors?

From Mexico, Humboldt travel to Havana, Cuba, and from there to Wash-

ington as a guest of honor of president Thomas Jefferson. He left the United

States for Europe and never returned to the Americas. Several years later, his

Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain was published in France, and

subsequently in London, in 1811. In that same year, New Spain was engulfed

in a major upheaval that would culminate 10 years later with a declaration of

independence.11 The end of colonial rule in 1821 was preceded by more than

a decade of a bloody revolt that, in addition to giving birth to a new country,

also doomed the Spanish Crown and hurt the mining industry in Mexico. As

the War of Independence progressed, thousands of workers joined the rebel

armies against the Spaniards, causing crippling labor shortages. The instabil-

ity and insecurity that prevailed in the country basically paralyzed all eco-

nomic activities; lack of mercury and tools, and the absence of workers led to

the abandonment of a great number of mines, causing a dramatic drop in sil-

ver production (Cue Canovas 1995).

At the end of its struggles, Mexico emerged as an independent country,

but its economy was in ruins, and the mining sector in crisis.12 Nation-build-

ing would require capital that only foreigners could provide, and this was a

route that the fresh Mexican ruling elite decided to take. Thus, in 1822, about

a year after the independence, Lucas Alamán y Escalada, Mexican minister

10. In his writings, Humboldt also made reference to Mexico’s poverty and socioeconomic

inequalities. In

Political Essay

(1811, 103) he observes that “Mexico is a country of ine-

quality. Nowhere perhaps exist a more frightful inequality in the distribution of wealth, of

civilization, of cultivation of the soil, and of the population. The Mexican Indians, seen in

the mass, present a picture of profound misery. Relegated to the less fertile districts, indo-

lent by nature and even more so by their political situation, they live only for the day. It is

almost impossible to find among them men who enjoy a moderate fortune.”

11. The War of Independence officially started on the night of September 15 1810 with

the

Grito de Dolores,

the clamor for national liberation led by the Roman Catholic priest

Miguel Hidalgo, a resident of Dolores, Guanajato.

12. According to Rodriguez O. (1980), in 1820 the greatest mining region, Guanajato,

produced silver worth of $22,000,000 pesos, while in 1801 this value was calculated at

$47,000,000 pesos.

432 Knowledge and Worldview

of foreign affairs, and a miner, recruited a French company to invest in silver

production in Mexico (Kellner 1963). Jumping for the first time as a sover-

eign nation into the changing waters of the international economy, Mexico

experienced firsthand the volatility of the international markets. With an ini-

tial capital of $240,000 pounds, having Alamán as chairman of the board, and

in possession of several mines close to Guanajuato, the Franco-Mexican

Association simply failed.13 Its remnants were transferred to London under

the name United-Mexican Association, inaugurating a 25-year period in

which foreign investments in Mexican mines would be made essentially by

the British. Between 1825 and 1850, a half-dozen British mining companies

were established in Mexico. They all collapsed. Because foreign companies

started operations in Mexico after the War of Independence, weren’t Euro-

pean investors aware of the poor conditions of the country’s mines and the

destruction caused by the prolonged warfare? If investors relied on Hum-

boldt’s writings to make their financial decisions, as they said they did, was

there nobody to alert them to the fact that his famous book was based on a

field study conducted before the armed conflict that so greatly damaged the

mining sector?

While it is plausible to assume that Humboldt’s expertise, fame, notable

book and faith in the Mexican mines did persuade investors to place their

hopes in Mexico’s silver production, one could argue that the very same rea-

sons would be enough to convince investors to act with moderation.

Although it is true that Humboldt believed there were mineral riches in Mex-

ico, he also publicly exposed the industry’s great shortcomings, and the need

for sound technical improvements. He never spoke of quick, easy huge prof-

its. Rather, he stressed the superiority of the Mexican mines when compared

to others that he knew elsewhere, and the potential for increases in silver pro-

duction in Mexico provided the mines underwent a process of modernization.

Yet, investors apparently took his words as a guarantee of huge profits. Some

of them were apparently ignorant of the ruined Mexican mines and the cli-

mate of chaos that prevailed in Mexico in the aftermath of war, while others

were simply unscrupulous traders pursuing quick, easy money. In the end

they all invested in Mexican mines, through a handful of British firms, which

in their inflated prospectuses recommended investors read Humboldt’s Politi-

cal Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain (Cornish 2004).

13. Kellner (1963, 107) observes that the Franco-Mexican Company offered the position

of chairman of the board to Humboldt, who declined the offer with the following statement:

“My disinclination for public affairs has been the reason for my repeated refusal of the hon-

orable offers…You know how much I have been provoked by the mere idea of lending my

name to the direction of the mining company…With this mental attitude for which I am

known, with this innate horror for everything appertaining to the alleged mysteries of diplo-

macy, how could I be tempted to deviate from a position to which I have adhered for a long

time and which seems the only one tenable for a man of letters living in a foreign country.”

The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst 433

Employing Humboldt and his writings as involuntary tools of their mar-

keting strategies, the firms promoted Mexico as a land of almost inextin-

guishable mining resources. Their public relations campaigns were

reinforced by English diplomat Henry George Ward who, after visiting the

town of Durango in 1826, declared that the Mexican mines would have a

great future with the influx of foreign capitals.14 And John Taylor, the well-

known English mining engineer who founded the British Real del Monte

(one of the firms with operations in Mexico) published a document in 1825 –

“Statements respecting the profits of mining in Mexico” – in which he con-

tended that with prudent administration, profits of between 30 and 50 percent

might be secured from the Mexican venture. Yet, Taylor went further to say

that…

The collateral evidence to support the probabilities of such expectation is to

be derived from the great amounts of profit formerly acquired and the state-

ments of the proportion of costs in working mines to the actual amount of

value of return. Many particulars of this kind are before the public and partic-

ularly in the works of Baron Humboldt: they have I know, excited ridicule of

some, and have been treated seriously by others as exaggerations brought

forth to tempt the unwary. The fact of enormous profit in many cases rests

upon very good evidence; supposing that there were also very numerous cases

of loss, that will only prove what I am all along ready to admit that mining to

be profitable must be attended with skill and care…My inference from the

whole is that mining in neither a certain source of immeasurable wealth, to be

obtained by everyone who was lucky enough to get a share in any mine, in

any place and under any kind of arrangement, nor is mining as it seems now

the fashion, all a bubble, cheat and delusion…In Mexico, the number of unoc-

cupied mines is still very great, but though that is the case, it is not capital

alone that will work them. A great quantity of skill, experience and of labor

also is required, and therefore, as the number both of able managers and expe-

rienced workmen is limited, so must be the extent of prudent enterprise.15

It is somewhat intriguing that with his experience and critical view, the

sensible Taylor did not foresee the upcoming disaster. His company, British

Real del Monte, lost in Mexico the astronomical sum, at that time, of

$5,000,000 pounds. The prospect of 50-percent profits proved to be

extremely unrealistic. In the beginning, and taken by the notion of a highly

profitable New World, Europeans and particularly the British embarked on a

risky financial enterprise, thus contributing to a market frenzy when the

shares’ prices skyrocketed. Yet, as one company’s failure led to another,

stocks’ values collapsed, ruining investors. As the Mexican mining bubble

burst, foreign investors turned their anger against Humboldt, who received

14. Great Britain officially recognized Mexico as an independent nation in 1825.

15. As cited by Kellner (1963, 109-110).

434 Knowledge and Worldview

the allegations with a great deal of indignation (Kellner 1963). In the face of

the accusations, Humboldt found defenders who stressed that the Mexican

mining bubble and the subsequent market failure were attributable to a wave

of speculation. In 1830, the British publication Quarterly Mining Review

summarized the events as follows:16

By fraud and trickery and by putting in practice every art in which gamblers

and swindlers are conversant, and in which several persons in elevated ranks

in society were strongly suspected of being concerned, the trafficking in

shares was carried to such extent as it can only be paralleled by the once

famous, or rather infamous, tulipmania of Holland.

But since not all investors were speculators, it seems more appropriate to

examine their ruin and the British firms’ debacle as a result of sheer igno-

rance and investors’ bad timing, the latter being a consequence of the former.

To begin with, soon after gaining the independence, Mexico was plagued by

political instability. The new Mexican government was coping with constant

internal strife, illustrated by the fact that between 1821 and 1950 only one

president, Guadalupe Victoria, completed his term, in 1828. In the two subse-

quent decades the country was ruled by 20 governments and about 100 cabi-

nets (Rodriguez O. 1980). Compounding the problem, foreigners did not

know how to deal with the heavy bureaucracy the country had inherited from

the colonial administration. Tasting freedom for the first time, Mexican

workers were restive, and several labor disputes ensued. In addition, the War

of Independence heavily damaged the country’s infrastructure, leading to

delivery delays, a situation worsened by poor communication systems. It is

well known, for instance, that several steam engines that were shipped from

England to Mexico were never used because they were stranded on precari-

ous roads, unable to reach the mining areas (Rodriguez O. 1980). Facing high

costs of necessary imports, and operating in red, the companies refused to

sink more money into the enterprises, leading to their demise.

Humboldt was influential, but it takes more than a book to attract foreign

capital to a country. Once the foreign investors arrive, it certainly takes more

than enthusiasm and optimism to transform investments into profitable enter-

prises. It does not require a great stretch of imagination to conclude that

Humboldt’s comprehensive description of New Spain’s mineral deposits and

his positive assessment of the mines’ potential did in fact awaken the interest

of Europeans in the New World. To assume, however, that he was responsible

for the wave of speculation and the debacle that ensued is another story

entirely. Lack of knowledge, bad timing and poor management played a huge

role in the firms’ failures, which made Mexico’s first contact with the agents

of the international economy an unpleasant experience. In any, and to some

16. Ibidem

The Mexican Mining Bubble that Burst 435

extent ironic case, Humboldt’s faith in the Mexican mines was vindicated in

the end. As the 19th century progressed and Mexico settled down, silver pro-

duction became a quite lucrative business for companies and individuals.

References:

Alamán y Escalada, Lucas. 1849. Historia de Méjico (5 vol., 1849-1852),

Mexico.

Appletons Encyclopedia. 2001. http://www.famousamericans.net/aimebonp-

land/

Columbia. 2001. The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition.

Cornish.2004. “Cornish Miners in Latin America (1812-1848) and the Devel-

opment of an International Labour Market”. <http.//www.ex.ac.uk/cor-

nishlatin>

Cue Canovas, Augustin. 1995. Historia Social y Económica de México 1521-

1854, Mexico: Trillas Ed.

Freiberg, 2004. Encyclopedia Britannica.

Florescano, Enrique and Isabel Gil Sanchez. 1980. Historia General de Méx-

ico, vol I. Mexico: El Colegio de México.

Humboldt, Alexander von. 1811. Political Essay on the Kingdom of New

Spain, IV volumes. London.

Keen, Benjamin. 1992. A History of Latin America, Boston and Toronto:

Houghton Mifflin Co.

Kellner, L. 1963. Alexander von Humboldt, New York: Oxford University

Press.

Lira, Andres. 1974. México Tu Historia, El Gobierno Virreinal. Mexico: Sal-

vat Mexicana Ed

Rodriguez O, Jamie. 1980. “Down From Colonialism: Mexico 19th Century

Crisis”. Historical Text Archive

Quarterly Mining Review. 1830. Great Britain.

Watson, W.P. 2004. http://www.polybiblio.com/watbooks/2482.html

Wertz, Marianna. 1993. “Humboldt”, The American Almanac; The New Fed-

eralist.

437

CHAPTER 35 Writing In and Out of

Time

Ann C. Colley

When Charles Darwin set sail on the Beagle, one of the prized possessions he

carried with him was Alexander von Humboldt’s Personal Narrative. The

volumes were a parting gift from his university tutor, John Henslow, who rec-

ognized his student’s admiration for the renowned natural historian.1 On bot-

any field trips, Henslow had listened to Darwin read aloud the “most glorious

passages” from Humboldt’s narrative.2 Furthermore, the tutor had known of

Darwin’s attempts to emulate his hero by arranging an expedition to the

Canary Islands. Although Darwin never succeeded in organizing this trip, he

was eventually able to follow Humboldt’s trail by joining Captain FitzRoy on

his 1832 voyage to South America. At many points during his subsequent

journeys, on land or by sea, Darwin used Humboldt’s narrative as a guide.

Consequently, when the Beagle approached Teneriffe, the place where

Humboldt had once landed on the Canary Islands, Darwin turned to the Per-

sonal Narrative to help him understand what he was seeing for the first time.

He opened its pages and repeated to himself its “sublime” portraits of the

unfolding tropical landscape.3 Later, recognizing that perception often

depends upon preconceived ideas, Darwin proudly admitted that many of his

thoughts and points of view were molded by Humboldt’s observations.4 In a

1. Henslow inscribed his gift with the following words: "J. S. Henslow to his friend C.

Darwin on his departure from England upon a voyage round the world. 21 Sept. 1831."

2. Janet Browne in her biography of Charles Darwin writes that Darwin "insisted on

reading out what he called the most glorious passages from the book [Humboldt's

Personal

Narrative

] during botany field trips" (Browne 1995, 134).

3. In a 18 May 1832 letter to Henslow, Darwin wrote: "At Santa Cruz, whilst looking

amongst the clouds for the Peak and repeating to myself Humboldts [

sic

] sublime descrip-

tion, it was announced we must perform 12 days strict quarantine" (Burkhardt and Smith

1985, 1: 236). As a result of this quarantine, Darwin never did get to visit Teneriffe.

4. In a letter home, Darwin explained: "I formerly admired Humboldt, I now almost

adore him; he alone gives any notion, of the feelings which are raised in the mind on first

entering the Tropics..." (Burkhardt and Smith 1985, 1: 237).

438 Knowledge and Worldview

sense, Humboldt’s commentary helped Darwin navigate his emerging narra-

tive (Voyage of the Beagle).

Given that Humboldt and Darwin were both naturalists, one might

assume that Humboldt served primarily as a model of a scientist who thinks

meticulously and energetically about what lies before him. Indeed, Darwin

did respect these qualities and esteemed Humboldt’s mastery of a wide range

of data, but, for him, these virtues were not exclusively compelling. Darwin

was also drawn to the emotional and aesthetic tenor of Humboldt’s observa-

tions. He identified with Humboldt’s sense of awe and confusion upon enter-

ing a new land where ‘a civilized man has seldom trod’ (Browne and Neve

1989, 376). Darwin was also captivated by Humboldt’s sensitivity to vast

landscapes that stretch beyond the vanishing point – to spaces where the

imagination can wander; to the scattered sublime and aesthetic moments that,

at times, not only soften the measured timbre of Humboldt’s prose but also

alleviate the burden of the factual details weighing down his Personal Narra-

tive.5

In a letter to Henslow, Darwin remarked on Humboldt’s ‘sublime descrip-

tions’ (Burkhardt and Smith 1985, 1: 236) and, in so doing, participated in a

culture all-too-ready to seek the rugged, dangerous, and massive elements in

a landscape. Just as Humboldt’s text paid tribute to the sublime, Darwin’s

own narrative indulged in the idiom and took its cue from the prescriptive

qualities of grandeur, gloom, and peril that occasionally found their way into

Humboldt’s pages. As a result, in his travels, Darwin looked at a sky and

remarked that its “profundity” is “everything Humboldt had ever described”

(Browne 1995, 290). And when Darwin wrote of “ominous” scenes that por-

tray a “savage magnificence” (Engel 1962, 281 & 211), or when he thought

of what a “sublime spectacle” it is “to watch the shadows of night” (Browne

and Neve 1989, 298), he was responding not only to an accepted perspective

but also to passages in Humboldt’s narrative that spoke of the hazardous

gloom spawned by the shadows of mountains that stretch over the surface of

the ocean.6 Both Humboldt’s and Darwin’s appreciation for the sublime was

also made more acute by their travels that brought them face to face with the

immense and exhilarating forces within the earth’s crust – the earthquakes,

the volcanoes – and with the violent tempests in the air, all of which evoked a

sense of danger, pleasure, and power.

5. For examples of the sublime moments in Humboldt's

Personal Narrative

, see: Will-

iams 1818, 1: 75, 1:95, 1: 102, 1: 155-56, 1: 176, 1: 181, 1: 185, 3: 88, and 3: 106.

6. The passage from Humboldt's

Personal Narrative

reads: "The black mountains of

Graciosa appeared like perpendicular walls of five or six hundred feet. Their shadows,

thrown over the surface of the ocean, gave a gloomy aspect to the scenery. Rocks of basalt,

emerged from the bosom of the water, wore the resemblance of the ruins of some vast edi-

fice Y. Every thing which surrounded us seemed to indicate destruction and sterility Y"

(Williams 1818, 1: 95).

Writing In and Out of Time 439

Both also occasionally participated in a specifically painterly sublime.

Appreciative of Humboldt’s artistic eye that ‘never wearied admiring the

beauty of the nights,’ and that admired the way the moon, ‘at intervals,’ shot

across the sky’s vapors and exposed its disk on a firmament of the darkest

blue (Williams 1818, 1: 156), Darwin, thinking back to Humboldt’s descrip-

tive passages, also wrote about the light of the moon or the tint of the setting

sun upon the mountains. Like Humboldt, Darwin noted how the transparency

of the air rendered gradations of color. Both were interested in art (Humboldt

actually more than Darwin), so that, periodically, upon viewing a prospect,

each saw a framed copper engraving, a painting, a mezzotint, a da Vinci or a

Claude Lorrain landscape. Both displayed a sensitivity to the way light cre-

ates delicate shades as well as a telling contrast between an object’s form and

its color.7

Yet, for all these parallels and for all the admiration that Darwin had for

Humboldt, each narrative has its own distinctive ambience. A page from

Humboldt cannot be confused with one from Darwin’s narrative. Just what is

this basic difference? One way to isolate the essential difference between the

two is to think of the way each writer places the sublime moments within his

text. The context, not the particulars of the aesthetic event, makes the differ-

ence. Basically, the distinction depends upon Humboldt’s and Darwin’s idio-

syncratic relationship to time. Humboldt, who is primarily interested in

discovering a universal set of scientific data, surrounds his sublime episodes

with a narrative that is not concerned with time; whereas, Darwin, who is

continuously struck by the mutability of his surroundings, positions his in a

landscape mapped by his acute consciousness of the process of time.

Because of Humboldt’s perspective, the sublime and aesthetic episodes

do not strike the reader as being an absolutely integral part of the text. They

seem almost extraneous (a peripheral bonus) to the narrative. Perhaps they

even function as an interruption, for the reader has the sense that they do not

properly belong to the general argument. Humboldt is so intent upon observ-

ing phenomena and then determining the relations that tie them together, and

on finding what he terms their “marks of resemblance” (Williams 1818, 3:

160) to phenomena elsewhere, that the sublime instant soon disappears in his

desire to view “the Globe as a great whole” (Williams 1818, 1: 233). Wanting

to compare what he had learned on his travels with what recurs in a universal

7. Darwin in his

The Voyage of the Beagle

wrote: "The view was striking: it may aptly be

compared to a framed engraving, where the frame represents the breakers, the marginal

paper the smooth lagoon, and the drawing the island itself" (Engel 1962, 406). See also

Darwin's correspondence in which he describes a view as being "more gorgeous than even

Claude [Lorrain] ever imagined" (Burkhardt and Smith 1985, 3: 233). Humboldt's

Personal

Narrative

also contains references to paintings. In volume three, he writes: "This singular

view reminded us of the back-ground of the fanciful landscape which Leonardo da Vinci

has decorated his famous portrait of Gioconda" (Williams 1818, 3: 22).

440 Knowledge and Worldview

geography and wishing to find the relationship of these facts to what exists in

different countries, to recall similar occurrences elsewhere, Humboldt moves,

one might say laterally, through his landscape, in a narrative that is not so

much embedded in time as seeking a more comprehensive, static vision. He

looks at the Mexican fields and simultaneously recalls the most beautiful

parts of France to create a parallel rather than a chronological perspective.

The result is that Humboldt moves out of time and holds his surroundings

still. As he admitted, he is not involved in things “successively observed”

(Williams 1818, 1: 40).

One striking example of this orientation can be found in a passage from

the Personal Narrative when Humboldt climbs Silla, the mountain just out-

side Caracas. Although he offers a vivid, and even humorous, account of his

difficult ascent and descent, the reader soon learns that Humboldt’s intention

is not to tell an adventure story that reveals itself sequentially, but rather to

discover the resemblances between what he finds there with what has been

known in other countries. He constantly interrupts his progress up the moun-

tain not only to record data (temperature, flora, rocks, and atmospheric pres-

sure) but also, through the course of several pages, to move in parallel

directions that reveal and note resemblances between the facts he is gathering

and what he can trace in similar climates as far away as Asia. He is no longer

moving in time and being struck with “the new impressions…at every step’

(Williams 181, 3: 160), but is pulling away to construct a map or a chart that,

in effect, immobilizes the landscape in order to uncover more universal laws

that do not alter their perspective, step by step. Everything seems removed

from time; immediate, specific place becomes less important. Another

instance of this approach can be found in Humboldt’s observations of water-

courses. Rather than following their path down the mountain slopes and

through valleys, he stops the motion and concentrates, instead, on water-

courses everywhere else that have parallel patterns. The result is similar to

what happens when he interrupts his ascent of Silla. The chronology of the

water’s course disappears under the pressure of links and connections to

other places throughout the world.

Humboldt’s impulse is quite different from what Darwin’s was to be, in

spite of their shared sensibility, for when Darwin, in his narrative, chose to

describe the way water falls and moves, he emphasized the flow and the

sequence of its path. Unlike Humboldt, Darwin unfolded its course through

time. A passage from his narrative captures this view:

The sound [the rushing water over the stones] spoke eloquently to the geolo-

gist; the thousands and thousands of stones, which, striking against each

other, made the one dull uniform sound, were all hurrying in one direction. It

Writing In and Out of Time 441

was like thinking on time, where the minute that now glides past is irrecover-

able. So it was with these stones…(Engel 1962, 318).

The phrase “thinking on time” from the above quotation is a telling one: it

describes Darwin’s acute sense of the ‘never ceasing mutability of the crust

of this our world’ (Browne and Neve 1989, 356) – a perspective that was

encouraged by his avid interest in geology and his reading of Charles Lyell’s

Principles of Geology while on board the Beagle, preoccupations that, of

course, later encouraged Darwin to engage evolutionary theories.

Throughout the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin’s sense of metamorphic

action is pervasive: he tells his story through time. Darwin looked at a land-

scape and saw history; he peered into the past of his surroundings, and

thought of the forces that once upheaved the mountains and might, in the

future, wear them down. Nothing is static in his narrative; change is mea-

sured by the passing of minutes. For Darwin there was no resting place in

charts and maps as there had been for Humboldt; there is only mutability,

sequence, and traces of what has gone by. Darwin cannot escape the pres-

sures of ‘all-powerful time’ (Browne and Neve 1989, 211). In this context,

then, the sublime moment is not one to be set aside, as Humboldt had done in

his Personal Narrative, in favor of an agendum to establish patterns and har-

monies of the cosmos. The sublime episode, in Darwin’s narrative, is not a

distraction from his main aim, rather it is part of the continuum of experi-

ence. It is, therefore, neither extraneous nor parenthetical. It is part of the

unfolding and, therefore, integral to the sequential thrust of his narrative. It

does not threaten his perspective; rather, the precarious balance of the sub-

lime moment that depicts a scene on the brink of alteration and disaster, very

much supports a narrative dedicated to the idea of mutability.

Although both shared a sensibility that allowed them to appreciate soli-

tude, a mysterious grandeur, delicate tones of color, and skies that resemble

mezzotint engravings, the context into which each placed these qualities and

perspectives alters the importance of the sublime or aesthetic moment and

reveals a basic difference between the narratives of these two writers.

Through these differences one better understands the more stationary, time-

less nature of Humboldt’s studies that reject sequence in order to establish

columns of data. And, certainly, one grasps better the time-oriented character

of Darwin’s narrative.

Ironically, several years later, as if recognizing Darwin’s inclination to

integrate the sublime moment into the scientific narrative, Humboldt finally

admitted the importance of such moments for scientific discovery. In his sec-

ond volume of Cosmos, Humboldt praised Darwin’s “extremely beautiful

descriptions of Tahiti” and spoke of the “animating influence of the descrip-

tive element” in “encouraging the scientific study of nature, and enlarging its

442 Knowledge and Worldview

domain” (Otté 1851, 2:80). Thinking not only of Darwin’s remarkable

descriptions but also of those of other naturalists, as well as of scenes ren-

dered in landscape painting, Humboldt suggested that there can be a valuable

connection between the aesthetic and the scientific, the sensual and the intel-

lectual; both are capable of recording the distinct and harmonious physiog-

nomy of nature. In fact, so convinced was Humboldt of this possibility that

he envisioned Panoramic buildings “erected in our large cities,” that should

contain “alternating pictures of landscapes of different geographical latitudes

and from different zones of elevation.” Through these structures Humboldt

believed that “the conception of the natural unity” and the “feeling of harmo-

nious accord pervading the universe” could not “fail to increase in vividness

among men, in proportion as the means are multiplied by which the phenom-

enon of nature may be more characteristically and visibly manifested” (Otté

1851, 2: 98).

However, even after recognizing that the sublime is not necessarily anti-

thetical to the scientific endeavor, Humboldt still maintains his distance from

Darwin’s style of thought. As his remarks about the panorama reveal, Hum-

boldt continues to be more interested in the harmonies of nature and its com-

prehensive laws than he is in the kind of thinking that helped create theories

of evolution and structured itself in terms of sequence rather than pattern. For

Humboldt time and the mutability of the earth remain less of a factor than

they are for Darwin. Whatever the differences, though, the respective narra-

tives’ sublime moments reveal an aesthetic quality, belonging both to Hum-

boldt and Darwin, that frequently gets either forgotten or neglected. Both

were drawn to the sublime and the aesthetic. The two scientists shared a tacit

agreement: that these episodes are major elements in their work and in their

attitude towards nature.

Bibliography

Browne, Janet. 1995. Charles Darwin. Volume 1. New York: Alfred A.

Knopf.

Browne, Janet and Michael Neve, eds. 1989. Voyage of the Beagle. London:

Penguin Books.

Burkhardt, Frederick and Sydney Smith, eds. 1985. The Correspondence of

Charles Darwin. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Engel, Leonard, ed. 1962. The Voyage of the Beagle. New York: Anchor

Books.

Otté, E. C., trans. Cosmos: A sketch of a Physical Description of the Uni-

verse. Alexander von Humboldt. 1851. Volume 2. New York: Harper &

Brothers.

Williams, Helen Maria, trans. Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoc-

tial Regions of the New Continent, during the Years 1799-1804. Alex-

ander de Humboldt and Aime Bonpland; with Maps, Plans, etc. Written

Writing In and Out of Time 443

in French by Alexander de Humboldt. 1818. London: Hurst, Ries, Orme,

and Brown. Reprint. New York: AMS Press Inc., 1966.

445

CHAPTER 36 Scientific Instruments in

‘Cartas Americanas’

Ann de Leon

Most of my astronomical instruments, clocks, barometers, thermometers,

hydrometers, electrometers, eudiometers, magnetometers, compasses… have

arrived with no problem and are in constant use -Alexander von Humboldt,

Cartas Americanas1

As noted by Charles Minguet’s Cartas Americanas, Humboldt’s corre-

spondence was prodigious, encompassing more than 35,000 letters. This feat

is quite impressive if seen in the light of Humboldt’s arduous and vast scien-

tific investigations and travels. In reading these letters we may begin to map

out the different enunciatory roles that Humboldt created for his diverse read-

ership: constructing himself both as knowing subject and skilled scientist

possessing top of the line scientific instruments obtained from Europe. Ironi-

cally after Humboldt’s return from the jungles and forests of the New World

he suffered from rheumatism in his arm making his letter writing skills even

more strenuous. Essentially, his letters reflect his stoic self-fashioning

through his narratives that at times become like small essays, or as places to

preserve his scientific data, praise his patrons, or request funds or scientific

instruments for his enterprise.

In Cartas Americanas, like Amerigo Vespucci before him, Alexander von

Humboldt represents himself as a man of observation and inquiry, a natural

historian and explorer of the Enlightenment period who will be willing to

undergo many hardships and suffering in order to gain the pleasures of

knowledge. Overwhelmed by the abundant nature surrounding him and in the

spirit of the sublime, these observations take over his study of the locals.

Although Humboldt briefly mentions the locals, he gradually becomes more

interested in the effect that such magnificent landscapes and ways of living

1. All quotations from Humboldt are taken from Charles Minguet’s edition of: De Hum-

boldt, Alejandro, 1980.

Cartas Americanas.

Caracas: Biblioteca Ayacucho. Translations of

the quotes are mine.

446 Knowledge and Worldview

will have on the colonists. America represents for him an abundant natural

laboratory. In his letters, Humboldt takes a proud tone, highlighting the hard-

ships he undertakes in the name of science; even if it means that his body

must be subjected to the dangers of animals, disease, and potentially corrupt-

ing foods.2 His “martyred body” becomes, like his scientific instruments a

probe into the natural world. In this paper, I wish to explore how Humboldt

constructs himself as a knowing subject through representations of his marty-

red body. His martyred body appears to become an organic extension of his

scientific instruments and in turn, his scientific instruments become an exten-

sion of the subject. By exploring the categories between self (Humboldt) and

tools (instruments) I will argue that Humboldt at times blurs the lines

between subject and object to the point where both his body and his tools

become integral probes in the pursuit of scientific knowledge.

When reading Cartas Americanas we experience both the joy and ecstasy

produced by Humboldt’s urgent writing to communicate to his readers,

friends, patrons, and fellow scientists the amazing beauty of the dense natural

landscapes he confronts. As Nancy Stepan would later write about the Brazil-

ian landscape, America was also viewed by Humboldt as a magnificent “orgy

of unimaginable forms.” These seductive yet threatening landscapes become

for Humboldt abundant natural laboratories to probe with his scientific

instruments, places were he will subject his body to a variety threats, disease,

and natural catastrophes through his diligent and painstaking scientific work.

As Humboldt notes in a proud tone “my most ardent and desired wish has

been fulfilled” demonstrating the pleasures of gaining knowledge.

In his letters it is clear that Humboldt wants to show us the hardships that

he undertakes in the name of science and the pursuit of knowledge. Hum-

boldt appears to even take ecstatic pride in representations of his martyred

body as he engages new worlds: “surrounded by tigers and ferocious croco-

diles, my body martyred by the formidable mosquito and ant bites, not hav-

ing ingested in three months any food other than water, bananas, fish and

yucca.” Note how the mosquito bites become “formidable,” and how a lack

of a proper European diet becomes “a great but momentary suffering” and

hence does not become a threat to his European identity as posited by other

European contemporaries on the threats of the corruptible American diet such

as de Pauw. On the contrary, for Humboldt, the American landscape and its

food products only pose a temporary threat to his body and identity which he

will easily recuperate once he returns to Europe.

What emerges then, as noted by Janet Whatley, is more than just a Natural

History of America, but an approach that is both: “improvisational and

2. It would be interesting to explore views on food and identity making or unmaking dur-

ing Humboldt’s time. For more on incorporation studies, food and identity see Trudy Eden.

Scientific Instruments in ‘Cartas Americanas’ 447

empirical, allowing expression of astonishment at the splendor nature”

(Whatley 1990, xxvi). While Michel de Certeau has noted in The Writing of

History, with respect to the writing of natural histories, these works encom-

passed a cornucopia of themes:

From the baroque spectacle of the flora and fauna to their edibility; from

primitive festivals to their utopian and moral exemplariness; and finally from

exotic language to its intelligibility, the same dynamic unfolds. It is that of

utility- or, rather, that of production, at least insofar as this voyage which

increases the initial investment is, analogically, a productive labor, ‘a labor

that produces capital’(de Certeau 1988, 224).

Humboldt’s own personal investment though, is of a different nature, it is

more than just viewing the Natural landscape as a potential gold mine or

resource for the Enlightenment period as suggested by Mary Louise Pratt in

Imperial Eyes. Humboldt’s project was one of scientific camaraderie, a per-

sonal and arduous life threatening engagement with being a citizen of the

world and learning about the natural world at spectacularly breathtaking

heights. While Humboldt’s senses and appetites are overwhelmed, Humboldt

manages in his narratives to both maintain his cool composure and remain a

European subject, whose body can at times become permeable to external

influences that could in his travels temporarily affect his identity. As Hum-

boldt notes in one letter, he becomes afraid of “desespañolizarse” (de-hispan-

ize himself), thus noting his permeability to change in both his identity and

nationality.

The importance of scientific instruments to Humboldt’s enterprise cannot

be over emphasized. Essentially his scientific instruments become a neces-

sary extension of his self as a knowing subject and tools to pursue his scien-

tific projects and observations of the natural and physical world. Planning his

trips in Europe, Humboldt was even subjected to dangers when seeking to

acquire more instruments. Humboldt placed his scientific inquiries for the

good of all mankind and the progress of civilization in the face of wars and

other inhumane events noting that his stoic self-fashioning was essential to

his character: “but one must act like a man and not give into pain.”

Although I do not engage with questions of pain sensation3 and the trans-

formation of the senses while Humboldt conducted his scientific experi-

ments, it would be interesting to further pursue this phenomenon of the

transformation of Humboldt’s written and experiencial personae as he pain-

fully and ecstatically engaged with the world. Perhaps a look at Humboldt’s

narrative self-fashioning as a stoic and “manly” individual compared to por-

3. Perhaps it might be relevant to look at the work on pain by Elaine Scarry and Susan

Sontag.

448 Knowledge and Worldview

traits representing him as a handsome young man would be fruitful. The cate-

gories of stoic beauty, narcissism, and pain could be further explored.4

The production of knowledge by Humboldt was enabled by his almost

“extreme-sports-enthusiast”5 attitude towards his work where the use of cali-

brated instruments were not enough, but required the martyrdom of his body

and literally his pain sensors. Humboldt subjected himself physically to

altered states of being which are reflected in his writings. He not only studied

nature, but he felt nature as well, be it subjecting his body to high altitudes

which caused bleeding of his eyes and nose, or being literally shocked by

electric eels.

His was a pilgrimage of knowledge, with the permission of his various

patrons and hosts where he received “royal permission to penetrate all

regions with my instruments.” Proper scientific discoveries and data, and

hence civility and progress were linked to societies with European tools,

proper tools, calibrated tools in the hands of skilled men like Humboldt.

Humboldt demonstrates the fluidity between himself as subject and a deeper

connection to his object of inquiry through his tools, a holistic project

between self (his body), world (cosmos and nature) and the medium between

them scientific instruments and his martyred body. This holistic sense is

made all the more present when he narrates the poetics of his scientific obser-

vations within the context of the sublime. His scientific instruments acquire a

poetic quality as he notes in his “primarily astronomical and chemical obser-

vations (concerning the quality of air, temperature of the water etc.)” “the

nights were sovereign: the moonlight over that pure and sweet sky enabling

me to read over the sextant” “the sea shone every night” and “the birds came

to find us” “How to describe the purity, beauty, and splendor of the sky here

where often I read with a magnifying glass by the light of Venus the vernier

of my small sextant? Here, Venus plays the role of the moon. Having large

luminous halos, 2 degrees in diameter, with the most beautiful colors of the

rainbow…here I observe it at a height that makes me sigh.”

The natural landscape and stargazing are seductive and awe inspiring. The

stars are both useful for astronomical observations but also tinged with the

medieval poetics of astrology in the belief that stars can influence the fate of

one’s destiny or body.6 Humboldt’s work becomes poetic by the light of

Venus, engaging moments that with each new discovery and adventure

become delights for the senses: “What a spectacle!” “What joy” he exclaims

when he travels to the bottom of a volcanic crater, further than any other nat-

4. This wonderful suggestion was proposed by Dr. Mauricio Font at the conference,

“Alexander von Humboldt: From the Americas to the Cosmos.”

5. I would like to credit the term “enthusiast of extreme experience” as suggested by an

audience member during the presentation of my talk.

6. See Cañizares-Esguerra.

Scientific Instruments in ‘Cartas Americanas’ 449

uralist has. Oh, but what a pain as well when he describes the sulfuric vapors

expelled from the crater, dangerous vapors that “bore right through our

clothes and hands.” Pain and pleasure, danger and discovery, and “above us,

the vault of the deep blue sky.”

In his passionate thirst for knowledge, perhaps Humboldt’s greatest crime

was the multiplicity of subjects and themes of study he undertook in his the-

ater of nature. In his correspondences Humboldt struggles to both write a let-

ter and hopes not to simply enumerate all the objects he comes across, or

collects without presenting some scientific authority or data. Letters act as a

presence for the body, but also to report the current state of his scientific

instruments. For example, Humboldt reports to his friends how “my instru-

ments used for anatomy, chemistry and physical studies have not been

altered” and that he has been working during his travels at sea “on the chemi-

cal composition of the air, its transparency, humidity, also on the temperature

of sea water, its density…my Ramsden and Troughton sextants and the chro-

nometer of Louis Berthoud (that excellent instrument that gives me the longi-

tude of Santa Cruz) have enabled me to determine it with great precision” but

as always he complains about questions of urgency and time in his reporting

and the anxiety of loss of data. It becomes clear why he includes many of his

tables and measurements, thus transforming the letter into a type of scientific

publication and introducing in his correspondence a community of readers

such as instrument makers as well as the basic realities of field research: “the

heat causes one to burn ones fingers when one touches their instruments

made of metal exposed to the sun.” As he notes, “one requires a superhuman

patience to make astronomical observations with precision and with love in

such heat, and despite this crushing heat, my activities have not diminished.”

For Humboldt the pursuit for knowledge is one of patience, and diligence.

Humboldt is very adamant about precise science, noting that any minor error

can ruin a navigation route where maps are concerned and hence his role as a

revisionist. At times though Humboldt approaches humility in science, call-

ing himself simply an apprentice of nature “please note that I am simply an

apprentice of astronomy and that I have only just learnt how to use these

instruments for two years; that I have undertaken this voyage at my expense

and that such expedition, made by one person, who far from being rich, but

carried out by his own personal enjoyment and learning, cannot be compared

to those carried out by governments, equipped by royalty, in which whole

groups of sages have been reunited with the objective of investigating all

branches of science.” What is certain though is that he constructs himself as

obsessive in his pursuits, working with such zeal that while watching a solar

eclipse he noted that when wanting to revise his own calculations “I have

burnt my face in such a manner doing this observations, that it has been nec-

450 Knowledge and Worldview

essary for me to stay in bed for two days and take medications. My eyes suf-

fer a lot.”

The urgency of the preservation of his observations, data, and what scien-

tific instruments he uses becomes more obvious when he states how he has to

write many copies of the same letter for fear of the potential loss of knowl-

edge “letters are often lost” and he urges his readers to communicate his find-

ings, thus highlighting the importance of the dissemination of knowledge and

scientific camaraderie. Humboldt takes his science seriously and takes pride

in the accuracy of his methods and calibration of his instruments noting that

“there is nothing more dangerous for the exact sciences than to drown good

observations among a multitude of mediocre individuals.” Humboldt must

also recognize the limits of his research when advocating the necessity in

innovation of instruments for his research as he notes concerning magnetic

declinations: “I have not found one instrument that would enable me to mea-

sure them with an approximation of 40 minutes.” Humboldt exposes propos-

als for future projects and a community of scientific correspondence thus

highlighting his support for a younger future generation of scientific elites. I

would like to end my paper here noting Humboldt’s greater vision of scien-

tific inquiry through an extension of his body, not just through scientific

instruments, but through his advocating the extended body politic of a

younger generation of scientists.

Bibliography

Canizares-Esguerra, Jorge, 2001. How To Write the History of the New

World. Stanford, California: Stanford University Press.

—. 1999. “New World, New Stars: Patriotic Astrology and the Invention of

Spanish and Creole Bodies in Colonial Spanish America, 1600-1650,”

American Historical Review 104: 33-68.

De Certeau, Michel. 1988. The Writing of History, translated by Tom Conley.

New York Columbia University Press.

De Humboldt, Alejandro, 1980. Cartas Americanas. Caracas: Biblioteca

Ayacucho.

De Lery, Jean, 1990. History Of A Voyage To The Land Of Brazil translated

by Janet Whatley. University of California Press.

Eden, Trudy A., 1999. Makes like, makes unlike: food, health, and identity in

the early Chesapeake. Thesis (Ph. D.), Baltimore: Johns Hopkins Univer-

sity.

Pratt, Mary Louise, 1992. Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transcultura-

tion. London; New York : Routledge.

Scarry, Elaine, 1985. The Body in Pain: The Making and Unmaking of the

World. New York and Oxford; Oxford University Press.

Sontag, Susan. 2003. Regarding the Pain of Others. New York:Farrar, Straus

and Giroux.

Stepan, Nancy, 2001. Picturing Tropical Nature. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell Uni-

versity Press.

Scientific Instruments in ‘Cartas Americanas’ 451

Vespucci, Amerigo, (1451-1512) 1986. Cartas de Viaje. Madrid: Alianza

Editor.

453

CHAPTER 37 Trailblazer for Ecology

Dietland Muller-Schwarze

This paper has two aims. First, it highlights Alexander von Humboldt’s con-

cern with complex natural processes, going far beyond his time’s the descrip-

tive science. He was a farsighted forerunner of today’s Ecology and

Environmental Science. Secondly, the “Personal Narrative” is incomplete,

ending with the landing in Colombia. I present some examples from Hum-

boldt’s remaining diaries that cover the years 1801 to 1804 of his “Amerika-

nische Reise”. Margot Faak (1986, 1990) has translated the mostly French

entries into German. They cover the journey through Columbia to Lima; the

sea voyages to Guayaquil and Acapulco; the Mexican explorations; Hum-

boldt’s stay in Cuba; and the final sailing to Philadelphia to see President Jef-

ferson in Washington.

Humboldt’s Ambitions

Before leaving Spain, Humboldt wrote on June 5, 1799 in his cabin on the

corvette Pizarro: “I will collect plants and animals, measure heat, elasticity,

magnetic and electric content of the atmosphere, …determine geographic

longitudes and latitudes, measure mountains - but all of this is not the pur-

pose of my travel. My real, only purpose is to investigate the mutual interac-

tions (“Zusammen- und Ineinander-Weben”) of all forces of Nature, the

influence of inanimate nature on the living animal and plant creation.” After

his travels he wrote:

I was passionately devoted to botany and certain parts of zoology, and I flat-

tered myself that our investigations might add some new species to those

already known, both in the animal and vegetable kingdoms; but preferring the

connection of facts which have been long observed, to the knowledge of insu-

lated facts, although new, the discovery of an unknown genus seemed to me

far less interesting than an observation on the geographical relations of the

454 Knowledge and Worldview

vegetable world, on the migrations of the social plants and the limit of the

height which their different tribes attain on the flanks of the Cordilleres. (PN,

p. X).

Humboldt focused on discovery of new species of animals and plants;

determining elevations, geographical coordinates, magnetism, electric

charges in the air, ocean and river currents; connectedness of abiotic and

biotic factors; notably plant distribution and plant geography; effect of land-

scape, especially vegetation, on people; use and conservation of natural

resources; and well-being of people, based on resources and their living and

working conditions.

Early Preparations in Freiberg (Fig. 37-1)and elsewhere

FIGURE 37-1. Freiberg in Saxony, a mining town where A.v. Humboldt studied at the

Mining Academy and held his first post.

In his 1793 “Florae Fribergensis specimen” Humboldt postulates a new form

of plant geography; he wants to go beyond descriptive taxonomy and nomen-

clature. When Humboldt works as Prussian mining inspector, his detailed

reports from Bavaria, Bohemia and Poland foreshadow his later vast scope of

the “Amerikanische Reise”. Effects of altitude and topography on climate

and vegetation intrigue him in the Swiss and French Alps in 1795 and will for

a lifetime.

Humboldt’s Methods

In our investigations we have considered each phenomenon under different

aspects, and classed our remarks according to the relations they bear to each

Trailblazer for Ecology 455

other. To afford an idea of the method we have followed, I will here add a suc-

cinct enumeration of the materials with which we were furnished for describ-

ing the volcanos [sic] of Antisana and Pichincha (Fig. 37-2), as well as that of

Jorullo: the latter, during the night of the 20th of September, 1795, rose from

the earth one thousand five hundred and seventy-eight French feet above the

surrounding plains of Mexico. The position of these singular mountains in

longitude and latitude was ascertained by astronomical observations. We took

the heights of the different parts by the aid of the barometer, and determined

the dip of the needle and the intensity of the magnetic forces. Our collections

contain the plants which are spread over the flanks of these volcanos, and

specimens of different rocks which, superposed one upon another, constitute

their external coat. We are enabled to indicate, by measures sufficiently exact,

the height above the level of the ocean, at which we found each group of

plants, and each volcanic rock. Our journals furnish us with a series of obser-

vations on the humidity, the temperature, the electricity, and the degree of

transparency of the air on the brinks of the craters of Pichincha and Jorullo;

they also contain topographical plans and geological profiles of these moun-

tains, founded in part on the measure of vertical bases, and on angles of alti-

tude. (PN, I, XIII).

FIGURE 37-2. Top: Cotopaxi, considered by Humboldt the most beautiful of the

Andean peaks. Bottom: Pichincha, as seen today from Quito airport. Humboldt

climbed Pichincha several times and studied its volcanic activity.

Humboldt’s methods were to describe; measure; compare and contrast;

experiment. He tries to see causation of observed facts. For example, he tries

to explain fever-producing “Miasma” by peculiar local soil and rocks.

Finally, in addition to facts and details he espoused a holistic approach, con-

sidering landscapes, describing them in “nature paintings”.

456 Knowledge and Worldview

Compare and Contrast

One of his most global comparisons is: “In the Old World, nations and the

distinctions of their civilization form the principal points in the picture; in the

New World, man and his productions almost disappear amidst the stupendous

display of wild and gigantic nature.”(PN, XXI). Early on in Venezuela, Hum-

boldt compares elevations and plants at the Silla mountain chain near Caracas

to the Alps of Switzerland, mentioning specifically Rhododendron. (PN I,

427).

He compares the Lake of Valencia to the Lake of Geneva (PN, II, 2), and

the Llanos of Venezuela to steppes in North Germany, Hungary, Russia, etc.

(PN II, 85). Humboldt compares the new to the familiar:

The alpine vegetation is very beautiful. Nothing but shrubs of 1.4 to 2.9

meters height, everything similar to myrtle and juniper, a grand character of

the regions I ascended, the Brathys juniperina, decussata...the Lysianthus

grandiflorus, the Segesbekia, the Alsonia theiformis, the Espeletia (the Fraile-

jón), the Castilleja, Lobelia, Wintera granadensis, Weinmannia pinnata, Erio-

caulon, Hippia, Dichondra, Melastomen with yellow and purple blossoms, the

Rotmannia, and numerous other syngenesists on a grassy carpet of cryptog-

ams, of Lichen paschalis...on black humus soil as that of the Swiss Alps. (RM

II, 38).

When climbing Cotopaxi (Fig. 37-2) (RM II, 76ff) he describes, compares

and contrasts the vegetation: At 3,000 meters elevation: Barnadesia, Duranta,

Berberis, Aralia, Vallea, alder, some Melastomae und Calzeolariae (p. 77).

Lower, at 2,500 meters: Crotons, Iraca alata, “Signs of Warmth.” “In 30 min-

utes one descends from the climate of Bogotá to that of Cumaná. Nowhere

else one can observe more on the geography of plants!” (RM II, 77).

Humboldt compares mountains and rivers. On July 25, 1801 he is

impressed by the view of Tolima: “They offer a great vista, these peaks

steeped in the snow of the North, while palms and bananas form the fore-

ground”(RM I, 37). When descending Cotopaxi, Humboldt remarks: “Coto-

paxi, the most beautiful cone in the world”(RM II, 75). He generalizes that

narrows in valleys always follow a wider section: at Gotthard, Maipures, and

here in Guáitara Valley: Water accumulates and forms a lake, the accumu-

lated water masses become strong enough to break the dam. A narrows

(Angostura) is formed, and the drained lake becomes a plain around the river-

bed.” (RM II, 163). Furthermore, he compares wind, temperature, and “salu-

brity” of the 3 rivers Orinoco, Amazon, and Magdalena (PN II, 315).

The party climbs Chimborazo (Fig. 37-3) on June 23, 1802 (RM II, 100).

Comparing the Paramo vegetation (Fig. 37-4) of Chimborazo to that of other

Andean peaks, he finds it wanting: “But unfortunately, the Chimborazo is

also the plant-poorest of all Nevados we visited, unfortunate not only for us

Trailblazer for Ecology 457

who had already seen the alpine plants of the other volcanoes, but also per se

by the low species richness that its green areas offer.” “Nothing but grasses, a

few Chacuri (“Staehelina”), Swertia quadricornis, Saxifrages, Gentian ... a

meager vegetation, not matching the beauty of this colossus” (RM II, 108).

FIGURE 37-3. Chimborazo. Humboldt reached his highest altitude here, developed his

model of altutudinal plant zones, and considered the Paramo vegetation at Chimborazo

impoverished.

FIGURE 37-4. Paramo flowers at Cotopaxi.

He even takes a comparative approach to languages and compares Pareni

and Maypure tongues (near the Orinoco’s Maypure Falls) and speculates

about their relationships, based on shared words and “analogies.” Pareni

might be a mixture of two languages, he suggests. (PN II, 303).

458 Knowledge and Worldview

Experimental Analysis

During the sea voyage, Humboldt experiments on swim bladder and fin phys-

iology of Flying Fish by stimulating nerves that innervate pectoral fins (the

rays spread in response) and calculates the force for flying. (PN. I, 131). In

Venezuela, electric fishes provide an opportunity for self-experiments: Bonp-

land and Humboldt get shocked many times. The “experimental” horses are

driven into the lake with the electric eels: “In less than five minutes two of

our horses were drowned. The eel being five feet long, and pressing itself

against the belly of the horses, makes a discharge along the whole extent of

his electric organ. It attacks at once the heart, the intestines, and the caelic

fold of the abdominal nerves.” (PN II, 113).

The “cow tree” (Palo de vaca), Chrysophyllum cainito, of Venezuela has

potable milk. Humboldt finds it nourishing, senses a “balsamic odor”, and

does chemical tests. But he does not ask what the tree may have the milk for

(PN II, 4).

Humboldt wonders how baby turtles find their pools and experiments on

orientation and homing. His helpers take little turtles in a bag from the river,

place them with their tails to the river: they find back. “I confess, that this

experiment, of which Father Gumilla speaks, does not always succeed

equally well: yet in general it does appear that at great distances from the

shore, and even in an island, these little animals feel with extreme delicacy in

what direction the most humid air prevails.” (PN II, 193). These tortuguillos

emerge at night, because they fear the heat of the sun, the Indians tell Hum-

boldt. “Reflecting on the almost uninterrupted layer of eggs that extends

along the beach, and on the thousands of little turtles that seek the water as

soon as they are hatched, it is difficult to admit that the many turtles which

have made their nests in the same spot, can distinguish their own young, and

lead them, like the crocodiles, to the lakes in the vicinity of the Orinoco. It is

certain, however, that the animal passes the first years of its life in pools

where the water is shallow, and does not return to the bed of the great river

till it is full-grown. How then do the tortuguillas find these pools? Are they

led thither by female turtles, which adopt the young as by chance? (PN II,

193).

Humboldt was the first to witness a “poison-master” preparing curare

from the bark of the liana Chondrodendrum tomentosum and tested the

effects of curare: He placed curare on the crural nerve of frogs found no

change of irritability. But “Galvanic experiments succeeded upon birds, some

minutes after I had killed them with a poisoned arrow.” (PN II, 445).

Humboldt examines coastal mangrove forests as possible sources of

fever-causing miasma. West of the mouth of the Rio Capaya on the north

coast of Venezuela he noted: “This spot is one of the most unhealthy of the

Trailblazer for Ecology 459

whole coast.” To find an explanation for the “extreme insalubrity of the air”

he conducted experiments on decomposition of mangrove wood and roots.

He found that mollusks and insects abound in the mangrove. In Caracas, he

experiments with mangrove branches and roots he puts in water: “The infu-

sion in warm water had a brown color and an astringent taste. It contained a

mixture of extractive matter and tannin.” He further describes how mangrove

grows seaward, and dies in back, extending land while the mangrove belt

does not increase in width. He conducts various decomposition experiments

in sun, and in closed glass vessels. He did not observe the formation of sulfur

compounds. (PN I, 371ff).

Holistic Views

Upon arrival in Colombia, Humboldt investigates geography and environ-

mental relations of plants, an approach he was the first to suggest and pursue.

He complains: “Some botanists have explored the coastal areas and seen

nothing but plants” (RM I,1). Including humans, Humboldt notes: “The

forms of plants determine the physiognomy of nature; and this physiognomy

influences the moral disposition of nations.” (PN II, 257) And “A savage’s

state is primarily modified by the Nature of the climate and soil he inhabits. It

is these modifications alone that distinguish the first inhabitants of Greece

from shepherd Bedouins, and from Canadian Indians.” (FB 54). And “The

influence of food, more or less stimulating the character and energy of pas-

sions, naval history, and wars undertaken for the dispute of produce of the

vegetable kingdom; these link all the Geography of Plants to the political and

moral history of man.” (FB 55).

On esthetics:

Man’s sensitivity to the beauty of Nature also explains the influence vegeta-

tion’s appearance has on the taste and imagination of people. Man would be

advised to examine what the character of vegetation consists of, and the vari-

ety of sensations vegetation produces in the soul of those who contemplate it.

These considerations are all the more important because they touch upon the

means by which the arts of imitation and descriptive poetry act on us. The

simple appearance of Nature, the sight of fields and woods, cause a rejoicing

that differs essentially from the impression a particular study of the structure

of an organized being provides. Here it is the detail that interests us and

excites our curiosity; there, it is the whole, whole masses, that agitate our

imagination. What more differing impressions between the appearance of a

vast prairie bordered by a few trees, and the appearance of a thick and somber

wood mixed of oak and fir trees? What is the moral cause of these sensations?

Are they produced by Nature, by the grandeur of masses, the contour of

forms, or the haven of plants? How can this haven, this view of Nature more

460 Knowledge and Worldview

or less rich, more or less pleasant, influence the mores and, primarily, the sen-

sitivities of peoples? (FB55).

Humboldt’s Results

To what extent did Humboldt succeed in his synthesis? What were the

results? About 60 years before E. Haeckel coined the word ecology, Hum-

boldt examined ecological processes. His examples of ecological conserva-

tion are most relevant for today. At the Venezuelan coast, intense pearl

fishing had depleted the pearl oyster stocks. They were harvested all year,

with no protection. One boat collected 35,000 oysters in two to three weeks.

10,000 shells had no pearls. “At present, Spanish America furnishes no other

pearls for trade than those of the Gulf of Panama, and the mouth of the Rio de

la Hacha”(PN I, 193).

The chicks of the cave-breeding guácharos or oilbirds (Steatornis carip-

ensis) of the goatsucker family are killed for their fat. Humboldt visits the

Cave of Guacharo in the valley of Caripe in the Sierra del Guácharo (PN I,

255ff). “A mine of fat,” he notes. Once per year, in midsummer, the Indians

harvest “bird butter” (“Manteca, or aceite, of the guácharo”). They kill sev-

eral thousand chicks. They render the fat at the entrance to the cave by boil-

ing. The preservation of the guacharo is unplanned: The Indians fear to go

deep into the cavern. With Humboldt, they did not go beyond 472 meters.

Other, narrow caves also exist. Humboldt follows a 28 to 32 feet wide river

into cave. After his visit to the cave, he generalizes on the origins of caves

(PN I, 263). As usual, he measures the temperature of the cave as 18.7

degrees centigrade in September. Outside, the hottest temperature of the year

was19.5 degrees centigrade (PN I,271).

Humboldt described the Indians’ harvest of river turtle eggs for oil on an

island in the Orinoco near the missions of Uruana below the Great Cataracts

of Apure and Maypure. He worried about the lack of prudent management

under the Franciscan monks who succeeded the Jesuits in the Orinoco Mis-

sions: “The Jesuits did not suffer the whole beach to be searched; they left a

part untouched, from the fear from seeing the breed of arrau turtles, if not

destroyed, at least considerably diminished. The whole beach is now dug up

without reserve; and accordingly it seems to be perceived that the gathering is

less productive from year to year.” (PN II,189).

In the Páramo (mountain vegetation), normally spectacled bears feed on

the pineapple-like achupalla (Pourretia sp.). Achupalla that livestock has

moderately eaten tips from, produces best cogollo (fresh growth). Because

heavy rains and later frost destroyed food plants, particularly maize, in Pastos

Province, people had to eat these achupallas. “The people live like bears.

Trailblazer for Ecology 461

They roam through the Páramos and chop off the tops of Pourretia. The heart

of the achupulla resembles palmiche, the young palm leaves.” The achapullas

were decimated, and “the bears retaliate:” “they attack cattle” in an ecologi-

cal chain reaction. (RM I,168).

The shrinking of the Lake of Valencia in Venezuela concerned Humboldt:

The basin presents several other phenomena, and suggests questions, the

solution of which is interesting alike to physical science and to the well-being

of the inhabitants. What are the causes of the diminution of the waters of the

lake? Is this diminution more rapid now than in former ages? Can we presume

that an equilibrium between the water flowing in and the waters lost will be

shortly re-established, or may we apprehend that the lake will entirely disap-

pear? (PN. II, 5).

He saw forests as important for the lake’s level: Cutting down forests

leads to 1) lack of fuel; 2) erosion; 3) lack of water. Finally, reduction of Lake

of Valencia results. (PN, II, 9). And:

Several parts of the vast forests that surround the mountain, had taken

fire…The inhabitants set fire to the forests, to improve the pasturage, and to

destroy shrubs that choke the grass. Enormous conflagrations, too, are caused

by the carelessness of the Indians, who neglect, when they travel, o extinguish

the fires by which they have dressed their food. These accidents contribute to

diminish the number of old trees in the road from Cumana to Cumanacoa; and

the inhabitants observe justly, that, in several parts of their province, the dry-

ness has increased, not only because every year the frequency of earthquakes

causes more crevices in the soil, but also because it is now less thickly

wooded than it was at the time of the conquest (PN I, 210).

Humboldt inspects the Royal Water Drainage at Mexico City more than

once, and with the greatest interest. He finds that the draining of Mexico City

made soil and water more saline, the soil less fertile, and the air drier. Water

plants shallow water and liberate hydrogen sulfide that one can smell in Mex-

ico City. He was very critical of the layout, planning, execution, and the

human cost of the Royal Draining Works. (RM II, 256).

Humboldt even engaged in what we now call Chemical Ecology and con-

sider a rather modern scientific discipline. On chemical diversity of plants he

observes:

We see that specimens of sugar and tannin extracted from plants, not of the

same family, present numerous differences: while the comparative analysis of

sugar, gum, and starch; the discovery of the radical of the prussic acid (the

effects of which are so powerful on the organization), and many other phe-

nomena of vegetable chemistry, clearly prove that substances composed of

identical elements, few in number and proportional in quantity, exhibit the

most heterogeneous properties, on account of that particular mode of combi-

462 Knowledge and Worldview

nation which corpuscular chemistry calls the arrangement of the particles.

(PNI, 214/215).

This discussion started with the medicinal properties of the Cinchona tree.

“Geophagy” in different regions of the world fascinated Humboldt:

Women at Rio Magdalena, who make pottery, regularly ate clay, even though

not pregnant. Blacks in Guinea eat yellowish earth called caouac. Slaves

taken to America continue this habit, even though the soil in the West Indies

is not as good. (PN II, 497). Workmen in the sandstone quarries of the Kiff-

hauser, Germany, “spread a very fine clay upon their bread, instead of butter,

which they call “stein”-butter (stone butter)” (PNII, 502). As for geophagy

counteracting hunger, Humboldt compares different cultures’ coping with

hunger: “We visited the Mission of Uruana on our return from the Rio Negro,

and saw with our own eyes those heaps of earth which the Ottomacs eat, and

which have become the subject of such lively discussion in Europe.” Hum-

boldt’s footnote: On chemicals common to animals and plants: “the chemical

principles that were believed to be peculiar to animals are found in plants; a

common chain links together all organic nature.” He lists wax in pollen, the

varnish of leaves, “and the whitish dust of our plums and grapes, the inhabit-

ants of the Andes of Quindiu made tapers with the thick layer of wax that

covers the trunk of the palm-tree”(PN, II, 50).

This earth is a greasy kind of clay, which, in seasons of scarcity, the natives

use to assuage the cravings of hunger; it having been proved by their experi-

ence as well as by physiological researches, that want of food can be more

easily borne by filling the cavity of the stomach with some substance, even

although it may be in itself very nearly or totally innutritious. The Indian

hunters of North America, for the same purpose, tie boards tightly across the

abdomen; and most savage races are found to have recourse to expedients that

answer the same end. (PN II, 196).

Humboldt notes that not all clays are alike. Earth eaters are selective. At

the Orinoco, near Falls of Maypure, he noted:

During the period of these inundations, which last two or three months, the

Ottomacs swallow a prodigious quantity of earth. We found heaps of earth-

balls in their huts, piled up in pyramids three or four feet high. These balls

were five or six inches in diameter. The earth which the Ottomacs eat, is very

fine and unctuous clay, of a yellowish grey colour; and, when being slightly

baked at the fire, the hardened crust has a tint inclining to red, owing to the

oxide of iron which is mingled with it.... The Ottomacs do not eat every kind

of clay indifferently; they choose the alluvial beds or strata, which contain the

most unctuous earth, and the smoothest to the touch. (PN II, 495).

Finally, an entry in March 1803 deals with landscape odor:

Trailblazer for Ecology 463

In the morning (of the 22) we were 9 miles from the coast and perceived a

pleasant earth odor that excited the attention of our dog Cachi (the pigs are the

animals on board that notice the vicinity of land from the greatest distance;

but what a snout nature has given them! When approaching the narrows of

San Bernadino, where aromatic plants fill the air with their scent, the pigs

become restless and sniff toward the side of the land, even when still 30 to 40

miles distant). This earthy smell completely resembles the pleasant odor one

perceives after a minor thunderstorm rain in spring in Europe… (RM II, 200).

Alexander von Humboldt: From the Americas to the Cosmos

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