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Friedrich Wilhelm Heinrich Alexander von Humboldt (14 September 17696 May 1859) was a German
polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...
,
geographer A geographer is a physical scientist, social scientist or humanist whose area of study is geography, the study of Earth's natural environment and human society, including how society and nature interacts. The Greek prefix "geo" means "earth" a ...
, naturalist,
explorer Exploration refers to the historical practice of discovering remote lands. It is studied by geographers and historians. Two major eras of exploration occurred in human history: one of convergence, and one of divergence. The first, covering most ...
, and proponent of Romantic philosophy and
science Science is a systematic endeavor that Scientific method, builds and organizes knowledge in the form of Testability, testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earli ...
. He was the younger brother of the Prussian minister, philosopher, and
linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of human language. It is called a scientific study because it entails a comprehensive, systematic, objective, and precise analysis of all aspects of language, particularly its nature and structure. Linguis ...
Wilhelm von Humboldt (1767–1835). Humboldt's quantitative work on botanical
geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, an ...
laid the foundation for the field of biogeography. Humboldt's advocacy of long-term systematic geophysical measurement laid the foundation for modern geomagnetic and meteorological monitoring. Between 1799 and 1804, Humboldt travelled extensively in the
Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...
, exploring and describing them for the first time from a modern Western scientific point of view. His description of the journey was written up and published in several volumes over 21 years. Humboldt was one of the first people to propose that the lands bordering the
Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...
were once joined (South America and Africa in particular). Humboldt resurrected the use of the word ''cosmos'' from the ancient Greek and assigned it to his multivolume treatise, '' Kosmos'', in which he sought to unify diverse branches of scientific knowledge and culture. This important work also motivated a holistic perception of the universe as one interacting entity, which introduced concepts of
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
leading to ideas of
environmentalism Environmentalism or environmental rights is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement regarding concerns for environmental protection and improvement of the health of the environment, particularly as the measure for this health seeks ...
. In 1800, and again in 1831, he described scientifically, on the basis of observations generated during his travels, local impacts of development causing human-induced climate change.


Early life and education

Alexander von Humboldt was born in Berlin in
Prussia Prussia, , Old Prussian: ''Prūsa'' or ''Prūsija'' was a German state on the southeast coast of the Baltic Sea. It formed the German Empire under Prussian rule when it united the German states in 1871. It was ''de facto'' dissolved by an ...
on 14 September 1769.Hermann Klencke, Gustav Schlesier, ''Lives of the brothers Humboldt, Alexander and William'' New York (1853), p. 13. He was baptized as a baby in the Lutheran faith, with the Duke of Brunswick serving as godfather. Humboldt's father, Alexander Georg von Humboldt, belonged to a prominent
Pomerania Pomerania ( pl, Pomorze; german: Pommern; Kashubian: ''Pòmòrskô''; sv, Pommern) is a historical region on the southern shore of the Baltic Sea in Central Europe, split between Poland and Germany. The western part of Pomerania belongs to ...
n family. Although not one of the titled gentry, he was a major in the Prussian Army, who had served with the Duke of Brunswick. At age 42, Alexander Georg was rewarded for his services in the
Seven Years' War The Seven Years' War (1756–1763) was a global conflict that involved most of the European Great Powers, and was fought primarily in Europe, the Americas, and Asia-Pacific. Other concurrent conflicts include the French and Indian War (175 ...
with the post of royal
chamberlain Chamberlain may refer to: Profession *Chamberlain (office), the officer in charge of managing the household of a sovereign or other noble figure People *Chamberlain (surname) **Houston Stewart Chamberlain (1855–1927), German-British philosop ...
. He profited from the contract to lease state lotteries and tobacco sales. He first married the daughter of Prussian General Adjutant Schweder. In 1766, Alexander Georg married Maria Elisabeth Colomb, a well-educated woman and widow of Baron Hollwede, with whom she had a son. Alexander Georg and Maria Elisabeth had three children: a daughter, who died young, and then two sons, Wilhelm and Alexander. Her first-born son, Wilhelm and Alexander's half-brother, was something of a ne'er do well, not often mentioned in the family history. Alexander Georg died in 1779, leaving the brothers Humboldt in the care of their emotionally distant mother. She had high ambitions for Alexander and his older brother Wilhelm, hiring excellent tutors, who were Enlightenment thinkers, including Kantian physician Marcus Herz and botanist Carl Ludwig Willdenow, who became one of the most important botanists in Germany. Humboldt's mother expected them to become civil servants of the Prussian state. The money left to Alexander's mother by Baron Holwede became instrumental in funding Alexander's explorations after her death; contributing more than 70% of his private income. Due to his youthful penchant for collecting and labeling plants, shells, and insects, Alexander received the playful title of "the little apothecary". Marked for a political career, Alexander studied finance for six months in 1787 at the University of Frankfurt (Oder), which his mother might have chosen less for its academic excellence than its closeness to their home in Berlin. On 25 April 1789, he matriculated at the
University of Göttingen The University of Göttingen, officially the Georg August University of Göttingen, (german: Georg-August-Universität Göttingen, known informally as Georgia Augusta) is a public research university in the city of Göttingen, Germany. Founded ...
, then known for the lectures of C. G. Heyne and anatomist J. F. Blumenbach. His brother Wilhelm was already a student at Göttingen, but they did not interact much, since their intellectual interests were quite different. His vast and varied interests were by this time fully developed. At the University of Göttingen, Humboldt met a Steven Jan van Geuns, a Dutch student of medicine, with whom he travelled to the
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in the fall of 1789 and met in Mainz
Georg Forster Johann George Adam Forster, also known as Georg Forster (, 27 November 1754 – 10 January 1794), was a German naturalist, ethnologist, travel writer, journalist and revolutionary. At an early age, he accompanied his father, Johann Reinhold ...
, a naturalist who had been with Captain James Cook on his second voyage. Humboldt's scientific excursion resulted in his 1790 treatise ''Mineralogische Beobachtungen über einige Basalte am Rhein'' (Brunswick, 1790) (''Mineralogic Observations on Several Basalts on the River Rhine''). The following year, 1790, Humboldt travelled again to Mainz to embark with Forster on a journey to England, Humboldt's first sea voyage, the Netherlands, and France. In England, he met Sir Joseph Banks, president of the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, who had travelled with Captain Cook; Banks showed Humboldt his huge herbarium, with specimens of the South Sea tropics. The scientific friendship between Banks and Humboldt lasted until Banks's death in 1820, and the two shared botanical specimens for study. Banks also mobilized his scientific contacts in later years to aid Humboldt's work. Humboldt's passion for travel was of long standing. Humboldt's talents were devoted to the purpose of preparing himself as a scientific explorer. With this emphasis, he studied commerce and foreign languages at
Hamburg (male), (female) en, Hamburger(s), Hamburgian(s) , timezone1 = Central (CET) , utc_offset1 = +1 , timezone1_DST = Central (CEST) , utc_offset1_DST = +2 , postal ...
, geology at Freiberg School of Mines in 1791 under A.G. Werner, leader of the Neptunist school of geology; from anatomy at
Jena Jena () is a German city and the second largest city in Thuringia. Together with the nearby cities of Erfurt and Weimar, it forms the central metropolitan area of Thuringia with approximately 500,000 inhabitants, while the city itself has a po ...
under J.C. Loder; and astronomy and the use of scientific instruments under F.X. von Zach and J.G. Köhler. At Freiberg, he met a number of men who were to prove important to him in his later career, including Spaniard Manuel del Rio, who became director of the School of Mines the crown established in Mexico;
Christian Leopold von Buch Christian Leopold von Buch (26 April 1774 – 4 March 1853), usually cited as Leopold von Buch, was a German geologist and paleontologist born in Stolpe an der Oder (now a part of Angermünde, Brandenburg) and is remembered as one of the most im ...
, who became a regional geologist; and, most importantly, , who became Humboldt's tutor and close friend. During this period, his brother Wilhelm married, but Alexander did not attend the nuptials.


Travels and work in Europe

Humboldt graduated from the Freiberg School of Mines in 1792 and was appointed to a Prussian government position in the Department of Mines as an inspector in Bayreuth and the Fichtel mountains. Humboldt was excellent at his job, with production of gold ore in his first year outstripping the previous eight years. During his period as a mine inspector, Humboldt demonstrated his deep concern for the men laboring in the mines. He opened a free school for miners, paid for out of his own pocket, which became an unchartered government training school for labor. He also sought to establish an emergency relief fund for miners, aiding them following accidents. Humboldt's researches into the vegetation of the mines of
Freiberg Freiberg is a university and former mining town in Saxony, Germany. It is a so-called ''Große Kreisstadt'' (large county town) and the administrative centre of Mittelsachsen district. Its historic town centre has been placed under heritage c ...
led to the publication in Latin (1793) of his ''Florae Fribergensis, accedunt Aphorismi ex Doctrina, Physiologiae Chemicae Plantarum'', which was a compendium of his botanical researches. That publication brought him to the attention of
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...
, who had met Humboldt at the family home when Alexander was a boy, but Goethe was now interested in meeting the young scientist to discuss metamorphism of plants. An introduction was arranged by Humboldt's brother, who lived in the university town of Jena, not far from Goethe. Goethe had developed his own extensive theories on comparative anatomy. Working before Darwin, he believed that animals had an internal force, an ''urform'', that gave them a basic shape and then they were further adapted to their environment by an external force. Humboldt urged him to publish his theories. Together, the two discussed and expanded these ideas. Goethe and Humboldt soon became close friends. Humboldt often returned to Jena in the years that followed. Goethe remarked about Humboldt to friends that he had never met anyone so versatile. Humboldt's drive served as an inspiration for Goethe. In 1797, Humboldt returned to Jena for three months. During this time, Goethe moved from his residence in Weimar to reside in Jena. Together, Humboldt and Goethe attended university lectures on anatomy and conducted their own experiments. One experiment involved hooking up a frog leg to various metals. They found no effect until the moisture of Humboldt's breath triggered a reaction that caused the frog leg to leap off the table. Humboldt described this as one of his favorite experiments because it was as if he were "breathing life into" the leg. During this visit, a thunderstorm killed a farmer and his wife. Humboldt obtained their corpses and analyzed them in the anatomy tower of the university. In 1794, Humboldt was admitted to the famous group of intellectuals and cultural leaders of Weimar Classicism. Goethe and Schiller were the key figures at the time. Humboldt contributed (7 June 1795) to Schiller's new periodical, ''Die Horen'', a philosophical allegory entitled ''(The Life Force, or the Rhodian Genius).'' In this short piece, the only literary story Humboldt ever authored, he tried to summarize the often contradictory results of the thousands of Galvanic experiments he had undertaken. In 1792 and 1797, Humboldt was in
Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...
; in 1795 he made a geological and botanical tour through Switzerland and Italy. Although this service to the state was regarded by him as only an apprenticeship to the service of science, he fulfilled its duties with such conspicuous ability that not only did he rise rapidly to the highest post in his department, but he was also entrusted with several important diplomatic missions. Neither brother attended the funeral of their mother on 19 November 1796. Humboldt had not hidden his aversion to his mother, with one correspondent writing of him after her death, "her death... must be particularly welcomed by you". After severing his official connections, he awaited an opportunity to fulfill his long-cherished dream of travel. Humboldt was able to spend more time on writing up his research. He had used his own body for experimentation on muscular irritability, recently discovered by Luigi Galvani and published his results, (Berlin, 1797) (''Experiments on Stimulated Muscle and Nerve Fibres''), enriched in the French translation with notes by Blumenbach.


Spanish American expedition, 1799–1804


Seeking a foreign expedition

With the financial resources to fund his scientific travels, he sought a ship on a major expedition. Meantime, he went to Paris, where his brother Wilhelm was now living. Paris was a great center of scientific learning and his brother and sister-in-law Caroline were well connected in those circles. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville urged Humboldt to accompany him on a major expedition, likely to last five years, but the French revolutionary
Directoire The Directory (also called Directorate, ) was the governing five-member committee in the French First Republic from 2 November 1795 until 9 November 1799, when it was overthrown by Napoleon Bonaparte in the Coup of 18 Brumaire and replaced by ...
placed Nicolas Baudin at the head of it rather than the aging scientific traveler. On the postponement of Captain Baudin's proposed voyage of circumnavigation due to continuing warfare in Europe, which Humboldt had been officially invited to accompany, Humboldt was deeply disappointed. He had already selected scientific instruments for his voyage. He did, however, have a stroke of luck with meeting
Aimé Bonpland Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their ex ...
, the botanist and physician for the voyage. Discouraged, the two left Paris for Marseilles, where they hoped to join
Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...
in Egypt, but North Africans were in revolt against the French invasion in Egypt and French authorities refused permission to travel. Humboldt and Bonpland eventually found their way to
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the Largest cities of the Europ ...
, where their luck changed spectacularly.


Spanish royal authorization, 1799

In Madrid, Humboldt sought authorization to travel to Spain's realms in the Americas; he was aided in obtaining it by the German representative of Saxony at the royal Bourbon court. Baron Forell had an interest in mineralogy and science endeavors and was inclined to help Humboldt. At that time, the Bourbon Reforms sought to reform administration of the realms and revitalize their economies. At the same time, the Spanish Enlightenment was in florescence. For Humboldt "the confluent effect of the Bourbon revolution in government and the Spanish Enlightenment had created ideal conditions for his venture". The Bourbon monarchy had already authorized and funded expeditions, with the Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru to Chile and Peru (1777–88), New Granada (1783–1816), New Spain (Mexico) (1787–1803), and the Malaspina Expedition (1789–94). These were lengthy, state-sponsored enterprises to gather information about plants and animals from the Spanish realms, assess economic possibilities, and provide plants and seeds for the Royal Botanical Garden in Madrid (founded 1755). These expeditions took naturalists and artists, who created visual images as well as careful written observations as well as collecting seeds and plants themselves. Crown officials as early as 1779 issued and systematically distributed ''Instructions concerning the most secure and economic means to transport live plants by land and sea from the most distant countries'', with illustrations, including one for the crates to transport seeds and plants. When Humboldt requested authorization from the crown to travel to Spanish America, most importantly, with his own financing, it was given positive response. Spain under the Habsburg monarchy had guarded its realms against foreigner travelers and intruders. The Bourbon monarch was open to Humboldt's proposal. Spanish Foreign Minister Don Mariano Luis de Urquijo received the formal proposal and Humboldt was presented to the monarch in March 1799. Humboldt was granted access to crown officials and written documentation on Spain's empire. With Humboldt's experience working for the absolutist Prussian monarchy as a government mining official, Humboldt had both the academic training and experience of working well within a bureaucratic structure. Before leaving Madrid in 1799, Humboldt and Bonpland visited the
Natural History Museum A natural history museum or museum of natural history is a scientific institution with natural history collections that include current and historical records of animals, plants, fungi, ecosystems, geology, paleontology, climatology, and more. ...
, which held results of
Martín Sessé y Lacasta Martín Sessé y Lacasta (December 11, 1751 – October 4, 1808) was a Spanish botanist, who relocated to New Spain (now Mexico) during the 18th century to study and classify the flora of the territory. Background Sessé studied medicine in Z ...
and José Mariano Mociño's botanical expedition to New Spain. Humboldt and Bonpland met
Hipólito Ruiz López Hipólito Ruiz López (August 8, 1754 in Belorado, Burgos, Spain – 1816 in Madrid), or Hipólito Ruiz, was a Spanish botanist known for researching the floras of Peru and Chile during an expedition under Carlos III from 1777 to 1788. During th ...
and José Antonio Pavón y Jiménez of the royal expedition to Peru and Chile in person in Madrid and examined their botanical collections.


Venezuela, 1799–1800

Armed with authorization from the King of Spain, Humboldt and Bonpland made haste to sail, taking the ship ''Pizarro'' from A Coruña, on 5 June 1799. The ship stopped six days on the island of Tenerife, where Humboldt climbed the volcano Teide, and then sailed on to the New World, landing at Cumaná,
Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...
, on 16 July. The ship's destination was not originally Cumaná, but an outbreak of typhoid on board meant that the captain changed course from
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
to land in northern South America. Humboldt had not mapped out a specific plan of exploration, so that the change did not upend a fixed itinerary. He later wrote that the diversion to Venezuela made possible his explorations along the Orinoco River to the border of Portuguese Brazil. With the diversion, the ''Pizarro'' encountered two large dugout canoes each carrying 18 Guayaqui Indians. The ''Pizarro''s captain accepted the offer of one of them to serve as pilot. Humboldt hired this Indian, named Carlos del Pino, as a guide. Venezuela from the 16th to the 18th centuries was a relative backwater compared to the seats of the Spanish viceroyalties based in New Spain (Mexico) and Peru, but during the Bourbon reforms, the northern portion of Spanish South America was reorganized administratively, with the 1777 establishment of a captaincy-general based at Caracas. A great deal of information on the new jurisdiction had already been compiled by François de Pons, but was not published until 1806. Rather than describe the administrative center of Caracas, Humboldt started his researches with the valley of Aragua, where export crops of sugar, coffee, cacao, and cotton were cultivated. Cacao plantations were the most profitable, as world demand for chocolate rose. It is here that Humboldt is said to have developed his idea of human-induced climate change. Investigating evidence of a rapid fall in the water level of valley's Lake Valencia, Humboldt credited the desiccation to the clearance of tree cover and to the inability of the exposed soils to retain water. With their clear cutting of trees, the agriculturalists were removing the woodland's "threefold" moderating influence upon temperature: cooling shade, evaporation and radiation. Humboldt visited the mission at
Caripe Caripe is a town in Caripe Municipality in the mountainous north of the state of Monagas in eastern Venezuela. The official name of the town is Caripe del Guácharo 'Caripe of the Oilbird', referring to a colony of nocturnal birds which lives i ...
and explored the Guácharo cavern, where he found the
oilbird The oilbird (''Steatornis caripensis''), locally known as the , is a bird species found in the northern areas of South America including the Caribbean island of Trinidad. It is the only species in the genus ''Steatornis'', the family Steatornith ...
, which he was to make known to science as ''Steatornis caripensis''. He also described the Guanoco asphalt lake as "The spring of the good priest" ("''Quelle des guten Priesters''"). Returning to Cumaná, Humboldt observed, on the night of 11–12 November, a remarkable meteor shower (the
Leonids The Leonids ( ) are a prolific meteor shower associated with the comet Tempel–Tuttle, which are also known for their spectacular meteor storms that occur about every 33 years. The Leonids get their name from the location of their radiant ...
). He proceeded with Bonpland to Caracas where he climbed the Avila mount with the young poet
Andrés Bello Andrés de Jesús María y José Bello López (; November 29, 1781 – October 15, 1865) was a Venezuelan- Chilean humanist, diplomat, poet, legislator, philosopher, educator and philologist, whose political and literary works constitute an ...
, the former tutor of Simón Bolívar, who later became the leader of independence in northern South America. Humboldt met the Venezuelan Bolívar himself in 1804 in Paris and spent time with him in Rome. The documentary record does not support the supposition that Humboldt inspired Bolívar to participate in the struggle for independence, but it does indicate Bolívar's admiration for Humboldt's production of new knowledge on Spanish America. In February 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland left the coast with the purpose of exploring the course of the
Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
and its tributaries. This trip, which lasted four months and covered of wild and largely uninhabited country, had an aim of establishing the existence of the Casiquiare canal (a communication between the water systems of the rivers Orinoco and Amazon). Although, unbeknownst to Humboldt, this existence had been established decades before, his expedition had the important results of determining the exact position of the
bifurcation Bifurcation or bifurcated may refer to: Science and technology * Bifurcation theory, the study of sudden changes in dynamical systems ** Bifurcation, of an incompressible flow, modeled by squeeze mapping the fluid flow * River bifurcation, the ...
, and documenting the life of several native tribes such as the Maipures and their extinct rivals the Atures (several words of the latter tribe were transferred to Humboldt by one parrot). Around 19 March 1800, Humboldt and Bonpland discovered dangerous
electric eel The electric eels are a genus, ''Electrophorus'', of neotropical freshwater fish from South America in the family Gymnotidae. They are known for their ability to stun their prey by generating electricity, delivering shocks at up to 860 volt ...
s, whose shock could kill a man. To catch them, locals suggested they drive wild horses into the river, which brought the eels out from the river mud, and resulted in a violent confrontation of eels and horses, some of which died. Humboldt and Bonpland captured and dissected some eels, which retained their ability to shock; both received potentially dangerous electric shocks during their investigations. The encounter made Humboldt think more deeply about electricity and magnetism, typical of his ability to extrapolate from an observation to more general principles. Humboldt returned to the incident in several of his later writings, including his travelogue ''Personal Narrative'' (1814–29), ''Views of Nature'' (1807), and ''Aspects of Nature'' (1849). Two months later, they explored the territory of the Maipures and that of the then-recently extinct Atures Indians. Humboldt laid to rest the persistent myth of Walter Raleigh's Lake Parime by proposing that the seasonal flooding of the Rupununi savannah had been misidentified as a lake.


Cuba, 1800, 1804

On 24 November 1800, the two friends set sail for Cuba, landing on 19 December, where they met fellow botanist and
plant collector Plant collecting is the acquisition of plant specimens for the purposes of research, cultivation, or as a hobby. Plant specimens may be kept alive, but are more commonly dried and pressed to preserve the quality of the specimen. Plant collecting i ...
John Fraser.Brendel, Frederick
Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany in North America from 1635 to 1840
, ''The American Naturalist'', 13:12 (December 1879), pp. 754–771, ''The University of Chicago Press''; accessed 31 July 2012.
Fraser and his son had been shipwrecked off the Cuban coast, and did not have a license to be in the Spanish Indies. Humboldt, who was already in Cuba, interceded with crown officials in Havana, as well as giving them money and clothing. Fraser obtained permission to remain in Cuba and explore. Humboldt entrusted Fraser with taking two cases of Humboldt and Bonpland's botanical specimens to England when he returned, for eventual conveyance to the German botanist Willdenow in Berlin. Humboldt and Bonpland stayed in Cuba until 5 March 1801, when they left for the mainland of northern South America again, arriving there on 30 March. Humboldt is considered to be the "second discoverer of Cuba" due to the scientific and social research he conducted on this Spanish colony. During an initial three-month stay at
Havana Havana (; Spanish: ''La Habana'' ) is the capital and largest city of Cuba. The heart of the La Habana Province, Havana is the country's main port and commercial center.
, his first tasks were to survey that city properly and the nearby towns of
Guanabacoa Guanabacoa is a colonial township in eastern Havana, Cuba, and one of the 15 municipalities (or boroughs) of the city. It is famous for its historical Santería and is home to the first African Cabildo in Havana. Guanabacoa was briefly the capital ...
,
Regla Regla () is one of the 15 municipalities or boroughs (''municipios'' in Spanish) in the city of Havana, Cuba. It comprises the town of Regla, located at the bottom of Havana Bay in a former aborigine settlement named ''Guaicanamar'', Loma Model ...
, and Bejucal. He befriended Cuban landowner and thinker Francisco de Arango y Parreño; together they visited the area in south Havana, the valleys of Matanzas Province, and the Valley of the Sugar Mills in
Trinidad Trinidad is the larger and more populous of the two major islands of Trinidad and Tobago. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is often referred to as the southernmos ...
. Those three areas were, at the time, the first frontier of sugar production in the island. During those trips, Humboldt collected statistical information on Cuba's population, production, technology and trade, and with Arango, made suggestions for enhancing them. He predicted that the agricultural and commercial potential of Cuba was huge and could be vastly improved with proper leadership in the future. On their way back to Europe from the Americas, Humboldt and Bonpland stopped again in Cuba, leaving from the port of Veracruz and arriving in Cuba on 7 January 1804, staying until 29 April 1804. In Cuba, he collected plant material and made extensive notes. During this time, he socialized with his scientific and landowner friends, conducted mineralogical surveys, and finished his vast collection of the island's flora and fauna that he eventually published as ''Essai politique sur l'îsle de Cuba''."Alexander von Humboldt Chronology", p. lxix.


The Andes, 1801–1803

After their first stay in Cuba of three months, they returned to the mainland at Cartagena de Indias (now in Colombia), a major center of trade in northern South America. Ascending the swollen stream of the
Magdalena River The Magdalena River ( es, Río Magdalena, ; less commonly ) is the main river of Colombia, flowing northward about through the western half of the country. It takes its name from the biblical figure Mary Magdalene. It is navigable through much of ...
to Honda, they arrived in Bogotá on 6 July 1801, where they met the Spanish botanist
José Celestino Mutis José Celestino Bruno Mutis y Bosio (6 April 1732 – 11 September 1808) was a Spanish priest, botanist and mathematician. He was a significant figure in the Spanish American Enlightenment, whom Alexander von Humboldt met with on his expedit ...
, head of the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada, staying there until 8 September 1801. Mutis was generous with his time and gave Humboldt access to the huge pictorial record he had compiled since 1783. Mutis was based in Bogotá, but as with other Spanish expeditions, he had access to local knowledge and a workshop of artists, who created highly accurate and detailed images. This type of careful recording meant that even if specimens were not available to study at a distance, "because the images travelled, the botanists did not have to". Humboldt was astounded at Mutis's accomplishment; when Humboldt published his first volume on botany, he dedicated it to Mutis "as a simply mark of our admiration and acknowledgement". Humboldt had hopes of connecting with the French sailing expedition of Baudin, now finally underway, so Bonpland and Humboldt hurried to Ecuador. They crossed the frozen ridges of the Cordillera Real and reached Quito on 6 January 1802, after a tedious and difficult journey. Their stay in Ecuador was marked by the ascent of Pichincha and their climb of
Chimborazo Chimborazo () is a currently inactive stratovolcano in the Cordillera Occidental range of the Andes. Its last known eruption is believed to have occurred around 550 A.D. Chimborazo's summit is the farthest point on the Earth's surface from t ...
, where Humboldt and his party reached an altitude of . This was a world record at the time (for a westerner—
Incas The Inca Empire (also known as the Incan Empire and the Inka Empire), called ''Tawantinsuyu'' by its subjects, ( Quechua for the "Realm of the Four Parts",  "four parts together" ) was the largest empire in pre-Columbian America. The adm ...
had reached much higher altitudes centuries before), but 1000 feet short of the summit. Humboldt's journey concluded with an expedition to the sources of the Amazon ''en route'' for
Lima Lima ( ; ), originally founded as Ciudad de Los Reyes (City of The Kings) is the capital and the largest city of Peru. It is located in the valleys of the Chillón, Rímac and Lurín Rivers, in the desert zone of the central coastal part of ...
, Peru. At Callao, the main port for Peru, Humboldt observed the transit of Mercury on 9 November and studied the fertilizing properties of guano, rich in nitrogen, the subsequent introduction of which into Europe was due mainly to his writings.


New Spain (Mexico), 1803–1804

Humboldt and Bonpland had not intended to go to New Spain, but when they were unable to join a voyage to the Pacific, they left the Ecuadorian port of Guayaquil and headed for Acapulco on Mexico's west coast. Even before Humboldt and Bonpland started on their way to New Spain's capital on Mexico's central plateau, Humboldt realized the captain of the vessel that brought them to Acapulco had reckoned its location incorrectly. Since Acapulco was the main west-coast port and the terminus of the Asian trade from the Spanish Philippines, having accurate maps of its location was extremely important. Humboldt set up his instruments, surveying the deep-water bay of Acapulco, to determine its longitude. Humboldt and Bonpland landed in Acapulco on 15 February 1803, and from there they went to Taxco, a silver-mining town in modern
Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
. In April 1803, he visited
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...
, Morelos. Impressed by its climate, he nicknamed the city the ''City of Eternal Spring''. Humboldt and Bonpland arrived in Mexico City, having been officially welcomed via a letter from the king's representative in New Spain, Viceroy Don José de Iturrigaray. Humboldt was also given a special passport to travel throughout New Spain and letters of introduction to intendants, the highest officials in New Spain's administrative districts (intendancies). This official aid to Humboldt allowed him to have access to crown records, mines, landed estates, canals, and Mexican antiquities from the prehispanic era. Humboldt read the writings of Bishop-elect of the important diocese of Michoacan Manuel Abad y Queipo, a
classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...
, that were directed to the crown for the improvement of New Spain. They spent the year in the viceroyalty, traveling to different Mexican cities in the central plateau and the northern mining region. The first journey was from Acapulco to Mexico City, through what is now the Mexican state of
Guerrero Guerrero is one of the 32 states that comprise the 32 Federal Entities of Mexico. It is divided in 81 municipalities and its capital city is Chilpancingo and its largest city is Acapulcocopied from article, GuerreroAs of 2020, Guerrero the pop ...
. The route was suitable only for mule train, and all along the way, Humboldt took measurements of elevation. When he left Mexico a year later in 1804, from the east coast port of Veracruz, he took a similar set of measures, which resulted in a chart in the ''Political Essay'', the physical plan of Mexico with the dangers of the road from Acapulco to Mexico City, and from Mexico City to Veracruz. This visual depiction of elevation was part of Humboldt's general insistence that the data he collected be presented in a way more easily understood than statistical charts. A great deal of his success in gaining a more general readership for his works was his understanding that "anything that has to do with extent or quantity can be represented geometrically. Statistical projections harts and graphs which speak to the senses without tiring the intellect have the advantage of bringing attention to a large number of important facts". Humboldt was impressed with Mexico City, which at the time was the largest city in the Americas, and one that could be counted as modern. He declared "no city of the new continent, without even excepting those of the United States, can display such great and solid scientific establishments as the capital of Mexico". He pointed to the Royal College of Mines, the Royal Botanical Garden and the Royal Academy of San Carlos as exemplars of a metropolitan capital in touch with the latest developments on the continent and insisting on its modernity. He also recognized important creole savants in Mexico, including
José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez José Antonio de Alzate y Ramírez (20 November 1737 – 2 February 1799) was a priest in New Spain, scientist, historian, cartographer, and journalist. Life and career He was born in Ozumba in 1737, the child of Felipe de Alzate and María ...
, who died in 1799, just before Humboldt's visit; Miguel Velásquez de León; and Antonio de León y Gama. Humboldt spent time at the Valenciana silver mine in Guanajuato, central New Spain, at the time the most important in the Spanish empire. The bicentennial of his visit in Guanajuato was celebrated with a conference at the
University of Guanajuato The Universidad de Guanajuato (in English, the University of Guanajuato) is a university based in the Mexican state of Guanajuato, made up of about 33,828 students in programs ranging from high school level to the doctorate level. Over 17,046 of ...
, with Mexican academics highlighting various aspects of his impact on the city. Humboldt could have simply examined the geology of the fabulously rich mine, but he took the opportunity to study the entire mining complex as well as analyze mining statistics of its output. His report on silver mining is a major contribution, and considered the strongest and best informed section of his ''Political Essay''. Although Humboldt was himself a trained geologist and mining inspector, he drew on mining experts in Mexico. One was
Fausto Elhuyar Fausto de Elhuyar (11 October 1755 – 6 February 1833) was a Spanish chemist, and the first to isolate tungsten with his brother Juan José Elhuyar in 1783. He was in charge, under a King of Spain commission, of organizing the School of Mines i ...
, then head of the General Mining Court in Mexico City, who, like Humboldt was trained in Freiberg. Another was Andrés Manuel del Río, director of Royal College of Mines, whom Humboldt knew when they were both students in Freiberg. The Bourbon monarchs had established the mining court and the college to elevate mining as a profession, since revenues from silver constituted the crown's largest source of income. Humboldt also consulted other German mining experts, who were already in Mexico. While Humboldt was a welcome foreign scientist and mining expert, the Spanish crown had established fertile ground for Humboldt's investigations into mining. Spanish America's ancient civilizations were a source of interest for Humboldt, who included images of Mexican manuscripts (or codices) and Inca ruins in his richly illustrated ''Vues des cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes de l'Amerique'' (1810–1813), the most experimental of Humboldt's publications, since it does not have "a single ordering principle" but his opinions and contentions based on observation. For Humboldt, a key question was the influence of climate on the development of these civilizations. When he published his ''Vues des cordillères'', he included a color image of the
Aztec calendar stone The Aztec sun stone ( es, Piedra del Sol) is a late post-classic Mexica sculpture housed in the National Anthropology Museum in Mexico City, and is perhaps the most famous work of Mexica sculpture. It measures in diameter and thick, and weig ...
, which had been discovered buried in the main plaza of Mexico City in 1790, along with select drawings of the Dresden Codex and others he sought out later in European collections. His aim was to muster evidence that these pictorial and sculptural images could allow the reconstruction of prehispanic history. He sought out Mexican experts in the interpretation of sources from there, especially Antonio Pichardo, who was the literary executor of Antonio de León y Gama's work. For American-born Spaniards ( creoles) who were seeking sources of pride in Mexico's ancient past, Humboldt's recognition of these ancient works and dissemination in his publications was a boon. He read the work of exiled Jesuit
Francisco Javier Clavijero Francisco Javier Clavijero Echegaray (sometimes ''Francesco Saverio Clavigero'') (September 9, 1731 – April 2, 1787), was a Mexican Jesuit teacher, scholar and historian. After the expulsion of the Jesuits from Spanish provinces (1767), he ...
, which celebrated Mexico's prehispanic civilization, and which Humboldt invoked to counter the pejorative assertions about the new world by Buffon, de Pauw, and Raynal. Humboldt ultimately viewed both the prehispanic realms of Mexico and Peru as despotic and barbaric. However, he also drew attention to indigenous monuments and artifacts as cultural productions that had "both ... historical ''and'' artistic significance". One of his most widely read publications resulting from his travels and investigations in Spanish America was the ''Essai politique sur le royaum de la Nouvelle Espagne'', quickly translated to English as ''Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain'' (1811). This treatise was the result of Humboldt's own investigations as well as the generosity of Spanish colonial officials for statistical data.


The United States, 1804

Leaving from Cuba, Humboldt decided to take an unplanned short visit to the United States. Knowing that the current U.S. president,
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
, was himself a scientist, Humboldt wrote to him saying that he would be in the United States. Jefferson warmly replied, inviting him to visit the
White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in ...
in the nation's new capital. In his letter Humboldt had gained Jefferson's interest by mentioning that he had discovered
mammoth A mammoth is any species of the extinct elephantid genus ''Mammuthus'', one of the many genera that make up the order of trunked mammals called proboscideans. The various species of mammoth were commonly equipped with long, curved tusks an ...
teeth near the Equator. Jefferson had previously written that he believed mammoths had never lived so far south. Humboldt had also hinted at his knowledge of New Spain.Schwarz, Ingo (2001-01-01). "Alexander von Humboldt's Visit to Washington and Philadelphia, His Friendship with Jefferson, and His Fascination with the United States". Northeastern Naturalist 8: 43–56. Arriving in
Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, which was a center of learning in the U.S., Humboldt met with some of the major scientific figures of the era, including chemist and anatomist Caspar Wistar, who pushed for compulsory smallpox vaccination, and botanist Benjamin Smith Barton, as well as physician
Benjamin Rush Benjamin Rush (April 19, 1813) was a Founding Father of the United States who signed the United States Declaration of Independence, and a civic leader in Philadelphia, where he was a physician, politician, social reformer, humanitarian, educa ...
, a signer of the
Declaration of Independence A declaration of independence or declaration of statehood or proclamation of independence is an assertion by a polity in a defined territory that it is independent and constitutes a state. Such places are usually declared from part or all of th ...
, who wished to hear about cinchona bark from a South American tree, which cured fevers. Humboldt's treatise on cinchona was published in English in 1821. After arriving in Washington D.C, Humboldt held numerous intense discussions with Jefferson on both scientific matters and also his year-long stay in New Spain. Jefferson had only recently concluded the Louisiana Purchase, which now placed New Spain on the southwest border of the United States. The Spanish minister in Washington, D.C. had declined to furnish the U.S. government with information about Spanish territories, and access to the territories was strictly controlled. Humboldt was able to supply Jefferson with the latest information on the population, trade agriculture and military of New Spain. This information would later be the basis for his ''Essay on the Political Kingdom of New Spain'' (1810). Jefferson was unsure of where the border of the newly-purchased
Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...
was precisely, and Humboldt wrote him a two-page report on the matter. Jefferson would later refer to Humboldt as "the most scientific man of the age".
Albert Gallatin Abraham Alfonse Albert Gallatin (January 29, 1761 – August 12, 1849) was a Genevan–American politician, diplomat, ethnologist and linguist. Often described as "America's Swiss Founding Father", he was a leading figure in the early years o ...
, Secretary of the Treasury, said of Humboldt "I was delighted and swallowed more information of various kinds in less than two hours than I had for two years past in all I had read or heard." Gallatin, in turn, supplied Humboldt with information he sought on the United States. After six weeks, Humboldt set sail for Europe from the mouth of the Delaware and landed at
Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefect ...
on 3 August 1804.


Travel diaries

Humboldt kept a detailed diary of his sojourn to Spanish America, running some 4,000 pages, which he drew on directly for his multiple publications following the expedition. The leather-bound diaries themselves are now in Germany, having been returned from Russia to East Germany, where they were taken by the Red Army after World War II. Following German reunification, the diaries were returned to a descendant of Humboldt. For a time, there was concern about their being sold, but that was averted. A government-funded project to digitize the Spanish American expedition as well as his later Russian expedition has been undertaken (2014–2017) by the University of Potsdam and the German State Library–Prussian Cultural Heritage Foundation.


Achievements of the Latin American expedition

Humboldt's decades' long endeavor to publish the results of this expedition not only resulted in multiple volumes, but also made his international reputation in scientific circles. Humboldt came to be well-known with the reading public as well, with popular, densely illustrated, condensed versions of his work in multiple languages. Bonpland, his fellow scientist and collaborator on the expedition, collected botanical specimens and preserved them, but unlike Humboldt who had a passion to publish, Bonpland had to be prodded to do the formal descriptions. Many scientific travelers and explorers produced huge visual records, which remained unseen by the general public until the late nineteenth century, in the case of the Malaspina Expedition, and even the late twentieth century, when Mutis's botanical, some 12,000 drawings from New Granada, was published. Humboldt, by contrast, published immediately and continuously, using and ultimately exhausting his personal fortune, to produce both scientific and popular texts. Humboldt's name and fame were made by his travels to Spanish America, particularly his publication of the ''Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain''. His image as the premier European scientist was a later development. For the Bourbon crown, which had authorized the expedition, the returns were not only tremendous in terms of sheer volume of data on their New World realms, but in dispelling the vague and pejorative assessments of the New World by Guillaume-Thomas Raynal,
Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon Georges-Louis Leclerc, Comte de Buffon (; 7 September 1707 – 16 April 1788) was a French naturalist, mathematician, cosmologist, and encyclopédiste. His works influenced the next two generations of naturalists, including two prominent ...
, and William Robertson. The achievements of the Bourbon regime, especially in New Spain, were evident in the precise data Humboldt systematized and published. This memorable expedition may be regarded as having laid the foundation of the sciences of
physical geography Physical geography (also known as physiography) is one of the three main branches of geography. Physical geography is the branch of natural science which deals with the processes and patterns in the natural environment such as the atmosphere, ...
,
plant geography Phytogeography (from Greek φυτόν, ''phytón'' = "plant" and γεωγραφία, ''geographía'' = "geography" meaning also distribution) or botanical geography is the branch of biogeography that is concerned with the geographic distribution o ...
, and
meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
. Key to that was Humboldt's meticulous and systematic measurement of phenomena with the most advanced instruments then available. He closely observed plant and animal species in situ, not just in isolation, noting all elements in relation to one other. He collected specimens of plants and animals, dividing the growing collection so that if a portion was lost, other parts might survive. Humboldt saw the need for an approach to science that could account for the harmony of nature among the diversity of the physical world. For Humboldt, "the unity of nature" meant that it was the interrelation of all physical sciences—such as the conjoining between
biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...
,
meteorology Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did no ...
and
geology Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ea ...
—that determined where specific plants grew. He found these relationships by unraveling myriad, painstakingly collected data, data extensive enough that it became an enduring foundation upon which others could base their work. Humboldt viewed nature holistically, and tried to explain natural phenomena without the appeal to religious dogma. He believed in the central importance of observation, and as a consequence had amassed a vast array of the most sophisticated scientific instruments then available. Each had its own velvet lined box and was the most accurate and portable of its time; nothing quantifiable escaped measurement. According to Humboldt, everything should be measured with the finest and most modern instruments and sophisticated techniques available, for that collected data was the basis of all scientific understanding. This quantitative methodology would become known as Humboldtian science. Humboldt wrote "Nature herself is sublimely eloquent. The stars as they sparkle in firmament fill us with delight and ecstasy, and yet they all move in orbit marked out with mathematical precision." His ''Essay on the Geography of Plants'' (published first in French and then German, both in 1807) was based on the then novel idea of studying the distribution of organic life as affected by varying physical conditions. This was most famously depicted in his published cross-section of Chimborazo, approximately two feet by three feet (54 cm x 84 cm) color pictorial, he called ''Ein Naturgemälde der Anden'' and what is also called the Chimborazo Map. It was a fold-out at the back of the publication. Humboldt first sketched the map when he was in South America, which included written descriptions on either side of the cross-section of Chimborazo. These detailed the information on temperature, altitude, humidity, atmosphere pressure, and the animal and plants (with their scientific names) found at each elevation. Plants from the same genus appear at different elevations. The depiction is on an east-west axis going from the Pacific coast lowlands to the Andean range of which Chimborazo was a part, and the eastern Amazonian basin. Humboldt showed the three zones of coast, mountains, and Amazonia, based on his own observations, but he also drew on existing Spanish sources, particularly Pedro Cieza de León, which he explicitly referred to. The Spanish American scientist Francisco José de Caldas had also measured and observed mountain environments and had earlier come to similar ideas about environmental factors in the distribution of life forms. Humboldt was thus not putting forward something entirely new, but it is argued that his finding is not derivative either. The Chimborazo map displayed complex information in an accessible fashion. The map was the basis for comparison with other major peaks. "The Naturgemälde showed for the first time that nature was a global force with corresponding climate zones across continents." Another assessment of the map is that it "marked the beginning of a new era of environmental science, not only of mountain ecology but also of global-scale biogeophysical patterns and processes." By his delineation (in 1817) of isothermal lines, he at once suggested the idea and devised the means of comparing the climatic conditions of various countries. He first investigated the rate of decrease in mean temperature with the increase in elevation above sea level, and afforded, by his inquiries regarding the origin of tropical storms, the earliest clue to the detection of the more complicated law governing atmospheric disturbances in higher latitudes. This was a major contribution to climatology. His discovery of the decrease in intensity of Earth's magnetic field from the poles to the equator was communicated to the Paris Institute in a memoir read by him on 7 December 1804. Its importance was attested by the speedy emergence of rival claims. His services to geology were based on his attentive study of the
volcano A volcano is a rupture in the Crust (geology), crust of a Planet#Planetary-mass objects, planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and volcanic gas, gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface. On Ear ...
es of the Andes and Mexico, which he observed and sketched, climbed, and measured with a variety of instruments. By climbing Chimborazo, he established an altitude record which became the basis for measurement of other volcanoes in the Andes and the Himalayas. As with other aspects of his investigations, he developed methods to show his synthesized results visually, using the graphic method of geologic-cross sections. He showed that volcanoes fell naturally into linear groups, presumably corresponding with vast subterranean fissures; and by his demonstration of the
igneous Igneous rock (derived from the Latin word ''ignis'' meaning fire), or magmatic rock, is one of the three main rock types, the others being sedimentary and metamorphic. Igneous rock is formed through the cooling and solidification of magma or ...
origin of rocks previously held to be of aqueous formation, he contributed largely to the elimination of erroneous views, such as Neptunism. Humboldt was a significant contributor to cartography, creating maps, particularly of New Spain, that became the template for later mapmakers in Mexico. His careful recording of latitude and longitude led to accurate maps of Mexico, the port of Acapulco, the port of Veracruz, and the Valley of Mexico, and a map showing trade patterns among continents. His maps also included schematic information on geography, converting areas of administrative districts (intendancies) using proportional squares. The U.S. was keen to see his maps and statistics on New Spain, since they had implication for territorial claims following the Louisiana Purchase. Later in life, Humboldt published three volumes (1836–39) examining sources that dealt with the early voyages to the Americas, pursuing his interest in nautical astronomy in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. His research yielded the origin of the name "America", put on a map of the Americas by
Martin Waldseemüller Martin Waldseemüller (c. 1470 – 16 March 1520) was a German cartographer and humanist scholar. Sometimes known by the Latinized form of his name, Hylacomylus, his work was influential among contemporary cartographers. He and his collaborator ...
. Humboldt conducted a census of the indigenous and European inhabitants in New Spain, publishing a schematized drawing of racial types and populations distribution, grouping them by region and social characteristics. He estimated the population to be six million individuals. He estimated Indians to be forty percent of New Spain's population, but their distribution being uneven; the most dense were in the center and south of Mexico, the least dense in the north. He presented these data in chart form, for easier understanding. He also surveyed the non-Indian population, categorized as Whites (Spaniards), ''Negroes'', and castes ('' castas''). American-born Spaniards, so-called ''creoles'' had been painting depictions of mixed-race family groupings in the eighteenth century, showing father of one racial category, mother of another, and the offspring in a third category in hierarchical order, so racial hierarchy was an essential way elites viewed Mexican society. Humboldt reported that American-born Spaniards were legally racial equals of those born in Spain, but the crown policy since the Bourbons took the Spanish throne privileged those born in Iberia. Humboldt observed that "the most miserable European, without education and without intellectual cultivation, thinks himself superior to whites born in the new continent". The truth in this assertion, and the conclusions derived from them, have been often disputed as superficial, or politically motivated, by some authors, considering that between 40% and 60% of high offices in the new world were held by creoles.José Oscar Frigerio, La rebelión criolla de Oruro fue juzgada en Buenos Aires (1781–1801), Ediciones del Boulevard, Córdoba, 2011. The enmity between some creoles and the peninsular-born whites increasingly became an issue in the late period of Spanish rule, with creoles increasingly alienated from the crown. Humboldt's assessment was that royal government abuses and the example of a new model of rule in the United States were eroding the unity of whites in New Spain. Humboldt's writings on race in New Spain were shaped by the memorials of the
classical liberal Classical liberalism is a political tradition and a branch of liberalism that advocates free market and laissez-faire economics; civil liberties under the rule of law with especial emphasis on individual autonomy, limited government, econom ...
, enlightened Bishop-elect of Michoacán, Manuel Abad y Queipo, who personally presented Humboldt with his printed memorials to the Spanish crown critiquing social and economic conditions and his recommendations for eliminating them. One scholar says that his writings contain fantastical descriptions of America, while leaving out its inhabitants, stating that Humboldt, coming from the Romantic school of thought, believed '... nature is perfect till man deforms it with care'. The further assessment is that he largely neglected the human societies amidst nature. Views of indigenous peoples as 'savage' or 'unimportant' leaves them out of the historical picture. Other scholars counter that Humboldt dedicated large parts of his work to describing the conditions of slaves, indigenous peoples, mixed-race
castas () is a term which means "lineage" in Spanish and Portuguese and has historically been used as a racial and social identifier. In the context of the Spanish Empire in the Americas it also refers to a now-discredited 20th-century theoretical f ...
, and society in general. He often showed his disgust for the slavery and inhumane conditions in which indigenous peoples and others were treated and he often criticized Spanish colonial policies. Humboldt was not primarily an artist, but he could draw well, allowing him to record a visual record of particular places and their natural environment. Many of his drawings became the basis for illustrations of his many scientific and general publications. Artists whom Humboldt influenced, such as Johann Moritz Rugendas, followed in his path and painted the same places Humboldt had visited and recorded, such as the basalt formations in Mexico, which was an illustration in his ''Vues des Cordillères''. The editing and publication of the encyclopedic mass of scientific, political and archaeological material that had been collected by him during his absence from Europe was now Humboldt's most urgent desire. After a short trip to Italy with
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (, , ; 6 December 1778 – 9 May 1850) was a French chemist and physicist. He is known mostly for his discovery that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (with Alexander von Humboldt), for two laws ...
for the purpose of investigating the law of
magnetic declination Magnetic declination, or magnetic variation, is the angle on the horizontal plane between magnetic north (the direction the north end of a magnetized compass needle points, corresponding to the direction of the Earth's magnetic field lines) an ...
and a stay of two and a half years in Berlin, in the spring of 1808, he settled in Paris. His purpose for being located there was to secure the scientific cooperation required for bringing his great work through the press. This colossal task, which he at first hoped would occupy but two years, eventually cost him twenty-one, and even then it remained incomplete. File:HumboldtHouseDF.JPG, House where Humboldt and Bonpland lived in
Mexico City Mexico City ( es, link=no, Ciudad de México, ; abbr.: CDMX; Nahuatl: ''Altepetl Mexico'') is the capital city, capital and primate city, largest city of Mexico, and the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North Amer ...
in 1803, located at 80 Rep. de Uruguay in the historic centre, just south of the Zocalo File:StatueAlexHumboldtMexico.JPG, Statue to Humboldt in Alameda Park, Mexico City, erected 1999 on the two hundredth-anniversary of the beginning of his travels to Spanish America File:Humboldt_-_Cuernavaca_I.jpg, Statue of Humboldt in
Cuernavaca Cuernavaca (; nci-IPA, Cuauhnāhuac, kʷawˈnaːwak "near the woods", ) is the capital and largest city of the state of Morelos in Mexico. The city is located around a 90-minute drive south of Mexico City using the Federal Highway 95D. The na ...
,
Mexico Mexico (Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatema ...
File:Prismas Basálticos, Huasca de Ocampo, Hidalgo, México, 2013-10-10, DD 42.JPG, Waterfall over the Basaltic Prisms of Santa María Regla, Huasca de Ocampo, Hidalgo, Mexico, that Humboldt sketched


Scholarly and public recognition

During his lifetime Humboldt became one of the most famous men in Europe. Academies, both native and foreign, were eager to elect him to their membership, the first being The
American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...
in Philadelphia, which he visited at the tail end of his travel through the Americas. He was elected to the
Prussian Academy of Sciences The Royal Prussian Academy of Sciences (german: Königlich-Preußische Akademie der Wissenschaften) was an academy established in Berlin, Germany on 11 July 1700, four years after the Prussian Academy of Arts, or "Arts Academy," to which "Berlin ...
in 1805. Over the years other learned societies in the U.S. elected him a member, including the American Antiquarian Society (Worcester, MA) in 1816; the Linnean Society of London in 1818; the New York Historical Society in 1820; a Foreign Honorary Member of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, a ...
in 1822; the
American Ethnological Society The American Ethnological Society (AES) is the oldest professional anthropological association in the United States. History of the American Ethnological Society Albert Gallatin and John Russell Bartlett founded the American Ethnological Societ ...
(New York) in 1843; and the American Geographical and Statistical Society, (New York) in 1856. He was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences in 1810. The
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, whose president Sir Joseph Banks had aided Humboldt as a young man, now welcomed him as a foreign member. After Mexican independence from Spain in 1821, the Mexican government recognized him with high honors for his services to the nation. In 1827, the first
President of Mexico The president of Mexico ( es, link=no, Presidente de México), officially the president of the United Mexican States ( es, link=no, Presidente de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos), is the head of state and head of government of Mexico. Under the Co ...
, Guadalupe Victoria granted Humboldt Mexican citizenship and in 1859, the President of Mexico,
Benito Juárez Benito Pablo Juárez García (; 21 March 1806 – 18 July 1872) was a Mexican liberal politician and lawyer who served as the 26th president of Mexico from 1858 until his death in office in 1872. As a Zapotec, he was the first indigenous pre ...
, named Humboldt a hero of the nation (''benemérito de la nación''). The gestures were purely honorary; he never returned to the Americas following his expedition. Importantly for Humboldt's long-term financial stability, King Frederick William III of Prussia conferred upon him the honor of the post of royal chamberlain, without at the time exacting the duties. The appointment had a pension of 2,500 thalers, afterwards doubled. This official stipend became his main source of income in later years when he exhausted his fortune on the publications of his research. Financial necessity forced his permanent relocation to Berlin in 1827 from Paris. In Paris he found not only scientific sympathy, but the social stimulus which his vigorous and healthy mind eagerly craved. He was equally in his element as the lion of the salons and as the savant of the Institut de France and the observatory. On 12 May 1827 he settled permanently in Berlin, where his first efforts were directed towards the furtherance of the science of terrestrial magnetism. In 1827, he began giving public lectures in Berlin, which became the basis for his last major publication, ''Kosmos'' (1845–62). For many years, it had been one of his favorite schemes to secure, by means of simultaneous observations at distant points, a thorough investigation of the nature and law of "
magnetic storm A geomagnetic storm, also known as a magnetic storm, is a temporary disturbance of the Earth's magnetosphere caused by a solar wind shock wave and/or cloud of magnetic field that interacts with the Earth's magnetic field. The disturbance that d ...
s" (a term invented by him to designate abnormal disturbances of Earth's magnetism). The meeting at Berlin, on 18 September 1828, of a newly formed scientific association, of which he was elected president, gave him the opportunity of setting on foot an extensive system of research in combination with his diligent personal observations. His appeal to the Russian government, in 1829, led to the establishment of a line of magnetic and meteorological stations across northern Asia. Meanwhile, his letter to the
Duke of Sussex Duke of Sussex is a substantive title, one of several royal dukedoms, that has been created twice in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It is a hereditary title of a specific rank of nobility in the British royal family. It takes its name fr ...
, then (April 1836) president of the Royal Society, secured for the undertaking, the wide basis of the
British dominions The term ''Dominion'' is used to refer to one of several self-governing nations of the British Empire. "Dominion status" was first accorded to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Newfoundland, South Africa, and the Irish Free State at the 19 ...
. The ''Encyclopædia Britannica'', Eleventh Edition, observes, "Thus that scientific conspiracy of nations which is one of the noblest fruits of modern civilization was by his exertions first successfully organized". However, earlier examples of international scientific cooperation exist, notably the 18th-century observations of the
transits of Venus frameless, upright=0.5 A transit of Venus across the Sun takes place when the planet Venus passes directly between the Sun and a superior planet, becoming visible against (and hence obscuring a small portion of) the solar disk. During a tran ...
. In 1869, the 100th year of his birth, Humboldt's fame was so great that cities all over America celebrated his birth with large festivals. In New York City, a bust of his head was unveiled in
Central Park Central Park is an urban park in New York City located between the Upper West and Upper East Sides of Manhattan. It is the fifth-largest park in the city, covering . It is the most visited urban park in the United States, with an estimated ...
.Nichols, Sandra. "Why Was Humboldt Forgotten in the United States?" Geographical Review 96, no. 3 (July 2006): 399–415. Accessed July 4, 2016. Scholars have speculated about the reasons for Humboldt's declining renown among the public. Sandra Nichols has argued that there are three reasons for this. First, a trend towards specialization in scholarship. Humboldt was a generalist who connected many disciplines in his work. Today, academics have become more and more focused on narrow fields of work. Humboldt combined
ecology Ecology () is the study of the relationships between living organisms, including humans, and their physical environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere level. Ecology overl ...
, geography and even social sciences. Second, a change in writing style. Humboldt's works, which were considered essential to a library in 1869, had flowery prose that fell out of fashion. One critic said they had a "laborious picturesqueness". Humboldt himself said that, "If I only knew how to describe adequately how and what I felt, I might, after this long journey of mine, really be able to give happiness to people. The disjointed life I lead makes me hardly certain of my way of writing". Third, a rising anti-German sentiment in the late 1800s and the early 1900s due to heavy German immigration to the United States and later World War 1. On the eve of the 1959 hundredth anniversary of the death of Humboldt, the government of West Germany planned significant celebrations in conjunction with nations that Humboldt visited.


Expedition in Russia, 1829

In 1811, and again in 1818, projects of Asiatic exploration were proposed to Humboldt, first by Czar Nicholas I's Russian government, and afterwards by the Prussian government; but on each occasion, untoward circumstances interposed. It was not until he had begun his sixtieth year that he resumed his early role of traveler in the interests of science. The Russian Foreign Minister, Count
Georg von Cancrin Count Georg Ludwig Cancrin (russian: Егор Францевич Канкрин, tr=Egor Francevič Knkrin; 16 November 1774 – 10 September 1845) was a Russian German aristocrat and as a politician best known for spearheading reforms in the Ru ...
, contacted Humboldt about whether a platinum-based currency was possible in Russia and invited him to visit the Ural Mountains. Humboldt was not encouraging about a platinum-based currency, when
silver Silver is a chemical element with the symbol Ag (from the Latin ', derived from the Proto-Indo-European ''h₂erǵ'': "shiny" or "white") and atomic number 47. A soft, white, lustrous transition metal, it exhibits the highest electrical ...
was the standard as a world currency. But the invitation to visit the Urals was intriguing, especially since Humboldt had long dreamed of going to Asia. He had wanted to travel to
India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
and made considerable efforts to persuade the
British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
to authorize a trip, but those efforts were fruitless. When Russia renewed its earlier invitation to Humboldt, he accepted. The Russians sought to entice Humboldt by engaging his enduring interest in mining sites, for comparative scientific purposes for Humboldt, but for the Russians to gain expert knowledge about their resources. For Humboldt, the Russian monarch's promise to fund the trip was extremely important, since Humboldt's inherited 100,000 thaler fortune was gone and he lived on the Prussian government pension of 2,500–3,000 thalers as the monarch's chamberlain. The Russian government gave an advance of 1200 in Berlin and another 20,000 when he arrived in
Saint Petersburg Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
. Humboldt was eager to travel not just to the Urals, but also across the steppes of Siberia to Russia's border with China. Humboldt wrote Cancrin saying that he intended to learn Russian to read mining journals in the language. As the details of the expedition were worked out, Humboldt said that he would travel to Russia in his own French coach, with a German servant, as well as
Gustav Rose Prof Gustavus ("Gustav") Rose FRSFor HFRSE (18 March 1798 – 15 July 1873) was a German mineralogist who was a native of Berlin. He was President of the German Geological Society from 1863 to 1873. Life He was born in Berlin the son of pharmaco ...
, a professor of chemistry and mineralogy. He also invited Christian Gottfried Ehrenberg to join the expedition, to study water micro-organisms in Lake Baikal and the
Caspian Sea The Caspian Sea is the world's largest inland body of water, often described as the world's largest lake or a full-fledged sea. An endorheic basin, it lies between Europe and Asia; east of the Caucasus, west of the broad steppe of Central Asia ...
. Humboldt himself was keen to continue his studies of magnetism of mountains and mineral deposits. As was usual for his research, he brought scientific instruments to take the most accurate measurements. The Russians organized the local arrangements, including lodging, horses, accompanying crew. Humboldt's title for the expedition was as an official of the Department of Mines. As the expedition neared dangerous areas, he had to travel in a convoy with an escort. Physically Humboldt was in good condition, despite his advancing years, writing to Cancrin "I still walk very lightly on foot, nine to ten hours without resting, despite my age and my white hair". Between May and November 1829 he and the growing expedition traversed the wide expanse of the Russian empire from the Neva to the
Yenisei The Yenisey (russian: Енисе́й, ''Yeniséy''; mn, Горлог мөрөн, ''Gorlog mörön''; Buryat: Горлог мүрэн, ''Gorlog müren''; Tuvan: Улуг-Хем, ''Uluğ-Hem''; Khakas: Ким суғ, ''Kim suğ''; Ket: Ӄук, ...
, accomplishing in twenty-five weeks a distance of . Humboldt and the expedition party travelled by coach on well maintained roads, with rapid progress being made because of changes of horses at way stations. The party had grown, with Johann Seifert, who was a huntsman and collector of animal specimens; a Russian mining official; Count Adolphe Polier, one of Humboldt's friends from Paris; a cook; plus a contingent of Cossacks for security. Three carriages were filled with people, supplies, and scientific instruments. For Humboldt's magnetic readings to be accurate, they carried an iron-free tent. This expedition was unlike his Spanish American travels with Bonpland, with the two alone and sometimes accompanied by local guides. The Russian government was interested in Humboldt's finding prospects for mining and commercial advancement of the realm and made it clear that Humboldt was not to investigate social issues, nor criticize social conditions of Russian serfs. In his publications on Spanish America, he did comment on the conditions of the indigenous populations, and deplored black slavery, but well after he had left those territories. As Humboldt discovered, the government kept tight control of the expedition, even when it was from Moscow, with local government officials greeting the expedition at every stop. The itinerary was planned with
Tobolsk Tobolsk (russian: Тобо́льск) is a town in Tyumen Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Tobol and Irtysh rivers. Founded in 1590, Tobolsk is the second-oldest Russian settlement east of the Ural Mountains in Asian Russia, an ...
the farthest destination, then a return to Saint Petersburg. Humboldt wrote to the Russian Minister Cancrin that he was extending his travel, knowing that the missive would not reach him in time to scuttle the plan. The further east he journeyed into wilder territory, the more Humboldt enjoyed it. They still followed the Siberian Highway and made excellent progress, sometimes a hundred miles (160 km) in a day. Although they were halted at the end of July and warned of an anthrax outbreak, Humboldt decided to continue despite the danger. "At my age, nothing should be postponed". The journey though carried out with all the advantages afforded by the immediate patronage of the Russian government, was too rapid to be profitable scientifically. The correction of the prevalent exaggerated estimate of the height of the Central Asian plateau, and the prediction of the discovery of diamonds in the gold-washings of the Urals, were important aspects of these travels. In the end, the expedition took 8 months, travelled 15,500 km, stopped at 658 post stations, and used 12,244 horses. One writer claims that "Nothing was quite as Humboldt wanted it. The entire expedition was a compromise." The Russian emperor offered Humboldt an invitation to return to Russia, but Humboldt declined, due to his disapproval of Nicholas's restrictions on his freedom of movement during the expedition and his ability to freely report on it. Humboldt published two works on the Russian expedition, first in 1831, based on lectures he gave on the topic. In 1843, he completed the three-volume ''Asie Centrale'', which he dedicated to Czar Nicholas, which he called "an unavoidable step, as the expedition was accomplished at his expense". As of 2016, these works have not been translated to English. His 1829 expedition to Russia when he was an old man is much less known than his five-year travels in Spanish America, which had resulted in many published volumes over the decades since his 1804 return. Nevertheless, it gave Humboldt comparative data for his various later scientific publications.


Publications


''Cosmos''

'' Kosmos'' was Humboldt's multi-volume effort in his later years to write a work bringing together all the research from his long career. The writing took shape in
lecture A lecture (from Latin ''lēctūra'' “reading” ) is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical infor ...
s he delivered before the
University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
in the winter of 1827–28. These lectures would form "the cartoon for the great fresco of the '' smos''". His 1829 expedition to Russia supplied him with data comparative to his Latin American expedition. The first two volumes of the ''Kosmos'' were published between the years 1845 and 1847 and were intended to comprise the entire work, but Humboldt published three more volumes, one of which was posthumous. Humboldt had long aimed to write a comprehensive work about geography and the natural sciences. The work attempted to unify the sciences then known in a Kantian framework. With inspiration from German Romanticism, Humboldt sought to create a compendium of the world's environment. He spent the last decade of his long life—as he called them, his "improbable" years—continuing this work. The third and fourth volumes were published in 1850–58; a fragment of a fifth appeared posthumously in 1862. His reputation had long since been made with his publications on the Latin American expedition. There is not a consensus on the importance of ''Kosmos''. One scholar, who stresses the importance of Humboldt's ''Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain'' as essential reading, dismisses ''Kosmos'' as "little more than an academic curiosity". A different opinion is that ''Kosmos'' was his "most influential book". As with most of Humboldt's works, ''Kosmos'' was also translated into multiple languages in editions of uneven quality. It was very popular in Britain and America. In 1849 a German newspaper commented that in England two of the three different translations were made by women, "while in Germany most of the men do not understand it". The first translation by Augustin Pritchard—published anonymously by Mr. Baillière (volume I in 1845 and volume II in 1848)—suffered from being hurriedly made. In a letter Humboldt said of it: "It will damage my reputation. All the charm of my description is destroyed by an English sounding like Sanskrit." The other two translations were made by Elizabeth Juliana Leeves Sabine under the superintendence of her husband Col. Edward Sabine (4 volumes 1846–1858), and by Elise Otté (5 volumes 1849–1858, the only complete translation of the 4 German volumes). These three translations were also published in the United States. The numbering of the volumes differs between the German and the English editions. Volume 3 of the German edition corresponds to the volumes 3 and 4 of the English translation, as the German volume appeared in 2 parts in 1850 and 1851. Volume 5 of the German edition was not translated until 1981, again by a woman. Otté's translation benefited from a detailed table of contents, and an index for every volume; of the German edition only volumes 4 and 5 had (extremely short) tables of contents, and the index to the whole work only appeared with volume 5 in 1862. Less well known in Germany is the atlas belonging to the German edition of the Cosmos ''"Berghaus' Physikalischer Atlas"'', better known as the pirated version by Traugott Bromme under the title ''"Atlas zu Alexander von Humboldt's Kosmos"'' (Stuttgart 1861). In Britain, Heinrich Berghaus planned to publish together with Alexander Keith Johnston a ''"Physical Atlas"''. But later Johnston published it alone under the title ''"The Physical Atlas of Natural Phenomena"''. In Britain its connection to the ''Cosmos'' seems not have been recognized.


Other publications

Alexander von Humboldt published prolifically throughout his life. Many works were published originally in French or German, then translated to other languages, sometimes with competing translation editions. Humboldt himself did not keep track of all the various editions. He wrote specialized works on particular topics of botany, zoology, astronomy, mineralogy, among others, but he also wrote general works that attracted a wide readership, especially his ''Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804'' His ''Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain'' was widely read in Mexico itself, the United States, as well as in Europe. Many of the original works have been digitally scanned by the Biodiversity Library. There have been new editions of print works, including his ''Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas'' (2014), which includes reproductions of all the color and black and white plates. In the original edition, the publication was in a large format and quite expensive. There is a 2009 translation of his ''Geography of Plants'' and a 2014 English edition of ''Views of Nature''.


Influence on scientists and artists

Humboldt was generous toward his friends and mentored young scientists. He and Bonpland parted ways after their return to Europe, and Humboldt largely took on the task of publishing the results of their Latin American expedition at Humboldt's expense, but he included Bonpland as co-author on the nearly 30 published volumes. Bonpland returned to Latin America, settling in Buenos Aires, Argentina, then moved to the countryside near the border with
Paraguay Paraguay (; ), officially the Republic of Paraguay ( es, República del Paraguay, links=no; gn, Tavakuairetã Paraguái, links=si), is a landlocked country in South America. It is bordered by Argentina to the south and southwest, Brazil to th ...
. The forces of Dr.
José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia y Velasco () (6 January 1766 – 20 September 1840) was a Paraguayan lawyer and politician, and the first dictator (1814–1840) of Paraguay following its 1811 independence from the Spanish Viceroyalty of ...
, the strong man of Paraguay, abducted Bonpland after killing Bonpland's estate workers. Bonpland was accused of "agricultural espionage" and of threatening Paraguay's virtual monopoly on the cultivation of yerba mate. Despite international pressure, including the British government and Simón Bolívar's, along with European scientists including Humboldt, Francia kept Bonpland prisoner until 1831. He was released after nearly 10 years in Paraguay. Humboldt and Bonpland maintained a warm correspondence about science and politics until Bonpland's death in 1858. During Humboldt's time in Paris, he met in 1818 the young and brilliant Peruvian student of the Royal Mining School of Paris, Mariano Eduardo de Rivero y Ustariz. Subsequently, Humboldt acted as a mentor of the career of this promising Peruvian scientist. Another recipient of Humboldt's aid was Louis Agassiz (1807–1873), who was directly aided with needed cash from Humboldt, assistance in securing an academic position, and help with getting his research on zoology published. Agassiz sent him copies of his publications and went on to gain considerable scientific recognition as a professor at Harvard. Agassiz delivered an address to the Boston Society of Natural History in 1869, on the centenary of his patron's birth. When Humboldt was an elderly man, he aided another young scholar,
Gotthold Eisenstein Ferdinand Gotthold Max Eisenstein (16 April 1823 – 11 October 1852) was a German mathematician. He specialized in number theory and analysis, and proved several results that eluded even Gauss. Like Galois and Abel before him, Eisenstein died ...
, a brilliant, young, Jewish mathematician in Berlin, for whom he obtained a small crown pension and whom he nominated for the Academy of Science. Humboldt's popular writings inspired many scientists and naturalists, including
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, George Perkins Marsh, Ernst Haeckel, Ida Laura Pfeiffer as well as brothers Richard and
Robert Schomburgk Sir Robert Hermann Schomburgk (5 June 1804 – 11 March 1865) was a German-born explorer for Great Britain who carried out geographical, ethnological and botanical studies in South America and the West Indies, and also fulfilled diplomatic missio ...
. Humboldt carried on correspondence with many contemporaries and two volumes of letters to
Karl August Varnhagen von Ense Karl August Varnhagen von Ense (21 February 1785 in Düsseldorf – 10 October 1858 in Berlin) was a German biographer, diplomat and soldier. Life and career He was born in Düsseldorf, the younger brother of Rosa Maria Varnhagen, a noted poet, ...
have been published. Charles Darwin made frequent reference to Humboldt's work in his '' Voyage of the Beagle'', where Darwin described his own scientific exploration of the Americas. In one note, he placed Humboldt first on the "list of American travellers".Darwin, C. R. 1839. Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle between the years 1826 and 1836, describing their examination of the southern shores of South America, and the Beagle's circumnavigation of the globe. '' Journal and remarks''. 1832–1836. London: Henry Colburn
p. 110
Darwin's work was influenced by Humboldt's writing style as well. Darwin's sister remarked to him "you had, probably from reading so much of Humboldt, got his phraseology and the kind of flowery French expressions he uses". When Darwin's ''Journal'' was published, he sent a copy to Humboldt, who responded, "You told me in your kind letter that, when you were young, the manner in which I studied and depicted nature in the torrid zones contributed toward exciting in you the ardour and desire to travel in distant lands. Considering the importance of your work, Sir, this may be the greatest success that my humble work could bring." In his autobiography, Darwin recalled, reading "with care and profound interest Humboldt's ''Personal Narrative'' and finding it one of the two most influential books on his work, which stirred in him "a burning zeal to add even the most humble contribution to the noble structure of Natural Science".Barlow, Nora ed. 1958. ''The autobiography of Charles Darwin 1809–1882. With the original omissions restored. Edited and with appendix and notes by his granddaughter Nora Barlow''. London: Collins
pp. 67–68
Humboldt would later reveal to Darwin in the 1840s that he had been deeply interested in Darwin's grandfather's poetry. Erasmus Darwin had published the poem ''The Loves of the Plants'' in the early 1800s. Humboldt praised the poem for combining nature and imagination, a theme that permeated Humboldt's own work. A number of nineteenth-century artists travelled to Latin America, following in the footsteps of Humboldt, painting landscapes and scenes of everyday life. Johann Moritz Rugendas,
Ferdinand Bellermann Ferdinand Konrad Bellermann (14 March 1814, in Erfurt – 11 August 1889, in Berlin) was a German painter and naturalist, who specialized in scenes of Venezuela.Hernández Caballero, Serafín (Editor). (1998): ''Gran Enciclopedia de Venezuela''. ...
, and Eduard Hildebrandt were three important European painters. Frederic Edwin Church was the most famous landscape painter in the U.S. in the nineteenth century. His paintings of Andean volcanoes that Humboldt climbed helped make Church's reputation. His 5 foot by 10 foot painting entitled ''
The Heart of the Andes ''The Heart of the Andes'' is a large oil-on-canvas landscape painting by the American artist Frederic Edwin Church (1826–1900). At more than five feet (1.7 metres) high and almost ten feet (3 metres) wide, it depicts an idealized landscape in ...
'' "caused a sensation" when it was completed. Church had hoped to ship the painting to Berlin to show the painting to Humboldt, but Humboldt died a few days after Church's letter was written. Church painted
Cotopaxi Cotopaxi () is an active stratovolcano in the Andes Mountains, located in Latacunga city of Cotopaxi Province, about south of Quito, and northeast of the city of Latacunga, Ecuador. It is the second highest summit in Ecuador, reaching a h ...
three times, twice in 1855 and then in 1859 in eruption. George Catlin, most famous for his portraits of North American Indians and paintings of life among various North American tribes, also travelled to South America, producing a number of paintings. He wrote to Humboldt in 1855, sending him his proposal for South American travels. Humboldt replied, thanking him and sending a memorandum helping guide his travels. Ida Laura Pfeiffer, one of the first female travelers who completed two trips around the world from 1846 to 1855, followed in Humboldt's footsteps. The two explorers met in Berlin in 1851 before Pfeiffer's second tour and again in 1855 when she returned to Europe. Humboldt provided Pfeiffer with an open letter of introduction in which he bade anyone who knew of his name to assist Madame Pfeiffer for her "inextinguishable energy of character which she has everywhere shown, to wheresoever's she has been called or better put, driven by her unconquerable passion to study nature and man."


Gallery

File:Ferdinand Bellermann 000.JPG, Ferdinand Bellermann, ''Rooster Salesman'' File:Ferdinand Bellermann 004.JPG, Ferdinand Bellermann, ''
Colonia Tovar Colonia Tovar ( en, Tovar Colony) is a town of Venezuela, capital of the municipality Tovar in Aragua state. It is located about west of Caracas. It was founded on April 8, 1843, by a group of 390 immigrants from the then independent state of t ...
'' File:Ferdinand Bellermann 003.JPG, Ferdinand Bellermann, ''Sugar Plantation near Puerto Cabello'' File:Ferdinand Bellermann 001.JPG, Ferdinand Bellermann. ''Llaneros'' (1843). Venezuela. File:Eduard_Hildebrandt_-_Paisagem_com_índios.JPG, Eduard Hildebrandt, ''Passage with Indians'' (Brazil) File:Frederic Edwin Church - Cotopaxi - Google Art Project.jpg, Frederic Edwin Church, ''Cotopaxi'', (1855) File:Frederic Edwin Church - Cotopaxi - Google Art Project (549119).jpg, Frederic Edwin Church, ''Cotopaxi'', 1855 File:Cotopaxi church.jpg, Frederic Edwin Church, ''Cotopaxi'' (1862) (in eruption)


Other aspects of Humboldt's life and career


Humboldt and the Prussian monarchy

In the Napoleonic wars, Prussia had capitulated to France, signing the
Treaty of Tilsit The Treaties of Tilsit were two agreements signed by French Emperor Napoleon in the town of Tilsit in July 1807 in the aftermath of his victory at Friedland. The first was signed on 7 July, between Napoleon and Russian Emperor Alexander, when ...
. The Prussian royal family returned to Berlin, but sought better terms of the treaty and
Friedrich Wilhelm III Frederick William III (german: Friedrich Wilhelm III.; 3 August 1770 – 7 June 1840) was King of Prussia from 16 November 1797 until his death in 1840. He was concurrently Elector of Brandenburg in the Holy Roman Empire until 6 August 1806, w ...
commissioned his younger brother Prince Wilhelm with this. Friedrich Wilhelm III asked Alexander to be part of the mission, charged with introducing the prince to Paris society. This turn of events for Humboldt could not have been better, since he desired to live in Paris rather than Berlin. In 1814 Humboldt accompanied the allied sovereigns to London. Three years later he was summoned by the king of Prussia to attend him at the congress of Aachen. Again in the autumn of 1822 he accompanied the same monarch to the
Congress of Verona The Congress of Verona met at Verona on 20 October 1822 as part of the series of international conferences or congresses that opened with the Congress of Vienna in 1814–15, which had instituted the Concert of Europe at the close of the Napol ...
, proceeded thence with the royal party to Rome and Naples and returned to Paris in the spring of 1823. Humboldt had long regarded Paris as his true home. Thus, when at last he received from his sovereign a summons to join his court at Berlin, he obeyed reluctantly. Between 1830 and 1848 Humboldt was frequently employed in diplomatic missions to the court of King Louis Philippe of France, with whom he always maintained the most cordial personal relations. Charles X of France had been overthrown, with Louis-Philippe of the
house of Orléans The 4th House of Orléans (french: Maison d'Orléans), sometimes called the House of Bourbon-Orléans (french: link=no, Maison de Bourbon-Orléans) to distinguish it, is the fourth holder of a surname previously used by several branches of the Ro ...
becoming king. Humboldt knew the family, and he was sent by the Prussian monarch to Paris to report on events to his monarch. He spent three years in France, from 1830 to 1833. His friends François Arago and François Guizot, were appointed to posts in Louis-Philippe's government. Humboldt's brother,
Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...
, died on 8 April 1835. Alexander lamented that he had lost half of himself with the death of his brother. Upon the accession of the crown prince Frederick William IV in June 1840, Humboldt's favor at court increased. Indeed, the new king's craving for Humboldt's company became at times so importunate as to leave him only a few waking hours to work on his writing.


Representation of indigenous population

Humboldt's publications such as ''Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent during the years 1799–1804'' originate from a time when colonialism was prevalent. Within recent academic publications, there are arguments for and against Humboldt's own imperial bias. Within the book ''Imperial Eyes'', Pratt argues for an implicit imperial bias within Humboldt's writing. While Humboldt financed his expedition to the Spanish colonies independently, the Spanish monarchy allowed him to travel to South America. Due to unrest within the Spanish colonies in South America, the Spanish crown implemented liberal reforms which led to greater support of the Spanish monarchy within the lower class. However, Pratt points out that the reforms created opposition towards the Spanish rule within the upper class as the declining control of the Spanish monarchy would result in the white South American elite losing their privileges. When Humboldt wrote about the natural world within South America, he portrayed it as neutral and free of people: If the indigenous population was mentioned within Humboldt's writing, Pratt argues, they were only represented when they were beneficial for Europeans. Others argue that Humboldt was a German Columbus, as he described a virginal country that could be used for commerce by Europeans. Other scholars counter Pratt's argumentation and refer to the abolitionist and anti-colonialist standpoint that Humboldt represents within his writing. An example is Humboldt's descriptions of the South American colonies in which he critiqued Spanish colonial rule. His close relationship with Enlightenment values such as liberty and freedom led to his support of democracy and his subsequent support of the independence of South America. In order to improve the material and political situation of the indigenous population, Humboldt included propositions within his writing that he also presented to the Spanish monarchy. When witnessing a slave market, Humboldt was shocked by the treatment of black people which led him to become opposed to slavery and support the abolitionist movement throughout his life. Within his descriptions in ''Personal Narratives'', Humboldt also included the answers that were given to him by indigenous people. Additionally, Lubrich argues that despite the colonial and orientalist notions of his writing, Humboldt did not recreate these stereotypes, but deconstructed them.


Religion

Because Humboldt did not mention God in his work ''Cosmos'', and sometimes spoke unfavourably of religious attitudes, it was occasionally speculated that he was a materialist philosopher, or perhaps an atheist. However, unlike irreligious figures such as Robert G. Ingersoll, who went so far as to use Humboldtian science to campaign against religion, Humboldt himself denied imputations of atheism. In a letter to Varnhagen von Ense he emphasized that he believed the world had indeed been created, writing of ''Cosmos'': "...'creation' and the 'created world' are never lost sight of in the book. And did I not, only eight months ago, in the French translation, say, in the plainest terms: 'It is this necessity of things, this occult but permanent connection, this periodical return in the progress, development of formation, phenomena, and events which constitute 'Nature' submissive to a controlling power?'" It has been argued that "although Humboldt emphasizes the basis of morality in the nature of man, he does acknowledge that a belief in God is linked directly to acts of virtue" and therefore "the dignity of man lies at the centre of Humboldt's religious thought". Humboldt also believed firmly in an afterlife. A letter he wrote to his friend Charlotte Hildebrand Diede states: "God constantly appoints the course of nature and of circumstances; so that, including his existence in an eternal future, the happiness of the individual does not perish, but on the contrary grows and increases." Humboldt remained distant of organized religion, typical of a Protestant in Germany relating to the Catholic Church; Humboldt held deep respect for the ideal side of religious belief and church life within human communities. He differentiated between "negative" religions, and those "all positive religions
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
consist of three distinct parts—a code of morals which is nearly the same in all of them, and generally very pure; a geological chimera, and a myth or a little historical novel". In ''Cosmos'', he wrote about how rich geological descriptions were found in different religious traditions, and stated: "Christianity gradually diffused itself, and, wherever it was adopted as the religion of the state, it not only exercised a beneficial condition on the lower classes by inculcating the social freedom of mankind, but also expanded the views of men in their communion with Nature...this tendency to glorify the Deity in his works gave rise to a taste for natural observation." Humboldt showed
religious tolerance Religious toleration may signify "no more than forbearance and the permission given by the adherents of a dominant religion for other religions to exist, even though the latter are looked on with disapproval as inferior, mistaken, or harmful". ...
towards Judaism, and he criticized the political ''Jews Bill'', which was an initiative intended to establish legal discrimination against Jews. He called this an "abominable" law, since he hoped to see Jews being treated equally in society.


Personal life

Much of Humboldt's private life remains a mystery because he destroyed his private letters. While a gregarious personality, he may have harbored a sense of social alienation, which drove his passion for escape through travel. Humboldt never married: while he was friendly with a number of women, including Henriette, the wife of his mentor Marcus Herz, his sister-in-law Caroline von Humboldt stated "nothing will ever have a great influence on Alexander that doesn't come through men". He had many strong male friendships, and at times had romances with men. As a student he became infatuated with Wilhelm Gabriel Wegener, a theology student, penning a succession of letters expressing his "fervent love". At 25 he met Reinhardt von Haeften (1772–1803), a 21-year-old lieutenant, with whom he lived and travelled for two years, and to whom he wrote in 1794: "I only live through you, my good precious Reinhardt". When von Haeften became engaged, Humboldt begged to remain living with him and his wife: "Even if you must refuse me, treat me coldly with disdain, I should still want to be with you... the love I have for you is not just friendship or brotherly love, it is veneration". A traveling companion in the Americas for five years was
Aimé Bonpland Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (; 22 August 1773 – 11 May 1858) was a French explorer and botanist who traveled with Alexander von Humboldt in Latin America from 1799 to 1804. He co-authored volumes of the scientific results of their ex ...
, and in Quito in 1802 he met the Ecuadorian aristocrat Don Carlos Montúfar, who travelled with Humboldt to Europe and lived with him. In France, Humboldt travelled and lived with the physicist and balloonist
Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac (, , ; 6 December 1778 – 9 May 1850) was a French chemist and physicist. He is known mostly for his discovery that water is made of two parts hydrogen and one part oxygen (with Alexander von Humboldt), for two laws ...
. Later he had a deep friendship with the married French astronomer François Arago, whom he met daily for 15 years. Humboldt once wrote "I don't know sensual needs". However, a pious travelling companion, Francisco José de Caldas, accused him of frequenting houses in Quito where "impure love reigned", of making friends with "obscene dissolute youths", of giving vent to "shameful passions of his heart", and dropping him to travel with "Bonpland and his Adonis" ontúfar Humboldt inherited a significant fortune, but the expense of his travels, and most especially of publishing (thirty volumes in all), had by 1834 made him totally reliant on the pension of King Frederick William III. Although he preferred living in Paris, by 1836 the King had insisted he return to Germany. He lived with the Court at
Sanssouci Sanssouci () is a historical building in Potsdam, near Berlin. Built by Prussian King Frederick the Great as his summer palace, it is often counted among the German rivals of Versailles. While Sanssouci is in the more intimate Rococo style and ...
, and latterly in Berlin, with his valet Seifert, who had accompanied him to Russia in 1829. Four years before his death, Humboldt executed a deed of gift transferring his entire estate to Seifert, who had by then married and set up a household near Humboldt's apartment. Humboldt had become godfather to his daughter. The scale of the bequest has always drawn speculation, especially as Seifert was some thirty years younger, and introducing lower class partners into households under the guise of servants was then a common practice. In 1908, the sexual researcher
Paul Näcke Paul Adolf Näcke (born 23 January 1851 St. Petersburg, Russian Empire – died 18 August 1913 Colditz) was a German psychiatrist and criminologist. Näcke is known for his writings on homosexuality, and coining the term narcissism in 1899 to des ...
gathered reminiscences from homosexuals including Humboldt's friend the botanist Carl Bolle, then nearly 90 years old: some of the material was incorporated by
Magnus Hirschfeld Magnus Hirschfeld (14 May 1868 – 14 May 1935) was a German physician and sexologist. Hirschfeld was educated in philosophy, philology and medicine. An outspoken advocate for sexual minorities, Hirschfeld founded the Scientific-Humanitarian Com ...
into his 1914 study ''Homosexuality in Men and Women''. However, speculations about Humboldt's private life and possible
homosexuality Homosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction, or sexual behavior between members of the same sex or gender. As a sexual orientation, homosexuality is "an enduring pattern of emotional, romantic, and/or sexual attractions" to pe ...
continue to remain a fractious issue amongst scholars, particularly as earlier biographers had portrayed him as "a largely asexual, Christ-like Humboldt figure...suitable as a national idol".


Illness and death

On 24 February 1857, Humboldt suffered a minor stroke, which passed without perceptible symptoms. It was not until the winter of 1858–1859 that his strength began to decline; on 6 May 1859, he died peacefully in Berlin, aged 89. His last words were reported to be "How glorious these sunbeams are! They seem to call Earth to the Heavens!" His remains were conveyed in state through the streets of Berlin, in a hearse drawn by six horses. Royal chamberlains led the cortège, each charged with carrying a pillow with Humboldt's medals and other decorations of honor. Humboldt's extended family, descendants of his brother Wilhelm, walked in the procession. Humboldt's coffin was received by the prince-regent at the door of the cathedral. He was interred at the family resting-place at Tegel, alongside his brother Wilhelm and sister-in-law Caroline.


Honours and namesakes

The honours which had been showered on Humboldt during life continued after his death. More species are named after Humboldt than after any other human being. The first centenary of Humboldt's birth was celebrated on 14 September 1869, with great enthusiasm in both the New and Old Worlds. Numerous monuments were constructed in his honour, such as Humboldt Park in Chicago, planned that year and constructed shortly after the Chicago fire. Newly explored regions and species named after Humboldt, as discussed below, also stand as a measure of his wide fame and popularity. "Scarcely was there a European order which Humboldt had not the right to wear", and "more than a hundred and fifty societies to which he had been elected". These included "the most celebrated Academies of the leading nations of Europe and America, and not merely those of a purely scientific character, but any which had for their object the spread of education and the advancement of civilisation." Additionally, he was at least an honorary member of academies and learned societies throughout Europe and America and "was invested with the degree of Doctor in three faculties".


Honours

* 1829: Actual Privy Counsellor, with the title of Excellency by King Frederick William III of Prussia * 1842: Chancellor of the Order of Merit, an administrative position empowered to appoint, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia * 1842: Pour le Mérite, Recipient (civil division) * 1844:
Order of the Red Eagle The Order of the Red Eagle (german: Roter Adlerorden) was an order of chivalry of the Kingdom of Prussia. It was awarded to both military personnel and civilians, to recognize valor in combat, excellence in military leadership, long and faithful se ...
, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia * 1847: Order of the Black Eagle, by King Frederick William IV of Prussia, the highest honour that was in the royal power to confer. * 1850: Knight Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus * 1852: Copley Medal "For his eminent services in terrestrial physics" * 1853: Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art by King
Maximilian II of Bavaria Maximilian II (28 November 1811 – 10 March 1864) reigned as King of Bavaria between 1848 and 1864. Unlike his father, King Ludwig I, "King Max" was very popular and took a greater interest in the business of Government than in personal extr ...
"as the man who honours the order", "the hero of science in Germany". * 1863: Knight Grand Cross of the
Order of Guadalupe There were three Imperial Orders of the Mexican Empire, which were Orders of chivalry created to reward Heads of state and prominent people during the two periods of the Mexican Empire—the ' ( es, Orden Imperial de Guadalupe), the ''Imperial Orde ...


Species named after Humboldt

Humboldt described many geographical features and species that were hitherto unknown to Europeans. Species named after him include: * ''Spheniscus humboldti'' –
Humboldt penguin The Humboldt penguin (''Spheniscus humboldti'') is a medium-sized penguin. It resides in South America, its range mainly contains most of coastal Peru. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Magellanic penguin and the Galápagos pen ...
* ''Dosidicus gigas'' –
Humboldt squid The Humboldt squid (''Dosidicus gigas''), also known as jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid (EN), and Pota in Peru or Jibia in Chile (ES) is a large, predatory squid living in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus ''D ...
* '' Lilium humboldtii'' – Humboldt's lily * '' Phragmipedium humboldtii'' – an orchid * '' Quercus humboldtii'' – South American (Andean) oak * ''Conepatus humboldtii'' –
Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk Humboldt's hog-nosed skunk (''Conepatus humboldtii''), also known as the Patagonian hog-nosed skunk, is a type of hog-nosed skunk indigenous to the open grassy areas in the Patagonian regions of South Argentina and Chile. It belongs to the orde ...
* '' Annona humboldtii'' – Neotropical fruit tree or shrub * '' Utricularia humboldtii'' – a bladderwort * '' Geranium humboldtii'' – a cranesbill * '' Salix humboldtiana'' – a South-American willow * '' Inia geoffrensis humboldtiana'' –
Amazon river dolphin The Amazon river dolphin (''Inia geoffrensis''), also known as the boto, bufeo or pink river dolphin, is a species of toothed whale classified in the family Iniidae. Three subspecies are currently recognized: ''I. g. geoffrensis'' (Amazon river ...
subspecies of
Orinoco River The Orinoco () is one of the longest rivers in South America at . Its drainage basin, sometimes known as the Orinoquia, covers , with 76.3 percent of it in Venezuela and the remainder in Colombia. It is the fourth largest river in the wor ...
basin * '' Rhinocoryne humboldti'' – marine snail * '' Bathybembix humboldti'' – marine snail * '' Rhinella humboldti'' – Rivero's toad * '' Pteroglossus humboldti'' – Humboldt's Araçari * ''
Hylocharis humboldtii Humboldt's sapphire or Humboldt's hummingbird (''Chrysuronia humboldtii'') is a species of hummingbird in the "emeralds", tribe Trochilini of subfamily Trochilinae. It is found in Colombia, Ecuador, and Panama. Taxonomy and systematics Humbol ...
'' – Humboldt's hummingbird * '' Casignethus humboldti'' – beetle * '' Elzunia humboldt'' – butterfly * †'' Lenisambulatrix humboldti'' – Cambrian
Lobopodia The lobopodians, members of the informal group Lobopodia (from the Greek, meaning "blunt feet"), or the formally erected phylum Lobopoda Cavalier-Smith (1998), are panarthropods with stubby legs called lobopods, a term which may also be used as ...
File:Spheniscus humboldti 20070116.jpg,
Humboldt penguin The Humboldt penguin (''Spheniscus humboldti'') is a medium-sized penguin. It resides in South America, its range mainly contains most of coastal Peru. Its nearest relatives are the African penguin, the Magellanic penguin and the Galápagos pen ...
, native to Chile and Peru File:Dosidicus gigas.jpg,
Humboldt squid The Humboldt squid (''Dosidicus gigas''), also known as jumbo squid or jumbo flying squid (EN), and Pota in Peru or Jibia in Chile (ES) is a large, predatory squid living in the eastern Pacific Ocean. It is the only known species of the genus ''D ...
found in the Humboldt Current File:Quercus humboldtii 1.JPG, Quercus humboldtii, an Andean oak


Geographical features named after Humboldt

Features named after him include: * Humboldt Bay – Bay in Northern California, United States * Humboldt Current – off the west coast of South America * Humboldt Glacier – in North West Greenland * Humboldt River and Humboldt Lake – Nevada, United States *
Humboldt Peak (Colorado) Humboldt Peak is a high mountain summit of the Crestones in the Sangre de Cristo Range of the Rocky Mountains of North America. The fourteener is located in the Sangre de Cristo Wilderness of San Isabel National Forest, south-southwest ( beari ...
4,287 m mountain in Custer County, Colorado, United States * Pico Humboldt4,940 m mountain in Mérida, Venezuela * Humboldt Sink – Dry lake bed in Nevada, United States *
East East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the fac ...
and West Humboldt Range in Nevada, United States *
Sima Humboldt Sima Humboldt (Sima Mayor) is an enormous sinkhole located on the summit of the plateau of Sarisariñama tepui in Bolívar State, Venezuela. It is unusual for several reasons, including its enormous size and depth, its location on the top of th ...
– sinkhole in Venezuela * "Monumento Nacional Alejandro de Humboldt" at
Caripe Caripe is a town in Caripe Municipality in the mountainous north of the state of Monagas in eastern Venezuela. The official name of the town is Caripe del Guácharo 'Caripe of the Oilbird', referring to a colony of nocturnal birds which lives i ...
, Venezuela * Mount Humboldt1,617 m (5,308 ft), New Caledonia * Humboldt Mountains, Antarctic mountains discovered and mapped by the
Third German Antarctic Expedition New Swabia (Norwegian and german: Neuschwabenland) was a disputed Antarctic claim by Nazi Germany within the Norwegian territorial claim of Queen Maud Land and is now a cartographic name sometimes given to an area of Antarctica between 20°E a ...
(1938–1939) * Humboldt Mountains – Mountain Range in Fiordland National Park, New Zealand * Humboldt Falls275 m Waterfall in Lower Hollyford Valley, Fiordland National Park, New Zealand * Humboldt Redwoods State Park – in northern California, United States Humboldt current.jpg, Humboldt Current Pico Humboldt.jpg, Pico Humboldt, Venezuela


Places named after Humboldt

The following places are named for Humboldt: * Hacienda Humboldt, Chihuahua, Mexico * Humboldt, South Dakota, United States *
Humboldt, Nebraska Humboldt is a city in Richardson County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 877 at the 2010 census. History Humboldt was platted in 1868. It was named after Humboldt, Tennessee, where an early settler had stayed while fighting in the ...
, United States * Humboldt, Illinois, United States *
Humboldt, Iowa Humboldt is a city in Humboldt County, Iowa, United States. The population was 4,792 at the time of the 2020 census, gaining 340 people over the 2000 total. History Frank A. Gotch Park (just south of present-day Humboldt and Dakota City) was a ...
, United States * Humboldt, Tennessee, United States * Humboldt, Kansas, United States *
Humboldt, Minnesota Humboldt is a city in Kittson County, Minnesota, United States. The population was 41 at the 2020 census. History A post office called Humboldt has been in operation since 1896. The city is reportedly named after Alexander von Humboldt, who wa ...
, United States * Humboldt, Arizona, United States * Humboldt County, California, United States * Fort Humboldt State Historic Park, Eureka, California, United States *
Humboldt County, Nevada Humboldt County is a county in the U.S. state of Nevada. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 17,285. It is a largely rural county that is sparsely populated with the only major city being Winnemucca which has a population of 8,431. Humb ...
, United States * Humboldt County, Iowa, United States * Humboldt, Saskatchewan, Canada * Humboldt Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States * Alejandro de Humboldt National Park, Cuba * Alexander von Humboldt National Forest, Peru * Humboldt-Toiyabe National Forest, Nevada & California, United States * Humboldt Park, Buffalo, New York, United States * Humboldt Parkway, Buffalo, New York, United States


Astronomical features

* Mare Humboldtianum (
lunar mare The lunar maria (; singular: mare ) are large, dark, basaltic plains on Earth's Moon, formed by ancient asteroid impacts on the far side on the Moon that triggered volcanic activity on the opposite (near) side. They were dubbed , Latin for 'seas' ...
) * 54 Alexandra ( asteroid) * 4877 Humboldt (asteroid)


Geological objects

The mineral humboldtine was named for Alexander by Mariano de Rivero in 1821.


Universities, colleges, and schools


Universities

*
Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
is named after Alexander and his brother
Wilhelm Wilhelm may refer to: People and fictional characters * William Charles John Pitcher, costume designer known professionally as "Wilhelm" * Wilhelm (name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name or surname Other uses * Mount ...
who founded it *
Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute The Alexander von Humboldt Biological Resources Research Institute ( es, Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt), sometimes referred to as IAVH, is an independent non-regulatory research institute of the Execu ...
in Bogotá and Villa de Leiva, Colombia * Humboldt State University in
Arcata, California Arcata (; Wiyot: ''Goudi’ni''; Yurok: ''Oket'oh'') is a city adjacent to the Arcata Bay (northern) portion of Humboldt Bay in Humboldt County, California, United States. At the 2020 census, Arcata's population was 18,857. Arcata was first ...
* Universidad Alejandro de Humboldt in Caracas, Venezuela


Schools

* Alexander-von-Humboldt-Gymnasium, Konstanz, Germany * Alexander von Humboldt German International School Montreal, Montreal, Canada * Colegio Alemán Alexander von Humboldt, Mexico City, Mexico * Deutsche Schule Lima Alexander von Humboldt, Lima, Peru * Colegio Humboldt, Caracas, Venezuela * Instituto Alexander Von Humboldt, Barranquilla, Colombia


Lecture series

Alexander von Humboldt also lends his name to a prominent lecture series in
Human geography Human geography or anthropogeography is the branch of geography that studies spatial relationships between human communities, cultures, economies, and their interactions with the environment. It analyzes spatial interdependencies between social i ...
in the Netherlands (hosted by the
Radboud University Nijmegen Radboud University (abbreviated as RU, nl, Radboud Universiteit , formerly ''Katholieke Universiteit Nijmegen'') is a public research university located in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. The university bears the name of Saint Radboud, a 9th century ...
). It is the Dutch equivalent of the widely known annual Hettner lectures at the University of Heidelberg.


The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

After his death, Humboldt's friends and colleagues created the
Alexander von Humboldt Foundation The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (german: Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung) is a foundation established by the government of the Federal Republic of Germany and funded by the Federal Foreign Office, the Federal Ministry of Education and Rese ...
(''Stiftung'' in German) to continue his generous support of young academics. Although the original endowment was lost in the
German hyperinflation of the 1920s Hyperinflation affected the German Papiermark, the currency of the Weimar Republic, between 1921 and 1923, primarily in 1923. It caused considerable internal political instability in the country, the occupation of the Ruhr by France and Belgium, ...
, and again as a result of World War II, the Foundation has been re-endowed by the German government to award young academics and distinguished senior academics from abroad. It plays an important role in attracting foreign researchers to work in Germany and enabling German researchers to work abroad for a period.


Dedications

Edgar Allan Poe Edgar Allan Poe (; Edgar Poe; January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American writer, poet, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his poetry and short stories, particularly his tales of mystery and the macabre. He is wid ...
dedicated his last major work, '' Eureka: A Prose Poem'', to Humboldt, "With Very Profound Respect". Humboldt's attempt to unify the sciences in his ''Kosmos'' was a major inspiration for Poe's project. In 2019, Josefina Benedetti composed ''Humboldt'' an Orchestral Suite in five movements.


Ships

'' Alexander von Humboldt'' is also a German ship named after the scientist, originally built in 1906 by the German shipyard AG Weser at Bremen as ''Reserve Sonderburg''. She was operated throughout the North and Baltic Seas until being retired in 1986. Subsequently, she was converted into a three-masted
barque A barque, barc, or bark is a type of sailing vessel with three or more masts having the fore- and mainmasts rigged square and only the mizzen (the aftmost mast) rigged fore and aft. Sometimes, the mizzen is only partly fore-and-aft rigged, b ...
by the German shipyard Motorwerke Bremerhaven, and was re-launched in 1988 as ''Alexander von Humboldt''. The Jan De Nul Group operates a hopper dredger built in 1998 also named ''Alexander von Humboldt''.


Recognitions by contemporaries

Simón Bolívar wrote that "The real discoverer of South America was Humboldt, since his work was more useful for our people than the work of all conquerors".
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...
expressed his debt to Humboldt, and admiration for his work, writing to
Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911) was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin's closest friend. For twenty years he served as director of ...
that Humboldt was the "''greatest scientific traveller who ever lived''". Wilhelm von Humboldt wrote that "Alexander is destined to combine ideas and follow chains of thoughts which would otherwise have remained unknown for ages. His depth, his sharp mind and his incredible speed are a rare combination." Johann Wolfgang Goethe observed that "Humboldt showers us with true treasures". Friedrich Schiller wrote that "Alexander impresses many, particularly when compared to his brother—because he shows off more!" José de la Luz y Caballero wrote that "Columbus gave Europe a New World; Humboldt made it known in its physical, material, intellectual, and moral aspects". Napoléon Bonaparte remarked "You have been studying Botanics? Just like my wife!"
Claude Louis Berthollet Claude Louis Berthollet (, 9 December 1748 – 6 November 1822) was a Savoyard-French chemist who became vice president of the French Senate in 1804. He is known for his scientific contributions to theory of chemical equilibria via the mecha ...
said "This man is as knowledgeable as a whole academy".
Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (April 13, 1743 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, diplomat, lawyer, architect, philosopher, and Founding Father who served as the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was previously the natio ...
remarked "I consider him the most important scientist whom I have met".
Emil du Bois-Reymond Emil Heinrich du Bois-Reymond (7 November 181826 December 1896) was a German physician and physiologist, the co-discoverer of nerve action potential, and the developer of experimental electrophysiology. Life Du Bois-Reymond was born in Berlin a ...
wrote that "Every assiduous scholar ... is Humboldt's son; we are all his family." Robert G. Ingersoll wrote that "He was to science what Shakespeare was to the drama".
Hermann von Helmholtz Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz (31 August 1821 – 8 September 1894) was a German physicist and physician who made significant contributions in several scientific fields, particularly hydrodynamic stability. The Helmholtz Associatio ...
wrote that "During the first half of the present century we had an Alexander von Humboldt, who was able to scan the scientific knowledge of his time in its details, and to bring it within one vast generalization. At the present juncture, it is obviously very doubtful whether this task could be accomplished in a similar way, even by a mind with gifts so peculiarly suited for the purpose as Humboldt's was, and if all his time and work were devoted to the purpose."


Honorary doctorates

*1829 Universität Dorpat


Sculptures

File:Img079.jpg, 1959 postage stamp from the Soviet Union File:Alejandrodehumboldt.jpg, Bust at the University of Havana File:Alexander von Humboldt-Denkmal in der Budapester Str., Berlin - 1.jpg, Statue in Budapester Straße, Berlin File:Von Humboldt Statue.jpg, Statue in
Humboldt Park, Chicago Humboldt Park, one of 77 designated community areas, is on the West Side of Chicago, Illinois. The Humboldt Park neighborhood is known for its dynamic social and ethnic demographic change over the years. The Puerto Rican community has identifi ...
File:Alexander von Humboldt Statue in Allegheny West Park.jpg, Statue in Allegheny West Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania File:Alexander von Humboldt Denkmal - Humboldt Universität zu Berlin.jpg, Statue at
Humboldt University of Berlin Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin (german: Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, abbreviated HU Berlin) is a German public research university in the central borough of Mitte in Berlin. It was established by Frederick William III on the initiative ...
, describing him as "the second discoverer of Cuba" File:HumboldtCentralPark.jpg, Bust in Central Park, New York File:Monumento a Alexander Von Humboldt, Alameda Central, Ciudad de México.jpg, Statue in
Alameda Central Alameda Central is a public urban park in downtown Mexico City. Created in 1592, the Alameda Central is the oldest public park in the Americas. It is located in Cuauhtémoc borough, adjacent to the Palacio de Bellas Artes, between Juárez Aven ...
, Mexico City File:Alexander Humboldt statue, Quito, Ecuador.jpg, Monument in Parque El Ejido, Quito, Ecuador File:Estatua de Alexander Von Humboldt. Parque Nacional El Guácharo. Estado Monagas. Venezuela..JPG, Alexander Von Humboldt Statue. El Guácharo National Park. Monagas State. Venezuela File:Standbild Heumarkt Köln - Alexander von Humboldt.jpg, Humboldt, part of a sculpture in Cologne, Germany File:Humboldt-statue-tower-grove-benecke.jpg, Statue in Tower Grove Park,
St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...
File:Louis Agassiz and Alexander von Humboldt statues at Jordan Hall, Stanford.jpg, Louis Agassiz and Alexander von Humboldt statues at Jordan Hall, Stanford University main quad File:Mirador Humboldt 01.jpg, The bronze sculpture by the artist Ana Lilia Martín, born in
La Palma La Palma (, ), also known as ''La isla bonita'' () and officially San Miguel de La Palma, is the most north-westerly island of the Canary Islands, Spain. La Palma has an area of making it the fifth largest of the eight main Canary Islands. The ...
(Canarias) in 1963, depicts the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt. The sculpture has been on the terrace of the Humboldblick viewpoint in La Orotava since 2009


Works


Scientific works

* ''Florae Fribergensis specimen plantas cryptogramicus praesertim subterraneas exhibens'', 1793. Humboldt's observations of underground plants made when he was a mining inspector. * ''Versuche über die gereizte Muskel- und Nervenfaser nebst Versuchen über den chemischen Prozess des Lebens in der Thier- und Pflanzenwelt''. (2 volumes), 1797. Humboldt's experiments in galvanism and nerve conductivity.
''Ueber die unterirdischen Gasarten und die Mittel, ihren Nachtheil zu vermindern''
Braunschweig: Vieweg 1799. * ''Sur l'analyse de l'air atmosphérique'', with J.L. Gay-Lussac. Paris 1805. German edition, Türbingen. * ''Fragments de géologie et de climatologie asiatiques'' 2 vols. Paris, 1831; Tübingen, 1831 * ''Asie centrale, recherches sur les chaînes des montagnes et la climotologie comparée''. 3 vols. 1843 ''Le voyage aux régions equinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, fait en 1799–1804, par Alexandre de Humboldt et Aimé Bonpland'' (Paris, 1807, etc.), consisted of thirty folio and quarto volumes, including: * ''Vues des Cordillères et monuments des peuples indigènes de l'Amérique'' (2 vols. folio, 1810) ** English translation
''Researches concerning the institutions & monuments of the ancient inhabitants of America : with descriptions & views of some of the most striking scenes in the Cordilleras!'' (2 vols.)
xclamation point in the original title** English translation: ''Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: A Critical Edition''. Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette, editors. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2014. *
Examen critique de l'histoire de la géographie du Nouveau Continent
' (4 vols. 1814–1834) * ''Atlas géographique et physique du royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne'' (1811)
''Essai politique sur le royaume de la Nouvelle Espagne''
(1811); ** English translation
''Political essay on the kingdom of New Spain containing researches relative to the geography of Mexico''
(1811) biodiversitylibrary.org;
''Essai sur la géographie des plantes: accompagné d'un tableau physique des régions équinoxiales, fondé sur des mesures exécutées, depuis le dixième degré de latitude boréale jusqu'au dixième degré de latitude australe, pendant les années 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 et 1803/ par Al. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland; rédigée par Al. de Humboldt'' (1805)
biodiversitylibrary.org ** English translation by Sylvie Romanowski:''Essay on the Geography of Plants''. University of Chicago Press. (2009) * ''Essai géognostique sur le gisement des roches dans les deux continents''. Paris 1823. English and German editions. * ''Essai politique sur l'îsle de Cuba''. 2 vols. Paris 1828. English and German editions.
''Relation historique du Voyage aux Régions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, etc.'' (1814–1825), an unfinished narrative of his travels, including the ''Essai politique sur l'île de Cuba''
biodiversitylibrary.org
''Monographie des melastomacées'' (1833)

''Monographia Melastomacearum: continens plantas huius ordinis, hucusque collectas, praesertim per regnum Mexici, in provinciis Caracarum et Novae Andalusiae, in Peruvianorum, Quitensium, Novae Granatae Andibus, ad Orinoci, fluvii Nigri, fluminis Amazonum rupas nascentes''
(2 vols.)
''Cosmos : a sketch of a physical description of the universe by Alexander von Humboldt; translated from the German by E. C. Otté''
(5 vols.)
''Cosmos: essai d'une description physique du monde ''
(4 vols.)
''Gesammelte werke von Alexander von Humboldt''
(12 vols.)
''Ansichten der Natur: mit wissenschaftlichen Erläuterungen ''

''Aphorismen aus der chemischen physiologie der pflanzen. Aus dem lateinischen übersetzt von Gotthelf Fischer. Nebst einigen zusätzen von herrn dr. und prof. Hedwig und einer vorrede von herrn dr. und prof. Christ. Friedr. Ludwig''.
1794.
''Aspects of nature, in different lands and different climates with scientific elucidations''

''Atlas zu Alex. v. Humboldt's Kosmos in zweiundvierzig Tafeln mit erläuterndem texte /herausgegeben von Traugott Bromme''

''Briefe von Alexander von Humboldt an Varnhagen von Ense, aus den jahren 1827 bis 1858 : nebst Auszügen aus Varnhagen's Tagebüchern und Briefen von Varnhagen und andern an Humboldt''

''Ideen zu einer Geographie der Pflanzen :nebst einem Naturgemälde der Tropenländer : auf Beobachtungen und Messungen gegründet, welche vom 10ten Grade nördlicher bis zum 10ten Grade südlicher Breite, in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 und 1803 angestellt worden sind/ von Al. von Humboldt und A. Bonpland; bearbeitet und herausgegeben von dem erstern''

''An illustration of the genus Cinchona :comprising descriptions of all the officinal Peruvian barks, including several new species, Baron de Humboldt's Account of the Cinchona forests of South America, and Laubert's Memoir on the different species of quinquina: to which are added several dissertations of Don Hippolito Ruiz on various medicinal plants of South America ''
(1821);
''Kosmos. Entwurf einer physischen Weltbeschreibung von Alexander von Humboldt''
(5 vols.) * ''Des lignes isothermes et de la distribution de la châleur sur le globe''. Paris 1817. German edition, Türbingen.
''Personal narrative of travels to the equinoctial regions of America, during the years 1799–1804/ by Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland; translated from the French of Alexander von Humboldt and edited by Thomasina Ross'' (vols 2 & 3)
biodiversitylibrary.org * ''Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent''. 7 vols. London. First edition in French, Paris: 1815–26.
''Viage âa las regiones equinocciales del nuevo continente: hecho en 1799 hasta 1804, por Al. de Humboldt y A. Bonpland; redactado por Alejandro de Humboldt; continuaciâon indispensable al ensayo polâitico sobre el reino de la Nueva Espaäna por el mismo autor'' (5 vols.)
1826. biodiversitylibrary.org
''Pflanzengeographie, nach Alexander von Humboldt's werke ueber die geographische Vertheilhung der Gewächse : mit Anmerkungen, grösseren Beilagen aus andern pflanzengeographischen Schriften und einem Excurse über die bei pflanzengeographischen Floren-Vergleichungen nöthigen Rücksichten''

''Plantes équinoxiales recueillies au Mexique :dans l'île de Cuba, dans les provinces de Caracas, de Cumana et de Barcelone, aux Andes de la Nouvelle Grenade, de Quito et du Pérou, et sur les bords du rio-Negro de Orénoque et de la rivière des Amazones'' (2 vols.)

''Recueil d'observations de zoologie et d'anatomie comparée : faites dans l'océan atlantique, dans l'intérieur du nouveau continent et dans la mer du sud pendant les années 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802 et 1803 / par Al. de Humboldt et A. Bonpland'' (2 vols.)

''Reise in die aequinoctial-gegenden des neuen Continents in den Jahren 1799, 1800, 1801, 1803 und 1804'' (vol. 3)

''Relation historique du voyage aux régions équinoxiales du nouveau continent, fait en 1799, 1800, 1801, 1802, 1803, et 1804'' (vol. 3)

''Tableaux de la nature; ou, Considérations sur les déserts, sur le physionomie des végétaux, sur les cataractes de l'Orénoque, sur la structure et l'action des volcans dans les différentes régions de la terre''
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''Views of nature, or, Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation : with scientific illustrations'' (1850)

''Views of nature: or, Contemplations on the sublime phenomena of creation; with scientific illustrations'' (1884)


Other works


''Letters of Alexander von Humboldt to Varnhagen von Ense. From 1827 to 1858. With extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt''. Tr. from the 2d German by Friedrich Kapp (ed.)
biodiversitylibrary.org
''Letters of Alexander von Humboldt written between the years 1827 and 1858 to Varnhagen von Ense together with extracts from Varnhagen's diaries, and letters of Varnhagen and others to Humboldt/ authorized translation from the German'' (with explanatory notes and a full index of names)
biodiversitylibrary.org
''Nova genera et species plantarum'' (7 vols. folio, 1815–1825), contains descriptions of above 4500 species of plants collected by Humboldt and Bonpland
was mainly compiled by
Carl Sigismund Kunth Carl Sigismund Kunth (18 June 1788 – 22 March 1850), also Karl Sigismund Kunth or anglicized as Charles Sigismund Kunth, was a German botanist. He is known for being one of the first to study and categorise plants from the American continents, ...
; J. Oltmanns assisted in preparing the ''Recueil d'observations astronomiques'' (1808); Cuvier, Latreille, Valenciennes and Gay-Lussac cooperated in the ''Recueil d'observations de zoologie et d'anatomie comparée'' (1805–1833).


See also

* Bonpland, Aimé (1773–1858) * History of biology * History of geography * Humboldtian science * Lejeune Dirichlet, Peter Gustav (1805–1859) * List of explorers * List of people from Berlin * Rengger, Johann Rudolph (1795–1832) *
Romanticism in science 19th-century science was greatly influenced by Romanticism (or the Age of Reflection, 1800–40), an intellectual movement that originated in Western Europe as a counter-movement to the late-18th-century Enlightenment. Romanticism incorporated m ...
* Cartopology


References


Sources

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *


Further reading

* Ackerknecht, Erwin H. "George Forster, Alexander von Humboldt, and Ethnology". ''Isis'' 46 (1955):83–95. * Botting, Douglas. ''Humboldt and the Cosmos''. New York: Harper & Row Publishers 1973. * Bruhns, Karl, ed. ''Life of Alexander von Humboldt, Compiled in Commemoration of the Centenary of His Birth by J. Lowenberg, Robert Ave-Lallemant, and Alfred Dove'', trans. by Jane and Caroline Lassell. 2 vols. London: Longmans, Green 1873. Volume I: . Volume II: . * Cañizares-Esguerra, Jorge, "How Derivative was Humboldt?" In ''Colonial Botany: Science, Commerce, and Politics in the Early Modern World'', edited by Londa Schiebinger and Claudia Swan, 148–165. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press 2005. * Chambers, David Wade. "Centre Looks at Periphery: Alexander von Humboldt's Account of Mexican Science and Technology". ''Journal of Iberian and Latin American Studies'' 2 (1996): 94–113. * Covarrubias, José E and Matilde Souto Mantecón, eds. ''Economia, ciencia, y política: Estudios sobre Alexander von Humboldt a 200 aňos del ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España''. Mexico: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 2012. * Dettlebach, Michael. "Humboldtian Science". In ''Cultures of Natural History'', edited by Nicholas Jardin, J.A. Secord, and Emma C. Spary, 287–304. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 1996. * Echenberg, Myron. ''Humboldt's Mexico: In the Footsteps of the Illustrious German Scientific Traveller''. Montreal & Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press 2017. * Foner, Philip S. "Alexander von Humboldt on Slavery in America". ''Science and Society'' 47 (1983): 330–342. * Godlewska, Anne, "From Enlightenment Vision to Modern Science? Humboldt's Visual Thinking". In ''Geography and Enlightenment'', edited by David N. Livingstone and Charles W. J. Withers, 236–275. Chicago: University of Chicago Press 1999. * Gould, Stephen Jay. "Church, Humboldt, and Darwin: The Tension and Harmony of Art and Science" in Franklin Kelly et al., eds. ''Frederic Edwin Church''. Washington D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press 1989. * Harvey, Eleanor Jones. ''Alexander von Humboldt and the United States: Art, Nature, and Culture''. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2020. . * Hey'l, Bettina, ''Das Ganze der Natur und die Differenzierung des Wissens. Alexander von Humboldt als Schriftsteller'' (Berlin, de Gruyter, 2007) (Quellen und Forschungen zur Literatur- und Kulturgeschichte 47 (281)). * Holl, Frank. "Alexander von Humboldt's Expedition through Mexico", in ''European Traveler-Artists in Nineteenth-Century Mexico''. Mexico 1996, pp. 51–61. * Holl, Frank, ed. ''Alejandro de Humboldt en México''. Mexico City 1997. * Kellner, Lotte. ''Alexander von Humboldt''. New York: Oxford University Press 1963. * Kiziak, Frederik L. ''Alexander von Humboldt und Thaddäus Haenke. Reisetagebücher über Südamerika''. Munich: GRIN Verlag 2021. * Klein, Ursula. ''Humboldts Preußen. Wissenschaft und Technik im Aufbruch''. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft 2015. * Korneffel, Peter. ''Die Humboldts in Berlin: Zwei Brüder erfinden die Gelehrtenrepublik''. Elsengold Verlag GmbH 2017. * Kutzinski, Vera M. ''Alexander von Humboldt's Transatlantic Personae''. New York: Routledge 2012. * Lara Valdés, José Luis, ed. ''Bicentenario de Humboldt en Guanajuato (1803–2003)''. Guanajuato: Ediciones de la Rana 2003. * Leibsohn, Dana, and Barbara E. Mundy, "Making Sense of the Pre-Columbian", ''Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America, 1520–1820'' (2015)
http://www.fordham.edu/vistas.
* Macgillivray, William
The travels and researches of Alexander von Humboldt by W. Macgillivray; with a narrative of Humboldt's most recent researches
New York: J & J Harper 1833. * Novgorodoff, Danica. ''Alexander Von Humboldt: Explorer, Naturalist & Environmental Pioneer''. New York, Crown, 2022 * W. Macgillivray
The travels and researches of Alexander von Humboldt: being a condensed narrative of his journeys in the equinoctial regions of America, and in Asiatic Russia: together with analysis of his more important investigations
* McCrory, Donald. ''Nature's Interpreter: The Life and Times of Alexander von Humboldt''. London: Lutterworth 2010. * McCullough, David. '' Brave Companions: Portraits in History'', Chapter 1, " umboldt'sJourney to the Top of the World" New York: Prentice Hall Press, 1992. * Meinhardt, Maren: ''A longing for wide and unknown things : the life of Alexander von Humboldt'', London : Hurst & Company, 018 * Miranda, José ''Humboldt y México''. Mexico City: Instituto de Historia, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1962. * Nelken, Halina. ''Alexander von Humboldt. His Portraits and their Artists. A Documentary Iconography''. Berlin: Dietrich Reimer Verlag 1980. * Ortega y Medina, Juan A. ''Humboldt desde México''. Mexico City: UNAM 1960. * Ortega y Medina, Juan A. "Humboldt visto por los mexicanos" in Jorge A. Vivó Escoto, ed. ''Ensayos sobre Humboldt'', pp. 237–258. Mexico City: UNAM 1962. * Pausas J.G. & Bond W.J. 2019
"Humboldt and the reinvention of nature"
Journal of Ecology 107(3): 1031–1037. * Quiñones Keber, Eloise, "Humboldt and Aztec Art", ''Colonial Latin American Review'' 5.2 (1996) 277–297. * Rich, Nathaniel, "The Very Great Alexander von Humboldt" (review of and Jedediah Purdy, ''After Nature: A Politics for the Anthropocene'', Harvard University Press, 2015, 326 pp.), ''
The New York Review of Books ''The New York Review of Books'' (or ''NYREV'' or ''NYRB'') is a semi-monthly magazine with articles on literature, culture, economics, science and current affairs. Published in New York City, it is inspired by the idea that the discussion of i ...
'', vol. LXII, no. 16 (22 October 2015), pp. 37–39. * *Zea, Leopoldo and Carlos Magallón, eds. ''Humboldt en México''. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México 1999.


Literary works

*
Daniel Kehlmann Daniel Kehlmann (; born 13 January 1975) is a German-language novelist and playwright of both Austrian and German nationality.Measuring the World ''Measuring the World'' (german: Die Vermessung der Welt) is a novel by German author Daniel Kehlmann, published in 2005 by Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek. The novel re-imagines the lives of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and German geograph ...
'' in 2006, explores Humboldt's life through the lens of historical fiction, contrasting his character and contributions to science with those of
Carl Friedrich Gauss Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss (; german: Gauß ; la, Carolus Fridericus Gauss; 30 April 177723 February 1855) was a German mathematician and physicist who made significant contributions to many fields in mathematics and science. Sometimes refer ...
.


Portrayals in film

* Werner Herzog portrays Humboldt in
Edgar Reitz Edgar Reitz (born 1 November 1932) is a German filmmaker and Professor of Film at the Staatliche Hochschule für Gestaltung (State University of Design) in Karlsruhe. He is best-known for his internationally acclaimed '' Heimat film series'' (1 ...
's 2013 film '' Home from Home''. *
Measuring the World ''Measuring the World'' (german: Die Vermessung der Welt) is a novel by German author Daniel Kehlmann, published in 2005 by Rowohlt Verlag, Reinbek. The novel re-imagines the lives of German mathematician Carl Friedrich Gauss and German geograph ...
is a 2012 German / Austrian 3D film directed by
Detlev Buck Detlev Buck (; born 1 December 1962 in Bad Segeberg) is a German film director, actor, film producer, producer and screenwriter. Life and work From his first short film at the age of 21 in 1982, ', he has remained one of the most important film ...
and was released in 2012 based on the eponymous novel by
Daniel Kehlmann Daniel Kehlmann (; born 13 January 1975) is a German-language novelist and playwright of both Austrian and German nationality.Rainer Simon Rainer Simon (born 11 January 1941) is a German film director and screenwriter. He directed 17 films between 1964 and 2000. His ''How to Marry a King'' (1969) and ''Six Make it Through the World'' (1972) are highly imaginative adaptations of fai ...
.


External links


Portals


The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation

The Alexander von Humboldt Digital Library
A virtual research environment on the works of Alexander von Humboldt. A project by the University of Applied Sciences Offenburg and the University of Kansas.
avhumboldt.de Humboldt Informationen online
A large collection of data, texts and visuals concerning Alexander von Humboldt in German, English, Spanish and French. A project by the Chair of Romance Literatures, University of Potsdam (Germany).

* ttp://www.larramendi.es/vcilustrados/i18n/consulta_aut/registro.do?id=3034 Alexander von Humboldt. Polymath Virtual Library, Fundación Ignacio Larramendi
Virtual exhibition on Paris Observatory digital library


Online sources

* * * *


Miscellaneous


"Alexander von Humboldt"
from '' In Our Time'', a 45 minute
BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...
program.
Alexander von Humboldt featured on the East German 5 Marks banknote from 1964
* A. J. P. Raat, "Alexander von Humboldt and Coenraad Jacob Temminck", ''Zoologische Bijdragen'', Vol. 21, 1976, pp. 19–3

* * * L. Kellner,
Alexander Von Humboldt and the history of international scientific collaboration
, '' Scientia (Italian journal), Scientia: rivista internazionale di sintesi scientifica'', 95, 1960, pp. 252–256 {{DEFAULTSORT:Humboldt, Alexander von 1769 births 1859 deaths 18th-century naturalists 19th-century naturalists 19th-century German scientists 18th-century LGBT people 19th-century LGBT people Botanists active in South America Expeditions from Spain Explorers of Siberia Explorers of South America Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Foreign Members of the Royal Society Gay scientists German classical liberals German explorers German geographers German Lutherans German meteorologists German mountain climbers German phytogeographers German travel writers 18th-century German zoologists Honorary members of the Saint Petersburg Academy of Sciences Human geographers
Alexander Alexander is a male given name. The most prominent bearer of the name is Alexander the Great, the king of the Ancient Greek kingdom of Macedonia who created one of the largest empires in ancient history. Variants listed here are Aleksandar, Al ...
Independent scientists Information visualization experts Members of the American Antiquarian Society Members of the American Philosophical Society Members of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences Members of the French Academy of Sciences Members of the Prussian Academy of Sciences Members of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences Muisca scholars People from the Margraviate of Brandenburg Recipients of the Copley Medal Recipients of the Pour le Mérite (civil class) Knights Grand Cross of the Order of Saints Maurice and Lazarus Scientists from Berlin University of Göttingen alumni University of Jena alumni European University Viadrina alumni Members of the Göttingen Academy of Sciences and Humanities