The Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish expedition to the colonial territories of the

Viceroyalty of Peru The Viceroyalty of Peru ( es, Virreinato del Perú, links=no) was a Spanish imperial provincial administrative district, created in 1542, that originally contained modern-day Peru and most of the Spanish Empire in South America, governed fro ...

and

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in the western part of South America. It is the southernmost country in the world, and the closest to Antarctica, occupying a long and narrow strip of land between the Andes to the eas ...

between 1777 and 1788. It was commissioned by King

Charles III of Spain it, Carlo Sebastiano di Borbone e Farnese , house = Bourbon-Anjou , father = Philip V of Spain , mother = Elisabeth Farnese , birth_date = 20 January 1716 , birth_place = Royal Alcazar of Madrid, Spain , death_da ...

and headed by botanists

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 ...

José Antonio Pavón Jiménez José Antonio Pavón Jiménez or José Antonio Pavón (April 22, 1754 in Casatejada, Cáceres, Spain – 1840 in Madrid) was a Spanish botanist known for researching the flora of Peru and Chile. During the reign of Charles III of Spain, thre ...

and

Joseph Dombey Joseph Dombey (Mâcon, France, 20 February 1742 – Montserrat, West Indies, May 1794) was a French botanist. He was involved in the "Dombey affair" which was precipitated by British seizure of a vessel his collections were on and diversion of th ...

Background

During the 18th century, Europe saw a flowering interest in the science of botany that in Spain crystallized in the organization of a series of scientific expeditions to Spanish colonial territories in America, the Pacific islands and Asia. King Charles III of Spain was very much in favor of this type of scientific research and provided funding for several explorations in the later part of the century.

Preparations

Due to his formation under

Casimiro Gómez Ortega Casimiro Gómez de Ortega (4 March 1741, in Añover de Tajo, Spain – 30 August 1818, in Madrid, Spain) was a Spanish physician, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid. Under Charles III of Spain Gómez ...

at Madrid's Royal Botanical Garden,

was named head botanist of the expedition, with French physician

and pharmacologist

appointed as his assistants. Two prestigious botanical illustrators, Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez, also accompanied the expedition.

Expedition

The expedition sailed from

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

in 1777 and arrived at

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 ...

in April 1778. For over ten years, from 1778 to 1788, they explored the territories of present Peru and Chile studying and collecting specimens. The expedition suffered all kinds of setbacks during this time, ranging from the sinking of the ship ''San Pedro de Alcantara'' in 1784 that carried numerous botanical samples, a 1785 fire in the Peruvian population in Macora that resulted in the loss of additional samples and equipment, to quarrels between the members of the expeditionary team, specially between Ruiz and Dombey, that resulted in the latter leaving the group in 1784. He was replaced by Juan José Tafalla Navascués that same year. In 1788, the bulk of the expedition returned to Spain, leaving only Tafalla in Peru with a mandate to continue sending material. Painters Xavier Cortes and Jose Gabriel Rivera joined botanist Agustin Jose Manzanilla in 1793. Between 1799 and 1808, an herbarium was set up in the territory of present Quito (Ecuador) to further study the Huayaquilensis Flora, that continued making regular mailings of material to Spain until the death of Tafalla in 1811. All together, more than 3,000 specimens of plants were collected and 2,500 life-sized botanical illustrations were produced, and when they returned to Spain they brought back a great many living plants, among which was a medicinal remedy for the flu as well as toothaches, using as a base the boiled sprouts of ''

Buddleja incana ''Buddleja incana'' is a species of shrub or tree in the family Scrophulariaceae. It is native to the Andes.Norman, E. M. (2000). Buddlejaceae. ''Flora Neotropica 81''. New York Botanical Garden, USA Description ''Buddleja incana'' is a dioecio ...

''. The collections that arrived in Cádiz in 1788 were in the most part in good condition, and were housed in Madrid's Royal Botanical Garden and the '' Gabinete de Historia Natural'', the precursor of the

Museum of Natural History 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 ...

. The discoveries included about 150 new genera and 500 new species, which still retain the names given them by Ruiz and Pavón. Unfortunately, a part of the collection consisting of 53 crates with 800 illustrations, dried plants, seeds, resins and minerals was lost when the ship transporting it was wrecked on the coast of Portugal.

Publications

Hipólito Ruiz López and José Antonio Pavón Jiménez published ''Flora Peruviana et Chilensis prodromus'' in ten volumes, richly illustrated with engravings of the specimens. The first four volumes were published between 1798 and 1802. The last six volumes were published after the death of Ruiz. Ruiz and Pavón also published together ''Systema vegetabilium florae peruvianae chilensis'' in 1798, and ''Flora peruviana, et chilensis, sive descriptiones, et icones'', between 1798 and 1802. The journals Ruiz produced for his exploration of South America during these years are remarkable for their breadth of

ethnobotanical Ethnobotany is the study of a region's plants and their practical uses through the traditional knowledge of a local culture and people. An ethnobotanist thus strives to document the local customs involving the practical uses of local flora for m ...

and natural history knowledge. Of particular interest at the time was

pharmacological Pharmacology is a branch of medicine, biology and pharmaceutical sciences concerned with drug or medication action, where a drug may be defined as any artificial, natural, or endogenous (from within the body) molecule which exerts a biochemica ...

knowledge of New World plants such as '' Chinchona'', the source of the anti-malarial, quinine. In addition to detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz observed the geology and weather of the area, and included cultural information about the life of the Indians and the colonists of the area. The result of these observations was the publication of ''Quinología o tratado del árbol de la quina'' in Madrid, 1792, that was promptly translated into Italian in 1792, German in 1794 and English in 1800. In addition to the detailed descriptions and paintings of the flora and fauna of Peru and Chile, Ruiz also reflected on the geology and the weather conditions of the explored territories. He also included ethnological information about the lifestyle of both the indigenous population and the colonists that had settled in those areas.

Aftermath

Hipólito Ruiz López was named a member of the Royal Academy of Medicine in 1794, and he published various works in that body's ''Memoires''. After Ruiz died on 1816, Pavón sold a part of the collections of the expedition to

Aylmer Bourke Lambert Aylmer Bourke Lambert (2 February 1761 – 10 January 1842) was a British botanist, one of the first fellows of the Linnean Society. Early life Aylmer Bourke Lambert was born at Bath, England on 2 February 1761, the son of Edmund Lambert ...

, who had translated several botanical papers from the expedition, and to

Philip Barker Webb Philip Barker Webb (10 July 1793 – 31 August 1854) was an English botanist. Life Webb was born to a wealthy, aristocratic family; his father was the lord of the manors of Witley and Milford, in Surrey, England. Webb was educated at Harro ...

. Thanks to Lambert, he was later elected member of the

Linnean Society of London The Linnean Society of London is a learned society dedicated to the study and dissemination of information concerning natural history, evolution, and taxonomy. It possesses several important biological specimen, manuscript and literature coll ...

. The main collection consisting of more than ten thousand engravings remained at the

Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Royal, Iowa, a cit ...

, together with 2,254 botanical drawings with descriptions. Most of the documentation related to the expedition and the ''Flora peruviana'' publication is at the Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales, in Madrid. The ethnological material from the expedition can be found today at the Museum of the Americas, also in Madrid. Also in the Archives of the Real Jardín Botánico in Madrid was '' Flora Huayaquilensis an expedition by Juan José Tafalla Navascués'

a Spaniard who was one of the first who traveled to South America and documenting the different plants with wonderful paintings and written descriptions. All of this work was in the archives and only published by Eduardo Estrella Aguirre, Dr. Estrella after searching the Real Jardín Botánico in Madrid archives and finding the informaction that formed, ''Flora Huayaquilensis'' and finally the life work of Tafalla was published.

References

External links

Ruiz & Pavón Herbarium
at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
"Flora Peruviana et Chilensis" at Botanicus.org

"Systema vegetabilium florae peruvianae et chilensis" bibdigital.rjb.csic.es
{{Authority control Botanical expeditions South American expeditions Expeditions from Spain 1770s in the Viceroyalty of Peru 1780s in the Viceroyalty of Peru Viceroyalty of Peru