latin america

This is the story of Alexander Von Humboldt's five-year journey of exploration in the New World (1799-1804). Humboldt was in his late twenties, a German aristocrat of independent means, brilliant and filled with boundless energy and enthusiasm. He set out with the idealistic belief that all of Nature (including humans) was an integrated entity which could be understood and defined by exacting scientific measurement. Quite a modern conviction for the 18th century! He returned to Europe internationally famous, acclaimed by readers of his widely published reports who found his constructive spirit a welcome relief from the current realities of the Napoleonic Wars.

Humboldt, his companion Bonpland, occasional fellow travelers, and a small coterie of native handlers and guides explored the upper reaches of the Orinoco River, deep in the impenetrable jungle bordering the Amazon watershed. They traveled in narrow dugout canoes, heavy with personnel, dunnage and scientific measuring equipment and boxes for their growing collection of specimens. They portaged rapids, slept in the wet, swatted mosquitoes and were constantly at the mercy of predators and exotic diseases. Later they traversed the tall rugged Andes in Equador and Peru, studying and recording everything around them. They paid particular attention to the great volcanoes, some over 20,000 feet, climbed them and contemplated their geological formation and established cutting edge scientific theories. Finally they journeyed through the more inhabited areas of Mexico and Cuba, recording anthropological, social, and political observations in addition to their continuing scientific studies of nature. Humboldt paid particular attention to the institution of slavery, which he abhorred.

Three cheers for Gerard Helferich who has given us this enthralling story of a nearly forgotten significant man. His book is carefully researched and documented, brilliantly organized and written. It is a thoroughly readable text. I read it rapidly with avaricious delight!!

You may vaguely recognize the name Alexander von Humboldt (especially if you recall seeing his statue outside of the American Museum of Natural History in New York), but he's not as famous as he should be. Before Darwin ever set foot on the Beagle, von Humboldt and his crew set out on an unprecedented five-year journey throughout Latin America, traveling through the Amazon and the Andes, Chile, Peru, Mexico and Cuba. Throughout his journey, Humboldt make painstaking observations -about the land, the flora and fauna, the wind and the currents, and the peoples he encountered - and his notes and ideas helped shape entirely new disciplines in science: he was a hero to the young Charles Darwin. While there have been a flood of books championing individuals who were "footnotes" to science and history, Humboldt was the real deal. This informative but very lively book, written on the 200th anniversary of Humboldt's most famous journey, should help restore Humboldt's reputation as a pioneering scientist and thinker.

This book is a scintillating adventure and science story about one of the world's most important and, curiously least known, figures, the dashing Alexander von Humboldt, who in the course of five years blazed a five thousand mile swath through Latin America, including Cuba, Mexico, and what is now Venezuela, Ecuador, Columbia and Peru. He and his traveling companion Aime Bonpland conducted the first extensive scientific exploration of these countries. In the course of their incredible journey, completed two hundred years ago, the two climbed Chimborazo, coming within 1300 feet of the summit, an event that wasn't to be surpassed until Whymper conquered the peak in the 1880's. I highly recommend this book for anybody interested in adventure, science, and history.