Francisco Hernández Expedition (1570-1577)
Encyclopedia
The Francisco Hernández Expedition is considered to be the first scientific expedition to the New World
, lead by Francisco Hernández de Toledo
, a naturalist and physician of the Court of King Philip II
, who was highly regarded in Spain because of his works on medicinal botany.
Among some of the most important achievements of the expedition were the discovery and subsequent introduction in Europe of an incredible amount of new plants that had never seen before in the Old World, but that quickly gained acceptance and become verypopular among European consumers, such as the Pineapple, Cocoa, Corn, and many others.
physician for the New World and commended by the King to embark on a scientific expedition to study the region's medicinal plants. Hernandez set sail for the New World on August 1571, taking along his son, and landed in February 1572 in Veracruz
. For three years he toured Mexico and Central America together with a geographer, painters, botanists and native doctors, collecting and classifying botanical specimens. He also studied the culture and medical achievements of the native Nahua peoples, taking notes and preparing numerous illustrations assisted by three indigenous painters who had been baptized as Antón, Baltazar Elías and Pedro Vázquez.
Among the botanical specimens the expedition discovered were the Pineapple
, Cocoa (known by the locals as Cacahuatl), Corn
, Guaiacum officinale
, Smilax regelii, Strychnos nux-vomica (known by the locals as Mahuatl Quauhtlepatli), sweet granadilla, passionfruit
, and several plants with hallucinogenic properties used in rituals such as the Peyote
, Maguey, Datura
or the Devil's weed
.
From March 1574 until his return to Spain in 1577, Hernandez lived in Mexico where he carried out medical tests using the plants he had gathered and put together a large botanical collection and studied local medicinal practices and archeological sites. He also worked on Castilian
translation of a treatise on natural history by Pliny the Elder
.
The result was an impressive work, composed of 24 books on plants, one about the fauna, one on minerals, and ten volumes of paintings and illustrations that were brought to Spain to be published. José de Acosta
calculated that the total cost of the expedition represented about 60,000 ducats, an enormous sum at the time.
that had infected millions in Europe. However, after Recchi died his work remained unpublished and was ultimately purchased by Federico Angelo Cesi
, an Italian scientist, naturalist, and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei
.
The compilation was finally published in Mexico in 1615 as Quatro libros de la Naturaleza, y virtudes de las plantas y animales que están reunidos en el uso de Medicina en la Nueva España, y el Método, y corrección, y preparación, que para administrallas se requiere con lo que el Doctor Francisco Hernández escribió en lengua latina by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez
, who had managed to obtain a copy of the Latin manuscript prepared by Recchi.
Federico Cesi published a heavily redacted a compendium of Recchi's Latin
version in Rome on 1628, titled Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, with notes and additions by Johann Schreck
, Fabio Colonna, Johann Schmidt, and Cesi himself. After Cesi's death another edition was published in 1648 by Johannes Schreck and Fabio Colonna as Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium mexicanorum historia a Francisco Hernández in indis primum compilata, de inde a Nardo Antonio Reccho in volumen digesta.
Another compilation by physician Casimiro Gómez Ortega
, based on additional material found in the Colegio Imperial de los Jesuitas de Madrid was published in 1790 under the name Francisci Hernandi, medici atque historici Philippi II, hispan et indiar. Regis, et totius novi orbis archiatri. Opera, cum edita, tum medita, ad autobiographi fidem et jusu regio.. The finding of the material greatly helped convince King Charles III of Spain
, to authorize a major botanical expedition that was to be known as the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain
led by Martín Sessé y Lacasta
.
His works were also translated to English in 2000 under the title The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, accompanied by Searching for the Secrets of Nature: The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernández that contains information about the life and works of Hernández.
New World
The New World is one of the names used for the Western Hemisphere, specifically America and sometimes Oceania . The term originated in the late 15th century, when America had been recently discovered by European explorers, expanding the geographical horizon of the people of the European middle...
, lead by Francisco Hernández de Toledo
Francisco Hernández de Toledo
Francisco Hernández de Toledo was a naturalist and court physician to the King of Spain....
, a naturalist and physician of the Court of King Philip II
Philip II of Spain
Philip II was King of Spain, Portugal, Naples, Sicily, and, while married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland. He was lord of the Seventeen Provinces from 1556 until 1581, holding various titles for the individual territories such as duke or count....
, who was highly regarded in Spain because of his works on medicinal botany.
Among some of the most important achievements of the expedition were the discovery and subsequent introduction in Europe of an incredible amount of new plants that had never seen before in the Old World, but that quickly gained acceptance and become verypopular among European consumers, such as the Pineapple, Cocoa, Corn, and many others.
Expedition
In 1570 Hernández was appointed ArchiaterArchiater
An archiater was a chief physician of a monarch, who typically retained several. At the Roman imperial court, their chief held the high rank and specific title of Comes archiatrorum.The term has also been used of chief physicians in communities...
physician for the New World and commended by the King to embark on a scientific expedition to study the region's medicinal plants. Hernandez set sail for the New World on August 1571, taking along his son, and landed in February 1572 in Veracruz
Veracruz
Veracruz, formally Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave officially Estado Libre y Soberano de Veracruz de Ignacio de la Llave , is one of the 31 states that, along with the Federal District, comprise the 32 federative entities of Mexico. It is divided in 212 municipalities and its capital city is...
. For three years he toured Mexico and Central America together with a geographer, painters, botanists and native doctors, collecting and classifying botanical specimens. He also studied the culture and medical achievements of the native Nahua peoples, taking notes and preparing numerous illustrations assisted by three indigenous painters who had been baptized as Antón, Baltazar Elías and Pedro Vázquez.
Pineapple
Pineapple is the common name for a tropical plant and its edible fruit, which is actually a multiple fruit consisting of coalesced berries. It was given the name pineapple due to its resemblance to a pine cone. The pineapple is by far the most economically important plant in the Bromeliaceae...
, Cocoa (known by the locals as Cacahuatl), Corn
Maize
Maize known in many English-speaking countries as corn or mielie/mealie, is a grain domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times. The leafy stalk produces ears which contain seeds called kernels. Though technically a grain, maize kernels are used in cooking as a vegetable...
, Guaiacum officinale
Guaiacum officinale
Guaiacum officinale, commonly known as Roughbark Lignum-vitae, is a species of tree in the caltrop family, Zygophyllaceae, that is native to the Caribbean and the northern coast of South America.-Description:...
, Smilax regelii, Strychnos nux-vomica (known by the locals as Mahuatl Quauhtlepatli), sweet granadilla, passionfruit
Passiflora edulis
Passiflora edulis is a vine species of passion flower that is native to Paraguay, Brazil and northern Argentina . Its common names include passion fruit and passionfruit...
, and several plants with hallucinogenic properties used in rituals such as the Peyote
Peyote
Lophophora williamsii , better known by its common name Peyote , is a small, spineless cactus with psychoactive alkaloids, particularly mescaline.It is native to southwestern Texas and Mexico...
, Maguey, Datura
Datura
Datura is a genus of nine species of vespertine flowering plants belonging to the family Solanaceae. Its precise and natural distribution is uncertain, owing to its extensive cultivation and naturalization throughout the temperate and tropical regions of the globe...
or the Devil's weed
Datura stramonium
Datura stramonium, known by the common names Jimson weed, devil's trumpet, devil's weed, thorn apple, tolguacha, Jamestown weed, stinkweed, locoweed, datura, pricklyburr, devil's cucumber, Hell's Bells, moonflower and, in South Africa, malpitte and mad seeds, is a common weed in the...
.
From March 1574 until his return to Spain in 1577, Hernandez lived in Mexico where he carried out medical tests using the plants he had gathered and put together a large botanical collection and studied local medicinal practices and archeological sites. He also worked on Castilian
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
translation of a treatise on natural history by Pliny the Elder
Pliny the Elder
Gaius Plinius Secundus , better known as Pliny the Elder, was a Roman author, naturalist, and natural philosopher, as well as naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and personal friend of the emperor Vespasian...
.
The result was an impressive work, composed of 24 books on plants, one about the fauna, one on minerals, and ten volumes of paintings and illustrations that were brought to Spain to be published. José de Acosta
José de Acosta
José de Acosta was a Spanish 16th-century Jesuit missionary and naturalist in Latin America.-Life:...
calculated that the total cost of the expedition represented about 60,000 ducats, an enormous sum at the time.
Publications
Hernández returned to Spain in 1577 carrying with him a large amount of seeds and live plants. He prepared a brief introduction that was printed, but died before he could see his complete work published. All the material had been preserved at the Royal Monastery of San Lorenzo Del Escorial, where a large part of his original manuscript was lost in a fire almost a century later. Because Hernández's work included numerous descriptions of unknown plants and names that appeared incomprehensible, and King Philip II appointed Nardo Antonio Recchi, Archiater physician of Napoles, to prepare a compilation of the texts for publication. Recchi grouped all descriptions of plants into eight groups according to their common morphology and differentiated those plants that were believed to be useful to cure what was then known in Spain as "The French Disease"Syphilis
Syphilis is a sexually transmitted infection caused by the spirochete bacterium Treponema pallidum subspecies pallidum. The primary route of transmission is through sexual contact; however, it may also be transmitted from mother to fetus during pregnancy or at birth, resulting in congenital syphilis...
that had infected millions in Europe. However, after Recchi died his work remained unpublished and was ultimately purchased by Federico Angelo Cesi
Federico Cesi
Federico Angelo Cesi was an Italian scientist, naturalist, and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei. On his father's death in 1630, he became briefly lord of Acquasparta.- Biography :...
, an Italian scientist, naturalist, and founder of the Accademia dei Lincei
Accademia dei Lincei
The Accademia dei Lincei, , is an Italian science academy, located at the Palazzo Corsini on the Via della Lungara in Rome, Italy....
.
The compilation was finally published in Mexico in 1615 as Quatro libros de la Naturaleza, y virtudes de las plantas y animales que están reunidos en el uso de Medicina en la Nueva España, y el Método, y corrección, y preparación, que para administrallas se requiere con lo que el Doctor Francisco Hernández escribió en lengua latina by the Dominican priest Francisco Ximénez
Francisco Ximénez
Francisco Ximénez was a Dominican priest who is known for his conservation of an indigenous Maya narrative known today as Popol Vuh. There is, as Woodruff has noted, little biographical data about Ximénez...
, who had managed to obtain a copy of the Latin manuscript prepared by Recchi.
Federico Cesi published a heavily redacted a compendium of Recchi's Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
version in Rome on 1628, titled Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, with notes and additions by Johann Schreck
Johann Schreck
Johann Schreck, also Terrenz or Terrentius Constantiensis, Deng Yuhan Hanpo, Deng Zhen Lohan, was a German Jesuit, missionary to China and polymath...
, Fabio Colonna, Johann Schmidt, and Cesi himself. After Cesi's death another edition was published in 1648 by Johannes Schreck and Fabio Colonna as Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium mexicanorum historia a Francisco Hernández in indis primum compilata, de inde a Nardo Antonio Reccho in volumen digesta.
Another compilation by physician Casimiro Gómez Ortega
Casimiro Gómez Ortega
Casimiro Gómez de Ortega was a Spanish physician, and botanist who was the First Professor of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid...
, based on additional material found in the Colegio Imperial de los Jesuitas de Madrid was published in 1790 under the name Francisci Hernandi, medici atque historici Philippi II, hispan et indiar. Regis, et totius novi orbis archiatri. Opera, cum edita, tum medita, ad autobiographi fidem et jusu regio.. The finding of the material greatly helped convince King Charles III of Spain
Charles III of Spain
Charles III was the King of Spain and the Spanish Indies from 1759 to 1788. He was the eldest son of Philip V of Spain and his second wife, the Princess Elisabeth Farnese...
, to authorize a major botanical expedition that was to be known as the Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain
Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain
The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain was a scientific expedition that took place in the territories of New Spain between 1787 and 1803....
led by Martín Sessé y Lacasta
Martín Sessé y Lacasta
Martín Sessé y Lacasta was a Spanish botanist, who relocated to New Spain during the 18th century to study and classify the flora of the territory.-Background:...
.
His works were also translated to English in 2000 under the title The Mexican Treasury: The Writings of Dr. Francisco Hernández, accompanied by Searching for the Secrets of Nature: The Life and Works of Dr. Francisco Hernández that contains information about the life and works of Hernández.
Sources
- Alfredo de Micheli-Serra. Médicos y medicina en la Nueva España del Siglo XVI. Gaceta Médica de México. May/June 2001, vol.137, no.3 (accessed 16 November 2005 available on the World Wide Web: http://scielo-mx.bvs.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0016-38132001000300010&lng=es&nrm=iso. ISSN 0016-3813
- Fundació Catalunya-Amèrica Sant Jeroni de la Murtra revista RE (Edición castellano), "El preguntador" Época 5. número 45. pp. 57–60. julio de 1999 http://www.catalunya-america.org/espanol/preguntador.htm accessed November 16, 2005.