Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain
Encyclopedia
The Royal Botanical Expedition to New Spain was a scientific expedition that took place in the territories of New Spain
between 1787 and 1803.
It was sanctioned in 1786 by King Charles III of Spain
who approved the allotment of financial resources, and headed by Martín Sessé y Lacasta
, who lead a team of botanists selected by the director of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
.
of the New World, who was entrusted with the task of classifying the different academic works left behind by the expelled Jesuits, finds in the library of the Colegio Imperial de Madrid
parts of the original manuscripts from the Francisco Hernández Expedition
of 1570–1577. When José de Gálvez
learned about the findings commended Casimiro Gómez Ortega
, with the updating and publication of the manuscripts.
At the same time, Martín Sessé, a Spanish physician employed by the Real Jardín Botánico who was established in Mexico, wrote to Gómez Ortega suggesting the realization of a "Botanical Expedition" that was to serve two purposes: first to classify the natural resources of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and second to implement new health procedures and education in the colonial territories.
Both circumstances seemed to have convinced the king, who on 20 March 1787 issued a royal decree authorizing the expedition and providing the funds needed.
, Puerto Rico
, and Cuba
, where earlier expeditions had taken place, in order to gather information from the experiences of other scientific teams. He also collaborated in some of he studies being carried out at the time in some of those places, such as in the research for a treatment of a parasitic illness in Cuba.
Back in the mainland Sessé was joined by several Spanish botanists and scientist including Vicente Cervantes
Botany professor in New Spain, José Longinos Martínez
from the Museum of Natural History, Juan Diego del Castillo
pharmacist and botanist, José Maldonado, and José Mariano Mociño
. Among the painters and illustrators who joined the expedition were Juan de la Cerda, and Atanasio Echeverría who later had the genus Echeveria
named after him.
During 1790 the team explored large areas of the territories that comprised New Spain, crossing Michoacán, Sonora and Apatzingan. When they reached Guadalajara, the group split in two, with Mociño, del Castillo and Echeverría heading for Aguas Calientes, via Álamos and Tarahumara, while Sessé traveled to the same destination via an alternative route crossing Sinaloa. When they regrouped in Aguas Calientes in 1792 they were made aware of a Royal provision ordering them to travel to Nootka Island
, which at the time was under litigation between Spain and Great Britain. All explorers set route for the northwest coast, except Juan del Castillo who died from scurvy on 1793, shortly after having finished writing Plantas descritas en el viaje de Acapulco.
After returning from Nootka the expeditionary efforts focused on the southern territories. They were explored by two teams, one lead by Mociño that explored Mixteca and the Tabasco coast, and the other by Sessé that headed for Jalapa and Guaztuco. The two groups reunited in Córdoba, continue to Veracruz and returned to Mexico City via Tehuantepec and Tabasco.
On March 1794 Sessé was granted permission to extend the expedition in order to further explore Central America, specially Guatemala, Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico. The expedition again split into two teams with Sessé and Echeverría going to Cuba, while Mociño, de la Cerda, del Villar and others went to Guatemala.
Sessé was finally ordered to conclude their studies and return to Spain, but it took another two years to compile and classify all the material collected during the different explorations, approximately 1335 drawings and 3500 species (200 new genera and 2500 species new to science). The members of the exploration finally returned to Spain at different times during 1803.
However, due to different political upheavals in Spain during the 19th century, the bulk of the expedition work was not published until the 1880s. Botanists like Cavanilles, Lagasca, Gómez Ortega, Decandolle and others published new species based on Sessé and Mociño's plants and drawings. Other manuscripts from the expedition were published in Mexico on different editions between 1893 and 1994.
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Both Sessé and Mociño were promoted to the Real Academia de Medicina de Madrid, in 1805.
Sessé died on 4 October 1808 and Mociño a few years later. From 1811 he was in charge of reviewing the materials from the expedition, but in 1812 he had to flee Spain, taking refuge in Montpellier where he contacted A. De Candolle, to whom he entrusted the manuscripts and drawings of "Flora Mejicana". When Mociño returned to Spain, his health had already deteriorated, and he died on 19 May 1820. Vicente Cervantes remained in Mexico City until his death on 26 July 1829.
Many of the collected plants, seeds, drawings and engravings ended up in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
, where today they share the available space with other plants collected during other Spanish scientific expeditions.
New Spain
New Spain, formally called the Viceroyalty of New Spain , was a viceroyalty of the Spanish colonial empire, comprising primarily territories in what was known then as 'América Septentrional' or North America. Its capital was Mexico City, formerly Tenochtitlan, capital of the Aztec Empire...
between 1787 and 1803.
It was sanctioned in 1786 by 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...
who approved the allotment of financial resources, and headed 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:...
, who lead a team of botanists selected by the director of the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
The is an botanical garden located at , next to the Prado Museum in Madrid ....
.
Background
Juan Bautista Muñoz, cosmographerCosmography
Cosmography is the science that maps the general features of the universe, describing both heaven and Earth...
of the New World, who was entrusted with the task of classifying the different academic works left behind by the expelled Jesuits, finds in the library of the Colegio Imperial de Madrid
Colegio Imperial de Madrid
Colegio Imperial de Madrid was the name of a Jesuit teaching institution in Madrid....
parts of the original manuscripts from the Francisco Hernández Expedition
Francisco Hernández Expedition (1570-1577)
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...
of 1570–1577. When José de Gálvez
José de Gálvez
José de Gálvez y Gallardo, marqués de Sonora was a Spanish lawyer, a colonial official in New Spain and ultimately Minister of the Indies . He was one of the prime figures behind the Bourbon Reforms...
learned about the findings commended 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...
, with the updating and publication of the manuscripts.
At the same time, Martín Sessé, a Spanish physician employed by the Real Jardín Botánico who was established in Mexico, wrote to Gómez Ortega suggesting the realization of a "Botanical Expedition" that was to serve two purposes: first to classify the natural resources of the Viceroyalty of New Spain, and second to implement new health procedures and education in the colonial territories.
Both circumstances seemed to have convinced the king, who on 20 March 1787 issued a royal decree authorizing the expedition and providing the funds needed.
Preparations
Preparation for the expedition began in 1787 with a series of trips by Sessé to Santo DomingoSanto Domingo
Santo Domingo, known officially as Santo Domingo de Guzmán, is the capital and largest city in the Dominican Republic. Its metropolitan population was 2,084,852 in 2003, and estimated at 3,294,385 in 2010. The city is located on the Caribbean Sea, at the mouth of the Ozama River...
, Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico , officially the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico , is an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the northeastern Caribbean, east of the Dominican Republic and west of both the United States Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.Puerto Rico comprises an...
, and Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
, where earlier expeditions had taken place, in order to gather information from the experiences of other scientific teams. He also collaborated in some of he studies being carried out at the time in some of those places, such as in the research for a treatment of a parasitic illness in Cuba.
Back in the mainland Sessé was joined by several Spanish botanists and scientist including Vicente Cervantes
Vicente Cervantes
Vicente de Cervantes was a notable Spanish and Mexican physician and botanist.-Background:Don Vicente Cervantes was a contemporary of Martín Sessé y Lacasta and corresponded with Jean-Louis Berlandier, the French naturalist who botanized in Mexico and Texas as part of the Mexican Boundary...
Botany professor in New Spain, José Longinos Martínez
José Longinos Martínez
José Longinos Martínez was a Spanish naturalist whose account of his travels through Baja California Sur, Baja California, and California in 1792 provided an important early account of the region, its fauna, flora, minerals, and native inhabitants....
from the Museum of Natural History, Juan Diego del Castillo
Juan Diego del Castillo
Juan Diego del Castillo was a Spanish pharmacist and botanist who joined Vicente Cervantes in Mexico. Castillo wrote Plantas descritas en el viaje de Acapulco. He died in Mexico. Castillo had been a contemporary of Martín Sessé y Lacasta...
pharmacist and botanist, José Maldonado, and José Mariano Mociño
José Mariano Mociño
José Mariano Mociño Suárez Lozano , or simply José Mariano Mociño, was a naturalist from New Spain.After having studied philosophy and medicine, he conducted early research on the ecology , geology, and anthropology of his country and other parts of North America.- Biography :He was born in...
. Among the painters and illustrators who joined the expedition were Juan de la Cerda, and Atanasio Echeverría who later had the genus Echeveria
Echeveria
Echeveria is a large genus of succulents in the Crassulaceae family, native from Mexico to northwestern South America. The genus is named after the 18th century Mexican botanical artist Atanasio Echeverría y Godoy...
named after him.
Expedition
During the first year the members of the expedition only made short journeys into the countryside besides assisting in the creation of Mexico's Botanical Garden, on March 27, 1788. On May of the same year the team began exploring the areas of Cuernavaca, Tixtla, Chilpanzingo and Acapulco, among others.During 1790 the team explored large areas of the territories that comprised New Spain, crossing Michoacán, Sonora and Apatzingan. When they reached Guadalajara, the group split in two, with Mociño, del Castillo and Echeverría heading for Aguas Calientes, via Álamos and Tarahumara, while Sessé traveled to the same destination via an alternative route crossing Sinaloa. When they regrouped in Aguas Calientes in 1792 they were made aware of a Royal provision ordering them to travel to Nootka Island
Nootka Island
Nootka Island is an island near Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. It contains 534 km² of area. It is separated from Vancouver Island by Nootka Sound and its side-inlets....
, which at the time was under litigation between Spain and Great Britain. All explorers set route for the northwest coast, except Juan del Castillo who died from scurvy on 1793, shortly after having finished writing Plantas descritas en el viaje de Acapulco.
After returning from Nootka the expeditionary efforts focused on the southern territories. They were explored by two teams, one lead by Mociño that explored Mixteca and the Tabasco coast, and the other by Sessé that headed for Jalapa and Guaztuco. The two groups reunited in Córdoba, continue to Veracruz and returned to Mexico City via Tehuantepec and Tabasco.
On March 1794 Sessé was granted permission to extend the expedition in order to further explore Central America, specially Guatemala, Cuba, Santo Domingo and Puerto Rico. The expedition again split into two teams with Sessé and Echeverría going to Cuba, while Mociño, de la Cerda, del Villar and others went to Guatemala.
Sessé was finally ordered to conclude their studies and return to Spain, but it took another two years to compile and classify all the material collected during the different explorations, approximately 1335 drawings and 3500 species (200 new genera and 2500 species new to science). The members of the exploration finally returned to Spain at different times during 1803.
Publications
During the years following their return to Spain Sessé and Mociño published a few medical works that covered political topics, such as Sessé's writings on the eradication of the yellow fever, prevalent in Southern Spain in 1804, pointing out to environmental and hygiene conditions that had been disregarded until then.However, due to different political upheavals in Spain during the 19th century, the bulk of the expedition work was not published until the 1880s. Botanists like Cavanilles, Lagasca, Gómez Ortega, Decandolle and others published new species based on Sessé and Mociño's plants and drawings. Other manuscripts from the expedition were published in Mexico on different editions between 1893 and 1994.
Aftermath
Sessé died on 4 October 1808 and Mociño a few years later. From 1811 he was in charge of reviewing the materials from the expedition, but in 1812 he had to flee Spain, taking refuge in Montpellier where he contacted A. De Candolle, to whom he entrusted the manuscripts and drawings of "Flora Mejicana". When Mociño returned to Spain, his health had already deteriorated, and he died on 19 May 1820. Vicente Cervantes remained in Mexico City until his death on 26 July 1829.
Many of the collected plants, seeds, drawings and engravings ended up in the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid
Real Jardín Botánico de Madrid
The is an botanical garden located at , next to the Prado Museum in Madrid ....
, where today they share the available space with other plants collected during other Spanish scientific expeditions.
See also
- Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of PeruBotanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of PeruThe Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru took place in the territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru and Chile between 1777 and 1788.It was commissioned by King Charles III of Spain and headed by botanists Hipólito Ruiz López, José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Joseph Dombey.-Background:During...
- Royal Botanical Expedition to New GranadaRoyal Botanical Expedition to New GranadaThe Royal Botanical Expedition to New Granada took place between 1783 and 1816 in the territories of New Granada, covering present-day Colombia, Ecuador, Panama, Venezuela, Peru and northern Brazil and western Guyana....
External links
- Sessé and Mociño Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Garden of Madrid