Venezuela 1799–1800 Alexander von Humboldt

humboldt , bonpland in amazon rainforest casiquiare river, scientific instruments, enabled them take many types of accurate measurements throughout five-year journey. oil painting eduard ender, 1856.



map of cassiquiare canal based on humboldt s 1799 observations

armed authorization king of spain, humboldt , bonpland made haste sail, taking ship pizarro coruña, on 5 june 1799. ship stopped 6 days on island of tenerife, humboldt climbed volcano teide, , sailed on new world, landing @ cumaná, venezuela, on 16 july.

the ship s destination not cumaná, outbreak of typhoid on board captain changed course havana land in northern south america. humboldt had not mapped out specific plan of exploration, change did not upend fixed itinerary. later wrote diversion venezuela made possible explorations along orinoco river border of portuguese brazil. diversion, pizarro encountered 2 large dugout canoes each carrying 18 guayaqui indians. pizarro s, captain accepted offer of 1 of them serve pilot. humboldt hired indian, named carlos del pino, guide.

venezuela sixteenth century eighteenth relative backwater compared seats of spanish viceroyalties based in new spain (mexico) , peru, during bourbon reforms, northern portion of spanish south america reorganized administratively, 1777 establishment of captaincy-general based @ caracas. great deal of information on new jurisdiction had been compiled françois de pons , published in 1806. rather describe administrative center of caracas, humboldt started researches valley of aragua export crops of sugar, coffee, cacao, , cotton cultivated. cacao plantations profitable world demand chocolate rose.

humboldt visited mission @ caripe , explored guácharo cavern, found oilbird, make known science steatornis caripensis. described guanoco asphalt lake spring of priest ( quelle des guten priesters ). returning cumaná, humboldt observed, on night of 11–12 november, remarkable meteor shower (the leonids). proceeded bonpland caracas climbed avila mount young poet andrés bello, former tutor of simón bolívar, later became leader of independence in northern south america. humboldt met venezuelan bolívar himself in 1804 in paris , spent time him in rome. documentary record not support supposition humboldt inspired bolívar participate in struggle independence, indicate bolívar s admiration humboldt s production of new knowledge on spanish america.

in february 1800, humboldt , bonpland left coast purpose of exploring course of orinoco river , tributaries. trip, lasted 4 months , covered 1,725 miles (2,776 km) of wild , largely uninhabited country, had important result of establishing existence of casiquiare canal (a communication between water-systems of rivers orinoco , amazon), , of determining exact position of bifurcation, documenting life of several native tribes such maipures , extinct rivals atures (several words of latter tribe transferred humboldt 1 parrot). around 19 march 1800, humboldt , bonpland discovered dangerous electric eels, shock kill man. catch them, locals suggested drive wild horses river, brought eels out river mud, , resulted in violent confrontation of eels , horses, of died. humboldt , bonpland captured , dissected eels, retained ability shock; both received potentially dangerous electric shocks during investigations. encounter made humboldt think more electricity , magnetism, typical of ability extrapolate observation more general principles. humboldt returned incident in several of later writings, including travelogue personal narrative (1814–29), views of nature (1807), , aspects of nature (1849).

two months later explored territory of maypures , of extinct aturès indians. humboldt laid rest persistent myth of walter raleigh s lake parime proposing seasonal flooding of rupununi savannah had been misidentified lake.