Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent (Penguin Classics)

Map -- Historical Introduction by Malcolm Nicolson -- Introduction by Jason Wilson -- Acknowledgments -- Chronology -- Further Reading --- PERSONAL NARRATIVE -- Author's Introduction.;"Alexander von Humboldt visited the tropics of the New World between 1799 and 1804. On his return he wrote this book, a classic work of travel that is also one of the great products of Enlightenment natural science. In his lifetime, Humboldt was described as "next to Napoleon, the most famous man in Europe". An admirer of the French Revolution, a Neptunist, an anti-slavist, a lover of Rousseau and Bernardin de Saint-Pierre, and a close friend of Goethe (whom he resembled), he was also a profound influence upon Darwin and the course of Victorian science, as well as upon the proponents of new world independence."--Publisher description. One of the greatest nineteenth-century scientist-explorers, Alexander von Humboldt traversed the tropical Spanish Americas between 1799 and 1804. By the time of his death in 1859, he had won international fame for his scientific discoveries, his observations of Native American peoples and his detailed descriptions of the flora and fauna of the 'new continent'. The first to draw and speculate on Aztec art, to observe reverse polarity in magnetism and to discover why America is called America, his writings profoundly influenced the course of Victorian culture, causing Darwin to reflect: 'He alone gives any notion of the feelings which are raised in the mind on first entering the Tropics'.