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Essay / Research Paper Abstract
A 5 page analysis of Alexander Von Humboldt's personal accounts of South America in the early eighteenth century. A gifted naturalist, his accounts are interesting and informative of nineteenth century bias, as well as So. American reality. No additional sources cited.
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6 pages (~225 words per page)
File: KE9_99avh.rtf
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Europeans (18). Humboldt, as an adult and a professional naturalist, achieved his wish and set sail for the "New Continent" on June 5th of 1799 (22). Few travelers
have ever provided such a richly detailed account of sights and sounds as did Humboldt of this journey. In so doing, he gave posterity a fascinating glimpse of colonial
society in northern South America?as told by someone who was actually there. Additionally, through his obvious and inadvertent errors, he also tells the modern reader a great deal about
how an eighteenth century European viewed the world. For example, when Humboldt is describing Santa Cruz he observes that the city is surrounded by numerous windmills for corn (37).
He states that cereal grasses were known to the original inhabitants and that parched barley-four and goats milk formed their principal diet. From this, Humboldt deduces that the people of
Santa Cruz are connected with the nations of the old continent. Humboldt goes on to suggest that they?perhaps--are even somehow connected with those of the "Caucasian race, and not
with the inhabitants of the New World, who, previous to the arrival of the Europeans among them, had no knowledge of grains, milk or cheese" (37). He tends to make
such quick and facile deductions. However, on direct observation, Humboldt is flawless, and many of his other cultural observations are also accurate. At each stop in his journey, Humboldt
describes in detail the natural environment including the physical geography, the climate, the chief crops produced locally and, in general, gives a comprehensive overall view of the surrounding countryside. While
particularly the descriptions of nature given by Humboldt sound fresh and modern, other passages reflect an eighteenth century sensibility. For example, Humboldt describes the slave market in Cumana as
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