Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
During the Years 1799–1804

A seven-volume English translation, published 1814–1829, of a major work describing Humboldt's 1799–1805 scientific expedition to South America.

Alexander von Humboldt (Author), Aimé Bonpland (Author), Helen Maria Williams (Translated by)

9781108027946, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

310 pages, 1 map
21.6 x 1.8 x 14 cm, 0.4 kg

The Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was one of the most famous explorers of his generation. Charles Darwin called him 'the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived'. In 1799, Humboldt and the botanist Aimé Bonpland secured permission from the Spanish crown for a voyage to South America. They left from Madrid and spent five years exploring the continent. Humboldt reported his findings in a total of thirty volumes, published in French over a period of more than twenty years beginning in 1805. This English translation by Helen Maria Williams of one important component of Humboldt's account, the Relation historique du voyage (1814–1825), consists of seven volumes and was published in London between 1814 and 1829. Volume 2 (1814) contains extensive physical observations of latitude, longitude, weather conditions and ocean temperature recorded during the voyage, and describes the expedition's arrival in Venezuela.

Book I: 3. Passage from Teneriffe to the coasts of South America. The Island of Tobago. Arrival at Cumana
Book II: 4. First abode at Cumana. Banks of the Manzanares
5. Peninsula of Araya. Salt-marshes. Ruins of the castle of San Giacomo.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]