Travels into North America
Containing its Natural History, with the Civil, Ecclesiastical and Commercial State of the Country

Finnish-Swedish botanist Peter Kalm's influential observations about North America, translated into English and published in three volumes in 1770–1.

Peter Kalm (Author), John Reinhold Forster (Translated by)

9781108031509, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 2 June 2011

366 pages, 4 b/w illus.
21.6 x 14 x 2.1 cm, 0.47 kg

Peter Kalm (1716–79) was a Finnish-Swedish botanist who travelled extensively to observe the natural world in Sweden, Finland, Russia and Ukraine, and became a professor of 'oeconomie' - the economic application of subjects such as mineralogy, botany, zoology and chemistry - at the university of Turku. Between 1747 and 1751 he set out on a journey through eastern North America to gather specimens, especially from regions with a similar climate to Sweden. Because Kalm travelled though the area when much of it was still unknown to Europeans, this work has some of the first recorded accounts of places such as Niagara Falls. Kalm played an important part in forging scientific links between Sweden, England and North America. This three-volume work details his travels, and was first published in English in 1770–1. Volume 2 gives detailed descriptions of the plants and animals Kalm observes in New Jersey and New York.

Peter Kalm's travels, December 1748–June 1749
Meteorological observations.

Subject Areas: Historical geography [HBTP]