Login
Create Account
Canadian Store (CAD)
You are currently shopping in our Canadian store. For orders outside of Canada, please switch to our international store. International and US orders are billed in US dollars.
 |
Humboldt’s MexicoIn the Footsteps of the Illustrious German Scientific Traveller |
eBook Available
A study of a gifted scientist and visionary who embodies the spirit of adventure and discovery.
The incalculable influence of Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) on biology, botany, geology, and meteorology deservedly earned him the reputation as the world’s most illustrious scientist before Charles Darwin. Humboldt’s breath-taking explorations of Mexico and South America from 1799 to 1804 are akin to Europe’s second “discovery” of the New World - this time, a scientific one. His Political Essay on the Kingdom of New Spain is a foundational document about Mexico and its cultures and is still widely consulted by anthropologists, geographers, and historians.
In Humboldt’s Mexico, Myron Echenberg presents a straightforward guide with historical and cultural context to Humboldt’s travels in Mexico. Humboldt packed a lifetime of scientific studies into one daunting year, and soon after published a four-volume account of his findings. His adventures range widely from inspections of colonial silver mines and hikes to the summits of volcanoes to meticulous examination of secret Spanish colonial archives in Mexico City and scientific discussions of archaeological sites of pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures. Echenberg traces Humboldt’s journey, as described in his publications, his diary, and other writings, across the heartland of Mexico, while also pursuing Humboldt’s life, his science, his experiences, his influence on scholars of his time and after, and the various efforts by others to honour and at times to denigrate his legacy.
Part history, part travelogue, and always highly readable and informative, Humboldt’s Mexico is an engaging account of a gifted scientist and visionary that ranges across topics as diverse and broad as natural history was in his era.
In Humboldt’s Mexico, Myron Echenberg presents a straightforward guide with historical and cultural context to Humboldt’s travels in Mexico. Humboldt packed a lifetime of scientific studies into one daunting year, and soon after published a four-volume account of his findings. His adventures range widely from inspections of colonial silver mines and hikes to the summits of volcanoes to meticulous examination of secret Spanish colonial archives in Mexico City and scientific discussions of archaeological sites of pre-Hispanic Indigenous cultures. Echenberg traces Humboldt’s journey, as described in his publications, his diary, and other writings, across the heartland of Mexico, while also pursuing Humboldt’s life, his science, his experiences, his influence on scholars of his time and after, and the various efforts by others to honour and at times to denigrate his legacy.
Part history, part travelogue, and always highly readable and informative, Humboldt’s Mexico is an engaging account of a gifted scientist and visionary that ranges across topics as diverse and broad as natural history was in his era.
Details
288 Pages, 6 x 9
19 b&w photos, 7 colour photos, 1 map, 2 tables
ISBN 9780773549401
May 2017
Formats: Cloth, eBook
“A mediation inspired by Alexander von Humboldt’s 1803-04 journey in Mexico, Myron Echenberg has written an engaging, significant, and wide-ranging account. As a result of both diligent research and careful writing, Humboldt’s Mexico is an important contribution to both the study of Humboldt and to the examination of Mexico in the last years of its colonial experience.” William Beezley, University of Arizona
“Myron Echenberg’s lustrous book should take Humboldt’s work and ideas to a whole new generation of readers.” Literary Review of Canada
“Myron Echenberg’s lustrous book should take Humboldt’s work and ideas to a whole new generation of readers.” Literary Review of Canada
Myron Echenberg is professor emeritus of history and classical studies at McGill University.
Contents
Illustration Sources and Abbreviations • vii
Figures, Map, and Tables • ix
Chronology and Map of Humboldt’s Itinerary in New Spain,
1803-1804 • xi
Mesoamerican Chronology • xiii
Preface • xv
Acknowledgments • xix
Introduction: Humboldt’s Achievements • xxi
Prologue: Humboldt’s Mexican Adventure in
Historical Context • xxxiii
PART ONE
Arrival in Mexico, 23 March to 12 April 1803:
From Acapulco to Mexico City
1 Acapulco: The Place of Broken Reeds • 3
2 Diego Rivera’s Imagery • 11
3 Chilpancingo and Guerrero State: A Gruelling Climb through
the Rugged Sierra Madre del Sur Mountain Range • 19
4 Humboldt and Colonial Governance in New Spain • 25
5 Taxco: The Baroque Legacy of the First Great Colonial
Silver Mine • 34
6 William Spratling and Silver Jewellery Design in Taxco • 39
7 Cuernavaca: A Brief Stay in the Valley of Eternal Spring • 53
8 Ecological and Economic History in the Mexican Tableland
Valleys of Anáhuac (Toluca, Mexico, and Puebla) • 61
9 Mexico City: Humboldt’s Stay in the City of Palaces • 74
10 Culture and Higher Learning in Humboldt’s Mexico • 84
PART TWO
Visits to the Mexican Heartland, 14 May to 10 October 1803:
Silver Mines and Active Volcanoes
11 Pachuca, Land of Mines, and Mining Haciendas • 101
12 Cornishmen and Women Settle in the Pachuca Region • 109
13 Guanajuato: An Exhausting Month at New Spain’s Richest
Silver Mine • 116
14 Humboldt the Mining Inspector and Mexican Silver Mining • 123
15 Morelia (Colonial Valladolid): Colonial Crafts and the Ascent
of a Live Volcano • 135
16 The Principal Volcanoes of the Mexican Highlands • 142
PART THREE
Homeward Bound, 30 January to 7 March 1804:
Demography, Disease, and Departure from Veracruz
17 Puebla: Churches, Libraries, and Beautiful Pottery • 157
18 Humboldt to the Fore Again: Water Issues and Mexican
Demographic History • 164
19 Xalapa: A Brief Stay in the City of Flowers • 169
20 The Ruins of Zempoala in the Gulf Lowlands • 174
21 Veracruz: Journey’s End • 182
22 The Impact of Smallpox and Yellow Fever on Mexico • 190
Conclusion: Humboldt’s Legacy • 198
A Guide to Publications by or about Alexander von Humboldt
in Mexico • 209
A Guide to Readings on Humboldt • 213
Citations • 215
Bibliography • 219
Index • 227
Illustration Sources and Abbreviations • vii
Figures, Map, and Tables • ix
Chronology and Map of Humboldt’s Itinerary in New Spain,
1803-1804 • xi
Mesoamerican Chronology • xiii
Preface • xv
Acknowledgments • xix
Introduction: Humboldt’s Achievements • xxi
Prologue: Humboldt’s Mexican Adventure in
Historical Context • xxxiii
PART ONE
Arrival in Mexico, 23 March to 12 April 1803:
From Acapulco to Mexico City
1 Acapulco: The Place of Broken Reeds • 3
2 Diego Rivera’s Imagery • 11
3 Chilpancingo and Guerrero State: A Gruelling Climb through
the Rugged Sierra Madre del Sur Mountain Range • 19
4 Humboldt and Colonial Governance in New Spain • 25
5 Taxco: The Baroque Legacy of the First Great Colonial
Silver Mine • 34
6 William Spratling and Silver Jewellery Design in Taxco • 39
7 Cuernavaca: A Brief Stay in the Valley of Eternal Spring • 53
8 Ecological and Economic History in the Mexican Tableland
Valleys of Anáhuac (Toluca, Mexico, and Puebla) • 61
9 Mexico City: Humboldt’s Stay in the City of Palaces • 74
10 Culture and Higher Learning in Humboldt’s Mexico • 84
PART TWO
Visits to the Mexican Heartland, 14 May to 10 October 1803:
Silver Mines and Active Volcanoes
11 Pachuca, Land of Mines, and Mining Haciendas • 101
12 Cornishmen and Women Settle in the Pachuca Region • 109
13 Guanajuato: An Exhausting Month at New Spain’s Richest
Silver Mine • 116
14 Humboldt the Mining Inspector and Mexican Silver Mining • 123
15 Morelia (Colonial Valladolid): Colonial Crafts and the Ascent
of a Live Volcano • 135
16 The Principal Volcanoes of the Mexican Highlands • 142
PART THREE
Homeward Bound, 30 January to 7 March 1804:
Demography, Disease, and Departure from Veracruz
17 Puebla: Churches, Libraries, and Beautiful Pottery • 157
18 Humboldt to the Fore Again: Water Issues and Mexican
Demographic History • 164
19 Xalapa: A Brief Stay in the City of Flowers • 169
20 The Ruins of Zempoala in the Gulf Lowlands • 174
21 Veracruz: Journey’s End • 182
22 The Impact of Smallpox and Yellow Fever on Mexico • 190
Conclusion: Humboldt’s Legacy • 198
A Guide to Publications by or about Alexander von Humboldt
in Mexico • 209
A Guide to Readings on Humboldt • 213
Citations • 215
Bibliography • 219
Index • 227
