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This series focuses on colonial Latin America and the Caribbean. It includes historical and statistical reference works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, reports describing scientific, archaeological and ethnological expeditions and editions of accounts from the earliest period of European settlement.

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66 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Latin American Studies

Page 4 of 4

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
  • During the Years 1799–1804
  • Volume 7
  • Alexander von Humboldt, Aimé Bonpland
  • Translated by Helen Maria Williams
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1829
  • 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 (1814–25), consists of seven volumes and was published in London between 1814 and 1829. Volume 7 (1829) focuses mainly on the geography of Cuba, its slave population and sugar production, and ends with Humboldt's experiences in Colombia.

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
  • During the Years 1799–1804
  • Volume 3
  • Alexander von Humboldt, Aimé Bonpland
  • Translated by Helen Maria Williams
  • Published online:
    05 August 2011
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1818
  • 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 3 (1818) describes the mountains, flora and fauna of Venezuela, and its indigenous peoples, especially the Chayma, focusing particularly on their language.

The West Indies
  • The Natural and Physical History of the Windward and Leeward Colonies
  • Andrew Halliday
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    25 November 2010
    First published in:
    1837
  • Sir Andrew Halliday (1782–1839) served as a surgeon in the Peninsular War, and then as a royal physician. In 1832 he was appointed Inspector of Hospitals in the West Indies until ill-health forced his return to Scotland. During his time there he collected the information for this work, published in 1837. His study of the Windward and Leeward Islands in the West Indies is comprehensive. He covers the colonisation, administration, religious, social and economic history of the islands, flora and fauna, and the climate and diseases of the region. Trinidad he judged to be the most unhealthy of the islands, with malaria being a serious problem due to the terrain and vegetation. He kept meteorological records, and commented on seasonal patterns of illnesses. He also discusses the effects of the abolition of slavery, believing that the scare-mongering of the anti-abolitionists had been proved false.

A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro, with an Account of the Native Tribes, and Observations on the Climate, Geology, and Natural History of the Amazon
  • Alfred Russel Wallace
  • Published online:
    05 July 2011
    Print publication:
    11 February 2010
    First published in:
    1853
  • A friend of Charles Darwin and a social activist respected by John Stuart Mill, Alfred R. Wallace (1823–1913) was an outstanding nineteenth-century intellectual. Wallace, renowned in his time as the co-discoverer of natural selection, was a young schoolteacher when he began his exciting career as an explorer-naturalist, and set off for Brazil in 1848 with Henry Walter Bates. A Narrative of Travels on the Amazon and Rio Negro (1853) is the stimulating and engaging result of this first expedition and a precursor to his best-selling Malay Archipelago (1869). The depth and breadth of Wallace's observations in this book as naturalist, anthropologist and geologist are remarkable, and it is tantalising to learn that half his notes and 'the greater part of [his] collections and sketches' were lost at sea when his ship was burned on his voyage home.

A Voyage up the River Amazon
  • Including a Residence at Pará
  • William H. Edwards
  • Published online:
    05 October 2010
    Print publication:
    27 May 2010
    First published in:
    1847
  • William H. Edwards (1822–1909) was an American entomologist and naturalist whose work made a significant contribution to scientific study. First published in 1847, this is Edwards' personal account of his famous expedition to the Amazon basin. It relates his voyage from New York, short residence in the city of Pará and exploration of the local jungle. An expert observer, Edwards describes in fascinating detail the animals, plants and geography of the region, communicating his delight at each discovery. Highlights of the volume include vivid depictions of encounters with anacondas and electric eels, exotic fruits and birds, and observations on the customs of the local Portuguese and native populations. Intended for use by both the naturalist and the general reader, this book will captivate anyone interested in the history of travel and exploration, as well as the development of scientific study in the tropics.

Rough Notes Taken during some Rapid Journeys across the Pampas and among the Andes
  • Francis Bond Head
  • Published online:
    29 August 2010
    Print publication:
    20 July 2009
    First published in:
    1826
  • Sir Francis Bond Head (1793–1875) known as 'Galloping Head', was a soldier who later served as lieutenant-governor of Upper Canada, but who was dismissed from his post when rebellion broke out there in 1837. Before this, he had tried unsuccessfully to set up a mining company in Argentina. It is from this period of his life that the characteristically entitled Rough Notes Taken During Some Rapid Journeys Across the Pampas and Among the Andes (published in 1826) were written, in a headlong and jocular style which belies the actual hardships of his journey. Part of the interest of the account today lies in the fact that Charles Darwin had read it and referred to it frequently and admiringly in his letters home as he traversed the same country six years later: 'Do you know Head's book? it gives an excellent account of the manners of this country'.

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