Natural History & Exploration Flashcards
William Dampier
Expedition in 1697 to Pacific
Ethnographic and natural history observations
Impact of Dampier’s expedition
Made scientific societies more interested in fact-finding expeditions
Dampier’s progression after expedition
Made civilian captain of royal navy
Expedition aims at start of 18th c.
discovery of new passages and trade routes
Collaboration between france, spain and sweden
At equator and lapland to find shape of earth
Date of astronomical collaboration
1756-1763
Why did astronomers collaborate?
To find mean distance of earth to sun by observing transit of venus across the sun
Who led the observations of venus?
Joseph-Nicolas Delisle (French)
What did Delisle do?
Observed transit of venus in Russia in 1753, then made map of locations for 1761 eclipse and distributed across europe
What did astronomers do on their expeditions
Also took observations and collections in Natural History
Why was Endeavour expedition done?
To observe Venus in Tahiti in 1769
What is the Endeavour expedition most famous for now?
Jospeph Banks’ botanical findings
A popular route that was being explored
Around Cape Horn
What did Cape Horn expeditions acheive
Discovery of other islands eg Tahiti& Mauritius
Bougainville expedition dates
1768-9
Commerson’s work
Naturalist on Bougainville
Dropped off at Mauritius
Became interested in role of climate and deforestation on moisture of atmosphere
Commerson’s books
helped make island/garden “paradises” popular in France
Who sent out many natural history expeditions and when?
Linnaeus in 30’s
View of botany/natural history in Britain
Fashionable by mid 18th c.
Role of East& West India Companies
Imported exotic species
Who led Endeavour?
James Cook
Who funded Endeavour?
the Crown & Royal Society
What land mass did Endeavour try to find?
‘terra australis’
Had to survey the flora and fauna, minerals and people
Wanted to exploit the new lands
Where did Cook manage to explore?
Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia (New Holland), New Guinea
Linnaeus on Endeavour findings
“a matchless and truly astonishing collection, such that has never been seen before, nor may ever be seen again”
Expeditions after Endeavour
Much more emphasis placed on science- illustrators, naturalists and astronomers sent regularly
Longitude act
1714
£20,000 for most accurate (+-0.5’) method
Device used to find longitude
Chronometer
-time difference = longitude
Issue with scurvy
More people lost to it than enemy action
Who first experimented with scurvy treatment
James Lind, 1746
-6 different remedies
Endeavour scurvy trial
1768
Eventual treatment of scurvy
Lemons only accepted in late 90’s by Royal Navy
Banks’ highest position acheived
President of Royal Society
How Banks got natural history more popular/important
Gave Admiralty and Board of Trade information in return for help in natural history expeditions
Where did Banks manage to send expeditions
China, Africa etc
Contacts of Banks
Collectors around the world
Henry Dudas- secretary of the Board of Control of the East India Company- influenced their policies on botany
Advances in Natural history by end of 18th c.
Actually analysed their samples using more advanced methods and equipment
Expedition to Middle East
Carsten Niebuhr to Saudi Arabia
Who was most interested in Islamic literature
Physicians
-inspired papers on treatment of small pox, measles and parasitic guinea worm
trade methods in China
Used scientific instruments and knowledge to gain diplomatic foothold
Instruments given to Chinese
Planetarium
Chronometer
Chinese response to instruments
Not interested
-didn’t let it spread as it would give the people more power
Knowledge gained from Spanish America
None- colonialism wiped out all non-western scientific traditions there
Global trade and increased scientific understanding
new food and medicine discovered, people wanted to know more about them-> science
Why did Europeans make a species naming system
In order to dominate trade of plants etc
Use of instruments abroad
Emblems of European power
So development and dispersion encouraged
So more reason for scientific development
