History of Ecological Sciences, part 65: Early Studies in Amazonia, Orellana/Carvajal to Roosevelt

Abstract

Amazonia's distinctiveness is widely recognized. The Amazon river carries the greatest volume of water in the world, and is also the longest, at 4345 miles long, vs. the Nile, at 4132 miles. The National Geographic Society has published two fine maps on it: Amazonia: A World Resource at Risk (1992) and Amazonia: the Human Impact (2015). The Smithsonian Institution has sponsored a fabulous Atlas of the Amazon (2003), with text by Michael Goulding, Ronaldo Barthem, and Efrem Ferreira, and maps by Roy Duenas. Some aspects of the history of its scientific study are already available. Robin Chazdon and T.C. Whitmore compiled a sourcebook, Foundations of Tropical Forest Biology (2002), with five of 56 selections from the period discussed below (only three being relevant to Amazonia). Some authors of books on Amazonia, such as English historian-geographer John Hemming (b. 1935), had first-hand knowledge of the setting of their studies. I have not been to Amazonia, but neither have historians of articles on ancient or medieval science been to ancient or medieval settings. The abundant literature on Amazonia, past and present, provides the foundation for this study.