Science and Politics
Origins and Objectives of Mid-Nineteenth Century Government Expeditions to Latin America
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2820433 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J P Harrison (0000-0002-7076-9072, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1955 |
| Volume | 35 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 175 |
| Publication date | 1955-05-01 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Hispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2508721 |
| OpenAlex | W4238738999, W2317552776 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 2 |
EXPEDITIONS sent by the United States Government to explore foreign lands during the nineteenth century were peculiarly crowded into the years between the end of the Mexican War and the outbreak of the Civil War. These expeditions, all carried out by the Navy and all having scientific objectives as a part of their official instructions, were sent to the Arctic, the Near East, the Orient, and South America during this fifteen-year period. The crest of this spate of government-supported scientific explorations came in 1852 when, in South America alone, naval personnel were to be found in, about to leave for, or just returning from inland expeditions to the Argentine Confederation, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, New Granada, Paraguay, and Peru. It has generally been assumed by those who have written about these expeditions that the object of the United States in sending them out was advancement of science and that they had no connection with the spirit of Manifest Destiny which played so conspicuous a part in the politics of the era. The study of the promotion of the expeditions and the interests of those who helped to plan or to execute them, however, suggests that there was an intermingling of scientific, commercial, and even of colonizing interests involved in varying degrees. The expeditions discussed here are: the United States Exploring Expedition, 1838-42; the United States Naval Astronomical Expedition to the Southern Hemisphere, 1849-52; the Amazon explorations of Lt. William Lewis Herndon and Passed Midshipman Lardner Gibbon, 1851-52; and the Expedition to Explore and Survey the Rio de la Plata and its Tributaries, 1853-56. * The author is Latin American specialist in the National Archives, Washington, D. C. Mrs. Elizabeth Buck, Prof. Charles Griffin, and Miss Florence Nichol assisted in the final preparation of this paper and their help is hereby gratefully acknowledged
Ancient history · Archaeology · Destiny (ISS module · Economic history · Ethnology · Government (linguistics · Latin Americans · Manifest destiny · Navy · Political science · Politics · Spanish Civil War · Archaeology and Natural History · Historical Studies in Science · History · History of Science and Natural History · Law · Philosophy · Science and Science Education
| Citations per year | 0.06 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 1979 - 2012 (34) |
| Highly cited | No |