Imperial Eyes: 1735, Linnaeus, and the emergence of planetary consciousness
1735 and the birth of a planetary consciousness
Two pivotal European events in 1735:
Publication of Carl Linnaeus’ Systema Naturae
Launch of Europe’s first major international scientific expedition to determine the Earth’s shape
Chapter focuses on a new European self-understanding: a planetary consciousness oriented toward interior exploration and global meaning-making through natural history.
This consciousness is identified as a basic element in forming modern Eurocentrism.
Contrasts old navigational/world-map practices with a new interior-focused, classificatory science of nature.
The two 1735 watershed events in detail
The Systema Naturae (1735): Linnaeus’ universal classificatory system for plants (later animals and minerals) based on reproductive parts.
Core idea: a single, universal scheme to categorize Earth’s plant forms.
Key features: Basic configurations of stamens and pistils ( later ) and four visual parameters ().
Aim: bring order to botany; Linnaeus called classification the "Ariadne thread."
Outcome: Initiated a continental-scale science-building project; Linnaeus’ followers propagated globally.
Impact: Natural history became a narrative thread in travel accounts; botanical description central to exploration.
The La Condamine Expedition (1735–1745+): Europe’s first major international scientific ascent into the interior of South America.
Purpose: resolve whether the earth is a sphere or a spheroid flattened at the poles (Newton’s hypothesis).
Teams: French contingent to Lapland (Maupertuis); South American expedition (Godin, La Condamine, Ulloa, Juan).
Political backdrop: Expedition aims collided with Spain’s colonial interests and local authorities.
Major challenges: Logistics of interior exploration (climate, travel, instruments, sickness), political intrigue, and inter-personal rivalries.
The expedition’s failure: French group disintegrated; central question settled in favor of Newton’s view.
Notable outcomes:
Bouguer’s Abridged Relation (1744): Blended measurements with hardship.
La Condamine’s Brief Narrative (1745): Focused on Amazon journey, mythic geography (El Dorado, Amazons).
Ulloa and Juan’s Voyage to South America (1747): Civic description, data-rich; plus clandestine Noticias secretas de América (critical of colonial rule).
Broader significance: Highlights emergence of travel writing focused on interior exploration and natural history; illustrates science’s political economy.
The texts that emerged from the La Condamine expedition
Bouguer’s Abridged Relation of a Voyage to Peru (1744): Blended science with hardship; cautious notes on mines; Indigenous wariness.
La Condamine’s Brief Narrative of Travels through the Interior of South America (1745): Amazon journey, maps, mythic geography; explored quinine, vaccination, rubber, curare, measurement standardization.
Ulloa and Juan’s Voyage to South America (1747): Informational, civic-description; clandestine Noticias secretas de América critical of colonial governance.
Other participants and fates:
Jussieu (naturalist): stayed, mental collapse, research lost.
Isabela Godin des Odonais: celebrated survival narrative of Amazon journey; symbolic reversal of conquest.
Broader significance: Diverse travel writing genres; early European expansion relied on natural history and interior exploration for global power; travel writing shaped public perception.
The “carpet beyond the selvage” and interior exploration
Metaphor: interior exploration as the next frontier after coastal navigation; broadens Europe’s global sense.
Emphasized as essential to fuller world understanding.
La Condamine expedition: early example of interior exploration, foreshadowing later natural history travel writing.
By late 18th century: interior exploration became dominant model for European expansion and knowledge-building; natural history became core narrative engine for travel writing.
The System of Nature (Linnaeus) and the rise of natural history
Linnaeus (1735): Universal taxonomy for plants based on reproductive structures.
Mechanism: classify by number, form, position, and relative size of reproductive parts ( configurations).
Naming: binomial nomenclature (genus + species) using Latin.
Perceived as simplifying and ordering nature.
Linnaeus’ influence and reach:
Followers collected specimens globally; formed herbaria and botanical gardens.
Aided by commercial networks and colonial patronage (e.g., Swedish East India Company).
Vision: democratic, accessible science (a “botanical republic”).
Broader theoretical frame: Natural history as a continental-scale, transnational project.
Competing systems (Buffon, Adanson) shared the goal of a totalizing science of nature.
Foucault: natural history as language-driven, reducing nature to variables/categories.
Imperial backdrop: tool and symbol of European expansion.
“Planetary consciousness” in natural history: Europe central, dispersed through global naturalist network.
Travel writing and natural history fuse: systematic observations of flora/fauna; traveler as naturalist-collector.
The “disciples,” mobility, and the global reach of Linnaeus’ project
Notable followers and global journeys: Kalm (North America), Osbeck (China), Lofling (South America), Forsskal (Near East), Solander (Cook’s voyage), Sparrman.
Linnaeus’ establishment of global network: “messianic strategy” linked to empire-building and knowledge exchange.
Democratic impulse tempered by mercantile interests: expeditions carried secret orders; science legitimized by mercantile success.
Broader implications: Natural history as primary European instrument for ordering the planet; rationalized colonial economies.
The making of a planetary knowledge system and its social context
System of Nature: totalizing classificatory project, universal grammar for nature, Latin nomenclature.
Positions Europe as center of interpretation and control.
Intertwining of science, empire, economy: Coincided with slave trade, plantation system, colonial violence.
Paralleled growth of state bureaucracies (e.g., Sweden’s population records) and standardization of life.
Ethical/philosophical implications: Natural history appeared benign but concealed imperial extraction/domination.
Metaphorical shifts: From navigation-oriented mapping to mapping contents of world’s biota.
Enduring legacy: Global network of scholars/institutions; travel writing evolved; foundational component of modern science.
Illustrative artifacts and concepts cited in the chapter
Visual/textual artifacts: 1736 Leiden edition plate by Ehret (Linnaeus’ plant identification); Buffon (1749) on totalizing vision of nature; Adanson (1763) Familles des plantes.
Key conceptual phrases:
"Turkey carpet" analogy (Ulloa): interior regions offer fuller view.
Natural history reduces chaos to orderly system of differences/identities.
Critique: historical extraction of nature from ecological/cultural contexts into European framework.
"Anti-conquest" narrative: naturalized European presence/authority, complex legacy.
Connections to broader themes in travel, science, and empire
Interior exploration reshapes travel writing towards flora, fauna, minerals, and knowledge production.
Growth of museums, botanical gardens, collections: central to science, dissemination, prestige.