Eight men into the vastness of the Pacific... and of oblivion

160 years of Spain's largest scientific expedition in Latin America.

Neither wars, nor revolutions, nor nationalisms were able to stop the explosion of natural sciences throughout the convulsive 19th century. The nations of that time, seduced by the wake of international prestige that Alexander von Humboldt had achieved for Germany, strove to emulate his travels and studies, promoting naturalistic expeditions to the ends of the known world. Following in his footsteps and inspired by his marvelous work, Audubon would tour North America describing its avifauna, Lyell crossed Europe studying its geology and Darwin and Wallace traveled through South America and Indonesia to enlighten science with hundreds of new, previously unknown species. Those bold men, traveling the world to measure their jungles and seas were, for their countries of origin, a badge of reputation and an emblem of power for emerging empires; England, France and Germany in Europe and the United States in the New World. It was the golden age of so-called imperial or neocolonial science.

This naturalistic effervescence surprised Spain with a changed foot. The era of great scientific expeditions and the flourishing of new powers coincided in our country with significant political instability and the great economic crisis unleashed as a result of the loss of overseas colonies; an empire that was dying and that, however, did not want to be left behind in the face of competing states that were trying to divide up their former areas of power and influence, so, in a final outburst of prestige, the Bourbon crown raised funds to launch the largest scientific expedition in Latin America , a fascinating journey that would go down in history as the Pacific Scientific Commission (1862-1865).

Thus, at the beginning of 1862, the Ministry of Development of the Elizabethan monarchy recruited the most prominent members of the Jet set Academician and scientist in the country, six men of renowned prestige versed in the classical knowledge of nature: geology, anthropology, zoology and botany, plus a taxidermist and a sketching photographer. Their names, for the knowledge of our readers, were:

• Patricio María Paz Membiela (1808-1874): President of the commission. Expert in malacology.
• Fernando Amor y Mayor (1822-1863): Professor of Geology and Entomology.
• Francisco de Paula Martínez (1835-1902): Zoologist at the Central University.
• Marcos Jiménez de la Espada (1831-1898): Zoologist at the Museum of Natural Sciences.
• Manuel Almagro y Vega (1834-1895): Doctor. Expert in ethnology and anthropology.
• Juan Isern y Batlló (1825-1866): Member of the Royal Botanical Garden. Expert in botany.
• Bartolomé Puig and Gallup (1826-??) : Anatomist doctor. Dissector and taxidermist.
• Rafael Castro Ordonez (?? -1865): Photographer and draftsman.

Having assembled the chosen ones, the expedition left the port of Cádiz on August 10, 1862, now 160 years ago, and after crossing the Atlantic they explored Brazil,

Uruguay and the Ecuadorian Andes, descending through Argentina through the Pampa to Santiago de Chile and Valparaíso, a port from which they embarked again to continue by sea to the Strait of Magellan, the Malvinas and Cape Horn. Starting in 1863, the expedition set sail towards California, descending again across the Pacific to enter the mouth of the Amazon River, going up its riverbed to the Brazilian city of Belén.

In the three years that the expedition lasted (1862-1865), its members prepared a profuse study of the flora and fauna of South America, with more than 80,000 samples of the nature and culture of the countries of the American cone.

Unfortunately, the crown's attempt to achieve a revival in the cultivation of natural sciences in Spain was not as successful as expected, overshadowed by the rapid loss of prestige and geopolitical power of our country in the face of the powers of the time. The commission's wonderful work, of unparalleled scientific value, was forgotten.

In 2003, in order to highlight the largest scientific expedition in our country, the CSIC organized an exhibition with more than 250 pieces of that unique adventure, from sheets and sketches, to fossils, herbaria and personal objects of the expeditionaries.

Without a doubt, we owe them a debt of gratitude, their work and especially their memory. Stray men who for years abandoned the comfort of their offices in universities and museums in our country to document seas and deserts, mountains and jungles, in very harsh working conditions and lacking the most basic comforts, with the great purpose of making known and explaining the great natural world in which we live, a fascinating adventure that should not fall into oblivion and that lived up to the great travels of Humboldt, Darwin or Wallace. Eight men embarked on the Pacific Infinity who dedicated their lives to science and who are, on their own merits, part of those great naturalists who helped change history.

To learn more:

• López-Ocón, Leoncio (December 8, 2003). “The Pacific Scientific Commission: From Imperial Science to Federative Science”. Bulletin de l'Institut Français d'études Andines. doi:10,4000/bifea.6118.
• Parodi Revoredo, Daniel; Gonzales Miranda, Sergio (2013). Arturo Prat University, ed. The stories that unite us. Santiago de Chile: RiL. ISBN 978-956-01-0049-8.
• de Almagro, Manuel, Brief description of the trips made in America by the Scientific Commission, Madrid, 1866