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This series focuses on colonial Latin America and the Caribbean. It includes historical and statistical reference works from the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, reports describing scientific, archaeological and ethnological expeditions and editions of accounts from the earliest period of European settlement.

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66 results in Cambridge Library Collection - Latin American Studies

Page 2 of 4

Travels in the Interior of Brazil
  • With Notices on its Climate, Agriculture, Commerce, Population, Mines, Manners, and Customs
  • John Mawe
  • Published online:
    05 August 2013
    Print publication:
    28 February 2013
    First published in:
    1821
  • An important figure in British commercial mineralogy, John Mawe (1766–1829) first published this work in 1812; reissued here is the 1821 revised edition. Mawe and his wife ran a mineral-dealing business, based in Derby with a shop in London. Collecting specimens for the aristocracy, advising on explorations, and going on gathering tours, he also wrote on Derbyshire mineralogy, the South Seas, diamonds, geology and conchology. This book covers his voyage to South America in 1804, including his expedition in 1809 to the gold and diamond mining areas of Brazil. It also describes the local climate, people, natural history, trade and agriculture, and the splendour of such cities as Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro. A bestseller, found on library shelves across Europe - and aboard the Beagle with Charles Darwin - the book remains relevant in the history of mineralogy and will appeal to non-specialists interested in South American adventure.

The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili
  • Volume 2, The Civil History of Chili
  • Giovanni Ignazio Molina
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1809
  • Juan Ignacio Molina (1740–1829) was a Jesuit priest born in Chile but forced to flee to Europe after his religious order was expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1767. He settled in Bologna, Italy, and began to write a natural history of his homeland, which was first published in Italian in 1782 (he is also known as Giovanni Ignazio Molina). He completed a second volume on the history of the people of Chile in 1786, and a version of the book was in the library of HMS Beagle. This two-volume English translation was published in 1809, and also includes notes from other explorers, including a 1791 account of Chile by Pedro González de Agüeros (1768–93) and a 1774 description of Patagonia by Thomas Falkner (1707–84). Volume 2 covers the 'civil history' of Chile, discussing the indigenous people living there and the arrival of Spanish settlers.

Last Rambles amongst the Indians of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes
  • George Catlin
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    19 July 2012
    First published in:
    1868
  • The American artist George Catlin (1796–1872) travelled extensively and wrote about his experiences. After abandoning the legal profession, Catlin moved to Missouri in 1830 to launch his career as a painter of Native Americans with the express purpose of creating a gallery dedicated to America's indigenous population. He was greatly influenced by the Romantic ideal of the 'noble savage' and spent time living with various tribes, recording their everyday life and habits. In the 1850s, he also made three trips to South America and began to draw comparisons between the populations. He shares his thoughts in this work, published in 1868. Written for children and intended as a follow-up to his Life amongst the Indians (1861), the book is a mixture of legend, history, folklore and anecdotes of personal experience. Sometimes regarded as a pioneer of American anthropology, Catlin also outlines his ethnographical theories in the last few chapters.

The Geographical, Natural, and Civil History of Chili
  • Volume 1, The Natural History of Chili
  • Giovanni Ignazio Molina
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    07 June 2012
    First published in:
    1809
  • Juan Ignacio Molina (1740–1829) was a Jesuit priest born in Chile but forced to flee to Europe after his religious order was expelled from the Spanish Empire in 1767. He settled in Bologna, Italy, and began to write a natural history of his homeland, which was first published in Italian in 1782 (he is also known as Giovanni Ignazio Molina). He completed a second volume on the history of the people of Chile in 1786, and a version of the book was in the library of HMS Beagle. This two-volume English translation was published in 1809, and also includes notes from other explorers, including a 1791 account of Chile by Pedro González de Agüeros (1768–93) and a 1774 description of Patagonia by Thomas Falkner (1707–84). Volume 1 covers the natural history of Chile, including the territory's diverse climate, geology, plants, and wildlife.

A Treatise on Sugar
  • With Miscellaneous Medical Observations
  • Benjamin Moseley
  • Published online:
    05 May 2013
    Print publication:
    09 August 2012
    First published in:
    1800
  • Benjamin Moseley (1742–1819) was an English doctor who left England and spent eighteen years working in Kingston, Jamaica. His time there coincided with the massive expansion of sugar production on the island. Drawing on his own experience as well as an extensive range of classical and contemporary published sources, Moseley presents a lively history of the cultivation and use of sugar cane. The work, first published in 1799 and expanded in this second edition in 1800, discusses the origins of the plant and its later cultivation and development in the Americas, as well as the popularity of refined sugar. Special attention is devoted to the plant's medicinal uses. Moseley also became known for his outspoken opposition to the growing practice of vaccination, and he uses a medical essay in the appendix of this book to launch an attack on the effectiveness of cowpox in inoculations.

Reisen in Britisch-Guiana in den Jahren 1840–1844
  • In Auftrag Sr. Mäjestat des Königs von Preussen
  • Volume 3, Versuch Einer Fauna und Flora von Britisch-Guiana
  • Richard Schomburgk
  • Published online:
    05 April 2012
    Print publication:
    09 December 2010
    First published in:
    1848
  • Richard Schomburgk (1811–1891) accompanied his brother Robert Hermann Schomburgk on his mission to survey the boundary of British Guiana (his account is also reissued in this series). Richard was commissioned by the Prussian government to find new flora, fauna and ethnographical specimens for the Berlin Botanic Gardens and the royal museums. The publication in 1847–1848 in Germany of this three-volume account of the expedition was supported by Alexander von Humboldt, who was a close friend. Schomburgk contracted yellow fever, and found the preservation and transportation of his specimens difficult in the climate, many perishing before they got to Germany. Schomburgk later emigrated to Australia, becoming director of the Botanic Garden, Adelaide. This third volume, which concentrated on flora and fauna, was written with the assistance of some of the most renowned natural scientists of the day, and was considered a major taxonomical work.

Historia General de las Cosas de Nueva España
  • Volume 1
  • Bernardino de Sahagûn
  • Edited by Carlos Maria de Bustamante
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    27 January 2011
    First published in:
    1829
  • Friar Bernardino Sahagûn was in 1529 one of the first Catholic missionaries to the Aztecs. During his sojourn in Mexico he came to speak Nahuatl (the native language) fluently and to understand the Aztec culture, customs, religion and infrastructure intimately. He compiled the largest and most richly detailed record of the Aztecs and their history before the civilisation was wiped out by the Spanish conquest, and Sahagûn is sometimes considered 'the father of ethnology', as his study was the first to derive from the subjects' own point of view, through using native informants in his research. The work, written in 1540, was originally an illustrated manuscript of twelve books in a combination of Nahuatl and Spanish; this version, in Spanish only, was first published in 1829. Volume 1 covers the gods, their origins, the calendar of festivals and sacrificial events, and art and astrology relating to the Aztec religion.

Travels in South America, during the Years, 1819–20–21
  • Containing an Account of the Present State of Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Chile
  • Volume 1
  • Alexander Caldcleugh
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    21 July 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • First published in 1825 and based on his diaries, this two-volume account by Alexander Caldcleugh (1795–1858) of his experiences in Brazil, Buenos Aires, and Chile portrays a diverse and changing continent. London-born Caldcleugh was posted to South America in 1819 as private secretary to the British minister at the Portuguese royal court (based in Brazil 1808–21). Following that two-year mission, he returned to South America in 1829 and remained there until his death. Caldcleugh's book appealed to the avid interest of European readers in the 'New World'. It was well-received upon publication and in 1826 was translated into German. With its close attention to geography, geology, politics, economics, culture and society in the region, and its description of an adventurous crossing of the Andes, the book is both a fine example of the nineteenth-century travel narrative and a document of colonial attitudes. Volume 1 focuses particularly on agriculture.

Travels in South America, during the Years, 1819–20–21
  • Containing an Account of the Present State of Brazil, Buenos Ayres, and Chile
  • Volume 2
  • Alexander Caldcleugh
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    21 July 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • First published in 1825 and based on his diaries, this two-volume account by Alexander Caldcleugh (1795–1858) of his experiences in Brazil, Buenos Aires, and Chile portrays a diverse and changing continent. London-born Caldcleugh was posted to South America in 1819 as private secretary to the British minister at the Portuguese royal court (based in Brazil 1808–21). Following that two-year mission, he returned to South America in 1829 and remained there until his death. Caldcleugh's book appealed to the avid interest of European readers in the 'New World'. It was well-received upon publication and in 1826 was translated into German. With its close attention to geography, geology, politics, economics, culture and society in the region, and its description of an adventurous crossing of the Andes, the book is both a fine example of the nineteenth-century travel narrative and a document of colonial attitudes. Volume 2 focuses particularly on mining.

A Voyage to South America
  • Describing at Large the Spanish Cities, Towns, Provinces, etc. on that Extensive Continent
  • Volume 1
  • Antonio de Ulloa
  • Edited and translated by John Adams
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    12 June 2011
    First published in:
    1806
  • Antonio de Ulloa (1716–95) was a Spanish scientist and mathematician. In 1734 he was asked by Philip V of Spain to join the French geodesic expedition to measure the circumference of the Earth at the equator, and accordingly in 1735 Ulloa and his fellow scientist Jorge Juan y Santacilia (1713–73) travelled to South America, staying until 1744. These two volumes contain the English translation of Ulloa's account of South America, first published in 1758. The work was very popular, producing five subsequent editions: this reissue is of the fourth edition of 1806. It provides valuable insights into the social, religious and economic institutions of colonial South America. Volume I contains detailed descriptions of the cities of Carthagena, Panama and Quito and their provinces, including historical, economic and geographical accounts of the cities, together with an ethnological discussion of the indigenous people of Quito.

A Voyage to South America
  • Describing at Large the Spanish Cities, Towns, Provinces, etc. on that Extensive Continent
  • Volume 2
  • Antonio de Ulloa
  • Edited and translated by John Adams
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1806
  • Antonio de Ulloa (1716–95) was a Spanish scientist and mathematician. In 1734 he was asked by Philip V of Spain to join the French geodesic expedition to measure the circumference of the Earth at the equator, and accordingly in 1735 Ulloa and his fellow scientist Jorge Juan y Santacilia (1713–73) travelled to South America, staying until 1744. These volumes contain the English translation of Ulloa's account of South America, first published in 1758. The work was very popular, producing five subsequent editions: this reissue is of the fourth edition of 1806. It provides insights into the social, religious and economic institutions of colonial South America. Volume 2 contains descriptions of the cities and provinces of Lima, Concepción (in Chile) and Buenos Aires and of the British colony of Boston, visited on the return journey, together with the first ethnological description in English of the indigenous peoples of Brazil.

Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent
  • During the Years 1799–1804
  • Volume 6
  • Alexander von Humboldt, Aimé Bonpland
  • Translated by Helen Maria Williams
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    02 June 2011
    First published in:
    1826
  • The Prussian naturalist Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) was one of the most famous explorers of his generation. Charles Darwin called him 'the greatest scientific traveller who ever lived'. In 1799, Humboldt and the botanist Aimé Bonpland secured permission from the Spanish crown for a voyage to South America. They left from Madrid and spent five years exploring the continent. Humboldt reported his findings in a total of thirty volumes, published in French over a period of more than twenty years beginning in 1805. This English translation by Helen Maria Williams of one important component of Humboldt's account, the Relation historique du voyage (1814–1825), consists of seven volumes and was published in London between 1814 and 1829. Volume 6 (1826) summarises many of Humboldt's findings about the North-East of South America, its topography and geology, and compares the societies of the mainland with those of the West Indies.

Narrative of a Journey from Lima to Para, across the Andes and down the Amazon
  • Undertaken with a View of Ascertaining the Practicability of a Navigable Communication with the Atlantic, by the Rivers Pachitea, Ucayali, and Amazon
  • William Smyth, Frederick Lowe
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    16 September 2011
    First published in:
    1836
  • During 1834–5 the British naval officer and artist William Smyth (1800–77) and his fellow officer Frederick Lowe (1811–47) went on an expedition to Peru and North-Eastern Brazil. This account of their journey, first published in 1836, combines a travel narrative with anthropological observation. Their objective was to explore the river Pachitea in Peru and investigate its potential as a route from the Andes via the Amazon to the Atlantic Ocean that could reduce journey times and benefit Peruvian exports. The tone of the book is typical of early nineteenth-century European travel literature, in that it shows the authors to have been fascinated by the cultures they encountered while retaining a deep mistrust of the indigenous 'savages' some of whom were held to be 'cannibals'. It is, however, full of fascinating details about the rainforest and its inhabitants, the colonial settlers, and their interactions.

Present State of the Spanish Colonies
  • Including a Particular Report of Hispañola, or the Spanish Part of Santo Domingo
  • Volume 2
  • William Walton
  • Published online:
    05 March 2012
    Print publication:
    06 January 2011
    First published in:
    1810
  • William Walton (?1783–1857) was British agent at Santo Domingo (Haiti), one of the two states on the island of Hispaniola, over which the British had briefly fought with the French before it proclaimed its independence in 1804. Returning to England in 1809 he began to write on Spanish and South American affairs. This work was published in two volumes in 1810. Volume 2 examines the Spanish settlements on the American mainland, in California, Texas, Mexico and particularly in South America. Walton first considers the administration of these colonies. He discusses the origins of the native peoples, and the impact on them of colonization; having studied their culture, he believed that in some respects they were more advanced than Europeans. He then discusses the Spanish and Creole inhabitants of South America, and its climate and resources. Walton's object was to encourage the growth of trade between Britain and the region.

Journal of a Residence in Chile, during the Year 1822
  • Maria Callcott
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    14 July 2011
    First published in:
    1824
  • Published in 1824, the journal of Maria Graham (1785–1842) depicts one woman's immersion in the culture and society of post-independence Chile. Graham, known later as Lady Callcott, travelled through India and Europe as well as South America, and her writings and reflections on these regions and their cultures, as well as other historical works, established her reputation both as a writer and later as an art historian. Graham outlines the parameters of her work in her preface and her historical Introduction: she is interested not only in what has happened to the Chileans, but in what the future holds for them and their new nation. Graham's writing reveals sensitivity to the sentimental, romantic, and gothic trends among her contemporaries, and her Journal benefits from her literary awareness.

Unknown Mexico
  • A Record of Five Years' Exploration among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre
  • Volume 1
  • Carl Lumholtz
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    27 October 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922) was a Norwegian ethnographer and explorer who, soon after publishing an influential study of Australian Aborigines (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), spent five years researching native peoples in Mexico. This two-volume work, published in 1903, describes his expeditions to remote parts of north-west Mexico, inspired by reports about indigenous peoples who lived in cliff dwellings along mountainsides. While in the US in 1890 on a lecture tour, Lumholtz was able to raise sufficient funds for the expedition. He arrived in Mexico City that summer, and after meeting the president, Porfirio Díaz, he set off with a team of scientists for the Sierra Madre del Norte mountains in the north-west of Mexico, to find the cave-dwelling Tarahumare Indians. Volume 1 covers the start of the expedition and Tarahumare life, etiquette and beliefs, as well as details of the natural history of this little-explored region.

Unknown Mexico
  • A Record of Five Years' Exploration among the Tribes of the Western Sierra Madre
  • Volume 2
  • Carl Lumholtz
  • Published online:
    05 February 2012
    Print publication:
    27 October 2011
    First published in:
    1903
  • Carl Lumholtz (1851–1922) was a Norwegian ethnographer and explorer who, soon after publishing an influential study of Australian Aborigines (also reissued in the Cambridge Library Collection), spent five years researching native peoples in Mexico. This two-volume work, published in 1903, describes his expeditions to remote parts of north-west Mexico, inspired by reports about indigenous peoples who lived in cliff dwellings along mountainsides. While in the US in 1890 on a lecture tour, Lumholtz was able to raise sufficient funds for the expedition. He arrived in Mexico City that summer, and after meeting the president, Porfirio Díaz, he set off with a team of scientists for the Sierra Madre del Norte mountains in the north-west of Mexico, to find the cave-dwelling Tarahumare Indians. Volume 2 focuses mainly on the neighbouring Huichols people, their daily life, and their religious practices, including shamanism.

A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America
  • Volume 1
  • W. B. Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 January 2012
    Print publication:
    29 September 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • In 1804 when W. B. Stevenson (fl. 1803–25) arrived on the small island of Mocha, just off the coast of South America, he stepped onto a continent on the brink of mass revolution. Over the next twenty years, he had an extraordinary range of experiences: as a traveller, a Spanish government official, a prisoner, and as secretary to an ex-Royal Navy admiral turned revolutionary. In this three-volume work, published in 1825, Stevenson gives a dramatic, fascinating account of the life and culture of South America as it began to break free from Spanish colonial rule. Volume 1 focuses on Stevenson's arrival in 1804, his initial impressions, and travels in Chile, Colombia and Peru. It describes food and drink, society and culture, administration and climate. It also covers his imprisonment in Lima by the Spanish authorities.

A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America
  • Volume 2
  • W. B. Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 January 2012
    Print publication:
    29 September 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • In 1804 when W. B. Stevenson (fl. 1803–25) arrived on the small island of Mocha, just off the coast of South America, he stepped onto a continent on the brink of mass revolution. Over the next twenty years, he had an extraordinary range of experiences: as a traveller, a Spanish government official, a prisoner, and as secretary to an ex-Royal Navy admiral turned revolutionary. In this three-volume work, published in 1825, Stevenson gives a dramatic, fascinating account of life and society in South America as it began to break free from Spanish colonial rule. Volume 2 continues Stevenson's description of the culture and customs of Chile, Colombia and Peru. It also covers Stevenson's arrival in the province of Esmeraldas, where he became governor in 1810.

A Historical and Descriptive Narrative of Twenty Years' Residence in South America
  • Volume 3
  • W. B. Stevenson
  • Published online:
    05 January 2012
    Print publication:
    29 September 2011
    First published in:
    1825
  • In 1804 when W. B. Stevenson (fl. 1803–25) arrived on the small island of Mocha, just off the coast of South America, he stepped onto a continent on the brink of mass revolution. Over the next twenty years, he had an extraordinary range of experiences: as a traveller, a Spanish government official, a prisoner, and as secretary to an ex-Royal Navy admiral turned revolutionary. In this three-volume work, published in 1825, Stevenson gives a dramatic, fascinating account of life and society in South America as it began to break free from Spanish colonial rule. Volume 3 focuses on the revolutions and uprisings Stevenson witnessed in Colombia, Peru and Chile, as well as his time as secretary to Lord Cochrane, the former admiral who fought on the side of the rebels.

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