Da américa ao Real Jardín de Madrid: a Real Expedición al virreinato del Perú y Chile (1777-1788) e a produção científica do botânico Hipólito Ruiz López

Abstract

The main theme of this dissertation is the species and knowledge circulation, especially plants, between Spain and its American colonies during the XVII and XIX centuries. Through the works and diary of botanist Hipólito Ruiz Lopez, who headed out the Real Expedición al Virreinato del Peru y Chile, we looked to identify and evaluate the extent to which Real Jardín, as an institution serving the Spanish State, exerted influences on the traveler’s speech. For that, we consider the nature of the Ruiz’s report as pierced by a serie of constraints, including the subjectivity and singularity of the way the individual learns an experience and, as well as the author’s awareness of the expectations that the power feeds in relation to his production. Therefore, through the discourse contained in the botanist’s diary and works, we seek to analyze how Spanish science was linked to a project of colonies exploration guided by an utilitarian view of nature during the second half of the XVII century and the beginning of XIX century.