La "expedición" de la naturaleza americana: sobre unos gustos metropolitanos y algunas recolecciones coloniales

• Autores: Marcelo F. Figueroa
• Localización: Jahrbuch für Geschichte Lateinamerikas = Anuario de Historia de América Latina ( JbLA ), ISSN-e 2194-3680, Nº. 45, 2008, págs. 297-324
• Idioma: español
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This paper studies a small story related to Spanish colonial shipment of Indian natural objects in the last quarter of the 18th century: the case of the "Thé de Bogotá", which was discovered by José Celestino Mutis, director of the Royal Botanical Expedition of the viceroyalty of New Grenade. The shipment of this commodity is used to observe the agents, institutional spaces, knowledge-skills, and territories that participated in the Spanish project to find an American substitute for Asian tea. Consequently, this article attempts to show the mechanisms used by the Spanish enlightened botany to produce knowledge about nature and enrich the crown's colonial commerce. Finally, the story of the "Bogotá" can be seen as a failure because it never turned into a real opponent of eastern tea. Nevertheless, the story of this commodity reveals important insights in the history of the transatlantic collaborations between Spain and its Indian possessions thanks to jurisdictional mechanisms that operated at court, the royal botanic garden, the "Casa de la Contratación", and the viceroyalty of New Grenade.