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Hispanic American Historical Review 84.1 (2004) 187-189



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A la redécouverte des Amériques: Les voyageurs européens au siècle des indépendences. Edited by Michel Bertrand and Laurent Vidal. Toulouse, France: Presses Universitaires du Mirail, 2002. Illustrations. Tables. 258 pp. Paper.

This fascinating collection of some 15 studies, put together by Michel Bertrand and Laurent Vidal, delves into what the editors call the "rediscovery of the Americas" by nineteenth-century European travelers, excluding the famous journey of Alexander von Humboldt. It thus deals with the travelers, discoverers, and conquerors [End Page 187] of the period and how these men—often scientists, but sometimes simply adventurers—found and described several regions of Hispanic America from various angles.

In the introduction, the editors explain their project and the meaning of "rediscovery," influenced by Edmundo O'Gorman's discussion of the "invention" of America. Following on the exploits of such men as Charles de la Condamine and Alexander von Humboldt, the "rediscoverers" discussed in this volume were all heirs to the new interpretation of American reality by the illustrious Prussian scientist. They thus continued the hard work of overcoming ignorance and prejudice in order to convey to their readers this new reality as they saw it in their journeys through various parts of Latin America.

The different expeditions discussed in the book observed the extraordinary wealth in natural resources, and, in the second half of the nineteenth century, also delved into an analysis of the local societies with interesting sketches comparing them with their homelands. Thus, often explorers questioned the supremacy of European society and contributed to the emergence of a new viewpoint, the key of which is simply the American Man at a time when in the Old World the social sciences had split from the natural sciences, history, and philosophy.

The book is divided into three parts. The four chapters of the first part, dealing with the "construction of a scientific view," discuss José Cardiel and the Guarnani reductions; Alcide d'Orbigny, the "Peruvian Man," and the beginnings of anthropology in Peru; French travelers in Brazil (1840-1900); and an analysis of contemporary French scientific magazines in regard to the Americas (Revue de Deux Mondes and Tour du Monde). In the second part, the authors discuss the new reality of the Hispanic American space, with chapters on the imaginary and real situation of Mexico in the first part of the nineteenth century, the "discovery" of Sonora by the French, the contemporary invention of Amazonia, and the invention of the sertão. The last part is dedicated to the interpretation of this new Hispanic American reality. Chapters touch on travelers' discussion of nineteenth-century Venezuela and the question "foreigners or creoles"; travelers' and immigrants' accounts of Buenos Aires at the time of the centennial festivities of 1910 ("invited or intruders"); European travelers' perspectives on Mexican society during the nineteenth century; and interpretations of the borderlands of Argentina and Brazil—besides Charles Darwin (1833), these include the journeys of Auguste St. Hilaire (1819), Wilhelm Dafert (1894), Alfred Ebelot (1876-80), and Ferdinand Denis, the observer of Brazilian society (1816-37). Finally, as an epilogue, we have "D'Orbigny and the Rediscovery of the Americas."

The various essays convey a new and somewhat original vision of the exploration of Hispanic America. Often the writings of these nineteenth-century explorers were influenced by earlier journeys, but still, theirs is a different interpretation. In the last essay, Pierre Vayssiere discusses why the travelers chose their dangerous expeditions, how they produced knowledge with some scientific pretensions, and [End Page 188] finally, despite their endeavors, how they maintained European supremacy in regard to American "races." At the same time, these explorers do not hide the difficulties and hardships of their various journeys.

The motives for these expeditions are varied. No doubt some are idealistic (Castelnau); others, like Cardiel, show that the mythology of the first discoverers had not been totally lost at the end of the colonial period. Some, like d'Orbigny and Crevaux, traveled in the name...

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