Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent

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 Aim#xE9; 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 (1814-25), consists of seven volumes and was published in London between 1814 and 1829. Volume 7 (1829) focuses mainly on the geography of Cuba, its slave population and sugar production, and ends with Humboldt's experiences in Colombia.