A Geography of Hard Times: Narratives About Travel to South America, 1780-1849

This fascinating glimpse into South America's past focuses on the works of four European voyagers who came to SouthAmerica and left a legacy of travel writing in their wake: Jos6Celestino Mutis, a Spanish botanist and doctor; Alexandervon Humboldt, a German geographer; Maria Graham, a British historian; and Flora Tristan, a French feminist and labor activist whose father was Peruvian. Each took on his or her voyage as a personal endeavor, and collectively their travels covered the Andes from its northern traces in Venezuela to the southern heights of Chile and Arequipa. Their writing contributed to the construction of a complex map of the Andes in which many levels of physical and social geography may be read. By analyzing the ravelers' narratives, illustrations, and maps, Angela Pdrez-Mejia unravels the rich complexities of the colonial travel experience, explores its impact on both the object of description and the traveler's subjectivity, and the collective readership seeking a discourse of nationhood.