Page 66 - _21-0619 OK

The International Journal of the Royal Society of Thailand
Volume XII, 2020

Humboldt as the World Explorer

At the age of twenty-nine, Humboldt left his life of privilege behind and
invested his own property in a five-year exploration of Latin America, during
1799-1804. This voyage and his publication series made him legendary across the

world as the most well-known man, second only to Napoleon, who was born in
the same year as Humboldt. He crossed the mountains of the Andes and climbed
every accessible volcano, notably including the Chimborazo, then believed to be
the highest mountain in the world. This was like a botanical journey from the
Equator to the Poles, from the tropical vegetation zone to the lichen at the snow
zone.

Humboldt realized nature as global force, connected in a network as a
unified whole. In his life’s work “Cosmos”, he demonstrated his understanding
of nature as an interconnected one, unlike the mechanistic world view of nature of
that time. In this sense he is not only a discoverer but also an integrator, who
observes, compares and connects things in order to understand them as a unity.

Humboldt’s impression of nature was a very romantic one. The first product
of his Latin America observation “Naturgemälde” was dedicated to Goethe.
He once wrote that nature must be experienced through feeling—a worldview
5
that inspired all his journeys and reflections. His reports on the wonders of
6
nature were both very lively and very influential. Charles Darwin was a fan of
Humboldt. He indicated that without Humboldt’s work he would have never
boarded the Beagle and surveyed the world (Wulf, Andrea, 2015: 219). That means
that Darwin might not have written his famous book, On the Origin of Species.
As a young man he read Humboldt’s books both as a travel story and as a
scientific treatise. Darwin really fell in love with Humboldt’s descriptions and
wanted to go and see South America with his own eyes.

In Venezuela, as Humboldt saw the effects of colonial plantations – cash
crops, monoculture, irrigation and deforestation caused by the Spanish – he proved
himself to be the forerunner of ecologists and environmentalists who warn about

5 Letter from Alexander von Humboldt to Goethe on Voigt, 3. January 1810. In: Geiger, Ludwig
(Hrsg), 1909. Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, Goethes Briefwechsel mit Wilhelm und Alexander von
Humboldt, 304-306
6 Buttimer, Anne, Beyond Humboldtian Science and Goethe’s Way of Science (Jenseit Humboldtischer
Wissenschaft und Goethes Wissenschaftsverständnis: Herausforderung der Geographie
Alexander von Humboldts), in: Erdkunde, Bd.55, H.2 (2001), 108-120.

58 Alexander von Humboldt Legacy Today

5/1/2565 BE 09:03
_21-0619(055-064)4.indd 58
_21-0619(055-064)4.indd 58 5/1/2565 BE 09:03