Aimé Bonpland

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Aimé Bonpland

Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland (actually Goujaud ; born August 29, 1773 in La Rochelle , France , † May 11, 1858 in Santa Ana (today Bonpland ), Departamento Paso de los Libres , Corrientes province , Argentina ) was a French naturalist. Its official botanical author's abbreviation is “ Bonpl. ".

Life

Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland on the Orinoco , painting by Eduard Ender , 1856

Aimé Bonpland was the son of the physician Simon-Jacques Goujaud-Bonpland (born around 1742) and Marguerite-Olive Goujaud-Bonpland, nee. de la Coste.

In 1793 Bonpland went on a voyage in the Atlantic Ocean as a surgeon on board a frigate that was cruising against the English, then attended the medicine school in Paris and traveled to Spain and America with Alexander von Humboldt from 1799 to 1804 . Both researchers supported each other on this epoch-making journey for the natural sciences. Among other things, Bonpland collected over 60,000 plant specimens, of which around 3500 species had not yet been described. Nevertheless, he is still overshadowed by Alexander von Humboldt in the public perception of the expedition.

After his return in August 1804, Bonpland was appointed head of the imperial botanical gardens in Navarre and Malmaison , which he described in his book Description des plantes rares, cultivées à Navarre et à Malmaison (1813, with 64 copper plates). At the same time he published the Plantes équinoxiales recueillies en Mexique (1805-1818, 2 volumes) and the monograph des mélastomacées (1806-1823, 2 volumes, with 120 copper plates). Karl Sigismund Kunth (1788–1850) edited other parts of the collections in the Nova genera et species plantarum .

The fall of Emperor Napoleon so shook Bonpland that he no longer wanted to stay in Europe. With seeds of various plant species in his luggage, he embarked for Buenos Aires in 1816 , where he was appointed professor of natural sciences. After the rulers there tried to get rid of Bonplands, he moved to Paraguay in October 1820 . There he turned his attention to Paraguay tea (mate) and planted a large plantation in Santa Ana. He founded an Indian colony in the middle of the plantation.

Fearing for his monopoly in the tea trade, the dictator of Paraguay, José Gaspar Rodríguez de Francia (1766-1840), had the plantation attacked by 800 soldiers in 1821 and destroyed, the Indians chased away and Bonpland taken captive to Asunción . In vain did Alexander von Humboldt do everything to free his friend Bonpland. The governments of Brazil and Great Britain also advocated him. Bonpland was only released from captivity on May 12, 1829. After that he lived in Brazil in a small town south of the mouth of the Rio Piratini not far from the Lucas Pass . From there he moved to São Borja in 1831 , where he had bought a small property. He raised a number of crops there, especially orange trees , and a herd of merino sheep .

After temporarily planning to return to Europe with his collections, he moved to Corrientes around 1850 , where he owned an estate that the Paraguayan state gave him for the services he had earned in founding a museum in the capital . He was unable to carry out his plans for further publications and an improvement in medical care for the residents and agricultural production due to a lack of funds. He died in poverty in Santa Ana in the Paso de los Libres department in the Corrientes province in northeast Argentina; he had lived in the village since 1853. The village was renamed Bonpland in his honor.

Honors

In 1857 Bonpland was elected a member of the Leopoldina Scholars' Academy and a corresponding member of the Académie des sciences . From 1808 he was a corresponding member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences .

Dedication names:

Other names in his honor:

Fonts

  • 1805: Essai sur la geographie des plantes. Co-author: Alexander von Humboldt.
    • New English translation: Essay on the Geography of Plants. The University of Chicago Press, 2009. ISBN 978-0-226-36066-9

literature

Non-fiction

Fiction

  • R. Bouvier, E. Maynial: The Botanist of Malmaison. Aimé Bonpland, a friend of Alexander von Humboldt . Lancelot Verlag, Neuwied / Rhein 1949.
  • Daniel Kehlmann : Measuring the world . Rowohlt, Reinbek 2005, ISBN 3-498-03528-2 (a fictional double biography of Carl Friedrich Gauß and Alexander von Humboldt with references to Bonpland).

Web links

Commons : Aimé Bonpland  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Maria-Theresia Leuker: Nature research - with leisure or effort? In: Project blog “Rumphius. Circulation in Asian-European knowledge areas ". November 22, 2016, accessed February 8, 2020 .
  2. ↑ René Bouvier: The Botanist of Malmaison. Research trips and experiences of Alexander von Humboldt and Aime Bonpland in Central and South America 1799–1858 ; Neuwied a. Rh .: Lancelot-Verl., 1948
  3. ^ Directory of members since 1666: letter B. Académie des sciences, accessed on September 23, 2019 (French).
  4. ^ Aimé Bonpland's membership entry at the Bavarian Academy of Sciences , accessed on December 27, 2016.
  5. ↑ Lotte Burkhardt: Directory of eponymous plant names . Extended Edition. Botanic Garden and Botanical Museum Berlin, Free University Berlin Berlin 2018. [1]
  6. ↑ cf. JUMA youth magazine in the wiki of the association " Headquarters for teaching media on the Internet "
personal data
SURNAME Bonpland, Aimé
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bonpland, Aimé Jacques Alexandre; Goujaud
BRIEF DESCRIPTION French naturalist
DATE OF BIRTH August 29, 1773
PLACE OF BIRTH La Rochelle , France
DATE OF DEATH May 11, 1858
Place of death Santa Ana, Paso de los Libres department , Argentina