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Abstract
Alexander von Humboldt’s and James Bryce’s travels in Latin America were separated by a century; nevertheless, both of them situated the region within a continental and worldwide framework. The two men emphasized the importance of geography as a factor that influenced history whenever they explained the development of peoples, both in their more “primitive” phases as well as in a more “advanced” state of civilization. Although Bryce’s South America (1912) has often been disregarded by Bryce scholars, what is certain is that the work reveals important keys regarding the ways in which he understood geography as a true foundation of the historical development of nations, and humanity as a whole. This certainty, also present to good extent in Humboldt, has been highlighted in the present article.
Les voyages en Amérique latine d’Alexander von Humboldt et de James Bryce ont été séparés par un siècle; cependant les deux voyageurs ont situé la région dans un cadre continental et mondial. Les deux hommes ont souligné en particulier l’importance de la géographie comme un facteur toujours lié à l’histoire quand ils expliquaient le développement des peuples, soit dans leurs états plus « primitifs », soit dans un état de civilization plus « avancé ». Bien que les spécialistes de Bryce aient souvent négligé son œuvre South America (1912), ce qui est certain est que cette œuvre révèle des clés importantes en ce qui concerne les manières dont il a compris la géographie comme une vraie fondation du développement historique des nations, et de l’humanité tout entière. Cette certitude, visible en grande partie chez Humboldt aussi, est soulignée dans cet article.
Alexander von Humboldt y James Bryce recorrieron América Latina con una distancia de un siglo, y ambos se propusieron situarla dentro de un marco continental y mundial. Ambos pusieron particular énfasis en la importancia de la geografía como un factor siempre unido a la historia al momento de explicar el desarrollo de los pueblos, tanto en sus fases más primitivas como en un estado de mayor civilización. Si bien el libro South America (1912) de Bryce ha sido a menudo despreciado por los estudiosos de este autor, lo cierto es que arroja claves importantes de la manera en que este autor entendía la geografía como un verdadero fundamento del desarrollo histórico de las naciones y la humanidad entera. Este convencimiento, también presente en buen medida en Humboldt, se ha puesto de relieve en al artículo presente.
Notes
1 The work was originally published in German in 1808 under the title de Ansichten der Natur. The English translation appeared in 1849.
2 James Bryce, South America. Observations and Impressions (New York: The Macmillan Company, 1912), p. xvii.
3 James Bryce, The American Commonwealth (London/New York: Macmillan and Co., 1888), I, p. 9. There he refers to what he considers the main motive to study and value the institutions of the United States and writes that “its chief value lies in what may be called the laws of political biology which it reveals … ” Shortly before that (pp. 3–4), he had indicated that in distinction to Tocqueville, whose proposal about the institutions of the United States seems to him too general and connected to his own interests as a Frenchman, his purpose was to study the specificity of the institutions and the people of the United States, doing the same for the history and traditions of its race, as well as its fundamental ideas and its material environment.
4 Héctor Domínguez Benito, James Bryce y los fundamentos intelectuales del internacionalismo liberal (1864–1922) (Madrid: Centro de Estudios Políticos y Constitucionales, 2018), p. 258.
5 Stephen Gaukroger, The Natural and the Human: Science and the Shaping of Modernity, 1739–1841 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2016), p. 255.
6 Thomas Kleinknecht, Imperiale und internationale Ordnung. Eine Untersuchung zum anglo-amerikanischen Gelehrtenliberalismus am Beispiel von James Bryce (1838–1922) (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1985), p. 23.
7 Bryce takes Ratzel’s Völkerkunde as his principal source of inspiration for writing the introduction to Helmolt´s work. Völkerkunde was originally published in Leipzig between 1885 and 1888.
8 H. F. Helmolt, Weltgeschichte (Leipzig: Bibliogr. Inst., 1899–1900, 9 v.). The British version was titled The World’s History: A Survey of Man’s Record (London: Heinemann, 1901–1907, 8 v.). The North American version was titled The History of the World: A survey of Man´s Record (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1902, 8 v.), which is the one that will be cited here.
9 H. F. Helmolt, The History of World, I, p. xxxix.
10 H. F. Helmolt, History, I, p. xxii.
11 H. F. Helmolt, History, I, p. xxxii.
12 H. F. Helmolt, History, I, p. xxxvi.
13 H. F. Helmolt, History, I, p. xli.
14 The complete title was Histoire philosophique et politique des établissements et du commerce des européens dans les deux Indes.
15 The work was widely disseminated in Europe and translated, with notable rapidity, to the languages of the rest of the countries on that continent. It is not surprising that it became the most influential book in France and part of Europe regarding information and expectations about the North American country (between 1770 and 1820 around 30 editions appeared, having experimented revisions and additions in 1774 and 1780. These numbers do not include, by the way, the illegal printings of the text). Guillaume Ansart, “From Voltaire to Raynal and Diderot´s Histoire des deux Indes. The French Philosophes and Colonial America,” in America through European Eyes. British and French Reflections on the New World from the Eighteenth Century to the Present, eds. Aurelian Craiutu and Jeffrey C. Isaac (University Park, Pennsylvania: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2009), pp. 71–89.
16 Ottmar Ette, Weltbewusstsein. Alexander von Humboldt und das unvollendete Projekt einer anderen Moderne (Göttingen: Velbrück Wissenschaft, 2002), pp. 59–62.
17 Heinz Gollwitzer, Geschichte des weltpolitischen Denkens (Göttingen, Vandenhoek &Ruprecht, 1972), I, pp. 262–85, exposes Raynal’s contrasting profile as representative of the French current of exoticism and roussean sentimentality and an analyst of world order who was moved by a certain sense of Realpolitik.
18 Ottmar Ette, Weltbewusstsein, p. 61. Ette quotes here a passage of Humboldt’s travel account of South America in a recent German version: Alexander von Humboldt, Reise in die Äquinotial-Gegenden des Neuen Kontinents (Frankfurt a. M./Leipzig: Insel, 1991), II, p. 1465, whose original French version is Rélation historique du voyage aux regions équinoxiales du Nouveau Continent, 1799–1804 (1814–1825).
19 Alexander von Humboldt, Vistas de las cordilleras y monumentos de los pueblos indígenas de América (México, siglo xxi, 1979), I, p. 18.
20 Humboldt supports this in an introduction to the year 1813 in Vistas de las cordilleras, pp. 5–15.
21 James Bryce, South America, p. 484.
22 James Bryce, South America, p. 488. Henceforth, the exposition of physical and socio-political characteristics of both Americas will be done by summarizing what Bryce states in chapter XIV of his book.
23 We use the Spanish edition: Alejandro de Humboldt, Ensayo político sobre el reino de la Nueva España (México: Porrúa, 1966) pp. 18–33.
24 Humboldt, Ensayo político, p. 27.
25 James Bryce, South America, p. 429.
26 James Bryce, South America, p. 429.
27 James Bryce, South America, p. 430.
28 James Bryce, South America, p. 441.
29 James Bryce, South America, p. 431.
30 James Bryce, South America, pp. 431, 566, 579.
31 This essay on the geography of plants was the first work on an American topic published by Humboldt upon his return to Europe. Clarence Glacken, Huellas en la playa de Rodas. Naturaleza y cultura en el pensamiento occidental desde la Antigüedad hasta finales del siglo XVIII (Barcelona: Ediciones del Serbal, 1996), pp. 502–6, offers commentary of great interest about the importance of this work in the history of scientific thinking.
32 Humboldt, Ensayo político, pp. 245–6.
33 Humboldt, Ensayo político, p. 482.
34 Humboldt, Vistas de las cordilleras, p. 13.
35 James Bryce, South America, p. 491–5.
36 James Bryce, South America, p. xxiv.
37 James Bryce, Impressions of South Africa (New York: The Century Co., 1898), p. 10–5.
38 James Bryce, South America, pp. 495–501.
39 James Bryce, South America, pp. 501–3.
40 H. F. Helmolt, History, pp. xviii, xxxv; James Bryce, South America, p. 17–36.
41 Humboldt, Ensayo político, pp. 8–17.
42 Humboldt, Ensayo político, p. 18.
Additional information
Notes on contributors
José Enrique Covarrubias
José Enrique Covarrubias is a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM), and a professor of history at the same university. He has worked on topics of nineteenth-century foreign travelers in Mexico as well as the history of nineteenth-century economic and social ideas in Mexico and elsewhere. Currently he works on the comparative history of nineteenth-century liberalism in Spain and Mexico. [email protected]