God's healing leaves: The colonial quest for medicinal plants in the Torrid Zone

Abstract

The colonial era witnessed a fevered quest for exotic medicinal plants by European physicians and scientists. This essay explores the geographical principles that oriented the search towards the lands and peoples of the humid tropics. Believing that God had planted botanical cures for diseases in their places of origin, medicinal plant collectors concentrated their efforts in the pestilential equatorial latitudes. Although many subscribed to the ancient Doctrine of Signatures, colonial bioprospectors discovered early that indigenous and diasporic peoples represented storehouses of plant knowledge. Assuming that native knowhow constituted more instinct than intelligence, Europeans employed coercion, bribes, torture, and promises of freedom to extract their ethnomedical secrets. In the case of especially lucrative healing plants, imperial and colonial entities conspired to pilfer and naturalize endemic species in their distant colonies. In response to this legacy of inappropriate exploitation of native peoples and tropical plants during the colonial era, most present day bioprospectors follow established codes of ethnobotanical ethics.

Key words:

• Medicine
• botany
• tropical rainforest

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the staff at the Huntington Library, the Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, and the Muséum National d'Historie Naturelle. Partial funding was provided by grants from the NIH (National Library of

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the staff at the Huntington Library, the Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, and the Muséum National d'Historie Naturelle. Partial funding was provided by grants from the NIH (National Library of

Notes

The authors gratefully acknowledge the assistance provided by the staff at the Huntington Library, the Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil, and the Muséum National d'Historie Naturelle. Partial funding was provided by grants from the NIH (National Library of

Additional information

Funding

NIH (National Library of Medicine)

Huntington Library (San Andreas Fellowship)

California State University‐Fullerton

Notes on contributors

Robert Voeks

Dr. Robert Voeks California State University, Fullerton ‐ Geography & the Environment Fullerton, California United States; [[email protected]]. Charlotte Greene Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe Port‐au‐Prince Haiti; [[email protected]].