On the Geographical Distribution of Plants

The first English translation of an essay that is among Alexander von Humboldt’s least known but most important scientific works. In the nineteenth century, Alexander von Humboldt was arguably the world’s most famous celebrity after Napoleon. What started in 1799 as a serendipitous trip to the New World tropics with his friend Aimé Bonpland to collect plants and minerals expanded into a five-year exploration of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Mexico, and Cuba. The discoveries the two amassed were nothing short of staggering, and much of our knowledge of tropical botany, zoology, geography, and geology can be traced back to these journeys. The voyage, and the publication of Humboldt’s travel narratives and scientific studies from these expeditions, which totaled dozens of books, elevated Humboldt to cult status. In the last two decades, Humboldt’s writings have been rediscovered in multiple fields, including biogeography; Earth and environmental sciences; American and Latin American studies; nineteenth-century art, poetry, and literature; and transatlantic cultural history. His ideas are profoundly relevant to twenty-first-century thought on the relationship between humans and nature, and the ecological framework in which he viewed the world remains essential two centuries after his travels. Among his many interests and explorations, Humboldt invested considerable effort in explaining the underlying causes of the uneven distribution of plant species across the globe. His extended essay, On the Geographical Distribution of Plants, is among his least known but most important works, laying the foundations for the development of ecology, climatology, and evolutionary biology in the following decades. It was published originally in 1815 as an introduction to a seven-volume Latin botanical monograph, Nova Genera et Species Plantarum. The essay, republished in 1817 as a standalone volume, held great influence over nineteenth-century naturalists. It is his most comprehensive and detailed treatment of plant geography. In the essay, Humboldt applies botanical arithmetic to reveal ecological and biogeographic patterns of plants, applications that still ground modern macroecology, and provides frameworks to link vegetation patterns and climate, essential in modern Earth system science.  Introduced and organized by ecologist Stephen T. Jackson and translated from Latin to English by Philip Holt, this book is essential for the libraries of scientists, historians, and all Humboldt admirers.