Paper short abstract:

This paper focuses on the creation of natural history knowledge in nineteenth-century Chile thanks to collaboration between career-minded naturalists, for whom 'unexplored' Chile proved irresistible, and non-naturalist supporters, for whom fostering the natural sciences aided national progress.

Paper long abstract:

Newly-independent Chile had limited local scientific expertise, no institutions dedicated to the natural sciences and little formal knowledge of its natural environment. At the end of the nineteenth century, Chile hosted multiple natural history museums, a research-active naval hydrographical office, natural history education in schools, government-funded natural history research and internationally-known publications. This paper will focus on the ways and routes through which this natural history knowledge was created, adapted and transmitted thanks to collaboration between career-minded naturalists, for whom Chile's 'unexplored' status proved irresistible, and non-naturalist supporters, for whom fostering the natural sciences aided national progress. The work of three foreigners was especially vital to this cultivation of knowledge. French Claudio Gay was hired in 1830 to survey Chile, write Chile's natural history and found a natural history museum. This work lasted the rest of his life, and his publications, both in the official newspaper El Araucano and through his own myriad volumes, trained Chile's literate public in the results and methods of natural history. Venezuelan Andrés Bello advocated for natural history through various government roles and, as the editor of El Araucano, disseminated Gay's writings and translated foreign work. Prussian Rodulfo Philippi, long-time director of the National Museum, built the collections, sponsored expeditions and published his results nationally and internationally. These foreigners contributed to an environment in which Chile sought to establish itself as a continental power and in which the natural world contributed to national identity.