The role of maps in 19th century plant geography

In my thesis, I analyze new strategies to visualize spatial knowledge in late 18th and 19th century botany. Particularly, the work will focus on „plant geography“ – a discipline founded by Alexander von Humboldt and others around 1800 and aiming to investigate the distribution of plants (and plant communities) on the surface of the earth. Within this discipline, maps became an influential source for the generation of new knowledge. Plant-geographical maps were one of the earliest so-called „thematic maps“ which represented the earth not as a politically, but naturally structured space with naturally restricted regions. Later, at the end of the 19th century, the discipline strongly influenced the foundation of scientific ecology. Again, botanical maps played a prominent role in contemporary discussions about the interaction between plants and their environment. Until now, connatural maps are integral parts of atlases to present the existence of different ecological zones to the reader.

Inspired by current discussions about the role of images and the power of spaces within the history of science, my goal is to find out how these maps helped to generate knowledge about ecological relationships and how much the new knowledge was routed in epistemological erosions in late 18th century Europe. I hypothesize that plant geographical maps were not just „representations“ of a given and observed reality, but served rather as a tool, which helped scientists to „think things together“ – things that otherwise would have probably been separated. To frame the maps’ „botanical world views“ from this perspective means two things: on the one hand they show us a special subjective and contemporary European view on nature and the world; on the other the maps had an „independent existence“, channeled scientific observations in a very specific way and helped scientists – as an external medium – to create a new, unpredictable knowledge about nature.

Contact: nguettler@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de