Abstract

VEJA, Rodrigo Antonio  and  BAEZ, Ortega. The American Traveler Ephraim George Squier and the Floristic Prospecting of Honduras, 1849-1856. Anu.hist.reg.front. [online]. 2021, vol.26, n.2, pp.111-135.  Epub May 31, 2021. ISSN 0122-2066.  https://doi.org/10.18273/revanu.v26n2-2020004.

Honduras received several travelers since its independence with the objec- tive of assessing its natural resources to incorporate them into world trade. One of these was the American Ephraim George Squier, who in 1870 published Honduras: Descriptive Historical and Statistical, a book resulting from his different travels. The article analyzes how the book presented to the American public both the description of the travels of the traveler and the commercial opportunities that Honduras presented under the sanction of science. It is concluded that Squier carried out an extensive sur- vey of the flora as part of the United States’ geopolitical intentions to appropriate the Honduran natural resources to the exclusion of the local elite. Botany was the scientific discipline with which Squier made the floristic inventory within the framework of nineteenth-century American expansionism. Squier is an example of the involvement of American travelers in the naturalistic exploration of Central America.

Keywords : Vegetation; International Trade; Travelers; natural history of Honduras.

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