Full Name: Aimé Jacques Alexandre Bonpland
Profession: Explorer and Botanist
Biography: Bonpland befriended Alexander von Humboldt and they traveled to Tenerife and the Spanish colonial empire in the Americas for five years. They collected and classified about 6,000 plants.
Upon their return to Paris, Napoleon granted Bonpland a pension and he became superintendent over the gardens at Malmaison. In 1816, he took various European plants to Buenos Aires, where he was elected professor of natural history, but he soon left to explore the interior of South America.
In 1821, he established a colony at Santa Ana near the Paraná, but it was destroyed by the Paraguayans and he was arrested as a spy. He was freed in 1829 and returned to Argentina, where he settled at San Borja in Corrientes.
In 1853, he returned to Santa Ana, where he cultivated the orange trees he had introduced.
Born: August 22, 1773
Birthplace: La Rochelle, France
Star Sign: Leo
Historical Events
- 1799-06-05 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland set sail in the Pizarro from A Coruña, Spain, beginning their 5 year expedition to Latin American
- 1800-11-24 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland depart Caracas for Cuba to meet fellow botanist John Fraser, during their five-year expedition of Spanish America
- 1802-01-06 Naturalists Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland reach Quito, Ecuador
Biographies and Sources
- Aimé Bonpland - University of Wolverhampton
- Aimé Bonpland - Linda Hall Library
Charles Wilkes
Francis Drake
Juan Sebastián Elcano
Charles Darwin
Henry David Thoreau
Joy Adamson