Carte Generale de l’Amérique du Sud

Between 1826 and 1833, the French naturalist Alcide d’Orbigny undertook a massive expedition across South America on behalf of the Paris Museum. After traveling thousands of miles across much of the continent, D’Orbigny returned to France with approximately 10,000 plants, insects, fossils, and other specimens and wrote a book about his experiences. A.H. Dufour incorporated D’Orbigny’s findings into this finely executed map of South America, published in 1835. While the yoke of Spanish colonial authority had been overthrown, the newly independent nations were struggling to consolidate power and establish robust economies.