Search

Among the voyages of exploration and surveying in the late 18th century, that of Alejandro Malaspina best represents the high ideals and scientific interests of the Enlightenment. Italian-born, Malaspina entered the Spanish navy in 1774. In September 1788 he and fellow-officer José Bustamante submitted a plan to the Ministry of Marine for a voyage of survey and inspection to Spanish territories in the Americas and Philippines. The expedition was to produce hydrographic charts for the use of Spanish merchantmen and warships and to report on the political, economic and defensive state of Spain's overseas possessions. The plan was approved and in July 1789 Malaspina and Bustamante sailed from Cádiz in the purpose-built corvettes, Descubierta and Atrevida. On board the vessels were scientists and artists and an array of the latest surveying and astronomical instruments. The voyage lasted more than five years. On his return Malaspina was promoted Brigadier de la Real Armada, and began work on an account of the voyage in seven volumes to dwarf the narratives of his predecessors in the Pacific such as Cook and Bougainville. Among much else, it would contain sweeping recommendations for reform in the governance of Spain's overseas empire. But Malaspina became involved in political intrigue. In November 1795 he was arrested, stripped of his rank and sentenced to life imprisonment. Although released in 1803, Malaspina spent the last seven years of his life in obscure retirement in Italy. He never resumed work on the great edition, and his journal was not published in Spain until 1885. Only in recent years has a multi-volume edition appeared under the auspices of the Museo Naval, Madrid, that does justice to the achievements of what for long was a forgotten voyage. This second volume in a series of three contains Malaspina's diario or journal, for the first time in English translation and with commentary. It covers the period from 15 December 1790 to 15 November 1792, when he visited the Pacific coasts of Central and North America, as far north as Alaska, before crossing the ocean to the Philippines. Other texts include the apocryphal voyage of Ferrer Maldonaldo through the Strait of Anian, which led to a major diversion of the Malaspina expedition in 1791.

Buccaneers, Explorers and Settlers studies how during'the long 18th century'British incursions into the Pacific transformed Europe's knowledge of that great ocean. Buccaneers devastated Spanish settlements and shipping in the South Sea, and the accounts by Dampier and his companions of their exploits became best-sellers. Anson's circumnavigation carried on the tradition of commerce-raiding, but it represented the beginnings of a more official interest in the Pacific and its resources. Later in the 18th century the hopes of speculative geographers that unknown continents and sea-passages existed in the Pacific prompted a series of expeditions by Cook and his contemporaries. New peoples were discovered as well as new lands, and the voyages led to changing perceptions of their lifestyles. Exploration was followed by trade and settlement in which Cook's associates such as Banks played a leading part. Before the end of the century there were British settlements in New South Wales, Nootka Sound had become a centre of international dispute, and across the Pacific traders, whalers and missionaries were following the tracks of the explorers.

Among the voyages of exploration and surveying in the late 18th century, that of Alejandro Malaspina best represents the high ideals and scientific interests of the Enlightenment. In July 1789 he sailed from Cádiz in the purpose-built corvettes, Descubierta and Atrevida. On board the vessels were scientists and artists and an array of the latest surveying and astronomical instruments. The voyage lasted more than five years. On his return Malaspina began work on seven-volume account of the voyage, to dwarf the narratives of his predecessors in the Pacific such as Cook and Bougainville. But he became involved in political intrigue, was imprisoned, and then spent the rest of his life in obscure retirement in Italy. He never resumed work on the great edition, and his journal remained long unpublished. Only now is justice being done to the achievements of what for long was a forgotten voyage. This is the final volume of the series of three which presents Malaspina's journal for the first time in English translation and with commentary. It covers the expedition's return voyage from Manila, its visits to New Zealand, Australia, the Tonga Islands and the Falklands, and its arrival in Cádiz on 21 September 1794. Appendices contain Bustamante's survey of East Falkland Island, his visit to Puerto de la Soledad and his search for Islas Auroras, an account of Malaspina's arrest and the suppression of his report, and details of the two corvettes with lists of their complement and of the scientific instruments and books taken on the expedition.

First Published in 1980. The dynamism within the American colonies in the fifty years or so before the outbreak of the crisis of the 1760s that was to lead to the Revolution has never been in doubt. The articles written included in this text suggest a number of ways in which the ‘imperial factor'was of real importance in colonial life and show that there was dynamism on the British side as well as in the colonies.