Essay on the Geography of Plants

The legacy of Alexander von Humboldt (1769–1859) looms large over the natural sciences. His 1799–1804 research expedition to Central and South America with botanist Aimé Bonpland set the course for the great scientific surveys of the nineteenth century, and inspired such essayists and artists as Emerson, Goethe, Thoreau, Poe, and Church.
The chronicles of the expedition were published in Paris after Humboldt’s return, and first among them was the 1807 “Essay on the Geography of Plants.” Among the most cited writings in natural history, after the works of Darwin and Wallace, this work appears here for the first time in a complete English-language translation. Covering far more than its title implies, it represents the first articulation of an integrative “science of the earth, ” encompassing most of today’s environmental sciences.  Ecologist Stephen T. Jackson introduces the treatise and explains its enduring significance two centuries after its publication.

• Views of Nature
• Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe (Foundations of Natural History)
• Personal Narrative of a Journey to the Equinoctial Regions of the New Continent: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics)
• The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt's New World
• Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 - Volume 1
• Alexander von Humboldt: The Botanical Exploration of the Americas
• Banana Cultures: Agriculture, Consumption, and Environmental Change in Honduras and the United States
• From Rainforest to Cane Field in Cuba: An Environmental History since 1492 (Envisioning Cuba)
• Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas: A Critical Edition (Alexander von Humboldt in English)
• Exploration of the Valley of the Amazon