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.