Historia Naturalis Brasiliae title page

Piso, Willem, 1611-1678
Marggraf, Georg, 1610-1644

Lugdun, Batavorum: Apud Franciscum Hackium
et Amstelodami: Apud Lud. Elzevirium

Frontispiece, Historia Naturalis Brasiliae Published 1648. The Historia Naturalis Brasiliae was published in 1648 under the patronage of Johan Maurits of Nassau Siegen, former governor general of Dutch Brazil. The Historia contains four books entitled De Medicina Brasiliensi by Willem Pies or Piso (1611-1678) concerning mainly medical and culinary aspects of the country, followed by eight books entitled Historia Rerum Brasiliensi by George Marcgraf or Marcgrave (1610-1643) dealing with Brazilian botany and zoology, as well as some meteorology, ethnology and geography. Maurits had an obsession with personally creating an earthly paradise in his colony. This frontispiece reveals a Brazilian version of Adam and Eve, with serene and almost smiling faces. Eve does not hold an apple but rather a bunch of native caju fruit and a stalk of sugarcane. Adam carries a spear. They are in a foreground of a perspective framed by palm trees, with a group of natives dancing in the rear. Fish, turtles, and crabs appear in the lower part of the composition, while in the upper part snakes coil around trees. The scene is enhanced by representations of several species of bird and fruit, conveying the rich, fertile existence of the colony. The Historia played a critical role in New World natural history. For one hundred fifty years it provided vernacular names and descriptions of some 301 Brazilian plants and 367 animals. Time and again Piso and Marcgraf's species found their way into 17th and 18th century compendia of natural history, until many hundreds emerged into the modern era of plant and animal taxonomy through their use as the basis (or part basis) of properly named species proposed by Linnaeus. Consulted Sources: - By Elizabeth Schmid

Brazil

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