The Science of Empire: Local Botany in Late Bourbon Peru

Historians of science in the Spanish Empire are beginning to recognize the importance of unofficial networks formed among amateur natural historians and local (often indigenous) peoples in generating natural history data in the late colonial period, but documentation on these interactions is scarce. This paper on the botanical research of a Spanish Bishop in late Bourbon Peru overcomes this disadvantage by supplementing traditional archival sources with visual culture materials, including three volumes of botanical watercolors he commissioned from local artisans. Like most Bourbon functionaries, Bishop Martínez Compañón intended for his natural history information to focus on the practical matters that most interested royal reformers, especially commercial and medicinal plants. But despite this push for useful information, his local collaborators inevitably imbued his project with their own cultural perspectives and agendas. The botanical data and images produced by the local artisans of Trujillo tell of unsanctioned practices in medicine, drug use, and birth control. This segment of my larger book project demonstrates how even though the Bishop’s natural history work intended to portray the plebeians of Trujillo as obedient subjects and useful vassals, through their scientific collaboration the local artisans managed to insert their own views, perspectives, and histories into his natural history project, thus projecting their own agenda onto the science of empire of late Bourbon Spain.