Thomas Jefferson and Alexander von Humboldt: The Transatlantic Pursuit of Science, Exploration, and Strategy in the Enlightenment

• History

This lecture analyses the personal encounter as well as the subsequent friendship and transatlantic communication between two fascinating personalities: the Prussian explorer, scientist and geographer Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) and the American statesman, architect, and naturalist Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826). At the end of Humboldt’s famous expedition through the Spanish colonies he visited the United States in spring of 1804, where he met several times with then-president Jefferson. A cordial and fruitful relationship resulted, and the two men corresponded over the next 21 years, touching in their letters the pivotal events of those times, such as the independence movement in Latin America, the applicability of the democratic model on this region, the relationship between America and Europe, besides rather scholarly topics, such as the latest progress in natural history or geography as well as several technological projects. The different worlds and the historical context in which these two Enlightenment figures lived will be explained, and how this together with their personal 5-year experience on the other side of the Atlantic, defined their respective convictions.