EXPLORATION: THE GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETIES:
At this juncture, the European exploratory impetus was still dependent on the
personal resources of the individuals involved. By the end of the eighteenth century,
however, new institutional structures began to emerge within and beyond
the agencies of the state dedicated to sponsoring exploration and geographical
discovery. In 1782, Jean-Nicolas Buache was appointed geographer to the court
of Louis XVI in France and attempted unsuccessfully to launch a geographical
society to co-ordinate French exploration (Lejeune, 1993: 21–2). Stung into action
by this failed initiative, a group of London scientists and businessmen, led by Sir
Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society) and Major James Rennell (Chief
Surveyor of the East India Company) launched the Association for Promoting the
Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa in 1788. Over the next decades, the
African Association sponsored several pioneering expeditions, including those of
Mungo Park, Hugh Clapperton and Alexander Gordon Laing (Heffernan, 2001;
Withers 2004).
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars brought a halt to the
best forms of Enlightenment geographical inquiry (Godlewska, 1999a) but gave a
fresh impetus to the strategically important sciences of cartography and land survey.
By 1815, affluent, educated and well-travelled former soldiers were to be
found in virtually every major European city, and these men were the natural
clientele for the first geographical societies, the building blocks of the modern
discipline. The earliest such society was the Société de Géographie de Paris
(SGP), which held its inaugural séance in July 1821. A fifth of the 217 founder
members were born outside France, including von Humboldt and Conrad Malte-
Brun, the Danish refugee who became the society’s first Secretary-General
(Fierro, 1983; Lejeune, 1993). A second, smaller geographical society was subsequently
established in Berlin, the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zuBerlin (GEB),
at the instigation of the cartographer Heinrich Berghaus in April 1828, with a
foundation membership of just 53, including von Humboldt and Carl Ritter, who
became the society’s inaugural president (Lenz, 1978).
The establishment in 1830 of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) of
London, under the patronage of William IV, marked a significant new departure.
Several London societies committed to fieldwork and overseas travel already
existed, including the Linnean Society for natural history (established in 1788),
the Palestine Association (1804), the Geological Society (1807), the Zoological Society (1826) and the Raleigh Club (1826), the last named being a dining club
whose members claimed collectively to have visited every part of the known
world. The RGS was to provide a clearer London focus for those with an interest
in travel and exploration. Even at its foundation, it was far larger than its
existing rivals in Paris and Berlin. The 460 original fellows included John Barrow,
the explorer and essayist, and Robert Brown, the pioneer student of Australian
flora. Within a year, the RGS had taken over the Raleigh Club, the African
Association and the Palestine Association to gain a virtual monopoly on British
exploration (Brown, 1980).
The pre-eminence of the RGS as the focal point of world exploration
increased over subsequent decades. By 1850, there were nearly 800 fellows
(twice the number in Berlin and eight times more than Paris, where the SGP
membership had slumped) and, by 1870, the fellowship stood at 2,400. Most fellows
were amateur scholars but a number of prominent scientists also joined the
society’s ranks, including the young Charles Darwin, who was elected after his
return from the voyage of the Beagle in 1838. The dominant figure in the RGS
during the middle years of the nineteenth century was Sir Roderick Murchison,
who was president on three separate occasions: 1843–5, 1851–3 and 1862–71.
A talented publicist and entrepreneur, Murchison advocated geographical exploration
as a precursor to British commercial and military expansion (Stafford,
1989). While other societies offered only post hoc awards and medals for successfully
completed voyages, the RGS used its substantial resources to sponsor
exploration in advance and on a large scale by providing money, setting precise
objectives, lending equipment and arbitrating on the ensuing disputes. It also
published general advice through its Hints to Travellers, which began in 1854
(Driver, 2001: 49–67), and developed what was probably the largest private map
collection in the world.
personal resources of the individuals involved. By the end of the eighteenth century,
however, new institutional structures began to emerge within and beyond
the agencies of the state dedicated to sponsoring exploration and geographical
discovery. In 1782, Jean-Nicolas Buache was appointed geographer to the court
of Louis XVI in France and attempted unsuccessfully to launch a geographical
society to co-ordinate French exploration (Lejeune, 1993: 21–2). Stung into action
by this failed initiative, a group of London scientists and businessmen, led by Sir
Joseph Banks (President of the Royal Society) and Major James Rennell (Chief
Surveyor of the East India Company) launched the Association for Promoting the
Discovery of the Interior Parts of Africa in 1788. Over the next decades, the
African Association sponsored several pioneering expeditions, including those of
Mungo Park, Hugh Clapperton and Alexander Gordon Laing (Heffernan, 2001;
Withers 2004).
The French Revolution and the Napoleonic wars brought a halt to the
best forms of Enlightenment geographical inquiry (Godlewska, 1999a) but gave a
fresh impetus to the strategically important sciences of cartography and land survey.
By 1815, affluent, educated and well-travelled former soldiers were to be
found in virtually every major European city, and these men were the natural
clientele for the first geographical societies, the building blocks of the modern
discipline. The earliest such society was the Société de Géographie de Paris
(SGP), which held its inaugural séance in July 1821. A fifth of the 217 founder
members were born outside France, including von Humboldt and Conrad Malte-
Brun, the Danish refugee who became the society’s first Secretary-General
(Fierro, 1983; Lejeune, 1993). A second, smaller geographical society was subsequently
established in Berlin, the Gesellschaft für Erdkunde zuBerlin (GEB),
at the instigation of the cartographer Heinrich Berghaus in April 1828, with a
foundation membership of just 53, including von Humboldt and Carl Ritter, who
became the society’s inaugural president (Lenz, 1978).
The establishment in 1830 of the Royal Geographical Society (RGS) of
London, under the patronage of William IV, marked a significant new departure.
Several London societies committed to fieldwork and overseas travel already
existed, including the Linnean Society for natural history (established in 1788),
the Palestine Association (1804), the Geological Society (1807), the Zoological Society (1826) and the Raleigh Club (1826), the last named being a dining club
whose members claimed collectively to have visited every part of the known
world. The RGS was to provide a clearer London focus for those with an interest
in travel and exploration. Even at its foundation, it was far larger than its
existing rivals in Paris and Berlin. The 460 original fellows included John Barrow,
the explorer and essayist, and Robert Brown, the pioneer student of Australian
flora. Within a year, the RGS had taken over the Raleigh Club, the African
Association and the Palestine Association to gain a virtual monopoly on British
exploration (Brown, 1980).
The pre-eminence of the RGS as the focal point of world exploration
increased over subsequent decades. By 1850, there were nearly 800 fellows
(twice the number in Berlin and eight times more than Paris, where the SGP
membership had slumped) and, by 1870, the fellowship stood at 2,400. Most fellows
were amateur scholars but a number of prominent scientists also joined the
society’s ranks, including the young Charles Darwin, who was elected after his
return from the voyage of the Beagle in 1838. The dominant figure in the RGS
during the middle years of the nineteenth century was Sir Roderick Murchison,
who was president on three separate occasions: 1843–5, 1851–3 and 1862–71.
A talented publicist and entrepreneur, Murchison advocated geographical exploration
as a precursor to British commercial and military expansion (Stafford,
1989). While other societies offered only post hoc awards and medals for successfully
completed voyages, the RGS used its substantial resources to sponsor
exploration in advance and on a large scale by providing money, setting precise
objectives, lending equipment and arbitrating on the ensuing disputes. It also
published general advice through its Hints to Travellers, which began in 1854
(Driver, 2001: 49–67), and developed what was probably the largest private map
collection in the world.
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