Francisco Hernández's scientific expedition to New Spain
Expedición científica de Francisco Hernández a Nueva España
- Date
- 1570-1577 · confidence high
- Place
- Mexico City, Mexico
- Credited to
- Francisco Hernández de Toledo, with Indigenous physicians and painters
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
The first official scientific expedition to the Americas: Philip II's physician spent seven years recording about 3,000 medicinal plants and many animals and minerals of New Spain with Indigenous informants. His manuscripts (partly lost in the 1671 El Escorial fire) formed the Natural History of New Spain.
Extracts were published in Rome (Rerum medicarum Novae Hispaniae thesaurus, 1651). The original drawings were lost in 1671.
What it led to
- Introduction to Europe of American plants with medical uses
- A model for the 18th-century Enlightenment botanical expeditions
- Record of Nahua medical knowledge