Hans Sloane and the natural history of Jamaica
Hans Sloane y la historia natural de Jamaica
- Date
- 1687-1725 · confidence high
- Place
- Spanish Town, Saint Catherine, Jamaica
- Credited to
- Hans Sloane, physician and naturalist
- Field
- Life & health
What was discovered
During a fifteen-month stay as the governor's physician, Sloane gathered hundreds of plant and animal species from Jamaica, which he described in his Catalogus Plantarum (1696) and his Natural History of Jamaica (1707-1725). His collection was the core of the British Museum.
The legend that Sloane invented milk chocolate in Jamaica is disputed: he described Jamaicans drinking chocolate with milk, but there is no evidence he invented it. The dates span the stay (1687-1689) and publication (1707-1725).
What it led to
- a catalogue of Antillean flora and fauna for European botany
- the foundational collection of the British Museum (1753) and, from it, the Natural History Museum
- a model of scientific expedition tied to colonisation