1701-1774

French Mathematician and Explorer

Charles-Marie de la Condamine led the first foreign scientific expedition into the Spanish territories of the New World. After an extended surveying expedition in the Andes mountains of what is now Ecuador, La Condamine became the first scientist to explore the Amazon River from its source in the mountains to the river's mouth at the Atlantic Ocean.

La Condamine was born into an aristocratic French family that made its fortune by speculating in mines in the French territory of Louisiana. During his childhood a series of wars broke out in Spain as various powers vied to install a king that would ally them with the huge Spanish Empire. The wars continued into La Condamine's adulthood, and he served as a soldier in the French armies that eventually succeeded in placing a French monarch on the throne of...