Overview

In an expedition intended to take the most accurate measurements ever of Earth, a team of French scientists were given permission as the first foreigners to be allowed into the New World territories of the Spanish Empire for the purpose of conducting scientific research. At the end of years of work the expedition's leader, Charles-Marie de La Condamine (1701-1774), undertook the first scientific expedition down the length of the Amazon River from its headwaters in the Andes Mountains to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. Previous explorers to the area were military or government agents acting on behalf of the Spanish or Portuguese authority in the New World or clergy accompanying them. La Condamine's exploration, which occurred over the course of 4 months in...