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Institute
for Ecological Tourism
Department of Natural
Resources Planning &
Interpretation Humboldt State University, Arcata, California Grandfather
of Ecotourism |
 Alexander von Humboldt |
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"Learning, travel and yet more learning." Alexander von Humboldt was
born in Berlin on September 14, 1769. At the age of 30 he set sail for a
6,000 mile journey to the New World in the search of scientific
knowledge. Fluent in several
languages (German, Russian, French, Spanish, Italian, English), and
burning with ambition, he was truly a Renaissance man who took full
advantage of the opportunities for exploration in the New World. As he
left the Spanish harbor of La Coruna, aboard the frigate Pizarro bound
to Spanish America (South America) he exclaimed: "...
I shall
endeavor to find out how nature's forces act upon one another, and in
what manner the geographic environment exerts its influence on animals
and plants. In short, I must find out about the harmony in nature."
(1799) Humboldt believed in the idea of the "interrelation of all
natural objects" - minerals, rocks, soils, plants, animals, and
even human beings, which was a revolutionary concept for his time. This
concept was to be a cornerstone of Humboldt's whole scientific career. As he traveled, he began to see what nobody had understood clearly
before him: that life's forms and their grouping with one another are
conditioned by physical factors in their environment, that atmospheric
and geologic conditions need to be known if we are to learn the meaning
behind the diversity of life. Humboldt's scientific discoveries established new scientific
disciplines like comparative climatology that later grew into the field
of ecology. For Humboldt, travel was not merely a desire but a necessity. He had
to travel in order to test and prove his theories. "One cannot study the relationships in nature while sitting
in the comfort of one's home. One has to get out into the world - into
every corner of it that one can reach - if one is to test and prove a
glorious theory." "Learning, travel and yet more learning."
was his
motto. His new world travels took him to Cuba, Mexico, New Granada (Venezuela), Peru, Chile, Argentina, and the United States. For more information contact: Michael Sweeney, Director Institute for Ecological Tourism,
NRPI
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