Ultramarine Shipments of Plants and Animals between Spain and its Colonies in the 18th Century

Abstract

Spain and its colonies maintained a constant exchange of materials, ideas, correspondence, plants, and animals during the eighteenth century, for the supply of the Crown and natural history collections. The realization of ultramarine shipments implied long chains of events and people. We found letters with no classification or digitalization at the General Archive of the Indies, concerning these shipments in the last quarter of the eighteenth century. We used them to examine various difficulties for plant and animal exchanges during these intercontinental voyages. We have organized the information considering key places: 1) Spain, 2)ultramarine traverse, 3)the colonies, and 4)back to Spain. We have found stories on how to transport live animals and plants through the ocean, problems in communications and transport, differences in documentation quality, improvement of taxidermy, and packing and preparation techniques, among others. These situations occurred in a colonial extractivist context that, if analyzed through a contemporary lens, allows to reflect on concepts like gender equity, social justice, and decolonialism.