Route Followed in Brazil During 1817-1820 Expedition
Martius and Spix, accompanied by Johann Christian Mikan who was with his wife and the artist Thomas Ender travelled to Brazil with the Austrian Commission, which joined the wedding train of Archduchess Leopoldina of Austria and Dom Pedro de Alcantara, the future Emperor of Brazil. The party left from Trieste on 10 April 1817.
The first natural history collections were made in the city of Rio de Janeiro at Laranjeiras, Corcovado, Aqueduto, Fonte da Carioca, Tijuca, Botafogo, Jardim Botanico) immediately following the wedding.
Spix and Martius then spent some days at "Fazenda Mandioca" with Grigori Ivanovitch Langsdorff and then went to a fazenda near Rio Paraiba before returning to Rio. A mounted expedition took them on horseback to Itaguaí (13 December 1817) through São Paulo state state to the city of São Paulo where they arrived on 31 December 1817. They left on 9 January 1818 for Sorocaba and Itu on to Minas Gerais, then through Camanducaia to cross the Rio Sapucaí for São Gonçalo and Ouro Prêto. On 1 May 1818 they left for Diamantina, Minas Novas and then Montes Claros.
On 12 August 1818 they headed North-North East to Rio Carinhanha, as far as the Serra Geral then returned by Cocos to Carinhanha arriving at Rio de Contas on 17 October 1818, then riding east to cross the Rio Paraguaçu arriving at Salvador on the 10 November 1818, and leaving on 18 February 1819 via Coit and Jacobina. The party then travelled to Piaui, Oeiras where they arrived on 3 May. They departed on 11 May arriving on 15 May at São Gonçalo do Amarante, where Martius became seriously ill. Spix had at this time contracted the schistosomiasis, of which he eventually died.
On 3 June 1819 they arrived in Maranhão to replenish fonds and supplies. They then sailed down the Rio Itapicuru to São Luis from where they left on 20 July for Belém, arriving there on 25 July, having collected specimens at several places in between. They left Belém on 21 August for an Amazon voyage, up the Tocantins to Breves, arriving in Gurupá on 9 September and Porto de Moz on the Rio Xingu on 10 September. They spent the 19th-30 September in Santarém, arriving at Barra do Rio Negro on 22 October and leaving on 2 November. They reached Tefé, then called Ega, on 26 November, then split up.
Spix left Tefé on 7 December 1819, for Solimões and visiting Tabatinga before returning to Manaus on 3 February 1820. He then travelled up the Rio Negro to Moura, Barcelos returning to Manaus on 26 February. Martius left Tefé on 12 December, ascended Rio Japurá, returning to Manaus on 11 March where they reunited. They departed for Belém arriving on 16 April 1820 and left for Europe on 13 June 1820.
Read more about this topic: Carl Friedrich Philipp Von Martius
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