Publishing
Voyage en Amérique du Sud
Les Belles Lettres
When he set sail from La Rochelle on 16 May 1735, Charles-Marie de La Condamine had no idea that his voyage to South America would take ten years of his life. Having set out to measure a meridian angle and put an end to the long-standing scientific dispute about the shape of the Earth, the scientist had to face, in addition to the harsh climate of the Andes, the tensions, resentments and intrigues that agitated the members of the expedition.
It is a double journey that this edition offers: the account of the voyage on the Amazon, published in 1745, and the journal of the ten years of travel in America, published in 1751. These two accounts, although part of the same great voyage, can be read as two distinct expeditions. They differ in the scientific issues they address, in their writing, in the spaces they travelled through and in the way they were published. They are therefore two complementary voyages, which form the whole of La Condamine's adventures in South America.
Editing and introduction of 65 pages: Matthias Soubise
Illustrations: Benjamin Van Blancke
Paperback with flap covers - 15.4 x 22.6 cm - 460 pages
23,90 € - Maps, Bibliography
♦ In bookshops on 3 December 2021
