Aime Bonpland

See also: Aime, Bonpland

Aime Jacques Alexandre Goujaud Bonpland , born the August 22nd 1773 with La Rochelle and dead the May 4th 1858 with Santa Anna Brazil, is a Botaniste French.

After having been surgeon in the army, it accompanies in 1799 Alexander von Humboldt during five years with the Mexico, in Colombia and Amazonia.

During its voyages, it collects more than 6.000 Plante S (example: the Brugmansia), majority still unknown. Of return to Paris, it describes their botanical characters and their properties in equinoctial Plantes (1808-1816) and offers this collection to the national Muséum of natural history of Paris.

In order to thank it, Napoleon grants a pension to him and charges it with the gardens of the Château of Malmaison.

In 1806, it publishes Monographie of Mélastomes and, in 1813, Description of the cultivated rare plants with Malmaison and Navarre .

In 1816, it embarks with various European plants bound for Buenos Aires where it had obtained a post of professor of natural history. After its arrival, it starts to explore the South America. It created with Santa Anna close to San Borga (in the Corrientes) a plantation where it naturalized, inter alia plants, the Maté whose Paraguay had the monopoly up to that point. It was removed for this fact in 1821, during its passage in Bolivia, and was stopped by the dictator of the Paraguay, the Doctor (academic qualification) Francia, which pretended to hang it for espionage. It remains under house arrest until in 1831. During its detention, he exerts the trade of doctor and constitutes even small a Distillerie.

Once released, it settles with the Brésil with San Borga in the province of Corrientes where it takes again its agricultural experiments and remains there until its death.

One owes him the botanical part of the Voyage in America ; the Description of the rare plants of Malmaison (1813), and a Seen Cordilleras and indigenous monuments of America (1819). Its manuscripts were acquired by the France.

Biography

A biography on Aimé Bonpland is available:

Aime Bonpland (1773-1858), doctor, naturalist, explorer in South America of Nicolas Hossard, 2001, Harmattan (Paris) - ISBN 2-7475-0836-6

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