Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada (Mutis)
Crown-funded scientific expedition (1783-1816) directed by José Celestino Mutis that documented the flora of present-day Colombia for more than three decades, producing one of the most important collections of 18th-century American botanical art — over 7,100 drawings now digitized and freely accessible at the Real Jardín Botánico in Madrid.
Why this wins its question: The Spanish Enlightenment's scientific program in America is almost absent from English-language accounts of 18th-century science. This object grounds one flagship project in the holding institution's own records and links straight to the open digitized corpus — checkable in one click.
Claims
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The Royal Botanical Expedition of the New Kingdom of Granada, directed by José Celestino Mutis, officially began in 1783 and continued until 1816, documenting the flora of present-day Colombia with crown funding.
The expedition's artists produced a corpus of botanical illustration of exceptional scientific and artistic quality; more than 7,100 drawings have been digitized by the Real Jardín Botánico (CSIC), which holds the collection and publishes it openly online.