Geographer, ethnographer, naturalist, botanist, diplomat… Although settled in a small Aragonese village, his family belonged to the rural nobility and this high social position allowed Félix de Azara and all his brothers to receive a careful education and achieve relevant positions: a cardinal, a bishop, a dean, two military men, a jurist and a renowned diplomat.

Félix studied Philosophy, Arts and Law at the University of Huesca. However, as these disciplines were mainly theoretical and unsuitable for transferring them to real life and increasing the prosperity of the people, he decided to broaden his education in the army, which at that time offered a more scientific and practical type of training, close to the postulates of the Enlightenment.

With the arrival of the House of Bourbon, the army was reorganised by reorganising the units and the military hierarchy, its administration and territorial distribution. In order to become an officer in the armed forces, the rank of “cadet” was created, reserved for the sons of officers or sons of noble families. This made it possible to have a well-trained officer corps thanks to an innovative curriculum that included scientific disciplines: mathematics, physics, chemistry, etc.

In the first half of the 18th century, the Jesuits controlled secondary education in Spain and the University still offered studies of medieval origin.

Look up information about the University of Huesca and answer the following questions:

Who founded the University of Huesca and in what year?

1. 1. Pedro IV, in 1354
   2. Fernando el Católico, in 1507
   3. Miguel Servet, in 1545

Which was the first University of Aragon?

1. 1. Saragossa
   2. Alcañiz
   3. Huesca

What disciplines could be studied at the University in the 18th century?

1. 1. Theology, Philosophy, Law and Medicine
   2. History, Law, Astronomy and Mathematics
   3. Chemistry, History, Medicine and Physics

Solution: 1, 2, 1

Comment on what you think were the reasons why Félix Azara preferred military education.

Complete the sentences on the left with those on the right to find out the main characteristics of the Enlightenment.

 

1	Reason is seen as the only means	a	source of truth and goodness.
2	The Enlightenment advocates that progress	b	and politics and rulers must procure happiness for their people.
3	Advocate for education as a necessary vehicle	c	must be based on science and technology.
4	Happiness is the true goal of the human being	d	to attain knowledge and truth.
5	Nature is considered as	e	to disseminate knowledge and advance a country.

 

Solution: 1-d / 2-c / 3-e / 4-b / 5-a

Félix de Azara was sent at the head of the Spanish expedition that was to fix the boundaries between the possessions of Spain and Portugal in an area where there were disputes, according to the Treaty of San Ildefonso signed in 1777.
He left for South America in 1781 for a mission lasting a few months, but remained in Paraguay and the Rio de la Plata region for 20 years.
During his stay in the Americas, he participated in the establishment of a stable frontier between the southern part of Portugal’s dominions and those of Spain. In order to draw reliable maps, he went alone into unexplored regions. In his reports, he described the customs and habits of the Indians he encountered along the way, as well as the characteristics of their languages.
Despite his lack of scientific training, he took advantage of this prolonged stay to study the fauna and flora of the area.

On this map of South America, place the names of the countries.

Point out which present-day countries belonged to the kingdom of Portugal and which to the kingdom of Spain in the 18th century.

Do you know to which present-day countries the lands that Félix de Azara travelled through belonged?

What languages are spoken in those countries today?

Find and roughly trace the border that the expedition led by Azara had to demarcate.

The Treaty of San Ildefonso was signed in 1777 “with the sincere desire to extinguish the disagreements which have existed between the crowns of Spain and Portugal and their respective vassals for almost the space of three centuries over the limits of their dominions in America and Asia”. The main terms of the treaty were as follows:

• • There would be peace between the two countries.
  • Ratification of the treaties of Lisbon (1668), Utrecht (1715) and Paris (1763).
  • Release of prisoners on both sides. Mutual restitution of naval dams made since 1763.
  • The frontier between the two countries was delimited by a line drawn along the course of the following rivers: Chuy stream, Merín lagoon, Piratiní river, the headwaters of the Negro river, Pepirí Guazú river to its headwaters and from there to the headwaters of the San Antonio river, Iguazú river, Paraná river and the Igurey river upstream to its source. From there to the headwaters of the Corrientes River and following the course of the latter along the Paraguay River to the mouth of the Yaurú River. From there in a straight line westward to the Guaporé River, down the Madeira River; from the point equidistant between the mouth of the Mamoré at the Madeira and the Amazon River the border would go in a straight line eastward to the Yabarí River; down the Amazon to the Yapurá, Negro and Orinoco Rivers to its mouth on the Atlantic Ocean. In the mountainous areas the border was fixed at the highest points of the mountain ranges separating the headwaters of the rivers. Colonia del Sacramento and San Gabriel Island were definitively in Spanish hands.
  • Navigation on the above-mentioned rivers in the sections where they formed a frontier would be free for both countries.
    Formation of a joint commission to establish the boundaries on the ground.
  • Spain would evacuate the island of Santa Catalina; Portugal would deny entry into this port to non-Spanish or non-Portuguese ships.
  • Denial of the ports of both signatory countries to vessels of enemy countries of either of them and to any vessel of any flag carrying contraband.
  • Cession to Spain of the territories of Equatorial Guinea and the islands of Annobón and Fernando Poo, on the West African coast.
  • Renunciation by both parties of the rights over the territories of the other signatory party established by this agreement. Renunciation by Portugal of possible rights over the Philippine and Mariana Islands.

Do some research and list some of the treaties that Spain and Portugal have signed throughout history for the distribution of colonial territories in America, Africa and Asia.

One of the clauses of the Treaty of San Ildefonso established a land exchange. The Spanish ceded to Portugal the island of Santa Catalina, in southern Brazil, and in exchange, Portugal ceded to Spain the Colonia de Sacramento, in Uruguay, and its possessions in Equatorial Guinea.

What was the main activity that the Portuguese carried out in Guinea? Search on wikipedia for the word Equatorial Guinea, which will give you the answer.

What do you know about Emilio Bonelli, one of the Spanish explorers who travelled through Guinea in the 19th century? Search for information about him on the internet.

Until when did Equatorial Guinea belong to Spain?

Félix de Azara was portrayed by Francisco de Goya, also from Aragon, in 1805. Take a look at his portrait online or at the Goya Museum in Saragossa, where it is on display, and say what strikes you about it.

As mentioned above, Azara was called to form part of the commission charged with precisely delimiting the borders set by Spain and Portugal in the Treaty of San Ildefonso in 1777.
According to his own words, he initially went to Asunción (the present-day capital of Paraguay) to make the necessary preparations and await the Portuguese expedition. Given the tardiness of the Portuguese commissioner (who never arrived), Azara decided to set out on his own and map the region.

In 1784 he wrote:

…I had a well-founded suspicion that the Portuguese would take a long time to arrive, and that consequently my delay in Paraguay would be protracted. No instructions had been given me for this case, and I was obliged to meditate on the choice of some object that would usefully occupy my detention. Of course, I saw that what suited my profession and circumstances was to gather elements to make a good chart or map, without omitting what could illustrate the physical geography, the natural history of birds and quadrupeds, and finally what could lead to a perfect knowledge of the country and its inhabitants.

(Source: http://cronicasdefauna.blogspot.com/2021/12/felix-de-azara-1742-1821-el-hombre.html) Some animals are named after them, such as these, can you indicate which picture they correspond to?

Find out which works Nicolás de Azara wrote related to his expeditions in South America, in which languages they were published and briefly describe their contents.

What do you know about other naturalists of the time, such as the Conde de Buffon or Carlos Linnaeus, what were their main achievements?

On his return from America, Félix de Azara went to Paris where his brother Nicolás was stationed as Spanish ambassador. This stay in the cultural capital of the time helped him to make his work as a naturalist known, to meet other scientists of the time and to be able to publish and disseminate his studies, both in Spanish and in French and English. It was these editions that Charles Darwin later consulted and used as his bedside books.

What problems did Darwin have in publishing his theories on evolution? Why, and does everyone agree that they are correct today?

Have you seen the film Master and Commander. On the other side of the world? It shows the rivalries between different countries for control of the American South in the 18th century and the importance of nature research at the time.

2003 American film directed by Peter Weir, starring Russell Crowe and Paul Bettany. Based on the novels by Patrick O’Brian.

Plot: During the Napoleonic Wars, the 28-gun British frigate HMS Surprise is ordered to follow the much larger, more recently built 44-gun French warship Acheron to the coast of Brazil. The French ship unexpectedly attacks the Surprise, causing considerable damage and casualties. Although his orders did not contemplate it, the English captain pursued the Acheron around Cape Horn and sailed to the Galapagos Islands. There, the two ships clashed again and the British achieved victory by using a trap, camouflaging their vessel as a whaling ship, to attack the French by surprise. This technique copied the mimicry observed by the British captain in the Galapagos Islands in some of the insects collected by his ship’s doctor, who was fond of botany.