Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru

The Botanical Expedition to the Viceroyalty of Peru (Spanish: Expedición Botánica al Virreinato del Perú) was a Spanish expedition to the colonial territories of the Viceroyalty of Peru and Chile between 1777 and 1788.

It was commissioned by King Charles III of Spain and headed by botanists Hipólito Ruiz López, José Antonio Pavón Jiménez and Joseph Dombey.

During the 18th century, Europe saw a flowering interest in the science of botany that in Spain crystallized in the organization of a series of scientific expeditions to Spanish colonial territories in America, the Pacific islands and Asia. King Charles III of Spain was very much in favor of this type of scientific research and provided funding for several explorations in the later part of the century.

Due to his formation under Casimiro Gómez Ortega at Madrid's Royal Botanical Garden, Hipólito Ruiz López was named head botanist of the expedition, with French physician Joseph Dombey and pharmacologist José Antonio Pavón Jiménez appointed as his assistants.

Two prestigious botanical illustrators, Joseph Bonete and Isidro Gálvez, also accompanied the expedition.

The expedition sailed from Cádiz in 1777 and arrived at Lima in April 1778. For over ten years, from 1778 to 1788, they explored the territories of present Peru and Chile studying and collecting specimens.

The expedition suffered all kinds of setbacks during this time, ranging from the sinking of the ship San Pedro de Alcantara in 1784 that carried numerous botanical samples, a 1785 fire in the Peruvian population in Macora that resulted in the loss of additional samples and equipment, to quarrels between the members of the expeditionary team, specially between Ruiz and Dombey, that resulted in the latter leaving the group in 1784. He was replaced by Juan José Tafalla Navascués that same year.

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