Pedro Vicente Maldonado

Pedro Vicente Maldonado y Flores, (Riobamba, Royal Audience of Quito (today's Ecuador) November 24, 1704 – London, England, November 17, 1748) was a South-American scientist who collaborated with the members of the French Geodesic Mission. As well as a physicist and a mathematician, Maldonado was an astronomer, topographer, and geographer.

Maldonado’s parents were Don Pedro Antonio Maldonado Sotomayor and Doña María Flores Palomino, both of whom were of high economic and social standing, they came from one of the most important families of the country. His genealogy belongs to one of the first and most important marquis in Ecuador's history. He completed his primary education in Riobamba, the city of his birth, and in 1718, traveled to Quito where he attended the Colegio San Luis, where, under the supervision of the Jesuits, he learned arithmetic, geometry, Latin, astronomy, and music. On May 19, 1721, he received his teaching degree from the Gregorian University and later returned to Riobamba to be an educator at the Jesuit school. His legacy settle in Latacunga at Cotopaxi province.

From an early age, Maldonado was interested in the mysteries of nature, and between 1722 and 1724 undertook many explorations of unknown regions to study the land’s geography in great detail; he completed his first map in 1725. He again returned to his birthplace to care for his estate and remained there until 1720, when he moved to Quito. On February 5, 1730, Maldonado married the daughter of the Governor of Popayán, and gained the advantage of being related to a powerful, influential family. He returned to Riobamba in 1724 and was elected mayor of Cabildo in his first election; he was later named Lieutenant of the Magistrate. In spite of occupying these administrative positions, Maldonado did not neglect his scientific observations. That same year, he presented a proposal before the Viceroy of Peru, José de Armendáriz, to link the Royal Audience of Quito with Panama. It was the first of his many projects involving commerce routes and transportation.

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