Abstract
In 1695, James Petiver concluded the first 'century' of his Musei Petiveriani by observing that he had received the specimens described within it from his 'Kind Friends from divers parts of the World' and 'Curious Persons … Abroad'. This essay examines Petiver's network of such 'Kind Friends' and 'Curious Persons' in the Atlantic World. The composition of Petiver's network reflected many of the broader patterns of English commerce in the Atlantic at the turn of the eighteenth century. Moreover, England's growing overseas empire and its expanding commercial activity required a parallel expansion in maritime labour. Mariners were correspondingly central to Petiver's work as a naturalist and collector in the region. The importance of slavery and the slave trade to Atlantic economic and social structures meant that the naturalist relied on the institutions, infrastructures and individuals of the slave trade and plantation slavery. A social history of Petiver's Atlantic network reveals how the naturalist utilized the routes of commerce and colonialism to collect specimens, as well as to collect the correspondents who might provide them from West Africa, Spanish America, the Caribbean and mainland North America. It demonstrates the entangled histories of commerce, colonialism, collecting and the production of natural knowledge.
Highlights
In 1695, James Petiver concluded the first ‘century’ of his Musei Petiveriani by observing that he had received the specimens described within it from his ‘Kind Friends from divers parts of the World’ and ‘Curious Persons
The importance of slavery and the slave trade to Atlantic economic and social structures meant that the naturalist relied on the institutions, infrastructures and individuals of the slave trade and plantation slavery
A social history of Petiver’s Atlantic network reveals how the naturalist utilized the routes of commerce and colonialism to collect specimens, as well as to collect the correspondents who might provide them from West Africa, Spanish America, the Caribbean and mainland North America
Summary
The expansion of English commerce and colonialism in the late seventeenth century meant that there were ever more English mariners to serve as potential collectors and collaborators These truly transatlantic figures collected flora and fauna in foreign ports, looked after seeds and specimens during their long weeks at sea, transported letters and gifts, and recruited new correspondents to Petiver’s network. Captains like Halsteed and Rattray had both the time and the contacts necessary to connect Petiver with new colonial correspondents. Ships’ captains and ships’ surgeons who spent weeks or even months in colonial ports awaiting their cargo returned to England with detailed, local knowledge of the people and natural productions of the ports they visited They had the mobility and range of contacts necessary to recruit new collectors and keep existing ones apprised of the latest news. Mariners helped to make the Atlantic Ocean a bridge rather than a barrier between colonial naturalists and their metropolitan counterparts
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