Planting the World: Joseph Banks and His Collectors: an Adventurous History of Botany

In the 18th century, botany was the darling and powerhouse of the century. Joseph Banks was the dynamo for this change, collecting plants on a vast scale and commissioning expeditions to the Cape Colony, China, Australia, Tahiti, and Jamaica. Jordan Goodman's epic history follows these adventurers and their influence in Europe, as well as taking us back to the early years of Kew Gardens, which Banks developed devotedly.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 560 pages
Publication date: 08 July 2021
Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers

Based on meticulous research in original sources, Jordan Goodman vividly illustrates the remarkable achievements of Joseph Banks, a lesser-known figure in the history of botany and global plant collecting. This bold new history, centered at Kew Gardens and driven by Banks, explores how botany and global plant collecting transformed the earth during the eighteenth century.

Botany emerged as the darling and the powerhouse of the eighteenth century, as European ships ventured across the Atlantic, Indian, and Pacific oceans, leading to a flurry of discoveries. Bounties of new plants were brought back, offering far more than improved flowerbeds. They opened up a new scientific frontier that would revolutionize Europe's industry, medicine, eating and drinking habits, and even fashion.

Joseph Banks played a pivotal role in this momentous change. As the botanist for James Cook's epic voyage to the South Pacific on the Endeavour, Banks collected plants on a vast scale, armed with the belief that physical travel was a means of intellectual advancement. His thinking was as intrepid as Cook's seafaring, commissioning radically influential and physically daring expeditions such as those of Francis Masson to the Cape Colony, George Staunton to China, George Caley to Australia, William Bligh to Tahiti and Jamaica, among many others.

Jordan Goodman's epic history follows these high seas adventurers and their influence in Europe, while also taking us back to the early years of Kew Gardens, which Banks developed devotedly across the course of his life. Goodman's work is a remarkable achievement, providing a momentous history of how the discoveries made by Banks and his contemporaries shaped the world we know today.

In a rip-roaring global expedition, based on original sources in many languages, Goodman gives a momentous history of how the discoveries made by Banks and his contemporaries revolutionized botany, agriculture, and the understanding of the natural world. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in the history of science, nature, and the impact of human exploration on the planet.

Weight: 432g
Dimension: 129 x 197 x 40 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9780007578863