The Return of the Naturalists – Iceland

Sweden | England | Scotland | Iceland

 €5.00

The Explorer’s Field Guide – Bridge Builder Expeditions: | The Return of the Naturalists – Iceland. A scientific voyage to Iceland in 1772. Daniel Solander, Joseph Banks and Uno von Troil – Sweden, England, Scotland & Iceland.

The voyage towards Iceland set out from Gravesend on 12 July 1772, almost exactly a year to the day after the naturalists Daniel Solander and Joseph Banks had returned from their circumnavigation with James Cook. The ship rounded Dover and sailed towards the Isle of Wight, Plymouth, Cape Cornwall and northwards to Scotland, on 16 August the ship head further north for Iceland and twelve days later reached its destination. The group stayed for six weeks on the island, where most of the time was devoted to Hafnarfjörður, where the expedition members were well settled in the community and the Danish merchant house in which they lodged. Botanical and geological field work and a tour towards Mount Hekla were other aims. On this tour, the company of six mounted on horseback, brought with them a small tent and two blankets each to keep warm. Due to the fact that the travellers only arrived in Iceland in late summer, a number of plants were past flowering. However, one of the exceptions was mountain-avens (Dryas octopetala) – a plant which today is both the national flower of Iceland as well as Solander’s birthplace Lapland’s landscape flower. Banks never published his Iceland observations during his lifetime, but Uno von Troil, one of the other travellers, immortalised the journey in a number of letters which were published some years later. This Field Guide – in Solander’s footsteps – also highlights the contrasting landscapes, the fascinating historical milestones of the island, long-distance trade as well as Icelandic manuscripts and literature.

This foldable pamphlet with outstanding pictures, panoramas and maps is an interdisciplinary work focusing on “Bridge Building” within Natural & Cultural History.

Background Facts

This ‘Explorer’s Field Guide’ is part of the project The Bridge Builder Expeditions. An overarching definition for a series of contemporary and scientifically sustainable projects established by The IK Foundation, an undertaking which aims to inspire and to contribute to our understanding of our shared planet! These projects are grounded in the concepts of retracing and lifting both practical and theoretical knowledge from the Linnaeus Apostles’ journeys. The core of said projects revolve around a series of expeditions – with fieldwork in both rural and urban landscapes – which will be used to collect data and knowledge from several of the world’s continents. This work incorporates a look into both cultural and societal values of specific regions as well as the measuring of the natural permutations of the landscapes travelled three centuries ago and if they have shifted with the passing of time. In essence the Bridge Builder Expeditions are a mixture of 18th century knowledge and 21st century know-how, two contrasting entities employed in unison to create an endeavour which is both interdisciplinary but also groundbreaking within its field. These contemporary expeditions offer insight into the developments and constants of the world we live in, divergences which lay the groundwork for new avenues of knowledge.