A “New Dispute” of the New World. Visions of Latin America in the Malaspina Expedition (1789–1794)

The Malaspina expedition was the most important scientific exploration realized in the New World in the modern era. During the around five years of navigation, the crew collected an unprecedented documentation about the demography, sociology, natural sciences, mineralogy, cartography, and numismatics. The expedition, funded by the Spanish government and originally pursued strictly scientific goals, contributed to produce an «imaginative vision» of the Latin-American world, of its culture, geography, and political institutions