Félix de Azara

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Félix de Azara
Portrait of Félix de Azara (1805), by Francisco de Goya (Museo Camón Aznar, Zaragoza).

Félix de Azara (Barbuñales, Province of Huesca, May 18, 1742 – Barbuñales, October 20, 1821) was a Spanish military officer, engineer, explorer, cartographer, anthropologist and naturalist with a distinguished career both in Spain and in South America, mainly in Argentina, Paraguay and Brazil.

Azara described 448 species, of which approximately half were unknown until then. However, because in his descriptions he used Amerindian or Spanish names to identify them, the merit of his discoveries was appropriated by others, most of whom merely read his works and translated the names into the Latin nomenclature of Linnaeus, comfortably without leaving their homes, much less daring to undertake the journey that Azara made over 20 years. Only a handful of them had the decency to include Azara's name as a scientific epithet by way of acknowledgment.

For his contributions to natural history, Azara was praised by Charles Darwin himself, who cites him countless times in his works, especially The Voyage of the Beagle and The Descent of Man.[1] Numerous historians agree that Darwin must necessarily have carried a copy of Viajes por la América Meridional, which the native of Huesca had published at the beginning of the 19th century upon his return from America, after two decades of observation. In fact, Félix de Azara himself considered the possibility of the evolution of species before Darwin, although he did not generalize his conclusions, which is why he is regarded as the precursor of Darwin's work and of evolutionism.[2]

Biography

José Nicolás was born in Barbuñales, a town in the Province of Huesca where the Azara family house still stands. His full name was Félix Francisco José Pedro de Azara y Perera, and he was the son of Alejandro de Azara y Loscertales, who was Lord of Lizana, and of María de Perera. He belonged to a family of the Aragonese infanzonía (lesser nobility) from which important figures emerged, such as his brothers José Nicolás de Azara (diplomat and patron of the arts) and Eustaquio de Azara (Bishop of Ibiza and Barcelona), or his nephew Eusebio Bardají Azara (lawyer and diplomat).

He studied at the University of Huesca and then at the Royal Military Academy of Mathematics and Fortification in Barcelona, from which he graduated as a cadet in 1764. He served in the Infantry Regiment of Galicia and attained the rank of Lieutenant in 1775. He was wounded in the expedition against Algiers and survived by a miracle.

By the Treaty of San Ildefonso of 1777, Spain and Portugal set the borders of their possessions in South America. Azara was chosen to be one of the commissioners charged with precisely delimiting the Spanish borders. He left for South America in 1781 on a mission of a few months and would remain there for 20 years.

According to his own words, he initially went to Asunción (the present-day capital of Paraguay) to make the necessary preparations and wait for the Portuguese commissioner. Given the Portuguese commissioner's delay, Azara decided to set out on a journey on his own and draw up a map of the region.

During his travels, he showed interest in the animals of the areas he visited. Thus, despite his lack of academic training on the subject, and believing that the travelers and naturalists of America would already have done so before him, he decided to record his observations and wait until he had completed his other duties to publish the materials. So, lacking formal scientific knowledge, he devoted himself to the study of the mammals and birds he encountered.

Félix de Azara in an engraving by Conrad Westermayr, 1809.

Azara was convinced that the animals described by Buffon were the same ones he found in America. From that moment on, whenever he discovered differences, which happened often, he rigorously criticized the Parisian naturalist, and even more so Charles Nicolas Sigisbert Sonnini de Manoncourt (1751–1812), who had given Buffon the data on the birds of Guiana. His lack of training as a naturalist led him to make some errors of judgment. Thus, he confused the bataras of Paraguay (belonging to the genus Myrmothera Vieillot, 1816) that he observed with the hormigueros (antbirds) of Guiana described by Sonnini (belonging to the genus Thamnophilus Vieillot, 1816).

Azara described 448 species, half of which were new. However, Azara preferred to use Amerindian or Spanish names to identify them instead of the Latin nomenclature laid down by the Swede Linnaeus, which in many cases meant that others ended up taking the credit for his discoveries, most of whom did not even bother to cite Azara as the source of their "discoveries". Among those who at least included Azara's name as a scientific epithet by way of acknowledgment were European naturalists such as Humboldt, Lichtenstein and d'Orbigny, although they too ended up taking the scientific credit. Notable species associated with Azara, such as the night monkey (Aotus azarae), the agouti (Dasyprocta azarae), the field mouse (Akodon azarae), the tuco-tuco (Ctenomys azarae), the spinetail (Synallaxis azarae) or the kestrel ("Kiri kiri’i"), are some examples.

He was finally called back to Spain in 1801 after 20 years of privation and suffering, and after having survived various dangers, from attacks by natives to venomous snakes. He attained the rank of Brigadier of the Royal Navy (Real Armada), equivalent today to Rear Admiral. Goya painted him with the corresponding silver braid on the cuff in 1805.

He brought back no stuffed animals, only his manuscripts on the mammals and reptiles of Paraguay and the Río de la Plata (Essais sur l´histoire naturelle des Quadrupèdes, Paris, 1801, and the Spanish version: Apuntamientos sobre la historia natural de los quadrúpedos del Paraguay y Río de la Plata, Madrid, 1802), and the Apuntamientos para la historia natural de las Paxaros del Paraguay y Rio de la Plata (three volumes, Madrid, 1802–1805). Acknowledging his own errors, Sonnini himself translated the work into French in 1809 under the title Voyages dans l’Amérique méridionale, par don Félix de Azara (four volumes, of which the third and fourth correspond to the "Páxaros del Paraguay", and an atlas, Paris).

He collaborated with José Artigas in establishing towns on the borders between the Banda Oriental (present-day Uruguay) and the Empire of Brazil, the most important foundation being the town of Batoví.

In 1815 Félix de Azara refused the Order of Isabella the Catholic in protest against the absolutist ideals that prevailed in Spain during the Absolutist Sexennium.

He died of pneumonia on October 20, 1821, and was buried in his hometown.[3]

Legacy

Félix de Azara, sculpture by Eduard Alentorn (1884) in the Martorell Museum in Barcelona.

The abbreviation "Azara" is used to indicate Félix de Azara as an authority in the description and taxonomic classification of plants. The name of Félix de Azara is used as a reference because he was the author of the publication of the book Viajes por la América Meridional in 1809, although the chapters of the book relating to plants were written by the Czech naturalist Taddeus Peregrinus Haenke.[4][5]

Gustav Hartlaub (1814–1900) edited in 1837 an index of the bird species described by Azara. Several species were dedicated to him: the bird Synallaxis azarae by Alcide Dessalines d'Orbigny (1806–1876) in 1835, and the rodents Dasyprocta azarae by Martin Lichtenstein (1780–1857) in 1823, Akodon azarae by Johann Fischer von Waldheim (1771–1853) in 1829 and Ctenomys azarae by Michael Rogers Oldfield Thomas (1858–1929) in 1903. The "comadreja overa", an American opossum, was also given the name Didelphis azarae by Hershkovitz in 1969, but it is better known as Didelphis albiventris.

The town of Azara in the Misiones Province was named in his memory for his work in the region. In the City of Posadas (also in Misiones Province), the first and century-old School No. 1 bears his name, as does a street in the historic center of the city.

The Provincial Council of Huesca annually awards the Félix de Azara Prize, which consists of an award, prizes and grants to individuals or organizations in recognition of the conservation of natural areas and the environment.[6]

A wrinkle ridge on the Moon has also been dedicated to Félix de Azara: the Dorsum Azara, at 26°42′ N and 19°12′ W, about 105 km long.

Works

  • Viajes por la América meridional (1800)
  • Apuntamientos para la Historia Natural de los Cuadrúpedos del Paraguay y Río de la Plata (1805)
  • Diario de un reconocimiento de la guardia y fortines (1821)
  • Correspondencia oficial e inédita sobre la demarcación de límites entre el Paraguay y el Brasil (1836)
  • Informes de D. Félix de Azara, sobre varios proyectos de colonizar el Chaco (1836)
  • Memorias sobre el estado rural del Río de la Plata en 1801 (1847)
  • Descripción e historia del Paraguay y del Rio de la Plata (1943)

References

  1. ↑ Bandelier, Ad. F. (1913). "Féliz de Azara". Herbermann, Charles (ed.). Catholic Encyclopedia. Robert Appleton Company.
  2. ↑ Casas, Nuria (February 15, 2016). "Eladio Liñán: "El aragonés Félix de Azara fue precursor de la obra de Darwin y el evolucionismo"" (in español). Heraldo.es. Retrieved March 7, 2022.
  3. ↑ Beddall, "Un Naturalista Original", p. 23.
  4. ↑ Azara, Félix de (1809). Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale (in français). Vol. 2. Dentu. pp. 391 and 541. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  5. ↑ "Azara, Félix de | International Plant Names Index". www.ipni.org. Retrieved 2021-11-06.
  6. ↑ "Galardón Félix de Azara" (in español). Diputación Provincial de Huesca.

Bibliography

Works

His principal biographer was Dr. Julio Rafael Contreras Roqué (1933–2017), a distinguished Argentine scientist who published several volumes that can be downloaded free of charge:

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