Francisco Hernández de Toledo

Francisco Hernández (1615) Quatro libros de la naturaleza y virtudes de las plantas y animales

Nova plantarum, animalium et mineralium Mexicanorum historia 1651 title page

Spanish physician and botanist (1514–1587)

Francisco Hernández de Toledo (1514–1587) was a Spanish physician and botanist who is best known for his extensive studies of the natural history of New Spain (modern-day Mexico). He was appointed by King Philip II of Spain to lead a scientific expedition to the Americas to study the region's flora and fauna.

Early Life and Education

Francisco Hernández de Toledo was born in 1514 in La Puebla de Montalbán, a town in the province of Toledo, Spain. He studied medicine at the University of Alcalá, where he developed an interest in botany and the medicinal properties of plants.

Expedition to New Spain

In 1570, King Philip II of Spain commissioned Hernández to undertake a scientific expedition to New Spain. The primary goal of the expedition was to document the region's biodiversity and to identify plants that could be used for medicinal purposes. Hernández spent seven years in New Spain, during which he collected and described numerous plant and animal species.

Contributions to Botany and Medicine

Hernández's work in New Spain resulted in a comprehensive collection of manuscripts and illustrations detailing the region's flora and fauna. His findings were compiled into a multi-volume work titled "Rerum Medicarum Novae Hispaniae Thesaurus," which was later published posthumously. This work is considered one of the most important early contributions to the fields of botany and ethnobotany.

Legacy

Francisco Hernández de Toledo's contributions to natural history and medicine had a lasting impact on the scientific community. His detailed observations and descriptions of New Spain's biodiversity provided valuable information for future researchers and helped to advance the study of botany and medicine.

See Also

• Botany
• Ethnobotany
• Natural history
• New Spain
• Philip II of Spain

Related Pages

• Botany
• Ethnobotany
• Natural history
• New Spain
• Philip II of Spain

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