Biography

Spanish agricultural botanist and director of the botanic gardens in Havana, Cuba. Ramón de la Sagra was born in Coruño, Galicia, and undertook his first trip to Cuba in 1821 as an employee of a tobacco manufacturing company. Here he made a number of important connections which contributed towards his being named director of the botanic gardens of Havana in 1823, successor to its first director José Antonio de la Ossa. Sagra's role also included lecturing natural sciences and teaching the yearly agricultural botany course. For this he created an elementary text in 1824 entitled "Fundamental Principals to serve as an introduction to the school of agricultural botany in the Botanic Gardens of Havana". He remained there until 1835, collecting many plants and other natural history specimens for himself and for his correspondents, having developed a broad network of connections with institutions in Europe. He also sent data about the climate and geography of the region, making notes on the production of agricultural crop species and compiling a list that he sent to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. For a number of years, beginning in 1827, he edited the periodical Anales de Ciencia, Agricultura, Comercio y Artes and in this he published many of his studies on agriculture in Cuba.

In 1829 an Institution of Agriculture was created in Havana for both experimentative crop cultivation and for the practical education of students; between 1832 and 1833 Sagra went about preparing the grounds for this institution and setting up the experimental conditions. In 1833 he was responsible for putting together a collection of Cuban woods for Fernando VII and birds for Isabel II at the request of the count of Villanueva. Sagra also published works on horticulture in Cuba (1827), a manual of medical botany (1831) and his first work on the flora of Cuba entitled Unusual Cuban Plants (1831).

Sagra was highly influenced by the works of Alexander von Humboldt, in particular his Political essay on the Island of Cuba and wished to likewise compile a holistic work on the island's natural and cultural history. In 1835 he decided to return to his home country, resolved to deposit his specimens in Madrid, of which he wrote the same year "if they are not very numerous, they are unique", and to work with them to produce the multi-volumed Historia física, política y natural de la isla de Cuba which was published in Paris between 1842 and 1850.

Sources:
Colmiero, M., 1858, La Botánica y Los Botánicos de la Península Hispano-Lusitana. Imprenta y Estereotipia de M. Rivadeneyra. Madrid.
Puig-Samper Mulero, M. Á., 1999, "Ramon de la Sagra, un Naturalista Humboldtiano en Cuba”. In: San Pío Aladrén, M. P. and Puig-Samper Mulero, M. Á. Las Flores del Paraíso: La Expedición Botánica de Cuba en los Siglos XVIII y XIX. Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.

Biography

Spanish agricultural botanist and director of the botanic gardens in Havana, Cuba. Ramón de la Sagra was born in Coruño, Galicia, and undertook his first trip to Cuba in 1821 as an employee of a tobacco manufacturing company. Here he made a number of important connections which contributed towards his being named director of the botanic gardens of Havana in 1823, successor to its first director José Antonio de la Ossa. Sagra's role also included lecturing natural sciences and teaching the yearly agricultural botany course. For this he created an elementary text in 1824 entitled "Fundamental Principals to serve as an introduction to the school of agricultural botany in the Botanic Gardens of Havana". He remained there until 1835, collecting many plants and other natural history specimens for himself and for his correspondents, having developed a broad network of connections with institutions in Europe. He also sent data about the climate and geography of the region, making notes on the production of agricultural crop species and compiling a list that he sent to the Museum of Natural Sciences in Madrid. For a number of years, beginning in 1827, he edited the periodical Anales de Ciencia, Agricultura, Comercio y Artes and in this he published many of his studies on agriculture in Cuba.

In 1829 an Institution of Agriculture was created in Havana for both experimentative crop cultivation and for the practical education of students; between 1832 and 1833 Sagra went about preparing the grounds for this institution and setting up the experimental conditions. In 1833 he was responsible for putting together a collection of Cuban woods for Fernando VII and birds for Isabel II at the request of the count of Villanueva. Sagra also published works on horticulture in Cuba (1827), a manual of medical botany (1831) and his first work on the flora of Cuba entitled Unusual Cuban Plants (1831).

Sagra was highly influenced by the works of Alexander von Humboldt, in particular his Political essay on the Island of Cuba and wished to likewise compile a holistic work on the island's natural and cultural history. In 1835 he decided to return to his home country, resolved to deposit his specimens in Madrid, of which he wrote the same year "if they are not very numerous, they are unique", and to work with them to produce the multi-volumed Historia física, política y natural de la isla de Cuba which was published in Paris between 1842 and 1850.

Sources:
Colmiero, M., 1858, La Botánica y Los Botánicos de la Península Hispano-Lusitana. Imprenta y Estereotipia de M. Rivadeneyra. Madrid.
Puig-Samper Mulero, M. Á., 1999, "Ramon de la Sagra, un Naturalista Humboldtiano en Cuba”. In: San Pío Aladrén, M. P. and Puig-Samper Mulero, M. Á. Las Flores del Paraíso: La Expedición Botánica de Cuba en los Siglos XVIII y XIX. Real Jardín Botánico, Madrid.