orchids and orchidology in central america. 500 ... - lankesteriana.org

ossenbaCh — Orchids and orchidology in Central America
(Wunderlin et al., 2000: 64). Little is known of Mohr’s
collections in Mesoamerica, except for one specimen
of Epidendrum propinquum A. Rich. & Gal. (Mohr
570, Veracruz).
The California gold rush and the interoceanic canal
“Boys, by God, I believe I have found a gold mine!”
James Wilson Marshall, January 12, 1848
The discovery of gold in California was the spark
that started the most massive human migration in the
history of America. Over 90,000 persons traveled to
California in the two years that followed Marshall’s
discovery, and over 300,000 in 1854. The gold fever
in California led to the exploration of shorter routes
between both oceans. The San Juan River in Nicaragua
and the Isthmus of Panama became the passages for
fast travel from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast. One
must consider that the journey by land from the East
Coast of the United States to California took five
months: a truly painful prowess (Guier, 1971: 82).
Thousands of adventurers (initially North Americans
and later from all over the world) came to Central
America, a forgotten region that suddenly became one
of the areas of greatest traffic in passengers and in the
focus point of world attention.
“We arrived in Panama on January 19, 1849, after
an absence of almost nine months. The stories of the
recently discovered Californian mines… brought such
a number of adventurous emigrants that the usual
facilities of food and lodging collapsed completely”
(Berthold Seemann, cited in Heckadon-Moreno, 1998:
27). The Clayton-Bulwer Treaty of 1850, although
permitting England to retain her positions in Belize,
the Mosquito Coast and the Bay Islands, accepted for
the first time the U. S. pretensions to control the future
interoceanic canal. “In this way Great Britain, although
maintaining all her possessions in Central America and
still retaining much power during the 1850’s, began
ceding ground in favor of the United States” (Obregón-
Quesada, 1993: 115). As the Nicaraguan historian
José Dolores Gámez wrote ingenuously several years
later, “the American government, having noticed the
conduct of the British towards us, came generously to
our help” (Gámez, 1888).
Effective control of the area by the United States
had begun in 1847, with the foundation of the ‘Panama
Railroad Company’, with the purpose of building a
railroad between Colón and Panama City. Two years
later, in 1849, the North American tycoon Cornelius
Vanderbilt founded the ‘American Atlantic Pacific
Ship Canal Company’, with the intention of building
an interoceanic canal in Nicaragua. The San Juan
River and the Lake of Nicaragua were initially used
for this passage. Vanderbilt’s first steamers navigated
the San Juan River in 1851, while the first train
crossed the isthmus of Panama on January 28, 1855.
The competition between both routes was strong, but
as soon as the railroad was built, Panama began to be
preferred, being much more comfortable and secure
than the tortuous passage of the San Juan River, full
of obstacles and immersed, since 1855, in the war
against Walker (Fig. 35B). Wells (1854) mentions a
third route, which consisted in an interoceanic railroad
in Honduras, from the Atlantic coast to the Gulf of
Fonseca. However, this plan never became reality,
due to geographic and financial difficulties (Wells,
1982: 117). The Panama route declined again after the
completion of the construction of the railroad between
San Francisco and the Eastern States in 1869 (Reclus,
1881: 55-56).
Among the foreign adventurers and the employees
of the North American companies we find numerous
names that are relevant to the history of orchids in
Central America. Botanical exploration of the region
entered a new era, facilitated by improved routes
of communication and by the growing commercial
relations between the Central American republics,
Europe and the United States. Referring to Costa Rica,
Evans wrote: “Two events outside [of C. R.]… reversed
the scientific community’s disinterest… international
demand for coffee and speculation of a trans-isthmus
canal in lower Central America” (Evans, 1999: 16).
Hans Hermann Behr (1818-1904) (Fig. 36A),
German botanist and entomologist, poet and novelist,
was born at Colthen in East Germany. After graduating
in medicine at Wurzburg, he was encouraged by
his mentors, Karl Ritter and the famous German
explorer, Alexander von Humboldt, to visit Australia
(Kraehenbuehl, 2002: 1). Behr visited Australia in 1844
and settled in 1862 in California, where he was named
curator of entomology of the California Academy of
Science. He was responsible, through his contacts in
Australia, where he had worked with the prestigious
LANKESTERIANA 9(1—2), August 2009. © Universidad de Costa Rica, 2009.
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