The role of America as a research space according to Anales de Historia Natual

Abstract

Against the background of the nationalization of European civilizations and sciences, the article focuses on the formation of a new epistemological space at the end of the eighteenth century: the American colonies of Spain. Special attention is paid to the scientific press —the Anales de Historia Nacional (1799-1804). A «new epistemologicalspace» includes opening up new fields of investigation with the aim of building scientific communities and promoting cultural transference between the nations that form part of that space. In the Anales, the New World is thus represented as an area, which is added to the European epistemological geography and which, considering the «polemics about Spanish sciences», is appropriate to profile the heritage and challenge of the own national tradition.