Félix de Azara

Félix Francisco José Pedro de Azara y Perera ( born May 18, 1746 at Barbuñales Barbastro, † October 20, 1821 in Huesca) was a Spanish officer, naturalist and surveyor. He was the younger brother of José Nicolás de Azara diplomats. Azara researched 1781-1801 the La Plata countries and is considered one of the most important Spanish South America researchers.

Life

Azara studied law and philosophy in Huesca, but soon decided on a military career. After a mathematical- technical training in Barcelona, ​​he was in 1767 engineer - lieutenant in the Spanish army and participated in 1775 in the Spanish attack on Algiers in part. Despite being seriously wounded, he was promoted to brigadier general.

1777 Spain and Portugal joined the First Treaty of San Ildefonso, and came in 1778 in the Treaty of El Pardo agreed that a military expedition was to explore the common border regions of their South American possessions. The boundary line should be precisely defined. Azara took under José Varela y Ulloa part in the expedition, which had its starting point in 1781, the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata.

Azara was the most important members of the expedition. He stayed 20 years in South America, of which he spent 14 years in order to explore, for the most part of the whites, a pristine areas along the Río de la Plata to the Amazon and north of the confluence of the Río Mamoré with the Guapore. He took measurements before, drew accurate maps and described the flora and fauna of the La Plata and Amazon region. The attempt of an official of the Viceroyalty to steal the maps produced by Azara and output them as his own work, failed. There were too many employees Azaras who knew about its research, so that the fraud was uncovered.

Azara was considered a keen observer and attentive researchers. Later in life he realized, however, to self-critical that he was not able, with all his research to understand the mentality and the needs of the Indians in the researched areas of it.

1801 Azara returned back to Europe and visited his brother José Nicolás de Azara, who was at that time the Spanish ambassador in Paris. There he also met up with several reputable researchers, with whom he was for the rest of his life in correspondence. 1809 appeared Azaras book Voyages dans l' Amerique Méridionale depuis 1781 jusqu'à 1801.

When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, offered Azara his services against the French, what José de Palafox y Melci as commander in chief of Aragon but declined in the face Azaras advanced age. Nevertheless, this became involved in the Spanish resistance against Napoleon. After the liberation of 1814, Azara devoted until his death in 1821 the agricultural reconstruction of Aragon after the devastation of the war.

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After Félix de Azara were named:

• The dorsum of Azara, a ridge on the moon;
• The Azarafuchs, a wild dog of South America;
• The Tukanvogel Pteroglossus azara;
• The species Azaraschlüpfer ( Synallaxis azarae, English Azara 's Spinetail. ) from the family of potters birds;
• The Azara Plover ( Charadrius collaris ) from the kind of plover;
• The Azarabekassine ( Gallinago paraguaiae ) from the family of the Waders.

Works

• Felix Azara: Travel to South America by Felix of Azara in years 1781-1801 from the Spanish with notes and a message from the life of the author published by Walkenaer. . Translated from the French by Ch Weyland. In: Magazine of strange travelogues, Vol 7, Berlin 1810
• Felix d' Azara: Apuntamientos para la historia natural de los Páxaros. Madrid 1802.
• Felix d' Azara: Voyages dans l' Amerique Méridionale depuis 1781 jusqu'à 1801 With Vermerkungen by Baron Georges Cuvier. . 4 Bde.Paris 1809.