Before Britain ruled with waves, it was the empire of Spain that was known as the empire on which the sun never sets. For a century or so it even joined with Portugal to be the first and only empire of land and sea across multiple oceans that was built with pre-industrial resources. But it declined. When? How? Why? And should we remember these empires not by images of conquistadores and the Spanish Inquisition, but by walking through the Botanic Gardens of Madrid? In Part II of Flowers of Empire the Burning Archive takes a closer look at Portugal's empire and the extraordinary legacy of the expeditions of the Hispanic Enlightenment including the botanical collections of Jose Celestino Mutis.
Full details of materials referred to in the show will be available on www.theburningarchive.com.
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39. Flowers of Empire Part II