Background
Félix de Azara was born on May 18, 1746, in Barbunales, Aragon. Azara was the third son of Alejandro de Azara y Loscertales and María de Perera.
Félix Manuel de Azara, Spanish military officer, naturalist, and engineer.
Félix Manuel de Azara, 1742 – 1821, Spanish military officer, naturalist, and engineer.
Felix de Azara, sculpture by Eduard Alentorn in Museo Martorell, Barcelona.
Félix Manuel de Azara, 1742 – 1821.
Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale, par Don Félix De Azara ... depuis 1781 jusqu'en 1801.
An engraving from the Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale by Don Félix De Azara.
An map from the Voyages dans l'Amérique Méridionale by Don Félix De Azara.
(Excerpt from Viajes Inéditos de D. Félix de Azara Desde S...)
Excerpt from Viajes Inéditos de D. Félix de Azara Desde Santa-Fé Á la Asuncion, al Interior del Paraguay, Y Á los Pueblos de Misiones: Con una Noticia Preliminar El manuscrito sobre los pájaros, que parece una c°pia cuidadosamente hecha por el aut°r, creemos que no tiene mas interes que el de un autógrafo correcto. Como testo.
https://www.amazon.com/In%C3%A9ditos-Santa-F%C3%A9-Asuncion-Interior-Paraguay/dp/1390622738/?tag=2022091-20
2018
geographer historian mathematician naturalist
Félix de Azara was born on May 18, 1746, in Barbunales, Aragon. Azara was the third son of Alejandro de Azara y Loscertales and María de Perera.
At the University of Huesca Félix de Azara studied philosophy, arts, and law from 1757 to 1761 and in 1764 became an infantry cadet. The following year he continued his mathematical training in Barcelona.
After going through mathematical training in Barcelona, and serving by 1769, as a second lieutenant, Azara was assisting in the hydrographic surveys being carried out near Madrid; afterward he taught mathematics in the army until 1774. In 1775 he took part in the disastrous Spanish attack on Algiers commanded by Alejandro O'Reilly and received a promotion, as well as a severe chest wound.
In 1777 Spain signed the Treaty of San Ildefonso with Portugal, followed by the Peace of El Pardo a year later, by which the two countries agreed that military commissions should survey and determine the joint boundary of their South American possessions. Azara was assigned to the Spanish delegation headed by José Varela y Ulloa.
In 1781 Azara received a commission to establish the frontier between Brazil and the neighboring Spanish colonies. Upon his arrival in Montevideo, Uruguay, he was appointed captain of a frigate by the Spanish viceroy, who then sent him to Rio Grande and later to Asunción, Paraguay; this was the area Azara was to explore as both a geographer and a naturalist for thirteen years.
Between 1784 and 1796 Azara prepared at least fifteen maps of the Brazilian frontier; the Paraná, Pequeri, and Paraguay rivers; and the territory of Mato Grosso, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Buenos Aires. During those years he filled several diaries with accounts of travels in Paraguay and the Buenos Aires viceroyalty, the geography of Paraguay and the Rio de la Plata, and the natural history of the birds and quadrupeds in those areas, relying on direct observation because he was practically without books or reference collections.
Azara remained 20 years in South America and for 14 of these surveyed the boundary as far north as the confluence of the Guapuré and Mamoré rivers. This involved considerable difficulties and frequent encounters with hostile Indians. It may be too much to say that he explored territory previously unvisited by white men, but certainly no such map as he skillfully prepared had ever been made. Azara, always a careful observer interested in nature, took the opportunity to collect biological specimens and make copious notes concerning the wildlife of the tributaries of the Río de la Plata and the Amazon. A Buenos Aires official, Gabriel Avilés del Fierro, confiscated Azara's map and some of the notes and tried to pass them off to the Madrid government as his own work. But Azara had companions on his travels, and too many knew the truth for the imposture to succeed. The explorer, after finishing the boundary work, undertook other missions, all involving exploration of uninviting backlands.
Azara returned to Spain in 1801, but soon afterward he moved to Paris, where his brother José Nicolás - a man greatly admired by Napoleon - was the Spanish ambassador. He was welcomed by the French naturalists because his Essais sur l’histoire naturelle des quadrupèdes ... du Paraguay had just appeared, but on the death of José Nicolás in 1804 he returned to Madrid.
When Napoleon invaded Spain in 1808, Azara offered his services to José de Palafox, the captain general of Aragon, but these were respectfully declined because of Azara's age. He nevertheless took what part he could in the Spanish resistance and sent a congratulatory message to King Ferdinand VII on his restoration in 1814. From then until his death on October 20, 1821, Azara devoted himself to the agricultural and economic rehabilitation of Aargon from the devastation caused by the recent war.
Azara retired to Barbuñales and, as mayor of Huesca, ended his days there.
(Excerpt from Viajes Inéditos de D. Félix de Azara Desde S...)
2018Because of his liberal ideas, Azara declined an appointment as viceroy of Mexico, and after 1808 during the Napoleonic War in Spain he was torn between his political and patriotic beliefs.
Félix de Azara never married but, according to Walckenaer, while on his travels he was fond of female company, particularly that of mulattoes.