Social and news media speak of cancel culture like it’s a new thing. Undoubtedly, people canceled their neighbors for one reason or another since this thing called society began.

Fred the Denisovan probably got canceled for the sloppy way he skinned a cave lion. Wilma the Neandertal no doubt caught shade for wearing her pelts too short. In all seriousness, though, archaeologists found evidence suggesting the names of unpopular Egyptian pharaohs were chiseled over to cancel their reign.

A few weeks ago, I read a book by Andrea Wulf called The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World. The name Humboldt wasn’t new to me. As a high school senior scoping out colleges, I came across Humboldt State University in Washington State. The university is renowned for its nature studies programs. Humboldt State is the alma mater of Steven Hillenburg (of Sponge Bob fame). My second introduction to the name came a few years later via sophomore year‘s Intro to Oceanography. There is a prominent Pacific current named after the man. No mention of the man himself, just the current named after him.

I was absolutely shocked to learn of Humboldt’s importance to science. Not to mention the impact he had on naturalists, artists, and writers during his lifetime.  Anger followed shock when I realized his legacy had been canceled over time.

Looking at the condition of the world right now, it may have been a costly cancellation.

Where did he go?

I went back and poured over indexes in my old textbooks, after reading Wulf’s book. Such an influential figure in the history of science wouldn’t have been ignored, right? I figured I just forgot to study him. Nope, nothing of the man. Beyond listing the Current in the Pacific Ocean in one of my older textbooks, there are no entries for Alexander von Humboldt.

What! But, why? I felt cheated and lied to!

This post is about cancelling Humboldt’s ideas and legacy, and not the man himself. I defantly encourage everyone to read the book. The things I mention here come primarily from Wulf’s book.

The background

The way I read the story; Humboldt comes across as an OCD type of guy. Unquestionably driven by his passions and full of more energy than good sense. He explored the Canary Islands, the Caribbean, and a good bit of South America, putting himself in harm’s way to see what was over the next horizon. He was an adventurer and explorer. His books were required reading. Above all, he inspired imagination.

In 1803 on his way back home to Germany, Humboldt stopped off in Washington DC to meet with President Thomas Jefferson. He was wined and dined in DC while he impressed the intellectuals of the young United States.

Published in 1807 Humboldt’s book, with the ridiculously cumbersome title of Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 1 (shortened to Personal Narrative) became an inspiration. Influential figures like John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Luis Agassiz, and even Charles Darwin credited Humboldt.  Darwin carried a copy of Personal Narrative with him on his own South American voyage aboard the HMS Beagle.

Humboldt used that fame and his natural charisma to advance his agenda. That agenda ruffled a few feathers.

Unwelcome advice

Humboldt seemed like the type of guy who could read a room, and he took control of it. He also seemed to know how to get favors. Reading Wulf’s book, I got the image of a nineteenth-century Neil de Grasse Tyson. A celebrity scientist.

The kingdom of Spain granted him permission to travel freely through South America during the final years of the 1700s and the beginning of the 1800s. Humboldt got an unedited view of the ugly side of colonialism and became an outspoken critic. He openly condemned slavery and the harsh treatment of indigenous peoples.

While visiting plantations in Venezuela, he studied the depletion of resources resulting from a few hundred years of Spanish colonial rule. When he met with Jefferson and the young American government, he implored them to end slavery and limit western expansion before irreparable environmental damage crippled North America.

Let me revisit that date from the previous section and let it resonate a bit.  This meeting with the Americans was in 1803!

The government and the industrialists politely but defiantly disagreed with him. All the same, they praised his exploratory spirit as an inspiration to all Americans.

The Influence

When Humboldt died in 1859 at 89 years old, there was a funeral fit for an emperor. He has more species named after him than any other person. There are 16 places in the US still named after him. Aside from the Humboldt Current, there are other geological and even astronomical features named in his honor. Leaders almost named the state of Nevada after him.

Eleven years after his death, on the 100^th anniversary of his birth, worldwide festivals and celebrations honored him. 25,000 people paraded through New York City, in observance of his birthday.  Everybody respected Humboldt.

What happened in the 150 or so years since that celebration? Why has the man’s name been scrubbed from textbooks geared toward advanced science degrees? Why did I have to learn about him from casual summer reading?

The cancelation

Charles Darwin is the subject of heated debates, but he is also a household name. We admire Albert Einstein, and Nicola Tesla is my homeboy. Why was Alexander von Humboldt silenced?

Andrea Wulf and others throw out several theories. Humboldt proposed a brand of scientific study that had fallen out of favor by the turn of the 20^th century. He taught that science, nature, art, poetry, and all the humanities complement one another. Science in the early 1900s, was becoming specialized. A pure naturalist was too broad of an area. Humboldt was most critical of the driving economic forces of capitalism and economic growth; slavery, and colonialism.  

Perhaps one of the most damning reasons for Humboldt’s erasure from the books is simple racism. Lies my teacher told me by James Loewen explores this topic as well. The presidency of Woodrow Wilson brought a change to American society. Racism and nationalism became normalized. Wilson demanded loyalty to the newly developed American war machine. There were heavy prices to pay for those he felt were not loyal to God and Country.

The powers that be did not tolerate “hyphenations”. One could not claim “Italian -American” or “Irish-American”. During a time of war with Germany, “German-American” could get a person lynched.

The American people could not have a national hero who was a German, spoke out against colonialism, and thought taxing the environment was a bad thing to do.  Wait, he might have been homosexual too! He just had to go!

The take-home

Cancel culture isn’t a new concept. Society has been canceling (and promoting) figures to advance their agenda throughout human history. Some individuals need canceling. Sadly, those very characters tend to be the ones with the biggest audience.

Alexander von Humboldt was born 257 years ago today. The ideals regarding nature and scientific study were revolutionary. He was a hero in his own time, but his message needed to land in our time.

He gave us a warning 250 years ago, now those consequences are coming true. I’m sure back then, his audience probably thought, it won’t matter, we won’t be around then anyway. We’ll leave the mess for someone else to deal with.

Well, here we are, dealing.