Francisco Hernández Expedition (1570-1577)

The Francisco Hernández expedition (Spanish: Comisión de Francisco Hernández a Nueva España) is considered to be the first scientific expedition to the New World, led by Francisco Hernández de Toledo, a naturalist and physician of the Court of King Philip II, who was highly regarded in Spain because of his works on herbal medicine.

Among some of the most important achievements of the expedition were the discovery and subsequent introduction in Europe of an incredible amount of new plants that had never seen before in the Old World, but that quickly gained acceptance and become very popular among European consumers, such as the Pineapple, Cocoa, Corn, and many others.

In 1570 Hernández was appointed Archiater physician for the New World and commended by the King to embark on a scientific expedition to study the region's medicinal plants. Hernandez set sail for the New World in August 1571, taking along his son, and landed in February 1572 in Veracruz. For three years he toured Mexico and Central America together with a geographer, painters, botanists and native doctors, collecting and classifying botanical specimens. He also studied the culture and medical achievements of the native Nahua peoples, taking notes and preparing numerous illustrations assisted by three indigenous painters who had been baptized as Antón, Baltazar Elías and Pedro Vázquez.

Among the botanical specimens the expedition discovered were the Pineapple, Cocoa (known by the locals as Cacahuatl), Corn, Guaiacum officinale, Smilax regelii, Strychnos nux-vomica (known by the locals as Mahuatl Quauhtlepatli), sweet granadilla, passionfruit, and several plants with hallucinogenic properties used in rituals such as the Peyote, Maguey, Datura or the Devil's weed.

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