Existing comment:
Fiji Islands tobacco
1838–42
collected by the United States South Seas Exploring Expedition
Although much of the United States remained uncharted, the young republic sought to expand its economic and intellectual horizons through a government-sponsored exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Like the Lewis and Clark expedition to the Pacific Northwest thirty-five years earlier, the South Seas exploration team mapped unknown lands, collected scientific data, and sought opportunities for trade. |