Sex, Botany and Empire: The Story of Carl Linnaeus and Joseph Banks

Patricia Fara investigate show scientific exploration in the Age of Reason was driven by an imperialist agenda to own, to conquer and to exploit.

When Captain James Cook returned from his first voyage to Tahiti and Australia, scandal writers salaciously satirized the scientific ambitions and amorous exploits of his botanist Joseph Banks.

To the horror of British educators, Banks backed the scheme of Carl Linnaeus, who classified plants by counting their sexual organs and tried to rescue the Swedish economy by growing tropical crops in the frozen north.

As President of the Royal Society, Banks was in a powerful position to help ensure that Britain would dominate the world in the name of science.