The Scientific Expeditions After Im Thurn

The 1884 Everard im Thurn expedition to Roraima’s summit opened a period of intensifying scientific interest in the tepui highlands that has continued without interruption to the present day.

In the early twentieth century, expeditions funded by various scientific institutions collected biological specimens from Roraima and neighboring tepuis, bringing samples of plants, insects, amphibians, and other organisms back to museums in Europe and North America for study.

The botanical collections were particularly extensive — the unusual flora of the tepui summits attracted the attention of systematists who needed to describe and name the many new species encountered.