Until the various members of the Geodesic Mission published their experiences and findings from their long journey through Ecuador (in what was then part of the Spanish Empire known as the Royal Audience of Quito), little was known about the Andes or even the great continent of South America. Men with heads in their shoulders, Amazonian Indians who cut off one breast to fire better their arrows, the fabled city of El Dorado: this was the stuff of popular culture regarding the continent up until the 18th century. All that changed with the Mission.
The Mission, whose most famous member was Charles-Marie de la Condamine, marked the first time foreigners were allowed in to this far corner of Spain’s colonial domains. It took much diplomatic wrangling for its members to set off finally from La Rochelle in May 1735. Their objective was to measure the shape of the Earth and thereby the size of the entire planet. In order to do this, they employed the cutting-edge technology of the time to determine the arc of a meridian at the Equator. In the field, this required them to clear lines of sight some 12 miles in length, erecting pyramids at each end of these ‘base lines’ which would allow them to calculate distances through triangulation. By repeating these ‘triangles’ over and over, using one already-measured side to infer the other two, they travelled the length of the Ecuadorian Andes, from just north of Quito all the way to the country’s third city in Cuenca in the south. They experienced all that the Andes could throw at them: snow and sleet, hunger and thirst, fever and illness, death and romance. Their achievement is one of the greatest in the history of American scientific exploration.
The members’ descriptions of the Andes and its people still resonate today. The same vistas that left them awe-inspired by the majesty of the landscapes still exist. And even many of the traditions described by the members are alive and well. The same wonderful Spring-like climate of Quito, for instance, impressed them as much as it does modern travellers. Here is La Condamine’s description of his first sight of the valley of Quito, seen from the northern flanks of the Pichincha Volcano which dominates the city to the west:

All of the members found the ‘perpetual spring’ climate of Quito a delight, and they marvelled at the agriculture where one field could be sown while, on the same day, the one next to it was harvested. They were impressed by the volcanoes, too, with Pichincha a constant companion, but also the views towards Cotopaxi, Antisana, Cayambe and the Illinizas, each one taller than the great mountains of the Alps. “Nature has here scattered her blessing with so liberal a hand,” wrote Ulloa and Juan, the Spanish members of the expedition.
The Mission established itself in Quito in 1736. It seems that its members were as taken with the city as its citizens were smitten by these sophisticated Europeans in their midst. The Mission sparked a fashion for all things French, whose legacy can still be felt today amid the grand architecture of the historic centre. The members, meanwhile, were captivated by the steep streets, the adobe homes, the deep ravines tumbling down from Pichincha, and the cupolas and towers of the churches which dominated the heart of the town. These temples were decorated with “vast quantities of wrought plate, rich hangings and costly ornaments” – just as they are in the 21st century. They loved the markets, too, like all visitors to the city, filled with an abundance of meats – beef, veal, pork, rabbit and fowl – and a dazzling array of colourful fruits: apricots, strawberries, blackberries, pineapples, mangos, papayas, lemons, guavas, avocados… And, being men, the members of the Mission were also mesmerized by the women of Quito. “Their beauty,” confessed the Spaniard Ulloa, “is blended with a graceful carriage and an amiable temper.”
The Geodesic mission had the objective of measuring the arc of the meridian, but it soon became apparent that this was not its only purpose. Its members were unveiling a continent to the wider world. They were investigating its flora and fauna, with the Frenchman Jussieu gathering bags of seeds and plants to take back to France. They were curious about volcanoes and earthquakes. They observed the social customs and mores of this part of the Spanish Empire. La Condamine and Bouguer climbed to an altitude never before reached by Europeans, and perhaps by no-one on Earth. They were enamoured with the country: “Nature has here continually in her hands,” wrote Bouguer, “the materials and implements for extraordinary operations.”