84-978: The Torsa River (also spelt Torsha and also known as Kambu Maqu , Machu and Amo Chhu ) rises from the Chumbi Valley in Tibet, China, where it is known as Machu. Its course continues into Bhutan, India, and Bangladesh before joining the Brahmaputra River into the Bay of Bengal . From Tibet, the Torsa flows into Bhutan , where it is known as the Amo Chu. It has a length of 358 kilometres (222 mi) before entering India, of which 113 kilometres (70 mi) are in Tibet and 145 kilometres (90 mi) in Bhutan. After entering West Bengal in India, it
168-634: A prairie flora derived from the eastward; 2. a so-called desert and saline flora derived from the west; 3. a sub-alpine; 4. an alpine flora , the two latter of widely different origin, and in one sense proper to the Rocky Mountain ranges. His overview of North American flora contained these elements: While on the Erebus , Hooker had read proofs of Charles Darwin 's Voyage of the Beagle provided by Charles Lyell and had been very impressed by Darwin's skill as
252-517: A Bhutanese attack in 1780, a settlement was reached, which resulted in the transfer of the Haa valley and the Kalimpong area to Bhutan. The Doklam plateau sandwiched between these regions is likely to have been part of these territories. The Chumbi Valley was still said to have been under the control of Sikkim at this point. Historians qualify this narrative, Saul Mullard states that the early kingdom of Sikkim
336-585: A Tour in Marocco and The Great Atlas (1878). This was undertaken with his friend Asa Gray , the leading American botanist of the day. They wished to investigate the connection between the floras of eastern United States and those of eastern continental Asia and Japan; and the line of demarcation between Arctic floras of America and Greenland . As probable causes they considered the Glacial periods and an earlier land connection with an Arctic continent. "A difficult question
420-484: A chair at Glasgow University which became vacant on Balfour's appointment. Instead, he took a position as botanist to the Geological Survey of Great Britain in 1846. He began work on palaeobotany , searching for fossil plants in the coal-beds of Wales , eventually discovering the first coal ball in 1855. He became engaged to Frances Henslow, daughter of Charles Darwin 's botany tutor John Stevens Henslow , but he
504-820: A collision between the Erebus and Terror, they sailed to the Falkland Islands , to Tierra del Fuego , back to the Falklands and onward to their third sortie into the Antarctic. When Hooker arrived on the Falkland Islands with the expedition of Ross, he developed a close friendship with Richard Clement Moody , the Governor of the Falkland Islands. Moody granted Hooker full use of his personal library, which Hooker described as 'excellent', and Hooker described Moody as 'a very active and intelligent young man, most anxious to improve
588-838: A commanding view of the Chumbi valley itself. Second, it outflanks the Indian defences in Sikkim which are currently oriented northeast towards the Dongkya range. Third, it overlooks the strategic Siliguri Corridor to the south. A claim to the Mount Gipmochi and the Zompelri ridge would bring the Chinese to the very edge of the Himalayas, from where the slopes descend into the southern foothills of Bhutan and India. From here,
672-559: A decisive entry of China into the Himalayan politics. The victorious Chinese General ordered a land survey, in the process of which the Chumbi valley was declared as part of Tibet. The Sikkimese resented the losses forced on them in the aftermath of the war. In the following decades, Sikkim established relations with the British East India Company and regained some of its lost territory after an Anglo-Nepalese War . However,
756-518: A feast in Phari and have them all killed. After this, these regions came under his control and he is said to have constructed a dzong and trade marts at Phari, appointing his younger brother Phakpa Rinchen ( ’Phags-pa-rin-chen ) as the first district governor. There is no further mention of control over western Bhutan after this, but the Phari trade mart has persisted well into the 18th century. In 1206 A.D, Bakhtiyar Khilji led an invasion of Tibet through
840-621: A naturalist. They had met once, before the Antarctic voyage embarked. After Hooker's return to England, he was approached by Darwin who invited him to classify the plants that Darwin had collected in South America and the Galápagos Islands . Hooker agreed and the pair began a lifelong friendship. On 11 January 1844 Darwin mentioned to Hooker his early ideas on the transmutation of species and natural selection , and Hooker showed interest. In 1847 he agreed to read Darwin's "Essay" explaining
924-463: A short and apparently minor illness, Hooker died in his sleep at home, the Camp, Sunningdale , Berkshire. The Dean and Chapter of Westminster Abbey offered a grave near Darwin's in the nave but insisted that Hooker be cremated before. His widow, Hyacinth, declined the proposal and eventually Hooker's body was buried, as he wished to be, alongside his father in the churchyard of St Anne's Church, Kew ,
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#17328528191221008-403: A short distance from Kew Gardens . His memorial tablet in the church, with a motif of five plants, was designed by Matilda Smith. Hooker's first expedition, led by James Clark Ross , consisted of two ships, HMS Erebus and HMS Terror ; it was the last major voyage of exploration made entirely under sail. Hooker was the youngest of the 128-man crew. He sailed on the Erebus and
1092-507: A standard Students Flora of the British Isles and a monumental work, the Genera plantarum (1860–83), based on the collections at Kew, in which he had the assistance of George Bentham . His collaboration with George Bentham was especially important. Bentham, an amateur botanist who worked at Kew for many years, was perhaps the leading botanical systematist of the 19th century. The Handbook of
1176-537: A threat to Owen's plans for a museum in South Kensington to house the natural history collections. Hooker cited mismanagement at the British Museum as a justification. After Joseph had succeeded his father as Director, in 1865, the independence of Kew was seriously threatened by the machinations of a member of parliament, Acton Smee Ayrton , whose appointment as First Commissioner of Works by Gladstone in 1869
1260-528: A wetter and more temperate climate than most of Tibet. The valley supports some vegetation in the form of the Eastern Himalayan broadleaf forests and transitions to the Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows in the north. The plant Pedicularis chumbica ( 春丕马先蒿 ) is named after the valley. The 1904 Younghusband Expedition of British India passed through the Chumbi Vally on its way to Lhasa. At
1344-460: Is also of key strategic significance to Bhutan, containing the main supply routes into the country. Historically, both Siliguri and Chumbi Valley were part of a highway of trade between India and Tibet. In the 19th century, the British Indian government sought to open up the route to British trade, leading to their suzerainty over Sikkim with its strategic Nathu La and Jelep La passes into
1428-689: Is known as the Torsa. In Bangladesh too, it is known by the same name. It is also known as Chumbi, Am-Chu, and Jaldhaka. Afterwards, the river flows past the border towns of Phuntsholing (in Bhutan) and Jaigaon , and Hasimara (in India) and past the tea estate of Dalsingpara and the Jaldapara National Park . Ghargharia river meets with Torsa in the Tufanganj subdivision , near Deocharai and Balarampur. Torsa meets with Kaljani and then flows into Bangladesh by
1512-473: Is no doubt that rivalry resulted between the British Museum, where there was the very important Herbarium of the Department of Botany, and Kew. The rivalry at times became extremely personal, especially between Joseph Hooker and Owen. ... At the root was Owen's feeling that Kew should be subordinate to the British Museum (and to Owen) and should not be allowed to develop as an independent scientific institution with
1596-589: The Flora Antarctica (1844–47). In the Flora he wrote about islands and their role in plant geography : the work made Hooker's reputation as a systemist and plant geographer. His works on the voyage were completed with Flora Novae-Zelandiae (1851–53) and Flora Tasmaniae (1853–59). This trip was taken in the autumn of 1860, with Daniel Hanbury . They visited and collected in Syria and Palestine ; no full-length report
1680-639: The Dzongkha language of Bhutan, the name is apparently written Gyumo and pronounced J'umo . J'umbi is said to be its adjective, meaning "of or pertaining to [ J'umo ]". Linguist George van Driem states that "Chumbi" is a derivative of J'umbi . The term "Chumbi" to describe the region first appeared in the writings of Joseph Dalton Hooker , the first European to write about the region. Some sources specialising in Tibet translate "Chumbi Valley" as Lho Dromo ( Tibetan : ལྷོ་གྲོ་མོ , Wylie : Lho gro mo , THL : lho dro mo ), or southern Dromo, implying that
1764-569: The Indian subcontinent or South Asia, with Sikkim now integrated as a state of India. Scholar Susan Walcott counts China's Chumbi Valley and India's Siliguri Corridor to its south among "strategic mountain chokepoints critical in global power competition". John Garver has called the Chumbi Valley "the single most strategically important piece of real estate in the entire Himalayan region". The Chumbi Valley intervenes between Sikkim and Bhutan south of
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#17328528191221848-563: The Jaldhaka River and Teesta River , has created major flooding multiple times in Bangladesh during the monsoon season between June and September. 26°16′44″N 89°34′48″E / 26.279°N 89.580°E / 26.279; 89.580 Chumbi Valley The Chumbi Valley , called Dromo or Tromo in Tibetan, is a valley in the Himalayas that projects southwards from
1932-734: The Wasatch Range . A journey of 29 hours took them to Reno and Carson City , then Silver City and ten days by wagon across the Sierra Nevada . Thus they came to the Yosemite and Calaveras Grove , and ended up in San Francisco. Hooker was back in Kew with 1,000 dried specimens by October. His comments on his encounters include the following: His views on the flora of Colorado and Utah : There are two temperate, and two cold or mountain floras, viz: 1.
2016-673: The Admiralty. He would be the first European to collect plants in the Himalaya, but abandoned the projected visit to Labuan . He received free passage on HMS Sidon , to the Nile and then travelled overland to Suez where he boarded a ship to India. He arrived in Calcutta on 12 January 1848, leaving on 28th to begin his travels with a geological survey party under 'Mr Williams' , who he left on 3 March to continue travelling by elephant to Mirzapur , up
2100-561: The Ayrton Episode held at Kew. Ayrton behaved in an extraordinary way, interfering in matters and approaching Hooker's colleagues behind his back, apparently with the aim of getting Hooker to resign, when the expenditure on Kew could be curtailed and diverted. Ayrton actually took staff appointments out of Hooker's hands. He seemed not to value the scientific work, and to believe Kew should be just an amusement park. Hooker wrote: My life has become utterly detestable and I do long to throw up
2184-592: The British flora , begun by Bentham and completed by Hooker, was the standard text for a hundred years. It was always known as 'Bentham & Hooker'. In 1904, at the age of 87, Hooker published A sketch of the Vegetation of the Indian Empire . He continued the compilation of his father Sir William Jackson Hooker 's project, Icones Plantarum (Illustrations of Plants), producing volumes eleven through nineteen, with most of
2268-645: The Cape they entered the Southern Ocean. Their first stop was the Crozet Islands where they set down on Possession Island to deliver coffee to sealers. They departed for the Kerguelen Islands where they would spend several days. Hooker identified 18 flowering plants, 35 mosses and liverworts , 25 lichens and 51 algae, including some that were not described by surgeon William Anderson when James Cook had visited
2352-505: The Chinese military is believed to be in a weak position in the Chumbi Valley because the Indian and Bhutanese forces control the heights surrounding the valley. The desire for heights is thought to bring China to the Doklam plateau at the southern border of the Chumbi Valley. Indian security experts mention three strategic benefits to China from a control of the Doklam plateau. First, it gives it
2436-415: The Chinese would be able to monitor the Indian troop movements in the plains or launch an attack on the vital Siliguri corridor in the event of a war. To New Delhi, this represents a "strategic redline". Scholar Caroline Brassard states, "its strategic significance for the Indian military is obvious." There is telltale evidence of the Chumbi Valley being used as a trade route between Tibet and India in
2520-473: The Chumbi Valley as a triangular region with the broader opening to the north. It was said to be bounded on the west by the Chola Range upto " Gipmochi ", and the "Kamphee or Chakoong range" on the east, which he believed to be continuous with "Chumulari" ( Chomolhari ). These names do not appear in later literature, but maps in mid-20th century mark the eastern border as the "Masang Kyungdu Range" (Map 2), with
2604-660: The Chumbi Valley where he was defeated by the Tibetans and forced to retreat. According to the Sikkimese tradition, when the Kingdom of Sikkim was founded in 1642, it included the Chumbi Valley, the Haa Valley to the east as well as the Darjeeling and Kalimpong areas to the south. During the 18th century, Sikkim faced repeated raids from Bhutan and these areas often changed hands. After
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2688-460: The Chumbi Valley, building many garrisons and converting the valley into a strong military base. In 1967, border clashes occurred at Nathu La and Cho La passes, when the Chinese contested the Indian demarcations of the border on the Dongkya range. In the ensuing artillery fire, states scholar Taylor Fravel , many Chinese fortifications were destroyed as the Indians controlled the high ground. In fact,
2772-454: The Chumbi Valley. Following the Anglo-Chinese treaty of 1890 and Younghusband expedition , the British established trading posts at Yatung and Lhasa , along with military detachments to protect them. These trade relations continued till 1959, when the Chinese government terminated them. Indian intelligence officials state that China had been carrying out a steady military build-up in
2856-543: The Directorship. What can be more humiliating than two years of wrangling with such a creature! Finally, Hooker asked to be put in communication with Gladstone's private secretary, Algernon West . A statement was drawn up over the signatures of Darwin , Lyell , Huxley , Tyndall , Bentham and others. It was laid before Parliament by John Lubbock , and additional papers laid before the House of Lords. Lord Derby called for all
2940-523: The Falkland Islands . Hooker described the library as 'excellent', and developed a close friendship with Moody. In 1851, he married Frances Harriet Henslow (1825–1874), daughter of Darwin's mentor, John Stevens Henslow . They had three daughters and four sons: Frances Harriet Henslow's contribution to his work included translating French botanical texts which Hooker edited. After his first wife's death in 1874, in 1876 he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine (1842–1921), daughter of William Samuel Symonds and
3024-460: The Ganges by boat to Siliguri and overland by pony to Darjeeling , arriving on 16 April 1848. Hooker's expedition was based in Darjeeling where he stayed with naturalist Brian Houghton Hodgson . Through Hodgson he met British East India Company representative Archibald Campbell who negotiated Hooker's admission to Sikkim , which was finally approved in 1849 (He was later briefly taken prisoner by
3108-539: The Hookers, and suggested (amongst much else) that they had mismanaged the care of their trees, and that their systematic approach to botany was nothing more than "attaching barbarous binomials to foreign weeds". The discovery of this report no doubt helped to sway opinion in favour of Hooker and Kew (there was debate in the press as well as Parliament). Hooker replied to the Owen report in a point by point factual manner, and his reply
3192-565: The India Office, and lived to age 89. However, his third son, Brian, was a "great worry" to him. He qualified as a geologist and mining engineer at the Royal School of Mines but unable to get a job in Britain emigrated to Australia, where he married. He resigned a Queensland lectureship to invest (with his brother Willy) in an impressively named but cash-strapped gold-mining company which collapsed,
3276-706: The Khasi Hills and established a headquarters for their studies in Churra, where they stayed until 9 December, when they began their trip back to England. With Thomson he distributed the exsiccata -like series Herbarium Indiae orientalis . Hooker's survey of hitherto unexplored regions, the Himalayan Journals , dedicated to Charles Darwin , was published by the Calcutta Trigonometrical Survey Office in 1854, abbreviated again in 1855 and later by
3360-452: The Khundugang peak ( 27°32′38″N 89°06′57″E / 27.5438°N 89.1159°E / 27.5438; 89.1159 ( Khungdugang ) ) as its second prominent peak (after Chomolhari). The Chumbi valley, belonging to Tibet (now part of PRC ), is sandwiched between two Himalayan states: Sikkim to the west and Bhutan to the east. Sikkim and Bhutan are considered part of
3444-641: The Minerva Library of Famous Books published by Ward, Lock, Bowden & Co. in 1891. When Hooker returned to England his father, who had been appointed director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in 1841, was now a prominent man of science. William Hooker, through his connections, secured an Admiralty grant of £1000 to defray the cost of plates for his son's Botany of the Antarctic Voyages , and an annual stipend of £200 for Joseph while he worked on
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3528-649: The Queensland Minerals Exploration Company. Joseph was appalled; Brian could not support his wife and children or find employment. In 1891, Hector sent a pessimistic report on a proposed tin mine on Stewart Island , and saw Brian in 1892 and 1893, after he left his family in Australia. Hector ceased to be involved with mining in New Zealand under the new Liberal government. Brian returned to his family in Australia in 1894. On 10 December 1911, after
3612-479: The Raja of Sikkim). Meanwhile, Hooker wrote to Darwin relaying to him the habits of animals in India, and collected plants in Bengal . He explored with local resident Charles Barnes, then travelled along the Great Runjeet river to its junction with the Teesta River and Tonglu mountain in the Singalila range on the border with Nepal . Hooker and a sizeable party of local assistants departed for eastern Nepal on 27 October 1848. They travelled to Zongri, west over
3696-431: The Survey vaults in Keyworth in Nottinghamshire, and they shed light on the international breadth of English scientific research in the first half of the nineteenth century. On 11 November 1847 Hooker left England for his three-year-long Himalayan expedition. This was just 10 days after being granted two and a half years' leave from the Geological Survey to study fossil plants in India and Borneo on behalf of Kew and
3780-400: The Tibetan plateau, intervening between Sikkim and Bhutan . It is coextensive with the administrative unit Yadong County in the Tibet Autonomous Region of China. The Chumbi Valley is connected to Sikkim to the southwest via the mountain passes of Nathu La and Jelep La . The valley is at an altitude of 3,000 m (9,800 ft), and being on the south side of the Himalayas, enjoys
3864-468: The United States all produced valuable information and specimens for Kew. He started the series Flora Indica in 1855, together with Thomas Thompson . Their botanical observations and the publication of the Rhododendrons of Sikkim–Himalaya (1849–51), formed the basis of elaborate works on the rhododendrons of the Sikkim Himalaya and on the flora of India. His works were illustrated with lithographs by Walter Hood Fitch . His greatest botanical work
3948-435: The University of Glasgow graduating with an MD in 1839. His degree qualified him for employment in the Naval Medical Service. He joined the polar explorer Captain James Clark Ross 's Antarctic expedition to the South Magnetic Pole after receiving a commission as Assistant-Surgeon on HMS Erebus . On this expedition, Hooker was granted full access to the private library of Richard Clement Moody , then Governor of
4032-403: The advantage of a great botanic garden. The relationship between the two men continued to deteriorate after Hooker became a supporter of Darwin's views and a member of the X-Club , who set out to get their way with the Royal Society. In 1868 Hooker had proposed that the whole of the huge herbarium collection of Joseph Banks should be moved from the British Museum to Kew, a reasonable idea, but
4116-428: The banker Dawson Turner and sister-in-law of Francis Palgrave , and the famous botanist Sir William Jackson Hooker , Regius Professor of Botany . From the age of seven, Hooker attended his father's lectures at the University of Glasgow , taking an early interest in plant distribution and the voyages of explorers like Captain James Cook . He was educated at the Glasgow High School and went on to study medicine at
4200-580: The border between Sikkim and Tibet as the northern watershed of the Teesta River (on the Dongkya range), starting at "Mount Gipmochi ". In 1904, the British signed another treaty with Tibet, which confirmed the terms of the Anglo-Chinese treaty. The boundary established between Sikkim and Tibet in the treaty still survives today, according to scholar John Prescott. 27°29′N 88°54′E / 27.483°N 88.900°E / 27.483; 88.900 Joseph Dalton Hooker Sir Joseph Dalton Hooker (30 June 1817 – 10 December 1911)
4284-403: The colony and gain every information [ sic ] respecting its products'. Subsequently, the Ross expedition made a landing at Cockburn Island off the Antarctic Peninsula , and after leaving the Antarctic, stopped at the Cape, St Helena and Ascension Island . The ships arrived back in England on 4 September 1843; the voyage had been a success for Ross as it was the first to confirm
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#17328528191224368-457: The correspondence on the matter. The Treasury supported Hooker and criticised Ayrton's behaviour. One extraordinary fact emerged. There had been an official report on Kew, which had not previously been seen in public, which Ayrton had caused to be written by Richard Owen. Hooker had not seen the report, and so had not been given right of reply. Nonetheless, the report was amongst the papers laid before Parliament, and it contained an attack on both
4452-421: The end of the expedition, the British took control of the Chumbi Valley in lieu of a war indemnity. China agreed to pay the indemnity owed by the Tibetans in three installments and the Chumbi Valley was transferred back to Tibet on 8 February 1908. The Tibetan name of the region is spelt Gromo ( Tibetan : ་གྲོ་མོ , Wylie : gro mo , THL : dro mo , ZYPY : chomo ) and pronounced Dromo or Tromo . In
4536-542: The existence of the southern continent and chart much of its coastline. In 1845, Hooker applied for the Chair of Botany at the University of Edinburgh . This position included duties at the Royal Botanic Gardens of Scotland , and so the appointment was influenced by local politicians. An unusually protracted struggle ensued, resulting in the election of the locally born and bred botanist, John Hutton Balfour . The Darwin correspondence , now public, makes clear Darwin's sense of shock at this unexpected outcome. Hooker declined
4620-466: The first millennium CE. A lotsawa named Yontendrak ( Yon tan grags , b. 973) is said to have been given control over the road to India by an Indian teacher "Aryadeva". The mention of this fact occurs in texts from the 14th century. A more graphic development is stated under the name of a Sakya governor Phakpa Balzang (' Phags-pa-dpal-bzang ) in the mid-14th century, who is said to have invited 150 chiefs and teachers from Paro , Haa and other places for
4704-412: The first of the three X-Clubbers in succession to become President of the Royal Society . In 1862, he was elected a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences . By his travels and his publications, Hooker built up a high scientific reputation at home. In 1855 he was appointed Assistant-Director of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew , and in 1865 he succeeded his father as full Director, holding
4788-450: The flora. Hooker's flora was also to include that collected on the voyages of Cook and Menzies held by the British Museum and collections made on the Beagle . The floras were illustrated by Walter Hood Fitch (trained in botanical illustration by William Hooker), who would go on to become the most prolific Victorian botanical artist . Hooker's collections from the Antarctic voyage were described eventually in one of two volumes published as
4872-432: The high Himalayas, pointing towards India's Siliguri Corridor like a "dagger". The latter is a narrow 24 kilometer-wide corridor between Nepal and Bangladesh in India's West Bengal state, which connects the central parts of India with the northeastern states including the contested state of Arunachal Pradesh . Often referred to as the "chicken's neck", the Siliguri Corridor represents a strategic vulnerability for India. It
4956-440: The illustrations being prepared for him by Matilda Smith . The Herbarium at Kew was founded in 1853, and quickly grew in size and importance. At the time, Richard Owen was the Superintendent of the natural history departments of the British Museum , reporting only to the Head of the British Museum. Hooker, appointed in 1855 as Assistant Director of Kew, was the man most responsible for bringing foreign specimens to Kew. There
5040-475: The islands in 1772. The expedition spent some time in Hobart , Van Diemen's Land , and then moved on to the Auckland Islands and Campbell Island , and onward to Antarctica to locate the South Magnetic Pole. After spending 5 months in the Antarctic they returned to resupply in Hobart, then went on to Sydney, and the Bay of Islands in New Zealand from 18 August to 23 November 1841. They left New Zealand to return to Antarctica. After spending 138 days at sea, and
5124-399: The king of Sikkim. However, they were released without any bloodshed and Hooker returned to Darjeeling, where he spent January and February 1850 writing his journals, replacing specimens lost during his detention and planning a journey for his last year in India. According to an 1887 journal written by Indian administrator Richard Temple , many of the rhododendrons found in English gardens of
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#17328528191225208-414: The name of Kaljani and meets with Brahmaputra in BD. A distributary known as the Buri Torsa meets Jaldhaka . Ghargharia river meets with the Torsa in the Tufanganj subdivision, near Deocharai and the Balarampur Torsa meets with the Kaljani and then flows into Bangladesh by the name of the Kaljani and meets with the Jamuna there. The major towns along the river's banks are: The Torsha River, along with
5292-432: The northern part of the valley around Phari is not referred to by the name of Chumbi by the Tibetans. In the English usage, however, "Chumbi Valley" refers to both the parts. "Chumbi" is also the name of the most prominent town in the southern part of the valley. Some English writers claim that "Chumbi Valley" is named after the town, but there is no such indication in Hooker's writings. Joseph Dalton Hooker described
5376-406: The one who formally presented this material to the Linnean Society meeting in 1858. In 1859 the author of The Origin of Species recorded his indebtedness to Hooker's wide knowledge and balanced judgment. In December 1859, Hooker published the Introductory Essay to the Flora Tasmaniae , the final part of the Botany of the Antarctic Voyage. It was in this essay (which appeared just one month after
5460-490: The post for twenty years. Under the directorship of father and son Hooker, the Royal Botanic gardens of Kew rose to world renown. At the age of thirty, Hooker was elected a fellow of the Royal Society , and in 1873 he was chosen its president (till 1877). He received three of its medals: the Royal Medal in 1854, the Copley in 1887 and the Darwin Medal in 1892. He continued to intersperse work at Kew with foreign exploration and collecting. His journeys to Palestine, Morocco and
5544-510: The publication of Charles Darwin's On the Origin of Species ), that Hooker announced his support for the theory of evolution by natural selection, thus becoming the first recognised man of science to publicly back Darwin. At the historic debate on evolution held at the Oxford University Museum on 30 June 1860, Bishop Samuel Wilberforce , Benjamin Brodie and Robert FitzRoy spoke against Darwin's theory, and Hooker and Thomas Henry Huxley defended it. According to Hooker's own account, it
5628-422: The relations with the British remained rocky and the Sikkimese retained loyalties to Tibet. The British attempted to enforce their suzerainty via the Treaty of Tumlong in 1861. In 1890, they sought to exclude the Tibetans from Sikkim by establishing a treaty with the Chinese, who were presumed to be exercising suzerainty over Tibet. The Anglo-Chinese treaty recognised Sikkim as a British protectorate and defined
5712-418: The spurs of Kangchenjunga , and north west along Nepal's passes into Tibet . In April 1849 he planned a longer expedition into Sikkim. Leaving on 3 May, he travelled north west up the Lachen Valley to the Kongra Lama Pass and then to the Lachoong Pass . Campbell and Hooker were imprisoned by the Dewan of Sikkim as they travelled towards the Cho La in Tibet. A British team was sent to negotiate with
5796-474: The theory, and responded with notes giving Darwin calm critical feedback. Their correspondence continued throughout the development of Darwin's theory and in 1858 Darwin wrote that Hooker was "the one living soul from whom I have constantly received sympathy". Freeman 1978 wrote "Hooker was Charles Darwin's greatest friend and confidant". Certainly they had extensive correspondence, and they also met face-to-face (Hooker visiting Darwin). Hooker and Lyell were
5880-426: The time were grown from seeds collected by Hooker in Sikkim. Reluctant to return to Sikkim, and unenthusiastic about travelling in Bhutan , he chose to make his last Himalayan expedition to Sylhet and the Khasi Hills in Assam. He was accompanied by Thomas Thomson , a fellow student from Glasgow University. They left Darjeeling on 1 May 1850, then sailed to the Bay of Bengal and travelled overland by elephant to
5964-399: The two people Darwin consulted (by letter) when Alfred Russel Wallace 's famous letter arrived at Down House , enclosing his paper on natural selection. Hooker was instrumental in creating the device whereby the Wallace paper was accompanied by Darwin's notes and his letter to Asa Gray (showing his prior realisation of natural selection) in a presentation to the Linnean Society . Hooker was
6048-460: The widow of Sir William Jardine . They had two sons: Lady Hooker was elected a Fellow of the RSPB in 1905. Hooker regularly corresponded with the chief government scientist in New Zealand, Sir James Hector . He sent his son Willy (aged 15) to stay in New Zealand with the recently married Hector in 1869, Willy was sickly and coughing up blood, and a warmer climate was recommended. Though well-behaved he
6132-554: Was a British botanist and explorer in the 19th century. He was a founder of geographical botany and Charles Darwin 's closest friend. For 20 years he served as director of the Royal Botanical Gardens, Kew , succeeding his father, William Jackson Hooker , and was awarded the highest honours of British science. Hooker was born in Halesworth , Suffolk, England. He was the second son of Maria Sarah Turner, eldest daughter of
6216-652: Was assistant to Robert McCormick , who in addition to being the ship's Surgeon was instructed to collect zoological and geological specimens. The ships sailed on 30 September 1839. Before journeying to Antarctica they visited Madeira , Tenerife , Santiago and Quail Island in the Cape Verde archipelago, St Paul Rocks , Trindade east of Brazil, St Helena , and the Cape of Good Hope . Hooker made plant collections at each location and while travelling drew these and specimens of algae and sea life pulled aboard using tow nets. From
6300-508: Was eliminated from the contest by an Anglo-Bhutanese treaty in 1774. Tibet enforced a settlement between Sikkim and Nepal, which is said to have irked Nepal. Following this, by 1788, Nepal occupied all of the Sikkim areas to the west of the Teesta river as well as four provinces of Tibet. Tibet eventually sought the help of China, resulting in the Sino-Nepalese War of 1792. This proved to be
6384-633: Was greeted in The Times with the prophecy that it would prove "another instance of Mr. Ayrton's unfortunate tendency to carry out what he thinks right in as unpleasant a manner as possible". This was relevant because Kew was funded by the Board of Works, and the Director of Kew reported to the First Commissioner. The conflict between the two men lasted from 1870 to 1872, and there is a voluminous correspondence on
6468-566: Was he and not Huxley who delivered the most effective reply to Wilberforce's arguments. Hooker acted as president of the British Association at its Norwich meeting of 1868, when his address was remarkable for its championship of Darwinian theories. He was a close friend of Thomas Henry Huxley , a member of the X-Club (which dominated the Royal Society in the 1870s and early 1880s), and
6552-511: Was indolent. Hector sent him on a cruise on a Government steamer the Sturt with a son (also 15) of Colonel Haultain the Defence minister. Mrs Hector treated him like a younger brother. After eight months and in better health Hector sent him home to England, saying he had greatly improved. His father was grateful, and surprised when Willy passed the civil service examination. He got an administrative job in
6636-516: Was keen to continue to travel and gain more experience in the field. He wanted to travel to India and the Himalayas . In 1847 his father nominated him to travel to India and collect plants for Kew . In 2011, a collection of glass plate slides of paleontological fossils, some prepared by Darwin, William Nicol and others, which had been lost following Hooker's brief tenure with the Survey, were rediscovered in
6720-658: Was placed with the other papers on the case. When Ayrton was questioned about it in the debate led by Lubbock, he replied that "Hooker was too low an official to raise questions of matter with a Minister of the Crown". The outcome was not a vote in the Commons, but a kind of truce until, in August 1874, Gladstone transferred Ayrton from the Board of Works to the office of Judge Advocate-General , just before his government fell. Ayrton failed to get re-elected to Parliament. From that moment to this,
6804-409: Was published, but a number of papers were written. Hooker recognised three phytogeographical divisions: Western Syria and Palestine; Eastern Syria and Palestine; Middle and Upper mountain regions of Syria. Hooker visited Morocco from April to June 1871, in the company of John Ball , George Maw and a young gardener from Kew, called Crump. They published an account of their travels entitled Journal of
6888-578: Was the Flora of British India , published in seven volumes starting in 1872. On the publication of the last part in 1897, he was promoted Knight Grand Commander of the Order of the Star of India (being made a Knight Commander of that Order in 1877). Ten years later, on attaining the age of ninety in 1907, he was awarded the Order of Merit . He was the author of numerous scientific papers and monographs, and his larger books included, in addition to those already mentioned,
6972-623: Was very much limited to the western part of modern Sikkim. The eastern part was under the control of independent chiefs, who did face border conflicts with the Bhutanese, losing the Kalimpong area. The possession of the Chumbi Valley by the Sikkimese is uncertain, but the Tibetans are known to have fended off Bhutanese incursions there. After the unification of Nepal under the Gorkhas in 1756, Nepal and Bhutan had coordinated their attacks on Sikkim. Bhutan
7056-673: Was why in the great mountain chains of the Western United States there appeared to be only a few botanical enclaves of plants of eastern-Asiatic afinities among plants of Mexican and more southern types." Hooker visited a number of cities and botanical institutions before moving west and climbing to 9,000 ft to camp at La Veta . From Fort Garland they climbed the Sierra Blanca at 14,500 ft. After returning to La Veta, they went beyond Colorado Springs to Pike's Peak . Next to Denver and Salt Lake City for an excursion into
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