Francisco Muñoz y San Clemente and his 'Reflections on the English Settlements on New Holland'

Abstract

• The significance of Francisco Muñoz y San Clemente's 'Reflexiones sobre los establecimientos Ingleses de la Nueva-Holanda' lies in the influence it had in causing the politico-scientific expedition to the Pacific led by Alexandro Malaspina to include in its itinerary a visit to the new English colony in New South Wales (see figs, 1, 2). The 'Reflexiones' presented irrefutable reasons for Spain to send her own observers to obtain first-hand knowledge of the Botany Bay colony.