# HISTSCI 1380: Science and the Invention of the Tropics Semester: Spring | Year offered: 2026 | Link: [Course Website](https://canvas.harvard.edu/courses/160273) Europeans’ discovery of a “torrid” zone with distinct flora, fauna, and, presumably, different humans spurred a race to catalogue difference. This seminar examines how scientific knowledge of the tropics was collected, classified, and disseminated from the 1500s onward as evidence that the Global South not only had a different climate but was characteristically “less” developed than the north. Students will examine arguments from imperial botany and biology that made their way into how we explain societies today. Wednesdays at 12:00-2:45 PM with Professor Gabriela Soto Laveaga --- [### Gabriela Soto Laveaga ](/people/gabriela-soto-laveaga) Professor of the History of Science Antonio Madero Professor for the Study of Mexico Areas of Research: Modern Latin America; intersection of science and culture; public health; scientific and medical exchange in the Global South Personal Website Gabriela Soto Laveaga is Professor of the History of Science and Antonio Madero Professor for... ![G_Soto_Laveaga](/sites/g/files/omnuum9516/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/gsl.jpg?itok=ME3FJFKr)