First published in 2006. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Sir Joseph Banks (1743 1820), botanist and patron of science, was a pivotal figure in eighteenth-century intellectual circles. He travelled around the world with Captain Cook as naturalist on the Endeavour (1768 1771), exploring first Tahiti, then Australia, New Zealand and Indonesia, and contributed 10,000 of his personal wealth to help finance the expedition. He became President of the Royal Society and scientific adviser to the Royal Gardens at Kew, counting George III as a personal friend. He both helped plan the first penal colony in New South Wales, and bred Merino sheep to be farmed...