meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Futility Closet

218-Lost in the Amazon

Futility Closet

Greg Ross

History

4.8748 Ratings

🗓️ 24 September 2018

⏱️ 33 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1769, a Peruvian noblewoman set out with 41 companions to join her husband in French Guiana. But a series of terrible misfortunes left her alone in the Amazon jungle. In this week's episode we'll follow Isabel Godin des Odonais on her harrowing adventure in the rain forest.

We'll also learn where in the world "prices slippery traps" is and puzzle over an airport's ingenuity.

Intro:

In 1949 neurophysiologist Grey Walter built electronic "tortoises" with primitive nervous systems.

In 1952 G.V. Carey added an index to his manual of indexing.

Sources for our feature on Isabel Godin des Odonais:

Anthony Smith, The Lost Lady of the Amazon, 2003.

Robert Whitaker, The Mapmaker's Wife, 2004.

Jean Godin, "Voyage of Madame Godin Along the River of the Amazons, in the Year 1770," in Charlotte-Adélaïde Dard et al., Perils and Captivity, 1827.

Larrie D. Ferreiro, Measure of the Earth, 2011.

Edward Julius Goodman, The Explorers of South America, 1992.

Londa L. Schiebinger, Plants and Empire, 2009.

J. Donald Fernie, "Marginalia: The Shape of the Earth, Part II," American Scientist 79:5 (September/October 1991), 393-395.

Donald D. Brand, "A Brief History of Anthropology in Brazil," New Mexico Anthropologist 5:4 (October-December 1941), 99-150.

David Taylor, "An Adventure of Historic Measures," Americas 50:6 (November/December 1998), 14-21.

James Grant Wilson and John Fiske, Appletons' Cyclopaedia of American Biography, 1898.

Edwin McDowell, "The Middle of the World," New York Times, Nov. 25, 1990.

"First Woman Over Andes," New York Times, Nov. 5, 1922.

Henri Froidevaux, "Documents Inédits sur Godin des Odonais et sur Son Séjour a la Guyane," Journal de la Société des Américanistes de Paris I, 1896.

"An Account of the Singular Misfortunes of Madame Godin, in a Voyage Which She Made From the Province of Quito to Cayenne, by the River of the Amazons," New Wonderful Magazine and Marvellous Chronicle 4:37 (July 1794), 309-313.

Listener mail:

Robert Plummer, "Giving Everyone in the World an Address," BBC News, April 30, 2015.

"Ivory Coast Post Office Adopts Three-Word System," BBC News, Dec. 9, 2016.

Plus Codes.

Wikipedia, "Open Location Code" (accessed Sept. 13, 2018).

what3words.

Wikipedia, "What3words" (accessed Sept. 13, 2018).

Belinda Lanks, "This App Gives Even the Most Remote Spots on the Planet an Address," Magenta, Oct. 11, 2016.

Joon Ian Wong, "Mongolia Is Changing All Its Addresses to Three-Word Phrases," Quartz, June 13, 2016.

Jacopo Prisco, "Ivory Coast Street Addresses Are Now Made of Three Words," CNN, Sept. 4, 2017.

what2numbers.

what3emojis.

what3goshdarnits.

what3ducks.

what3[redacted] (warning: many, many expletives).

This week's lateral thinking puzzle was contributed by listener Josva Dammann Kvilstad, who sent this corroborating link (warning -- this spoils the puzzle).

You can listen using the player above, download this episode directly, or subscribe on Google Podcasts, on Apple Podcasts, or via the RSS feed at https://futilitycloset.libsyn.com/rss.

Please consider becoming a patron of Futility Closet -- you can choose the amount you want to pledge, and we've set up some rewards to help thank you for your support. You can also make a one-time donation on the Support Us page of the Futility Closet website.

Many thanks to Doug Ross for the music in this episode.

If you have any questions or comments you can reach us at [email protected]. Thanks for listening!

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Welcome to the Futility Closet Podcast, forgotten stories from the pages of history.

0:14.3

Visit us online to sample more than 10,000 quirky curiosities from robot tortoises to an indexer's index. This is episode 218. I'm Greg Ross.

0:24.2

And I'm Sharon Ross. In 1769, a Peruvian noblewoman set out with 41 companions to join her

0:31.4

husband in French Guiana. But a series of terrible misfortunes left her alone in the Amazon jungle.

0:37.7

In today's show, we'll follow Isabel Godin de Odonai on her harrowing adventure in the rainforest.

0:44.3

We'll also learn where in the world prices, slippery traps is, and puzzle over an airport's ingenuity. In the 1730s, an interesting debate arose between French and British scientists regarding

1:02.3

the shape of the Earth. The French astronomer Jacques Cassini argued that it bulged at the

1:06.2

Poles, where Isaac Newton had believed it bulged at the equator. The French Academy of Sciences decided to settle the question by measuring the earth in two places.

1:14.1

They sent one party north to Lapland to measure an arc of latitude near the Arctic Circle,

1:18.6

and they sent another party to South America to take a similar measurement at the equator.

1:22.6

Comparing those measurements would reveal the true shape of the earth and show who is right.

1:26.8

As it happened, the Lapland

1:27.9

group reported its measurements first, and when those were compared with some readings that had

1:31.4

been taken near Paris, they were enough to show that Newton had been right. The Earth is a

1:35.0

spheroid that's flattened at the poles. When the South American Party broke up, some of its members

1:39.7

returned to France, but one of them, a cartographer named Jean Godin de O'Donai, stayed on and took up a post as a

1:45.3

professor of astronomy and natural science at the College of Quito in 1739. There he met and married

1:51.1

Isabelle Gramecón, a Spanish noblewoman who'd been born in Peru. He was 30, and she was 13, but she was

1:57.2

very well educated and spoke Spanish, French, and Quechua, the local Andean language.

2:02.0

Three years after their marriage, they moved to Rio Bamba, about 100 miles south of Quito, where her father was an administrator.

2:07.8

They were surrounded by her family, but increasingly buried in debt because Jean's business ventures didn't generate much income.

2:13.8

They'd had several opportunities to move to France, but each time Isabel had been pregnant and couldn't travel.

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Greg Ross, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Greg Ross and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.