The Italian Legacy in the Dominican Republic

THE ITALIAN LEGACY IN THE DOMINICAN REPUBLIC

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Other Contributions

Above all, Ciferri was a scientist; his contributions to biological science that still bear fruit in Santo Domin-

go long after his time there clearly demonstrate his vocation as an investigator and denote his prosecution

and continual deepening of the studies initiated in the Republic. His contributions, however, transcended the

plane of biological science.

His sporadic incursions into biography are one example of this; they were his

response to the desire to give testimony to a friendship and recognition to a colleague, in a spirit both critical

and generous. Thus, when he was facing the deaths of friends Erik Ekman and Romualdo González Fragoso,

Raffaele Ciferri wrote biographical notes highlighting the value of the scientific contributions of both in their

respective fields of science.

Translation and Cartographic Criticism

The result of his friendship with don Federico Henríquez y Carvajal can be found in the translation into Spanish

of the book by Carlo Frati,

El mapa más antiguo de la Isla de Santo Domingo (1516) y Pedro Mártir de Anglería

(The

Oldest Map of the Island of Santo Domingo [1516] and Peter Martyr d’Anghiera). The book is listed as translat-

ed by R. Ciferri with a foreword by F. Henríquez y Carvajal. Credit for the publication states that it was printed

“under the care of the Dominican Government,” Firenze, Leo S. Olschki, 1929. But most important—and at the

same time, most curious—is that Ciferri carefully refuted the criteria, contrary to Frati’s thesis that the map is

from 1516, expressed the following year by historian and Capuchin monk Fray Cipriano de Utrera, who opined

that the map included in the work by Peter Martyr d’Anghiera and reproduced by Frati was a copy of another

earlier one that Utrera placed in 1509, and that the original map therefore corresponded to the earlier date, 1509.

In his critical commentary Ciferri reviews both works, the one by Frati and the one by Utrera; he describes

Utrera as “a learned Spanish historian specialized in historical issues referring to Santo Domingo” and presents

his key arguments as well as his weak points. Among the weak points, he cites details seen on the specific map

of the island included in Anghiera’s work and the proximity of the date proposed by Utrera to those of other

maps that do not yet include said details: the world map of Contarini–Rosselli (1506), the celebrated Wald-

seemüller map (1507), and the Stevens-Brown map (1513). Furthermore, the letter dated June 1511 that Utrera

examines in his booklet affirms that there are “fifteen towns on the island”; for Ciferri, this ratifies the date of

Frati’s map and constitutes more of an objection to than a reinforcement of the earlier dating that Utrera pro-

poses. In conclusion, Ciferri acknowledges that the date proposed by Frati for the map of the island of Hispan-

iola sets a limit—a “no-earlier-than” date—and “unless proven otherwise,” it is the only date that can be based

on existing historical sources.

Again, it is Ciferri’s critical skill that can be seen permeating his comments.

Geobotanical Map of the Island

Shortly after returning to Italy, in 1936 Ciferri completed and published his

Studio Geobotanico dell’Isola Hispan-

iola

. Accompanying the work was a geobotanical map of the island of Hispaniola,

in which he summarized

the knowledge that he had acquired, during his years of intense labor, about the flora of the Dominican Re-

public. This map is yet to be found, as it has not been catalogued in any of the principal national repositories.

The cartographic essay is the first of its kind in the Dominican Republic, despite the flaws that might be expect-

ed in such an endeavor, given the author’s departure from the country. The existence of the map has barely

been mentioned in Santo Domingo. It was briefly touched upon by Dr. Carlos E. Chardón, who downplayed

its value when he wrote about “Dr. Ciferri’s map, published in Italy in 1934, in which we have found several

production errors.”

Even so, Chardón himself points out the occasional virtue of the map, particularly in

reference to the pine forests of the Sierra del Bahoruco mountain range: “These pine forests are not shown on

Durland’s forestry map, but they are on Ciferri’s.”

The collection of

Cicadali (Cycadales) is

found in the eastern

wing of the Scopoli

Greenhouses.. The

Cycadales, including

Cycadaceae and

Zamiaceae, whose

origin dates back to

the Carboniferous or

early Permian period

and which reached its

maximum abundance

and diffusion in the

Mesozoic Era, are a

group of gymnosperm

(plants with seeds

unprotected by an

ovary or fruit) that,

in their vegetative

and reproductive

organization,

preserve very archaic

characteristics:

they often have the

appearance of palms,

with erect, columnar,

and undivided stems,

and large compound

leaves, leathery with

pungent apex; they are

plants with unisexual

flowers, slow growing

and for this reason are

particularly valuable

for ornamental

purposes. (Paolo

Cauzzi)