This site celebrates the work of Smithsonian-sponsored expeditions to and research in Latin America and the Caribbean over the last century and a half. The site offers hypertext discussions (including sketches, photographs, and artifacts) of the results of expeditions and the work of their naturalists, such as the International Expedition sponsored by the United States which circumnavigated the globe between 1838 and 1842 and gathered over 40 tons of materials for the Smithsonian's natural history collections, much of it from Latin America. The site discusses archaeological materials found in Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America, emphasizing the enterprise and collaboration of naturalists between governments and within the United States, but giving little attention, it seems to us, to the possible colonial implications of this history of prodigious collecting in other lands.