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The first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden

In 1735 Carl Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae first edition was printed at Leiden as a set of tables dividing nature into three kingdoms, with humans placed in the animal kingdom rather than off the page as a separate spiritual exception. In the causal graph this event strengthens Digital Learning Access, a driver that weakens Learning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries) — an improving welfare path.

Read the full account

In 1735 Carl Linnaeus’s Systema Naturae first edition was printed at Leiden as a set of tables dividing nature into three kingdoms, with humans placed in the animal kingdom rather than off the page as a separate spiritual exception. Later tenth-edition racial pages are a different Fact. The sexual system of plants appears here as an artificial key Linnaeus already called provisional. It is not the 1753 Species Plantarum and not a later ICZN starting-point rule he did not write.

Context

Placing Homo among animals was theologically loud in 1735 even before binomials were consistent. Gronovius’s money and a Leiden press made a Swedish manuscript a European object. John Ray and others already classified; this table’s fame is not unique invention of order as such. Four brief human colour-continent lines exist already; the 1758 expansion of moral ranks is the worsening split, not this first sheet’s naturalism.

Later competitions, monuments, translations, UNESCO listings, museums, and adaptations are not converted into extra lifetime acts.

Why it matters

Education and naturalism path. Mid weight for a pamphlet of tables. High confidence on 1735 printing.

Confidence is stated on the impact path, not hidden in adjectives. 1735 naturalism is not the 1758 racial page. Mixed effects of The first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden are separate paths.

Who was responsible

Contribution type and responsibility level for each recorded actor — not sole-author shorthand.

  • Carl Linnaeus

    Person

    Direct responsibility

    responsibility level 0.4 · verified

    He authored the tables. Gronovius and Lawson paid the Leiden printer.

What changed

Fact → Driver → Indicator. Relationship strength orders the paths; it is not the observed indicator movement.

Evidence

The sources behind this fact and its verification state.

Verified2 sources on file
  1. 1.Britannica — Carolus LinnaeusEncyclopaedia Britannica · High credibility · verified
  2. 2.Linnean Society — Homo sapiens: classifying the human animalThe Linnean Society of London · High credibility · verified
What the sources establish

The Linnean Society exhibition page at https://www.linnean.org/research-collections/on-display/homo-sapiens-classifying-the-human-animal (opens in a new tab) dates the 1735 first edition and human inclusion. Britannica at https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carolus-Linnaeus (opens in a new tab) independently dates the Leiden Systema and Gronovius’s support.

Established: Systema Naturae first edition appeared at Leiden in 1735 with humans in the animal kingdom. Not established: that Linnaeus wrote later nomenclatural codes, or that 1735 already carried the 1758 moral table. Contribution is recorded as He authored the tables. Gronovius and Lawson paid the Leiden printer. The impact note is A public three-kingdom table, including humans among animals, is a knowledge-access instrument, split from later racial ranks. The dated heading stays The first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden on 1735-12-09, not a later statue, UNESCO listing, or school film. Later competitions, monuments, and adaptations are refused as extra lifetime acts of this person on this date.

Shared responsibility is part of The first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden. Naming Carl Linnaeus does not delete co-authors, institutions, or later transmitters. The lag from 1735-12-09 to any measured indicator is not treated as zero. Alternative explanations — weather, other armies, later statutes, or independent cultural change — remain live where the sources do not close them.

That reading is an impact-path choice, not a property stored on the Fact itself.

If a number is not in the two records named above, it is not supplied here.

Causal path

How this event connects to drivers and indicators in the graph.

  1. ActorCarl Linnaeus
  2. contributed toFactThe first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden
  3. strengthensDriverDigital Learning Access
  4. weakensIndicatorLearning Poverty Rate (low- and middle-income countries)

Cite this page

Factrail. (2026). The first edition of Systema Naturae is printed at Leiden. Factrail. https://factrail.ai/facts/linnaeus-systema-1735

https://factrail.ai/facts/linnaeus-systema-1735

Accessed 16 October 2026.

By the Factrail desk · Method: how we source and score · Last reviewed

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