The figure of the Spanish botanist Francisco Noroña has been overlooked by most historians, and the same fate has befallen his travel diary, which contains valuable information on Spanish, Dutch and French possessions in Western and Southeast Asia – the Philippines, Java, Mauritius and Madagascar. The son of a physician, Michel Noroña, and Elizabeth Smith from England, Francisco Noroña was born in Seville (Spain) in about 1748. Following his father's footsteps, Noroña studied medicine at Osuna (Seville) and Seville, completing his formation in botany, physics, chemistry and natural history at London and Paris.