Constantine Samuel Rafinesque was a French polymath of the early 19th century, born near Constantinople in the Ottoman Empire and self-educated in France. He made significant contributions to the fields of botany, zoology, and the study of prehistoric earthworks in North America. Rafinesque’s interests extended to ancient Mesoamerican linguistics, adding to his prior work in Europe.
Considered an eccentric and unpredictable genius, Rafinesque was largely self-taught and excelled in multiple areas of knowledge, including zoology, botany, writing, and languages. However, despite his prolific output, he received little recognition in his lifetime. In fact, he faced rejection from leading scientific journals and was marginalized within the American scientific community. Notable among his theories was his proposition that ancestors of Native Americans migrated from Asia to North America via the Bering Sea, as well as his belief that black indigenous peoples inhabited the Americas at the time of European contact.