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Over 10,000 manuscripts, graphic and printed testimonies comprise this documentary heritage from the 18th and 19th centuries from research carried out by European and American scientists in the present-day territories of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, either through private initiative or under sponsorship and patronage by the Spanish or French Crown. The research greatly advanced scientific knowledge, particularly in the fields of astronomy, geography, physics, botany, medicine and zoology. Their contribution significantly revalued Andean culture through detailed descriptions, engravings, watercolours and photographs of socio-cultural manifestations. Part of this documentation constitutes a unique record of landscapes, customs and archaeological evidence that have suffered alterations and, in some cases, disappeared due to natural or human action.

The scientific contributions began in the 18th century at the Royal Audience of Quito and lasted until the 19th century, thus ending the old debate regarding the Earth's shape and offering substantial contributions for humanity such as the discovery of the most important medicinal plant of this area, cinchona (cascarilla or quina), which was used to cure or treat malaria. 

This documentary collection on the scientific memory of Andean America, distributed between 14 archives and libraries in the afore mentioned subregion, as well as three in Spain, was inscribed on the Memory of the World Regional Register for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2002 as a joint nomination presented by Bolivia (Archivo y Biblioteca Nacionales / Biblioteca y Archivo Histórico del Honorable Congreso Nacional); Colombia (Biblioteca Nacional / Archivo General de la Nación); Ecuador (Archivo Histórico y Biblioteca Central del Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores / Archivo Histórico y Biblioteca del Banco Central / Archivo Nacional / Biblioteca Aurelio Espinosa Pólit / Biblioteca Nacional «Eugenio Espejo» /Biblioteca del Instituto Nacional Mejía / Biblioteca de la Universidad Central del Ecuador / Museo Nacional de la Medicina); España (Archivo General de las Indias / Archivo del Real Jardín Botánico / Archivo de la Biblioteca General de Humanidades del Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas); Perú (Banco Continental / Biblioteca Nacional).