Measuring the New World
Enlightenment Science and South America
1st Edition
Published on 31. May 2024
387 pages
978-0-226-73356-2 (ISBN)
Description
Prior to 1735, South America was terra incognita to many Europeans.But that year, the Paris Academy of Sciences sent a mission to the Spanish American province of Quito (in present-day Ecuador) to study the curvature of the earth at the Equator. Equipped with quadrants and telescopes, the mission's participants referred to the transfer of scientific knowledge from Europe to the Andes as a "sacred fire" passing mysteriously through European astronomical instruments to observers in South America.
By taking an innovative interdisciplinary look at the traces of this expedition, Measuring the New World examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, as well as specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.
By taking an innovative interdisciplinary look at the traces of this expedition, Measuring the New World examines the transatlantic flow of knowledge from West to East. Through ephemeral monuments and geographical maps, this book explores how the social and cultural worlds of South America contributed to the production of European scientific knowledge during the Enlightenment. Neil Safier uses the notebooks of traveling philosophers, as well as specimens from the expedition, to place this particular scientific endeavor in the larger context of early modern print culture and the emerging intellectual category of scientist as author.
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06/2012
University of Chicago Press
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04/2008
University of Chicago Press
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Person
Neil Safier is associate professor of history at the University of British Columbia.
Content
- Intro
- Contents
- Preface: The Ascent of Francesurcu
- Introduction: New Worlds to Measure and Mime
- 1 The Ruined Pyramids of Yaruqui
- 2 An Enlightened Amazon, with Fables and a Fold-Out Map
- 3 Armchair Explorers
- 4 Correcting Quito
- 5 A Nation Defamed and Defended
- 6 Incas in the King's Garden
- 7 The Golden Monkey and the Monkey-Worm
- Conclusion: Cartographers, Concubines, and Fugitive Slaves
- Notes
- Bibliography
- Index
