Experiencing Nature : The Spanish American Empire and the Early Scientific Revolution

As Spain colonized the Americas during the sixteenth century, Spanish soldiers, bureaucrats, merchants, adventurers, physicians, ship pilots, and friars explored the natural world, gathered data, drew maps, and sent home specimens of America's vast resources of animals, plants, and minerals. This amassing of empirical knowledge about Spain's American possessions had two far-reaching effects. It overturned the medieval understanding of nature derived from Classical texts and helped initiate the modern scientific revolution. And it allowed Spain to commodify and control the natural resources upon which it built its American empire. In this book, Antonio Barrera-Osorio investigates how Spain's need for accurate information about its American colonies gave rise to empirical scientific practices and their institutionalization, which, he asserts, was Spain's chief contribution to the early scientific revolution. He also conclusively links empiricism to empire-building as he focuses on five areas of Spanish activity in America: the search for commodities in, and the ecological transformation of, the New World; the institutionalization of navigational and information-gathering practices at the Spanish Casa de la Contratacion (House of Trade); the development of instruments and technologies for exploiting the natural resources of the Americas; the use of reports and questionnaires for gathering information; and the writing of natural histories about the Americas. As Spain colonized the Americas during the sixteenth century, Spanish soldiers, bureaucrats, merchants, adventurers, physicians, ship pilots, and friars explored the natural world, gathered data, drew maps, and sent home specimens of America's vast resources of animals, plants, and minerals. This amassing of empirical knowledge about Spain's American possessions had two far-reaching effects. It overturned the medieval understanding of nature derived from Classical texts and helped initiate the modern scientific revolution. And it allowed Spain to commodify and control the natural resources upon which it built its American empire. In this book, Antonio Barrera-Osorio investigates how Spain's need for accurate information about its American colonies gave rise to empirical scientific practices and their institutionalization, which, he asserts, was Spain's chief contribution to the early scientific revolution. He also conclusively links empiricism to empire-building as he focuses on five areas of Spanish activity in America: the search for commodities in, and the ecological transformation of, the New World; the institutionalization of navigational and information-gathering practices at the Spanish Casa de la Contratación (House of Trade); the development of instruments and technologies for exploiting the natural resources of the Americas; the use of reports and questionnaires for gathering information; and the writing of natural histories about the Americas. Contents......Page 8 Acknowledgments......Page 10 Introduction......Page 14 ONE. Searching the Land for Commodities......Page 26 TWO. A Chamber of Knowledge: The Casa de la Contratación and Its Empirical Methods......Page 42 THREE. Communities of Experts: Artisans and Innovation in the New World......Page 69 FOUR. Circuits of Information: Reports from the New World......Page 94 FIVE. Books of Nature: Scholars, Natural History, and the New World......Page 114 Conclusions: The Politics of Knowledge......Page 141 Appendix 1. Pilots and Cosmographers at the Casa de la Contratación......Page 148 Appendix 2. Instruments......Page 153 Appendix 3. Spanish Scientific Books......Page 160 Introduction......Page 164 1. Searching the Land for Commodities......Page 166 2. A Chamber of Knowledge......Page 172 3. Communities of Experts......Page 180 4. Circuits of Information......Page 187 5. Books of Nature......Page 194 Conclusions: The Politics of Knowledge......Page 200 Bibliography......Page 202 Index......Page 218 He also conclusively links empiricism to empire-building as he focuses on five areas of Spanish activity in America: the search for commodities in, and the ecological transformation of, the New World; the institutionalization of navigational and information-gathering practices at the Spanish Casa de la Contratacion (House of Trade); the development of instruments and technologies for exploiting the natural resources of the Americas; the use of reports and questionnaires for gathering information; and the writing of natural histories about the Americas."--Jacket Searching the land for commodities A chamber of knowledge: the Casa de la Contrataciòn and its empirical methods Communities of experts: artisans and innovation in the New World Circuits of information: reports from the New World Books of nature: scholars, natural history, and the New World Conclusions: the politics of knowledge Appendix 1. Pilots and cosmographers at the Casa de la Contrataciòn Appendix 2. Instruments Appendix 3. Spanish scientific books. Investigates how Spain's need for accurate information about its American colonies gave rise to empirical scientific practices and their institutionalization. This work also links empiricism to empire-building as it focuses on five areas of Spanish activity in America. The never-before-told story of how Spain helped initiate the modern scientific era by collecting empirical data in order to commodify and control the natural resources of its American empire.