Science and Empire in the Atlantic World (New Directions in American History)

Science and Empire in the Atlantic World is the first book in the growing field of Atlantic Studies to examine the production of scientific knowledge in the Atlantic world from a comparative and international perspective. Rather than focusing on a specific scientific field or single national context, this collection captures the multiplicity of practices, people, languages, and agendas that characterized the traffic in knowledge around the Atlantic world, linking this knowledge to the social processes fundamental to colonialism, such as travel, trade, ethnography, and slavery. The First Book To Examine The Making Of Scientific Knowledge In The Early Modern Americas From A Comparative And International Perspective. Connecting Atlantic History With The History Of Science, The Chapters Explore How Knowledge And The Colonial Order Were Made Together, Through Complex Interactions Between Metropolitan Travelers, Creole Settlers, Amerindians, And African Slaves. Introduction : The Far Side Of The Ocean / James Delbourgo And Nicholas Dew -- Section I: Networks Of Circulation -- 1. Controlling Knowledge : Navigation, Cartography, And Secrecy In The Early Modern Spanish Atlantic / Alison Sandman -- 2. Vers La Ligne : Circulating Measurements Around The French Atlantic / Nicholas Dew -- 3. Knowing The Ocean : Benjamin Franklin And The Circulation Of Atlantic Knowledge / Joyce E. Chaplin -- Section Ii: Writing The American Book Of Nature -- 4. A New World Of Secrets : Occult Philosophy In The Sixteenth-century Atlantic / Ralph Bauer -- 5. Tropical Empiricism : Making Medical Knowledge In Colonial Brazil / Júnia Ferreira Furtado -- 6. American Climate And The Civilization Of Nature / Jan Golinski -- Section Iii: Itineraries Of Collection -- 7. Empiricism In The Spanish Atlantic World / Antonio Barrera-osorio -- 8. Fruitless Botany : Joseph De Jussieu's South American Odyssey / Neil Safier -- 9. Atlantic Competitions : Botany In The Eighteenth-century Spanish Empire / Daniela Bleichmar -- Section Iv: Contested Powers -- 10. The Electric Machine In The American Garden / James Delbourgo -- 11. Diasporic African Sources Of Enlightenment Knowledge / Susan Scott Parrish -- 12. Mesmerism In Saint Domingue : Occult Knowledge And Vodou On The Eve Of The Haitian Revolution / François Regourd -- Afterword : Science, Global Capitalism And The State / Margaret C. Jacob. Edited By James Delbourgo And Nicholas Dew. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.