Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus

From a modern perspective, it could be argued that cosmography was a protoscience, or ancestral to geography. To systemize it according to its modern legacy, however, dilutes its early modern diversity. Cosmography has a place in both the history of science and in historical geography, without being...

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Main Author: Janet Clare
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2023-03-01
Series:Journal of Early Modern Studies
Subjects:
Online Access:https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/14382
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author Janet Clare
author_facet Janet Clare
author_sort Janet Clare
collection DOAJ
description From a modern perspective, it could be argued that cosmography was a protoscience, or ancestral to geography. To systemize it according to its modern legacy, however, dilutes its early modern diversity. Cosmography has a place in both the history of science and in historical geography, without being confined to either discipline. The article explores how cosmography circulated across disciplines, national borders, and social classes. It materialized not only in books, but in a variety of forms, including maps, instruments, letters, and lectures. Knowledge evolved as new discoveries were made about the earth and the heavens, but ideas gain traction only with difficulty when they breach conceptual boundaries. The first parts of the article will address sites, modes, and materials of knowledge exchange. In the final part, I will focus on caution, resistance, and censorship in the transmission and subsequent transformation of knowledge, with particular reference to the Copernican revolution.
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spelling doaj-art-a5bc56e2c37f4ed0a8e5f688b74d5f362025-08-20T03:05:14ZengFirenze University PressJournal of Early Modern Studies2279-71492023-03-011210.36253/jems-2279-7149-1438213208Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A ConspectusJanet Clare0University of BristolFrom a modern perspective, it could be argued that cosmography was a protoscience, or ancestral to geography. To systemize it according to its modern legacy, however, dilutes its early modern diversity. Cosmography has a place in both the history of science and in historical geography, without being confined to either discipline. The article explores how cosmography circulated across disciplines, national borders, and social classes. It materialized not only in books, but in a variety of forms, including maps, instruments, letters, and lectures. Knowledge evolved as new discoveries were made about the earth and the heavens, but ideas gain traction only with difficulty when they breach conceptual boundaries. The first parts of the article will address sites, modes, and materials of knowledge exchange. In the final part, I will focus on caution, resistance, and censorship in the transmission and subsequent transformation of knowledge, with particular reference to the Copernican revolution.https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/14382astronomycosmographygeographyknowledgemaps
spellingShingle Janet Clare
Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
Journal of Early Modern Studies
astronomy
cosmography
geography
knowledge
maps
title Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
title_full Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
title_fullStr Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
title_full_unstemmed Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
title_short Cosmography, Knowledge in Transit: A Conspectus
title_sort cosmography knowledge in transit a conspectus
topic astronomy
cosmography
geography
knowledge
maps
url https://oajournals.fupress.net/index.php/bsfm-jems/article/view/14382
work_keys_str_mv AT janetclare cosmographyknowledgeintransitaconspectus