The shaping of Africa : cosmographic discourse and cartographic science in late medieval and early modern Europe
Loading...
Files
relano.jpg (583.74 KB)
Book cover (2002)
License
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Aldershot ; Burlington : Ashgate, 2002
Cite
RELAÑO, Francesc, The shaping of Africa : cosmographic discourse and cartographic science in late medieval and early modern Europe, Aldershot ; Burlington : Ashgate, 2002 - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/47031
Abstract
When did Africa emerge as a continent in the European mind? This book aims to trace the origins of the idea of Africa and its evolution in Renaissance thought. Particular attention is given to the relationship between the process of acquiring knowledge through travel and exploration, and its representation within a discourse which also includes previously acquired cosmographical elements. Among the themes investigated are: how did the image of Africa evolve from the conception of a symbolic space to a Euclidean representation?; how did the Renaissance rediscovery of Antiquity interact with the Portuguese discoveries along the African coast?; once Africa was circumnavigated, how was the inner landmass depicted in the absense of first-hand knowledge?; and, overall, in this whole process, what was the interplay of myth and reality?
Table of Contents
-- Part I The African puzzle
-- Part II The limits of symbolic space : from allegorical geometry to a figurative world
-- Part III Charting Euclidean space : the cartography of the great discoveries
-- Part IV From the form to the contents : the design of the unknown
Additional Information
External Links
Publisher
Version
Published version of EUI PhD thesis, 1997