,, Treasures of ''The Boundless Deep . • • An Exhibition on the European Conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1840 by Norman Fiering
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he epic scory of European expansion across the oceans, beginning with Portuguese voyages down the west coast of Africa in the middle of the 15th century and culminating in the great scientific expedi tions of rhe 18th and early 19th centuries, made possible the geographical unification of the earth and the overcoming of human isolation in every corner of rhe globe. Judged simply in terms of sheer daring and human resourcefulness, rhe European venture inco the vast seas of rhe planer in the period from 1450 co 1840 surpasses the flights into outer space in the 20th century. Because we now rake for granted rhe interconnectedness of the world's peoples, it is easy co underestimate the powers of imagination and intellect needed co first conceptualize the geography of the earth and its oceans; the determined pioneering required co organize the great voyages; and the ingenuity and fortitude called upon co accomplish them. No earlier material achievements in the West, no Gothic cathedrals or Roman aqueducts, surpass the development of craftsmanship and the mastery of technical information that, taken as a whole, made possible, for example, the first circumnavigation of the globe by Ferdinand Magellan's expedition between 1519and1522. From the prodigious navigational fears of Christopher Co lumbus and Vasco da Gama co the information-gathering missions three centuries later of Captain Jam es Cook and Alejandro Malaspina, the European oceanic enterprises vasrly extended the reach
of Western commerce and culture, created permanent links between hitherto separated continents, and brought back substantial new knowledge. While often causing extraordinary and painful disruptions in traditional societies, it was the period when the foundations of global commerce and global culture, so evident coday, were first established. Ocean voyaging required specialized navigational skills, progress in astronomical understanding, advances in ship and rigging design, methods of maintaining the health of seamen, carcographic sophistication, sources of timber for shipbuilding, and always great courage. Before the 1400s, the necessary knowledge was in the hands of a few masters who passed on their heritage through the system of apprenticeships. Related trades were guarded jealously, and governments tried to control the spread of technical and geographical information in an effort co secure an advantage over their rivals. Bur the conquest of rhe oceans was a shared achievemen r of the European countries, with incessant exchange of technology and methods, driven by the impetus of intense competition. The Italian maritime city-stares, such as Venice and Genoa, and Portugal, Spain, the Netherlands, France, and England, were all participants in this reciprocal purloining. No form of h uman endeavor in the early modern period was more cosmopolitan or internationalized than the maritime trades. Pon cities and ships' crews were typically microcosms of
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Amerigo Vespucci's Perri F rancisi de Medicis Salurem plurimam, printed in Paris in 1503, included the earliest image of the Southern Cross, a boon to navigators in the Southern Hemisphere. Suma de geographia (Seville, 1519) by Martin Fernandez de Enciso was the first printed Spanish navigation manual.
A selection ofthe john Carter Brown Library's unparalleled collection ofmaritime books and cartographic materials is on exhibit in "The Boundless Deep ... ": The European Conquest of the Oceans, 1450 to 1840 at the N ewport A rt Museum in N ewport, Rhode Island, from 27April to 27July 2003. The more than 13 0 items on display have been chosen for their intrinsic beauty as well as their association with crucial human initiatives. For the lecture series at the N ewport Art Museum accompanying the exhibition check the web site www.jcbl.org. The john Carter Brown Library is an independently funded and administered institution on the campus ofBrown University. Since 1846, it has gathered books, maps, and other texts and graphic materials fro m the early modern era in Sp anish, Portuguese, French, Italian, Dutch, English and German, into an archive that has few rivals. SEA HISTORY 104, SPRING/SUMMER 2003
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