Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic

Nonfiction, History, Renaissance, Americas
Cover of the book Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic by Peter C. Mancall, University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Peter C. Mancall ISBN: 9780812294590
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc. Publication: November 7, 2017
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press Language: English
Author: Peter C. Mancall
ISBN: 9780812294590
Publisher: University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.
Publication: November 7, 2017
Imprint: University of Pennsylvania Press
Language: English

In the sixteenth-century Atlantic world, nature and culture swirled in people's minds to produce fantastic images. In the South of France, a cloister's painted wooden panels greeted parishioners with vivid depictions of unicorns, dragons, and centaurs, while Mayans in the Yucatan created openings to buildings that resembled a fierce animal's jaws, known to archaeologists as serpent-column portals.

In Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic, historian Peter C. Mancall reveals how Europeans and Native Americans thought about a natural world undergoing rapid change in the century following the historic voyages of Christopher Columbus. Through innovative use of oral history and folklore maintained for centuries by Native Americans, as well as original use of spectacular manuscript atlases, paintings that depict on-the-spot European representations of nature, and texts that circulated imperfectly across the ocean, he reveals how the encounter between the old world and the new changed the fate of millions of individuals.

This inspired work of Atlantic, European, and American history begins with medieval concepts of nature and ends in an age when the printed book became the primary avenue for the dissemination of scientific information. Throughout the sixteenth century, the borders between the natural world and the supernatural were more porous than modern readers might realize. Native Americans and Europeans alike thought about monsters, spirits, and insects in considerable depth. In Mancall's vivid narrative, the modern world emerged as a result of the myriad encounters between peoples who inhabited the Atlantic basin in this period. The centuries that followed can be comprehended only by exploring how culture in its many forms—stories, paintings, books—shaped human understanding of the natural world.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

In the sixteenth-century Atlantic world, nature and culture swirled in people's minds to produce fantastic images. In the South of France, a cloister's painted wooden panels greeted parishioners with vivid depictions of unicorns, dragons, and centaurs, while Mayans in the Yucatan created openings to buildings that resembled a fierce animal's jaws, known to archaeologists as serpent-column portals.

In Nature and Culture in the Early Modern Atlantic, historian Peter C. Mancall reveals how Europeans and Native Americans thought about a natural world undergoing rapid change in the century following the historic voyages of Christopher Columbus. Through innovative use of oral history and folklore maintained for centuries by Native Americans, as well as original use of spectacular manuscript atlases, paintings that depict on-the-spot European representations of nature, and texts that circulated imperfectly across the ocean, he reveals how the encounter between the old world and the new changed the fate of millions of individuals.

This inspired work of Atlantic, European, and American history begins with medieval concepts of nature and ends in an age when the printed book became the primary avenue for the dissemination of scientific information. Throughout the sixteenth century, the borders between the natural world and the supernatural were more porous than modern readers might realize. Native Americans and Europeans alike thought about monsters, spirits, and insects in considerable depth. In Mancall's vivid narrative, the modern world emerged as a result of the myriad encounters between peoples who inhabited the Atlantic basin in this period. The centuries that followed can be comprehended only by exploring how culture in its many forms—stories, paintings, books—shaped human understanding of the natural world.

More books from University of Pennsylvania Press, Inc.

Cover of the book Deterring Rational Fanatics by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Used Books by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book The Academic Job Search Handbook by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book American Justice 2014 by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book The New World Power by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Beyond the Good Death by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Deans and Truants by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Heavenly Ambitions by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Writing and Holiness by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Beyond the Resource Curse by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Republic of Taste by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Forging Rights in a New Democracy by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book The Oldest Revolutionary by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Nothing Natural Is Shameful by Peter C. Mancall
Cover of the book Making Love in the Twelfth Century by Peter C. Mancall
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy