Visto de Coimbra: Colégio de Jesus entre Portugal e o Mundo

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"Ananas” the fruit that refused to take root in Europe

UID/HIS/04666/2019During the sixteenth century, the transfer of tropical plants from the West Indies and Brazil to other continents, carried out by governors, missionaries, physicians and travelers, stimulated the creation of new medical and eating habits. Originally from Brazil, the pineapple - Ananas comosus - made a great impression on those who came across it. Refusing to take root in the cold European latitudes, this fruit crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard Portuguese ships in search of other territories with an adequate and familiar climate. In this essay, I will analyze some references to pineapple in the chronicles, botanical texts and missionary letters’, in circulation in Early Modern times. I will examine the cultural context that permitted the diffusion of this botanical species and follow the oceanic routes traced by this exotic plant that allowed the wide dissemination of the fruit throughout the Portuguese empire.publishersversionpublishe

The Pineapple—Ananas comosus—In Portuguese Sources of the 16th Century

UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020The great oceanic voyages had unexpected consequences on the pace with which plants moved between the most far-removed corners of the globe. From the mid-sixteenth century onwards, the huge distances covered led to an unprecedented change in the distribution of vegetable species. Settlers and voyagers took European plants with them and introduced them into the Americas, Africa, and Asia. African plants were transferred to America and Asia, and Asian species were dispersed across all continents. These biological transferences led to global changes in people’s dietary habits and therapeutic practices, as well as giving rise to new business opportunities and previously untested ways of exploiting the land. Originally from Brazil, the pineapple—Ananas comosus—made a great impression on those who came across it. Refusing to take root in the cold European latitudes, the fruit crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard Portuguese ships in search of other territories with an adequate climate. In this essay, I will analyze the references to pineapple in the chronicles, botanical texts, and missionaries’ letters in circulation in the 1500s. I will examine the cultural context that permitted the diffusion of this botanical species and follow the oceanic routes traced by this exotic plant that allowed the wide dissemination of the fruit throughout the Portuguese empire.publishersversionpublishe

Documenting the tropical natural world in the account of Antonio Pigafetta

SFRH/BPD/119899/2016 UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020In the account of his journey of circumnavigation, Antonio Pigafetta (1492-c.1531) noted the uniqueness of the places that he had visited. In addition to peoples and landscapes, he described trees, fruits and herbs, as well as insects, birds, fish and mammals. He referred to numerous species, some of which were new to, or little known in the West. In this essay, I will analyse Antonio Pigafetta’s references to the plants and animals observed during his overseas travels. The species recorded around the world suggest that he was both a keen observer and well resourced. His observations allowed him to describe a world which, united by the oceans, revealed a surprising continuity. For the Italian, many of the vegetable and animal species that he observed in the Americas, on the islands of Southeast Asia or on the vast oceans were similar to others spotted previously, in other regions, by European voyagers. From the Indies to the African coast and from the Atlantic to the Pacific, the globe navigated by Pigafetta demonstrated continuity never before attested to. Crossing boundaries established by political agreements and routes defined by commercial interests, the description of this unified and circumnavigable planet contributed, throughout the 16th century, to the emergence of a new way of understanding nature. In this article, I will seek to identify, in some Early Modern botanical treatises, echoes of this new way of looking at the natural world, as proposed by Antonio Pigafetta.publishersversionpublishe

The travels of the pineapple: a sixteenth-century globe trotter

SFRH/BPD/119899/2016 UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020Originating in South America, the pineapple -Ananas comosus (L.) Merr.- underwent a lengthy domestication process. Since ancient times, the Native Americans had taken it with them on their migrations and valued the sweetness of its pulp, its medicinal properties, and the quality of its fibre. Much later it was described by Spanish chronicles in Central America and observed by European travellers and missionaries along the Brazilian coast. From the 1560s, the fruit was transported by the Portuguese from Brazil to East Africa and the West coast of India, and from here it was later transferred to other parts of Asia. In the 1580s, the Spanish introduced the species into the Philippines from the New World. This work focuses on the importance that pineapple cultivation has attained in the tropics, especially in the Philippines; it highlights the success that fabrics and embroidery made from fibres extracted from the pineapple achieved in the late sixteenth century; it demonstrates how the introduction of a foreign vegetable species into the Philippines has today resulted in an industry that supports local farmers in the sustainable production of raw materials, providing a means of production for artisans in the region and contributing to the success of a circular economy on a global scalepublishersversionpublishe

Registos da natureza exótica no relato de António Pigafetta

SFRH/BPD/119899/2016 UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020No seu relato da viagem de circum-navegação, António Pigafetta registou a singularidade dos povos e dos espaços que visitou. Para além das descrições das gentes e das paisagens, o italiano assentou as curiosidades e exotismos do mundo natural. Observador atento da natureza, aludiu a numerosas espécies vegetais e animais, algumas novas e outras pouco conhecidas no Ocidente. Na sua relação da travessia dos oceanos, o viajante para além de árvores, frutas e ervas, descreveu insectos, aves, peixes e mamíferos. Nesta intervenção analisarei as referências de António Pigafetta à natureza avistada no decurso da sua travessia dos oceanos. Darei particular ênfase ao mundo botânico. As espécies vegetais registadas sugerem que o italiano estava bem documentado. Partindo da análise de alguns textos então em circulação e que Pigafetta poderia ter consultado, procurarei identificar ecos das novidades coligidas pelo viajante em obras de História Natural posteriormente publicadas. In his report of the voyage of circumnavigation, Antonio Pigafetta registered the singularity of people and spaces that he visited. Beyond that, the Italian also registered the curiosities and exoticism of the natural world. A keen observer of nature, he alluded to numerous animal and vegetable species, some new and others little known in the Occident. In his relation of the traversing of the oceans, the voyager went beyond the trees, fruits and herbs, describing insects, birds, fish and mammals. In this intervention, I will analyze the references to nature made by Antonio Pigafetta during his traverse of the oceans. I will give particular emphasis to the botanical world. The vegetable species registered suggest that the Italian was well documented. Starting from the analysis of a few texts then in circulation and that Pigafetta might have consulted I will look to identify echoes of the news collected by the traveler in works of Natural History published afterwards.publishersversionpublishe

Clusius em Portugal: uma viagem, múltiplos encontros

From 1564 to 1565, Clusius (1526-1609) travelled to the Iberican Peninsula as the tutor of the young heir of the Függers. This journey, which lasted nearly a year, took the two men to the most important cities in the Peninsula. If strolling through the Portuguese countryside demonstrated the peculiarities of the local flora to the botanist, the decreed visit to Lisbon offered many surprising experiences. The encounter with the work recently arrived from the Orient —Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas he Cousas Mediçinais da Índia, by Garcia de Orta (Goa, 1563)— awakened his interest. The present article weaves together considerations on the multiple impacts that the botanist’s voyage to Portugal caused in European science of the time.From 1564 to 1565, Clusius (1526-1609) travelled to the Iberican Peninsula as the tutor of the young heir of the Függers. This journey, which lasted nearly a year, took the two men to the most important cities in the Peninsula. If strolling through the Portuguese countryside demonstrated the peculiarities of the local flora to the botanist, the decreed visit to Lisbon offered many surprising experiences. The encounter with the work recently arrived from the Orient —Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas he Cousas Mediçinais da Índia, by Garcia de Orta (Goa, 1563)— awakened his interest. The present article weaves together considerations on the multiple impacts that the botanist’s voyage to Portugal caused in European science of the time.Em 1564-1565, Clusius (1526-1609) efectuou uma viagem à Península Ibérica enquanto tutor do jovem herdeiro do empório dos Függer. A viagem, que durou cerca de um ano, levou os dois homens às mais destacadas cidades peninsulares. Se as deambulações pelos campos lusitanos revelaram ao botânico as peculiaridades da flora portuguesa, a inevitável passagem por Lisboa assegurou-lhe encontros surpreendentes. O embate com uma obra recém-chegada do Oriente — Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas he Cousas Mediçinais da Índia, de Garcia de Orta, (Goa, 1563) — despertou a sua atenção. O texto que agora se apresenta tece algumas considerações sobre os múltiplos impactos que a passagem do botânico por Portugal causou na ciência europeia de então

A primeira viagem à volta do mundo traçada pelas colecções da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa

SFRH/BPD/119899/2016 UIDB/04666/2020 UIDP/04666/2020A mostra "O mundo visto dos Oceanos" esteve patente na Sala Algarve da Sociedade de Geografia de Lisboa, entre 9 de setembro e 25 de outubro de 2019, coincidindo com a organização, nesta instituição, de um Ciclo de Conferências evocativo dos 500 anos da primeira viagem de circum-navegação. "O mundo visto dos Oceanos" visou dar a conhecer algumas das obras pertencentes ao acervo da Sociedade de Geografia que se poderiam relacionar com a viagem de Magalhães-Elcano. Sem ter a ilusão de reunir todos os itens relacionados com tão relevante expedição, a mostra organizou-se em torno de diferentes núcleos temáticos: Estudos e Biografias de Fernão de Magalhães; Versões do relato de António Pigafetta; O mundo natural visto dos Oceanos; Ecos da viagem nas crónicas ibéricas; Estreito de Magalhães: um elo entre dois oceanos; Molucas: ilhas desenhadas, descritas e cantadas; Novas descrições de drogas, especiarias e das frutas do Oriente e Testemunhos de uma natureza extraordináriapublishersversionpublishe

Imagens da especiaria que circunavegou o globo O contributo dos colóquios dos simples de Garcia de Orta (Goa, 1563) à construção de um conhecimento totalmente novo sobre o cravo-da-índia

Cloves have been prized since Ancient times for their agreeable smell and therapeutic properties. With the publication of Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas he Cousas Mediçinais da Índia (Goa, 1563), Garcia de Orta (c. 1500-1568) presented the first modern monographic study of cloves. In this analysis I wish to clarify what kind of information about Asian natural resources (cloves in particular) circulated in Europe, from Antiquity until the sixteenth century, and how the Portuguese medical treatises, led to the emergence of an innovative botanical discourse about tropical plants in Early Modern Europe.O cravo-da-Índia foi estimado desde os tempos Antigos por seu cheiro agradável e propriedades terapêuticas. Com a publicação dos Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas, e Cousas Mediçinais da Índia (Goa, 1563), Garcia de Orta (1500-1568) apresentou o primeiro estudo monográfico moderno sobre tal especiaria. Nesta análise, gostaria de esclarecer que tipo de informação sobre os recursos naturais asiáticos (especiarias em particular) circulou na Europa, da Antiguidade até o século xvi, e como os tratados médicos portugueses levaram ao surgimento de um inovador discurso botânico sobre plantas tropicais na Europa moderna

Observações sobre a flora exótica registada no relato de António Pigafetta

UID/HIS/04666/2019No seu relato da viagem de circum-navegação, António Pigafetta registou a singularidade dos povos e dos espaços que visitou. Para além das descrições das gentes e das paisagens, o italiano assentou as curiosidades e exotismos do mundo natural. Observador atento da natureza, aludiu a numerosas espécies vegetais e animais, algumas novas e outras pouco conhecidas no Ocidente. Na sua relação da travessia dos oceanos, o viajante para além de árvores, frutas e ervas, descreveu insectos, aves, peixes e mamíferos. Nesta intervenção analisarei as referências de António Pigafetta à natureza avistada no decurso da sua travessia dos oceanos. Darei particular ênfase ao mundo botânico. As espécies vegetais registadas sugerem que o italiano, para além de um observador atento, estava bem documentado. Partindo da análise de alguns textos então em circulação e que Pigafetta poderia ter consultado, procurarei identificar ecos das novidades coligidas pelo viajante em obras de História Natural posteriormente publicadas.publishersversionpublishe