Invisible travellers and virtual tracks: knowledge construction in Colóquios Dos Simples e Drogas de India... of Garcia de Orta (GOA, 1563)

• Autores: Teresa Nobre de Carvalho
• Localización: The Circulation of Science and Technology: Proceedings of the 4th International Conference of the European Society for the History of Science. Barcelona, 18-20 November 2010 / coord. por Antoni M. Roca Rosell, 2012, ISBN 978-84-9965-108-8, págs. 289-293
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Dialnet Métricas: 2 Citas
• Resumen

  • In 1563 it was published in Goa the first modern book about the Asian natural world. Its author, Garcia de Orta (c.1500-1568), was a Portuguese physician who had lived in Asia for more than thirty years. The Colóquios dos simples contains an accurate description of some of the most important Oriental plants, drugs and spices. The information published by Orta was not only the result of his erudite readings and medical practices, but also of the experience of several field actors.

    In fact, Orta was at the centre of a complex network of political elites, administrative officers, apothecaries, merchants, adventurers and other credible informants. These men were particularly able to answer to specific inquiries about the Asian natural resources. Even if their written reports had a limited circulation, they were available to Orta. Some of these informants were clearly referred by Orta in his Colloquies; others were only recently identified.

    In this talk, I intend to follow the invisible tracks of some of the informants of Garcia de Orta. These virtual travels will show the different roles played by each field actor in the emerging of a new botanical knowledge about the Asian Portuguese Empire.