This essay challenges the dominance of the spherical earth model in fifteenth- and early-sixteenth-century Western European thought. It examines parallel strains of Latin and vernacular writing that cast doubt on the existence of the southern hemisphere. Three factors shaped the alternate accounts of the earth as a plane and disk put forward by these sources: (1) the unsettling effects of maritime expansion on scientific thought; (2) the revival of interest in early Christian criticism of the spherical earth; and (3) a rigid empirical stance toward entities too large to observe in their entirety, including the earth. Criticism of the spherical earth model faded in the decades after Magellan’s crew returned from circuiting the earth in 1522.
...MoreSimilar Citations
Article
C. Philipp E. Nothaft;
(2017)
Zaccaria Lilio and the Shape of the Earth: A Brief Response to Allegro’s “Flat Earth Science”
(/isis/citation/CBB359152397/)
Book
Touret, Jacques L. R.;
Visser, Robert P. W.;
(2004)
Dutch Pioneers of the Earth Sciences
(/isis/citation/CBB000500561/)
Book
Turney, Jon;
(2003)
Lovelock and Gaia: Signs of Life
(/isis/citation/CBB000750948/)
Book
Rosenberg, Gary D.;
(2009)
The Revolution in Geology from the Renaissance to the Enlightenment
(/isis/citation/CBB001021032/)
Chapter
Gabriella Zuccolin;
(2005)
Ruolo ed evoluzione della balneoterapia nel pensiero scientifico-medico in Italia dal XII al XVI secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB471346485/)
Chapter
Leonardo Rombai;
(2003)
Le acque interne in Toscana tra Medioevo ed età moderna
(/isis/citation/CBB941655266/)
Book
Marco Leonardi;
(2017)
Aqua curanda est. Le acque e il loro utilizzo nei territori di Friburgo in Brisgovia e Catania dal XIII al XVI secolo
(/isis/citation/CBB366779880/)
Chapter
Paolo Emilio Tomei;
(2003)
Il paesaggio vegetale delle paludi toscane: una testimonianza di antiche naturalità
(/isis/citation/CBB558524028/)
Book
Alberto Malvolti;
Giuliano Pinto;
(2003)
Incolti, fiumi, paludi. Utilizzazione delle risorse naturali nella Toscana medievale e moderna
(/isis/citation/CBB499062363/)
Chapter
Didier Boisseuil;
(2010)
Impiego e cultura delle acque termali in Italia nel Rinascimento (XIII-XVI secolo)
(/isis/citation/CBB155943858/)
Chapter
Raffaello Vergani;
(2010)
Problemi d’acque e scavo di canali nell’alta pianura veneta dei secoli XIV-XVI
(/isis/citation/CBB029768275/)
Article
Rohr, Christian;
(2005)
The Danube Floods and their Human Response and Perception (14th to 17th C)
(/isis/citation/CBB000931776/)
Article
Martin, Craig;
(2006)
Experience of the New World and Aristotelian Revisions of the Earth's Climates during the Renaissance
(/isis/citation/CBB000931782/)
Book
Raffaello Vergani;
(2003)
Miniere e società nella montagna del passato. Alpi venete, secoli XIII-XIX
(/isis/citation/CBB432582515/)
Chapter
Francesco Salvestrini;
(2010)
Navigazione e trasporti sulle acque interne della toscana medievale e protomoderna (secoli XIII-XVI)
(/isis/citation/CBB049500742/)
Article
Martin, Craig;
(2009)
Conjecture, Probabilism, and Provisional Knowledge in Renaissance Meteorology
(/isis/citation/CBB000932580/)
Chapter
Giuliano Pinto;
(2003)
Gli incolti nella storia della Toscana. Considerazioni introduttive
(/isis/citation/CBB250957899/)
Chapter
Bartels, Christoph;
(2010)
The Production of Silver, Copper, and Lead in the Harz Mountains from Late Medieval Times to the Onset of Industrialization
(/isis/citation/CBB001020287/)
Book
Herren, Michael W.;
Ister, Aethicus;
(2011)
The Cosmography of Aethicus Ister: Edition, Translation, and Commentary
(/isis/citation/CBB001201556/)
Chapter
Brush, Stephen G.;
(2001)
Is the Earth Too Old? The Impact of Geochronology on Cosmology, 1929--1952
(/isis/citation/CBB000340285/)
Be the first to comment!