Historia Crítica

Hist. Crit. | eISSN 1900-6152 | ISSN 0121-1617

Science, Empire, Modernity, and Eurocentrism: The Atlantic World of the Sixteenth Century and the Comprehension of the New World

No. 39E (2009-11-01)
  • Mauricio Nieto Olarte
https://doi.org/10.7440/histcrit39E.2009.01

Abstract

This article discusses a number of key issues in the history of sixteenth-century Iberian science: the role of sixteenth-century Spanish science in the construction of modern science; the encounter of Western science with other forms of knowledge; the relationship between science and empire; and the construction of a Eurocentric world order. The author concludes by suggesting that the idea of “comprehension” -as both a form of appropriation and a process of self-construction- can help explain the political character of science and its role in the Iberian conquest of the New World.

Keywords: new world, science, empire, eurocentrism, comprehension