Astronomer, cartographer and naturalist of the New World : the life and scholarly achievements of Georg Marggrafe (1610-1643) in Colonial Dutch Brazil. Volume 1, Life, work and legacy / Huib J. Zuidervaart & Oscar T. Matsuura. [electronic resource]

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Zuidervaart, H. J., author.

Matsuura, Oscar Toshiaki, author.

Series:

Studies in the history of knowledge.

Studies in the history of knowledge

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Marggraf, Georg, 1610-1644.

Marggraf, Georg.

Astronomers--Germany--Biography.

Astronomers.

Naturalists--Germany--Biography.

Naturalists.

Cartographers--Germany--Biography.

Cartographers.

Astronomy--Brazil--History--17th century.

Astronomy.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (400 pages) : illustrations (colour), map (colour), digital, PDF file(s).

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Amsterdam : Amsterdam University Press, 2023.

System Details:

text file

PDF

Summary:

Georg Marggrafe (1610-1643) is today hailed as the principal author of an influential account of the natural history of Northern Brazil and as compiler of the first accurate map of the area, which is considered as one of the most elegant products of seventeenth-century Dutch cartography. But initial he had the ambition to become known in astronomy. With the support Johan Maurits van Nassau-Siegen, then governor-general of colonial Dutch Brazil, he built in Recife the first European-style astronomical observatory on the South-American continent, where he systematically charted the southern stars. He intended to supplement the famous astronomer Tycho Brahe, who charted the Northern sky half a century before. But Marggrafe's untimely death (and the negligence of a Leiden professor) prevented the publication of his valuable observations.

Contents:

Cover

Contents

Preface

Part I. Context

Chapter 1. Introduction

A forgotten astronomer

The aim of this book

A publication postponed by more than three centuries

The correct spelling of Georg Marggrafe's surname

Chapter 2. Circulation of knowledge in Early Modern Dutch Brazil?

The Dutch trading companies and the emergence of a pre-modern knowledge society

Dutch Brazil and its first and only governor general

Johan Maurits's achievements in Brazil

The background of a governor general

A colony built on slavery

A princely court in Dutch Brazil: Vrijburg and Boa Vista

Dutch Brazil as a seventeenth century Tower of Babel?

Part II. Biography

Chapter 3. Youth in Germany

Childhood in Liebstadt

Wandering years in Germany

Becoming a Medical Candidate at Wittenberg University (1633-1634)

A horoscope for a Wittenberg professor of astronomy (1634)

Constructing astronomical tables in Stettin (1634-1635)

Chapter 4. A crucial year at Leiden University

Arrival in Leiden

Leiden University in the seventeenth century

The university's brand new observatory

Marggrafe's activities at Leiden University

Horoscopes for Leiden students

Friends of Marggrafe's roommate Kechel

A special friendship with Jørgen From

Marggrafe as preceptor for Estonian students?

The Leiden Lutheran Church

Preparations for Brazil

Hired as assistant to the court physician Willem Piso

The job description of the court physician and his assistants

Leiden Observatory after Marggrafe's departure

Chapter 5. Life in Brazil

Travel to and arriving in Brazil

The siege of São Salvador in Bahia

The decor of Marggrafe's life in Brazil: the fast-changing island of Antonio Vaz

The count's first residence on Antonio Vaz

A change of profession.

A courtier for a ruler with imperial ambitions

Horoscopes for local officials

Striving for the fulfilment of an astronomical dream

Expeditions into the interior of North-Eastern Brazil

The emergence of an additional goal

Setback in March 1640: the collapse of part of the count's residence

Collector of naturalia for a German prince

Gathering cartographic information

Processing geographical information

A map with astonishing qualities

Astronomical and meteorological achievements

Dutch strongholds on the West African coast

The inevitable end

Chapter 6. Legacy

The spread of Marggrafe's paper legacy

The genesis of the Historia Naturalis Brasiliae

After the verdict

The fate of Georg Marggrafe's astronomical manuscripts

Part III. Astronomy

Chapter 7. Astronomy - background

Early astronomical observations of the southern heavens

The emergence of astronomical aspirations

Astronomical observations in Leiden before Marggrafe's arrival

Chapter 8. Astronomy - setting and equipment

Observatories in Leiden and Recife: the design, organization and instruments compared

Chapter 9. Astronomy - observations in Leiden and Recife

1. Training in Leiden

2. Observing in Brazil

3. Is Marggrafe's astronomical legacy ever applied?

Part IV. Conclusion and epilogue

Chapter 10. Retrospective

Marggrafe's importance as an early modern scholar

Marggrafe's importance for natural history

Marggrafe's importance for cartography

Marggrafe's importance for early modern astronomy

The preconditions for Marggrafe's scholarly work in colonial Dutch Brazil

Intercultural cooperation across several language barriers: the missing Go-betweens

The transmission of gathered facts into canonized knowledge

Epilogue

Appendices

1. Chronology

2. Marggrafe's horoscopes.

3. A false attribution of an 'astronomical' manuscript

Notes

Consulted archives

Abbreviations

Literature

Index.

Notes:

Translated from the Portuguese.

Previously issued in print: 2022.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (viewed on May 2, 2023).

ISBN:

1-003-69129-3

1-04-079485-8

90-485-5621-X

9781003691297

OCLC:

1355694746