The Age of Reconnaissance - Essay Example

The Age of Reconnaissance College: The Age of Reconnaissance The mid-fifteenth century through to the late seventeenth century is commonly known as the Age of Discovery. The reason is that it is during this period that most world discoveries were made. It is during this period that the European explorers discovered regions and lands that were habitable, but they did not know existed. Also, it is during this era that geographical exploration was at its pick, which made it possible for the extension of geographical knowledge in the entire Europe. Besides, the geographical discovery made it possible for the first major victories that were of empirical inquiry to occur. This is the period that brought about the close association of pure science, technology as well as everyday activities, a discovery that proved to be an essential characteristic of the modern developed world. It is during this period that the European scientists came up with a sketch of the outline of the physical universe, a discovery that was a breakthrough to modern world maps (Parry, 1981). Notably, the sketch is still acceptable to modern educated man, evidence that discoveries that took place were significant in their nature. Also, this age is referred to as age of discovery since all forms of discovery and original thought were made during this period and are seen to be connected in some way despite their differences in the areas of specialization. To affirm this statement, the author gives an example of the connection in these discoveries as follows; seamen exploring uncharted seas required the assistance of learned men, especially those that had specialized in mathematics or astronomy. The intellectual temper of the sixteenth century was mainly conservative and respectful of authority. This impacted negatively on science as people could utilize science thoroughly. For instance, even with the knowledge and evidence that seamen had discovered lands that were formerly unknown to any of them; learners were slow in drawing analogies in different fields where they could enquire from. As such, students that were taking sciences seemed less in matters of research compared to what they were doing in matters of providing consistent explanations of a phenomenon that were already known to them. This created a place for geographical, religious and historical discoveries but, on the other hand, hindered the discovery of science. Learners were only coming up with social, geographical and humanity knowledge while the knowledge of science was somehow stagnant. This is the reasons, perhaps why Copernicus reached his conclusion through a mixture of reason and intuition, making no attempts at checking his hypothesis through an actual observation (Parry, 1981). This is an indication that people did not value science like they do in the modern world. The relationship between science and technology was unrecognizable during this period. This is evident as the first major European astronomical research took place in the late sixteenth century and early seventeenth century. This is a representation of a wide gap between the first major discoveries in humanities and that of science. The reason for science and technology not being prevalent during this period was because scientific inquiry tended to be hypothetical and also tentative. Also, it was given more speculations than observations and experiment. The author refers to this time as the period since it covers quite a number of decades and centuries. The discovery age includes a total of two and a half century, whereby human beings discovered places and things that had been hidden from them for long. Also, it is during this period when human beings began to change their ways of thinking and doing things, hence resulting in inevitable discoveries. This is a time when scientists such as Galileo were faced with difficulties as the ecclesiastical authorities arose primarily from Galileo’s neglect of the elementary precautions (Parry, 1981). The travel writings of Marco Polo were very different from those of Sir John Mandeville. Polo’s travel writings proved to be the best out of all those that were written by medieval European travelers. The reason for his writings being described as the best were; they were the most complete and the most informative. His long stay at Peking enabled him to have a unique opportunity to collect and combine the necessary information. According to the writer, Polo’s accounts were based on facts; they were unsophisticated and have been judged as accurate. On the contrary, Mandeville’s travel writings were only lying wonders. For instance, Polo’s description of the black stones that were burned by Chinese people for fuel was received with balanced credulity than Mandeville’s dog-headed man. According to the author, Mandeville’s importance was on Reconnaissance. Mappae-mundi is characterized by a world map that has recorded the historical, mythical, social and religious reality of the medieval Europe. Roger’s ideas differed from Mappae-Mundi’s tradition in that he had an unusual wide acquaintance with the Arab writers. He believed the literal evidence that stated that both Asia and Africa had extended southwards across the equator. Also, he believed that the Torrid Zone was habitable, contrary to what the tradition held. According to the author, Pierre d’Ailly was the leading geographical theorist of his time. The most significant thing about him was that he was a prolific writer on different topics. Also, his works were quite prestigious among scholars that came after him (Parry, 1981). Notably, Pierre had widespread influence in the entire fifteenth century. Other than his influence on Columbus, his main interests lay in his wider acquaintance with Arab authors as well as other little-known classical writers. During the Reconnaissance period, the educated men viewed the works of the ancients as better and more informed. This is because the ancient man was more civilized, more elegant in their behavior as well as their expressions and that were more sagacious in the way they conducted their affairs. They had better knowledge of geography and cosmography compared to the fifteenth century Europeans. According to the author, Claudius Ptolemaeus was an influential geographer. He wrote during the middle of the second century AD. In his writings, he summarized the entire geographical and cosmographical knowledge of that time. He made use of the works of past Greek geographers, mathematicians as well as astronomers, a majority of who had lived and worked in his home city of Alexandria. Additionally, his fame is anchored on two of his works, Geography, and Astronomy. His main work is the exhaustive compilation of places that were arranged according to their regions, with latitude and longitude assigned to each one of them. The main significant thing about him was that he was a compiler but not an originator (Parry, 1981). Additionally, he lacked a compass in his work and hence had no practical means of observing longitude. He admitted that the number of reliable and observed latitudes that he made were too small. This mean that his work could not be relied on as it contained some errors. Reconnaissance led to advances in science and technology in various ways. It enabled Europeans to have a complete picture of the world as a whole. It also enabled them to apply technological attitude to knowledge, evidence that they were ready to apply science in more practical ways. Learners were able to combine the different knowledge acquired by the earlier scholars, correcting the mistakes that had been made by their predecessors. This enabled them to come up with concrete materials and also data that could be relied on. The two most obvious, universal and admitted motives of the European exploration were acquisitiveness and their religious zeal. Price Henry was a Portuguese navigator. He was from the royal family and used to send many sailing expeditions down to Africa’s west coast. He aided in creating the map of West African coast with the aim of defeating the Muslims, who occupied the region. Also, he helped in the spread of Christianity in the West Africa’s region which initially was occupied by Muslims (Parry, 1981). The Europeans were inspired to explore the world by their love for material gain and religious freedom. They believed that by accumulating material things, they would become wealthy, and that would enable them take control of the entire world. Additionally, they believed that precious commodity had to be secured not only through trade, but through more direct means. These means were; to use plunder on those found in possession of such items if their religion was considered to be an excuse for attacking them or, through direct exploration if the items were discovered in uninhabited lands or areas inhabited by ignorant savages. The religious zeal that appealed to the explorers and to those that sent them out were desire to convert by appealing to the minds and hearts of individual unbelievers through preaching and second, desire to ensure military and political meant the safety as well as the independence of a person’s religious community and the dominance of other religions. Crusading mentality played the role of eliminating those that did not believe in Christianity. At this point, non-Christians and especially Muslims were being targeted and killed if they did not convert to Christians. The other motivator was the Arabs who helped the Europeans in reaching land that they could not have reached. It is through their naivety that the Arabs led the Europeans to places where they could get spices and other commodities (Parry, 1981). They saw them as friends but back in their minds, the Europeans had other plans. From the book, other motives of Prince Henry of Portugal were to know the origins of the gold that was being traded in Morocco. This was a means of creating trade partnerships with the gold merchants so that he could “maintain the gentlemen of his households”. Other motives of the prince were to investigate the extent of Moorish power, convert pagans into Christians and lastly to seek alliances with any Christian rulers that his men could find. Conclusion The principle objective of the European exploration was coming up with a tentative chart of the continents. Parry writes that, “By the middle of seventeenth century the main geographical impetus of Reconnaissance was spent; the first tentative charting of the size, shape and disposition of the continents had been in large measure completed” (Parry, 1981). In the later seventeenth century, men were less curious in matters of geography than they were in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries. The century was different from the sixteenth century in that men were curious to know new lands and islands during the entire sixteenth century. Also, men were in need of charting places in the sixteenth century, an act that was not happening in the later seventeenth century. Also, despite efforts of the propaganda that existed for many decades, missionary enterprise started to slacken. Unlike in the sixteenth century, the intellectual temper of Europe became less favorable to missions. Exploration in the eighteenth century became easier compared to the previous centuries. Science had made tremendous advances in astronomy, optics, and mechanics and navigation. As such, the exploration that took place in the eighteenth century was backed not only by trading companies but also by the power and resources of the government. Similarly, science and technology not only brightened the perceptions but also improved the techniques of explorers. References Parry, J. H. (1981). The age of reconnaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press. Read More