The Age of Reconnaissance - Essay Example

The Age of Reconnaissance The mid-15th century through to almost the end of 17th century is often referredto as the Age of Discovery. Many world discoveries were made during this period with European explorers visiting most of the regions of the world that was habitable and accessed by sea. Besides, it is during this era that geographical exploration was at its peak, which made it possible for the extension of geographical knowledge in Europe. Besides, the geographical discoveries made it possible for the 1st major victories that were of empirical inquiry to occur. The period 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. The period saw the European scientists coming up with the outline of the physical universe, a discovery that was a breakthrough to modern world maps (Parry, 1). Notably, the sketch is still acceptable to modern educated man, evidence that discoveries took place were significant in their nature. Moreover, the age is commonly known 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, Perry (pg1), 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 16th century’s intellectual temper was mainly “respectful and conservative of authority” (Parry, 2) 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. Perhaps, this may be the reason why Copernicus reached his conclusion through a mixture of reason and intuition, making no attempts at checking his hypothesis through an actual observation (Parry, 5). The move indicated that people did not value science like they do in the modern world. The relationship that existed between technology and science was unrecognizable at this period,given that the 1st 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. Besides , it was given more speculations than observations and experiment. Parry (pg 6) refers to this time as the period of discovery since it covers quite some 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. Moreover, it is during this period when human beings began to change their ways of thinking and doing things, hence resulting in inevitable discoveries. At this time, scientists such as Galileo were faced with difficulties as the ecclesiastical authorities arose primarily from Galileo’s neglect of the elementary precautions (Parry, 7). The travel writings of Sir John Mandeville were different from those of Marco Polo. Polo’s travel writings proved to be the best out of all those that were written by medieval European travelers. His writings were considered the best since they were the most complete and 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. Mappa-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 Mappa-Mundi’s tradition in that he had an unusual wide acquaintance with the Arab writers. He believed that both Africa and Asia had extended southwards across the equator as per the literal evidence that existed. Moreover, he believed that the Torrid Zone was habitable, contrary to what the tradition held. Parry (pg 8) believes that Pierre d’Ailly was the most important geographical theorist of his period. The most significant thing about him was that he was a prolific writer on different topics. Additionally, his works were quite prestigious among scholars that came after him (Parry, 9). Notably, Pierre had more influence in the entire 15th 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 period of Reconnaissance, educated men identified the works of the ancients as more informed and better. This is because, the ancient man was more civilized, more elegant in their behavior as well as their expressions and they were more sagacious in the way they conducted their affairs. They had better understanding of cosmography and geography compared to the 15th -century Europeans. According to the author, Claudius Ptolemaeus was an influential geographer. He wrote during the middle of the second century AD. In his writing work, he summarized the entire cosmographical and geographical knowledge of that time. He utilized the works of past Greek mathematicians, astronomers as well as philosophers, a majority of who had worked and lived in his home city of Alexandria. Additionally, his fame is anchored on two of his works, Geography, and Astronomy. Claudius’s work targets places that were arranged as per their regions, longitude with latitude assigned to each of them. The main significant thing about him was that he was a compiler but not an originator (Parry, 10). 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 technology and science 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. Religious zeal and acquisitiveness were the most obvious, admitted and universal motives of the European exploration. 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, 10). 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, 11). 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 states that, “By the mid-17th century the main geographical part of Reconnaissance was spent; the 1st tentative charting of the size, disposition and shape of the continents had been completed in huge measures” (Parry, 11). In the later seventeenth century, men were less curious in matters of geography than they were in the 15th and 16th 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. Moreover, 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 16th century, Europe’s intellectual temper 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. Therefore, an exploration that occurred in the 18th century was backed by resources and powers of the government as well as trading companies. Similarly, technology and science improved the techniques of the explorers apart from brightening their perceptions. References Parry, J. H. "The Age of Reconnaissance. Berkeley: University of California Press (1981). Read More