Spanish Imperial Politics and the Control of Transatlantic Resources or the Formation of Early Modern Science

Antonio Barrera

In this paper I discuss the development of early modern science in the Spanish Atlantic empire during the sixteenth century. My contention is that early modern science was the product of imperial needs and commercial desires to control, transform, and exploit the new kingdoms. These activities produced a knowledge of the natural world of the Indies based on mathematics and empirical information. These activities also established an instrumental image of the natural world. My paper discusses the connections between sacred and secular views of nature and its ecological and commercial transformation (in the first main section), as well as the mechanisms to obtain information about the natural history and geography of the Indies (in the second section).

[WP #97001]