The Portuguese Discovery and the Science in Europe

Another magnificent album produced in collaboration with the Champalimaud Foundation on the scientific contributions of the Portuguese to the world. The maritime discoveries of the Iberian countries in the 15th and 16th centuries were events of the greatest transcendence in the history of humanity and, more particularly, in the history of Europe. The economic, political, religious and cultural consequences, etc., of the Iberian expansion forever marked the history of the world.

It is difficult not to place maritime expansion and its consequences in the more general framework of the transition, in Europe, from a medieval world - and a mentality - to a modern world. For many historians, the Portuguese discoveries were even the clearest expression of this change.

Although this connection is not, in its general lines, rejected by practically any scholar, it has been much more problematic to substantiate its contours in a precise manner, in particular by relating the Portuguese maritime expansion to the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. The subject has resisted close scrutiny, and so - somewhat surprisingly - almost never does the history of the emergence of modern science in Europe appeal to the contributions of the Iberians or make any mention of the maritime expansion promoted by Portugal and Spain and its consequences.

«These discoveries were not made by going right, but our sailors were very well taught and provided with instruments and rules of astrology and geometry.»
Pedro Nunes (1502-1578)