A REVELAÇÃO DAS PLANTAS. GARCIA DA ORTA, CAROLUS CLUSIUS E AS ESPÉCIES ASIÁTICAS NA EUROPA植物的啓示 — 加西亞‧奧塔、卡羅魯斯‧克魯修斯與引進歐洲的亞洲品種

This article analyzes the circulation of botanical and pharmacological knowledge between Portugal, Renaissance Europe, and the Asian sphere, using as a comparative axis the work of Garcia da Orta and the mediation of Carolus Clusius. The author argues that, in the transition from medieval culture to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Review of Culture
Main Author: Marília dos Santos Lopes
Format: Articles
Published: Instituto Cultural de Macau October 2006
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Online Access:https://www.icm.gov.mo/rc/viewer/pdfViewerParts/40020/3734
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Summary:This article analyzes the circulation of botanical and pharmacological knowledge between Portugal, Renaissance Europe, and the Asian sphere, using as a comparative axis the work of Garcia da Orta and the mediation of Carolus Clusius. The author argues that, in the transition from medieval culture to more "modern" ways of observing nature, travelers and naturalists not only incorporated Asian species and products into collections and herbariums, but also reconfigured criteria for observation, description, and validation of knowledge, privileging "experiential knowledge" and empirical detail. Methodologically, the text articulates historiographical and textual analysis of botanical and medical sources, confronting passages concerning plants and spices with the way Clusius reinterprets, classifies, and integrates them into the European intellectual landscape. As results, the dual dynamic of revelation and translation is evidenced: Asian species function simultaneously as objects of scientific curiosity and as research resources, stimulating cultivation practices, correspondence networks, and encyclopedic strategies. The conclusion is that Europe does not merely "discover" new plants; it learns to reorganize the natural world based on them, consolidating a regime of knowledge in which experience becomes central to the emerging science.
ISSN:1682-1106