Page 373 - Encyclopedia Of World History Vol IV

1674 berkshire encyclopedia of world history

I have never met a man so ignorant that I couldn’t
learn something from him. • Galileo Galilei
(1564–1642)

using charts, taking measurements of the altitude of sun than in Europe. The Jesuits hoped that this integration
and stars above the horizon and the direction of the could, in the end, lead to the conversion of the Chinese
North Pole—activities linked to instruments such as the emperor, but the Chinese were happy to select certain
compass and the mariner’s astrolabe. Turning to the benefits offered by the missionaries and take their astro-
Marshall Islands in the south Pacific Ocean, we find nomical and instrumental expertise without following
charts made from sticks that map the atolls (coral islands their lead in matters of religion.
consisting of a reef surrounding a lagoon) and islands, The Jesuit missionaries’ attempts to convince the Chi-
waves and currents, and measurement of direction based nese of the superiority of European astronomical (and, by
on a star compass. However, the ways that these objects extension, religious) thinking offer an example of the use
are used by the Marshall Islanders are different from the of scientific instruments in the service of religious con-
ways that the European charts and compass were used, version. However, as the historian of technology Michael
most significantly in that the Marshall Islanders do not Adas describes, despite the fact that scientific curiosity
take the charts and star compass to sea with them. The was a major motivating factor in the Europeans’ explo-
islanders use the charts in the training of navigators ration of the world from the fifteenth century onward, the
rather than in the practice of navigation itself—someone early explorers and conquistadors did not often use sci-
memorizes the charts and the star compass, and the nav- entific knowledge as a way of gauging their superiority
igation is actually done using mental models of the phys- over the people they encountered; that came later with
ical objects. the rise of “scientific racism.” Nonetheless, the existence
of large cities or complex scientific instruments was
Cultural Context included in assessments about how “developed” a par-
The function of scientific instruments can also change as ticular civilization was. As empire and colonialism gath-
they move from one cultural context to another. During ered pace, division of “science” from “magic” and
the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Jesuit missionar- “superstition” sealed the Western dominance of science
ies visited China, hoping that by convincing the emperor and technology, and this edifice is only now being slowly
of the superiority of their astronomical instruments and dismantled, with renewed interest in scientific and med-
observations, they could persuade him to convert to ical knowledge of non-Western civilizations.
Catholicism. The Jesuits took with them the instrument The place of scientific instruments within the process
designs of the Danish astronomer Tycho Brahe and of colonialism is complex. For example, surveying instru-
taught Chinese metalworkers to make instruments ments are used in the construction of maps, and evidence
according to these designs, albeit with Chinese-style indicates that mapmaking was among the strategies used
stands and mounts.These new instruments replaced the by colonial powers to delineate and therefore control the
thirteenth-century astronomical instruments of the Peking land they occupied. We might know a little about how,
observatory. In his study of astronomical instruments in say, Native Americans mapped their world, but we often
Ming Dynasty China (1368–1644), Thatcher Deane have little or no evidence to tell us for sure what rela-
argues that they were more “useful” as symbols for the tionship instruments had to their study of the natural
emperor’s heavenly mandate than as tools for observa- world. Selin cautions against seeing the lack of evidence
tion. Allan Chapman’s study of the Jesuit missions to as a lack of activity, arguing that surely mathematicians
China shows that they did not need to use the most up- in the Pacific Island countries or the Americas were as
to-date instrument designs because their role was more skillful as more famous people from China or the Middle
ambassadorial than observational.Thus, the status of the East. The survival of written records is contingent on
instruments used by the Jesuits changed subtly when many factors, not least on war and colonialism, and
physically (and intellectually) located in China rather because of this fact the study of objects becomes even