Conveners
S.2.6. Wonder and Correction: Interrogating Knowledge Across Early Modern Geographies
- Feray Coskun (Ozyegin University)
- Matthijs Jonker (Utrecht University)
- Djoeke van Netten (University of Amsterdam)
Description
Chair: Juan Acevedo
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Matthijs Jonker (Utrecht University)17/09/2025, 14:30Individual papers
If you were walking through the center of Rome in the 1620s, you would have heard many different languages. These languages were spoken by pilgrims, cardinals and their entourage, merchants, and diplomats, and occasionally also by parrots. One such animal with exceptional linguistic skills was owned by Balduin Breyl (n.d.), a Flemish merchant living in Rome. This parrot could hold whole...
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Feray Coşkun (Özyeğin University)17/09/2025, 14:50Individual papers
This study explores the transmission, reception, and reinterpretation of medieval Islamic cosmographies in the Ottoman world, with a focus on their portrayal of wonders (‘ajā’ib) and strange phenomena (gharā’ib). Rooted in Arabic and Persian traditions, these works offered a vision of the cosmos that blended scientific, religious, and imaginative elements, persisting in Ottoman...
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Djoeke van Netten (University of Amsterdam)17/09/2025, 15:10Individual papers
Throughout history, the Far North has been a place of myths, fables, and adventures. This sounds attractive, but we have to realize that what we think mythical creatures or ghost islands, were once accepted knowledge. But not all stories were believed by all.
In this talk I follow western-European (mostly Dutch and English) scholarly knowledge, or proclaimed knowledge, from the 15th to the...
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