Imperial Unknowns: The French and British in the Mediterranean, 1650–1750
Cambridge University Press
Edition: Reprint, 11/1/2018
EAN 9781316617502, ISBN10: 1316617505
Paperback, 416 pages, 22.9 x 15.2 x 2.4 cm
Language: English
In this major study, the history of the French and British trading empires in the early modern Mediterranean is used as a setting to test a new approach to the history of ignorance: how can we understand the very act of ignoring - in political, economic, religious, cultural and scientific communication - as a fundamental trigger that sets knowledge in motion? Zwierlein explores whether the Scientific Revolution between 1650 and 1750 can be understood as just one of what were in fact many simultaneous epistemic movements and considers the role of the European empires in this phenomenon. Deconstructing central categories like the mercantilist 'national', the exchange of 'confessions' between Western and Eastern Christians and the bridging of cultural gaps between European and Ottoman subjects, Zwierlein argues that understanding what was not known by historical agents can be just as important as the history of knowledge itself.
Introduction
1. Politics and economy
nationalizing economics
2. Religion
empires ignoring, learning, forgetting religions
3. History
how to cope with unconscious ignorance
4. Science
Mediterranean empires and scientific unknowns
Conclusion
Bibliography.