Suchergebnisse

Information and knowledge were essential tools of early modern Europe's global ambitions. This volume addresses a key concern that emerged as the competition for geopolitical influence increased: how could information from afar be trusted when there was no obvious strategy for verification? How did notions of doubt develop in relation to intercultural encounters? Who were those in the position to use misinformation in their favour, and how did this affect trust? How, in other words, did distance affect credibility, and which intellectual and epistemological strategies did early modern Europe devise to cope with this problem?

The movement of information, and its transformations in the process of gathering, ordering, and disseminating, makes it necessary to employ both a global and a local perspective in order to understand its significance. The rise of print, leading to various new forms of mediation, played a crucial role everywhere, inspiring theories of modernization in which media served as agents of new connections and, eventually, of globalization. Paradoxically, during the entire period between 1500 and 1800, the demise of distance through various strategies of verification coincided with constructions of otherness that emphasized the cultural and geographical difference between Europe and the worlds it encountered.

Ten leading scholars of the early modern world address the relationship between distance, information, and credibility from a variety of perspectives. This volume will be an essential companion to those interested in the history of knowledge and early modern encounters, as well as specialists in the history of empire and print culture.

This volume about religious tolerance in early modern Brazil comprises two articles. Jonathan Israel, in his contribution, argues that Dutch tolerance in Brazil was unprecedented in the seventeenth century. Catholics and particularly Jews were given freedom of conscience and freedom of private worship in accordance with Dutch guide-lines. Stuart Schwartz, in his article, demonstrates that religious toleration in Dutch Brazil was not exclusively the domain of the Dutch. The Portuguese also widely approved of tolerance at grassroots level, accepting an individual's preference to follow his own path to salvation. - Voor het eerst richten twee internationaal zeer vooraanstaande historici zich specifiek op vraagstukken van religie en tolerantie in Nederlands-Brazilië in de zeventiende eeuw. Jonathan Israel betoogt in zijn bijdrage dat de veelgeprezen Nederlandse tolerantie in de zeventiende eeuw nergens ruimer was dan juist in deze kolonie,waar katholieken en vooral joden grote geloofsvrijheid genoten. Stuart Schwartz toont in zijn artikel aan dat deze tolerantie niet exclusief was voorbehouden aan de Nederlanders. Ook de Portugezen in Brazilië accepteerden de verschillende individuele vormen van religieuze beleving. De bijdragen van Jonathan Israel en Stuart Schwartz zijn voorgedragen op het symposium Dutch Brazil 1604-1654- 2004 in juni 2004. Dit symposium is georganiseerd door het CEDLA (Centre for Latin American Research and Documentation) en het Amsterdams Centrum voor de Studie van de Gouden Eeuw ter ere van het 400ste geboortejaar van Johan Maurits van Nassau- Siegen, en ter nagedachtenis van de verovering van Nederlands-Brazilië door de Portugezen, 350 jaar geleden.