All aboard!: Science and ship culture in 16th century long-distance oceanic voyages

Abstract

The onset of regular long-distance oceanic voyages created novel conditions for the practice of science in late fifteenth and early sixteenth-century Europe. A sixteenth-century Indiaman was the most advanced and sophisticated machine of its time; life on board was very harsh but it was also profoundly shaped by technology, artisanal practices and by contact with new and surprising realities. For the many thousands of Europeans who traveled by sea in the early modern period such an experience led to the reshaping of many ideas and to lasting changes in their perception of nature, the value of technology and the mores of artisans.