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Southern-Netherlandish observations and knowledge production of naturalia on the seas: The writings of Michael de Febure (1721)
De Winter, W. (2019). Southern-Netherlandish observations and knowledge production of naturalia on the seas: The writings of Michael de Febure (1721). EMLC 3(2): 265-282. https://dx.doi.org/10.18352/emlc.113
In: Early Modern Low Countries. Werkgroep De Zeventiende Eeuw/Werkgroep De Achttiende Eeuw: Utrecht. e-ISSN 2543-1587
Peer reviewed article  

Available in  Author 
    Vlaams Instituut voor de Zee: Open access 341575 [ download pdf ]

Keywords
    18th century
    History
Author keywords
    Ostend Company, maritime history, naturalia, shipboard knowledge, Michael de Febure

Author  Top 
  • De Winter, W.

Abstract
    Just as was the case for other European sea voyages, maritime expeditions from the Southern-Netherlandish port of Ostend to Asia presented opportunities for the bringing of naturalia to Europe, and with it the production of knowledge on the natural world in the early eighteenth century. While this exchange took place alongside the more commercial aspect of these expeditions, and mostly comprised gift objects being brought back for the curiosity cabinets of Austrian-Netherlandish dignitaries, the journal of chaplain Michael de Febure – sailing in 1721 on the ship Sint-Pieter from the port of Ostend to the Indian Malabar coast – presents a different type of the production of natural historical knowledge. This source offers us a unique insight into the ways in which marine life and naturalia were approached from a shipboard perspective. This fits within an ecological perspective on the ways in which the sea and the shipboard formed a space for knowledge production on naturalia for Southern Netherlandish sailors and sea-going passengers.

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