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1 year ago in Global History , History By Aarontest

How did curiosities and commodities shape early modern natural history in Europe and overseas?

Moving beyond comparison, I want to understand the mechanisms of influence. How did the dual identity of objects as both wonders and goods concretely transform European knowledge institutions, and conversely, impact environments and societies overseas? I'm looking for a integrated causal model.

 

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By Jayanti Patil Answered 1 year ago

They shaped it by creating a global circuit of material and knowledge. I have studied how curiosities for European Wunderkammern required commodified long-distance trade, which then structured fields like taxonomy by flooding scholars with new specimens. Overseas, this demand directly reshaped local ecologies and economies through organized collection or plantation systems. The "how" is in this feedback loop: curiosity motivated collection, commerce enabled it, and the influx of commodities then redirected scientific curiosity towards classification and economic botany.

 

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