Pub Date : 2020-07-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0007
K. Foster
This chapter explores the existence of exotica in America. The flora and fauna of the Americas offered fresh scope for demonstrating the centrality of European culture. New species had to be ordered, classified, named, and fitted within established parameters. From the start, the same was true for native peoples. Furthermore, pictorial and textual descriptions were used to advance several agendas with far-reaching consequences. Primarily to encourage settlement in the New World, exotica were portrayed as variations on European plants and animals. Early maps of North America thus featured deer, bears, beavers, and rabbits, with only the occasional wild turkey—unique to the New World—intruding upon the familiar bestiary. Throughout the seventeenth and into the eighteenth centuries, European colonizing and commercial interests continued to purvey a vision of American resources as easy to transform into marketable commodities.
{"title":"Crossing the Atlantic","authors":"K. Foster","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0007","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0007","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter explores the existence of exotica in America. The flora and fauna of the Americas offered fresh scope for demonstrating the centrality of European culture. New species had to be ordered, classified, named, and fitted within established parameters. From the start, the same was true for native peoples. Furthermore, pictorial and textual descriptions were used to advance several agendas with far-reaching consequences. Primarily to encourage settlement in the New World, exotica were portrayed as variations on European plants and animals. Early maps of North America thus featured deer, bears, beavers, and rabbits, with only the occasional wild turkey—unique to the New World—intruding upon the familiar bestiary. Throughout the seventeenth and into the eighteenth centuries, European colonizing and commercial interests continued to purvey a vision of American resources as easy to transform into marketable commodities.","PeriodicalId":441654,"journal":{"name":"Strange and Wonderful","volume":"34 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121156810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-07-17DOI: 10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0004
K. Foster
This chapter looks at the various existence of exotica in the Classical, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. Through Egyptian intermediaries, monkeys from elsewhere in Africa reached Minoan Crete and the Cyclades during the first half of the second millennium B.C.E. Dozens of them appear thereafter in wall paintings, seals, and jewelry, engaging in animal and human activities in formal and informal settings. From the seventh century on, gradually expanding colonial and commercial contacts—especially in the eastern Mediterranean—brought exotic experiences back to the Greeks. This gave rise to Greek writing on natural history. Meanwhile, the rise of imperial Rome meant that exotic fauna found themselves inextricably linked with the self-image of the state; any exceptional creatures were reserved as gifts for the emperors. Menageries also existed throughout the Arab/Islamic world from an early date.
{"title":"Knowing the Unknown","authors":"K. Foster","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0004","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780190672539.003.0004","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter looks at the various existence of exotica in the Classical, Byzantine, and Islamic periods. Through Egyptian intermediaries, monkeys from elsewhere in Africa reached Minoan Crete and the Cyclades during the first half of the second millennium B.C.E. Dozens of them appear thereafter in wall paintings, seals, and jewelry, engaging in animal and human activities in formal and informal settings. From the seventh century on, gradually expanding colonial and commercial contacts—especially in the eastern Mediterranean—brought exotic experiences back to the Greeks. This gave rise to Greek writing on natural history. Meanwhile, the rise of imperial Rome meant that exotic fauna found themselves inextricably linked with the self-image of the state; any exceptional creatures were reserved as gifts for the emperors. Menageries also existed throughout the Arab/Islamic world from an early date.","PeriodicalId":441654,"journal":{"name":"Strange and Wonderful","volume":"7 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2020-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"117047011","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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