The depictions of the spice that circumnavigated the globe. The contribution of Garcia de Orta’s Colóquios dos Simples (Goa, 1563) to the construction of an entirely new knowledge about cloves

Authors

  • Teresa Nobre de Carvalho Centro Interuniversitário da História da Ciência e da Tecnología, Universidade de Lisboa

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.1344/abriu2017.6.10

Keywords:

cloves, Syzygium aromaticum L, Garcia de Orta, Early Modern Botany, Asian drugs and spices

Abstract

Cloves have been prized since Ancient times for their agreeable smell and therapeutic properties. With the publication of Colóquios dos Simples e Drogas he Cousas Mediçinais da Índia (Goa, 1563), Garcia de Orta (c. 1500-1568) presented the first modern monographic study of cloves. In this analysis I wish to clarify what kind of information about Asian natural resources (cloves in particular) circulated in Europe, from Antiquity until the sixteenth century, and how the Portuguese medical treatises, led to the emergence of an innovative botanical discourse about tropical plants in Early Modern Europe.
Abriu 6

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Published

2017-06-15

How to Cite

Carvalho, T. N. de. (2017). The depictions of the spice that circumnavigated the globe. The contribution of Garcia de Orta’s Colóquios dos Simples (Goa, 1563) to the construction of an entirely new knowledge about cloves. Abriu: Estudos De Textualidade Do Brasil, Galicia E Portugal, (6), 189–212. https://doi.org/10.1344/abriu2017.6.10

Issue

No. 6 (2017): Contemporary Brazilian Literature and Current Challenges

Section

MISCELLANY

License

The Author retains ownership of the copyright of the article, unless the contrary is stated, and all rights not expressly granted in this agreement, including the non-exclusive right to reproduce, distribute, perform, and display the article in print or electronic form, and grants to Abriu: estudos de textualidade do Brasil, Galicia e Portugal the exclusive rights to first publication of the Article. The work will be available under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works license, by which the article must be credited to the Author and the Journal must be credited as first place of publication.