The mythical and the literary in the islands described by the Dutch humanist historian Isacius Pontanus (1571-1636)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.25145/j.fortunat.2021.34.09Keywords:
Ioannes Isacius Pontanus, 16th century sailings, islands, striking talesAbstract
In 1611 Ioannes Isacius Pontanus (1571-1639), a Dutch humanist historian, published an Historia urbis et rerum Amstelodamensium, in which he describes the sailings that the Dutch made at the end of the 16th century on their way to the East Indies. We analyse in this work the descriptions of the islands found by the expeditionaries. The work focuses on the trend of the humanist who, following a very old line in the storytelling of travelling tales, insists above all on the striking, mysterious, strange and paradisiacal details of the islands. It seems that his aim is to marvel the reader. It is the mystery around the islands, especially if they are distant and unknown to the readers.
Downloads
References
DA COSTA RAMALHO, Américo (1998): «Os humanistas e a divulgação dos descobrimentos», en íd., Para a História do Humanismo en Portugal (III), Imprensa Nacional - Casa da Moeda, Lisboa, pp. 135-154.
VAN DOORNINCK, Pieter Nicolaas - MOLHUYSEN, P. C. (eds.) (1909): Brieven van en aan Jo. Is. Pontanus, 1591-1639, van Brederode, Haarlem [Versión digitalizada: https://www.delpher.nl/nl/boeken/view?identifier=MMSFUBA02:000009195:00012&coll=boeken&cql%5B%5D=%28title+exact+%22Brieven+van+en+aan+Jo.+Is.+Pontanus%2C+1595-1639%22%29&rowid=1].
GILSANZ PÉREZ, Guzmán (2007): «El imperio comercial holandés en siglo XVII», Revista de Estudios económicos y empresariales 19: 47-106 [https://dehesa.unex.es:8443/handle/10662/2934].
DE MATOS, Luís (1984): L’expansion portugaise dans la Littérature latine de la Renaissance, Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian - Centre Culturel Portugais, Lisboa - Paris.
SKOVGAARD-PETERSEN, Karen (2001): Historiography at the Court of Christian IV (1588-1648), Museum Tusculanum Press, Copenhagen.
DE SOUSA REBELO, Luís (1978): «Diogo de Teive, historien humaniste», en L’Humanisme portugais et l’Europe. Actes du XXIe Colloque International d’Etudes humanistes. Tours, 3-13 Juillet 1978, Paris, pp. 465-486.
DE VEDIA, Enrique (ed.) (1947): Historiadores primitivos de Indias, Atlas, Madrid.
Downloads
Published
Issue
Section
License
Authors retain copyright and grant the journal the right to be the first publication of the work as well as license it under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with acknowledgment of authorship of the work and initial publication in this magazine.
Authors may separately establish additional agreements for the non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in the journal (for example, placing it in an institutional repository or publishing it in a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal.
