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The Backgrounds of The Chinese Maps: Their Reading and Understanding Public Lecture Series – Dr. Angelo Cattaneo: “The Global Eye. Dutch and Portuguese Maps and Vistas of Global Nodes (ca. 1650) in the collection of Cosimo III de’ Medici.”

Co-organized by Institute of Chinese Studies, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, École française d'Extrême-Orient, and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology Library

During a visit to the Netherlands between 1667 and 1668, Prince Cosimo III de’ Medici purchased a conspicuous collection of “plans of various ports, cities, fortresses and coasts of both the East and West Indies” from the Dutch India Companies. Two years later, during a second European journey, having arrived in Lisbon, he acquired copies of large-scale nautical charts of the coasts of Africa, Arabia and Persia and the Indian subcontinent. Through the lenses of Dutch and Iberian maps and landscape painting, these documents display the global mercantile and colonial world of the mid-17th century. This presentation considers Prince Cosimo’s interest in long-distance trade and sea routes, within the overlapping frameworks of the Portuguese empire and Dutch trade companies, by following him on his first journey to the Netherlands. In Amsterdam he had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with the activities of the Dutch East and West India Companies, experiencing firsthand their wealth and at the same time learning about the places that structured the Dutch global trade networks. One specific context, particularly highlighted by the documentation acquired by Prince Cosimo, will be analyzed: the vast maritime region of the so called “Spice Islands” in the Maluku Archipelago. The presentation will be conducted using “The Global Eye” WebGis repository.

Speaker: Dr. Angelo Cattaneo (CNR - National Research Council of Italy)

Angelo Cattaneo is a Researcher for the CNR - National Research Council of Italy. He is also an affiliated researcher of several European research institutions. He authored several publications including Fra Mauro’s Mappa mundi and Fifteenth-Century Venice (Brepols 2011), Translating the World. Missions, the Portuguese Language and New Connected Spaces in Early Modernity (Rome, 2022).

Date: 26 October 2023 (Thursday)

Time: 4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. (Tea reception starts at 4 p.m.)

On-site participation: Digital Scholarship Lab, G/F, University Library, CUHK

Online broadcasting: ZOOM

Conducted in English.

All are welcome!

Online Registration: Click here

Enquiries: 3943 7393 / This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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