ABSTRACT
Fromthelatefifteenthcentury,Europeans'knowledgeandexperienceoftheglobe increasedsteadily.Sometimesdevelopmentsweredramatic-mostobviouslythe discoveryofAmerica.Columbusreferredtothewesternlandsas'anotherworld', andinatextattributedtoAmerigoVespucci,fromwhosename'America'was coined,comesthefirstreferencetoa'newworld'.Althoughearliervisitshadbeen paidtotheAmericanmainland,itwasColumbus'slandfallon12October1492that markedtherealbeginningoftheEuropeanencounterwiththegreatcontinenttothe west.TherewasnoreferencetothatcontinenteitherintheBibleorinclassical writings-thesacredandsecularauthoritiesthathadshapedEuropeans'understandingoftheworldandtheirplaceinit-andthiswasunsettling:'InAmerica,it seemed,Europehadnotonlydiscoveredanunknowngeographicalspace.Ithad alsodiscoveredsomethingaboutitsownpast:thattheaccumulatedwisdomofthe Ancientsmightbe,ifnotentirelyfalse,atleastseriouslyflawed'(Pagden1993: 89).Inthisandmanyotherways,theencounterwiththenewworldnotonly broughtknowledgeoftheAmericanotherbutprovokedreflectionontheEuropean self.
