ABSTRACT
The early modern humanist recovery of ancient worlds and overseas expansion, later radicalized in colonialism, created an explosion in the amount of information available to European audiences. Transforming that information into knowledge was an effective way of dealing with it, since knowledge potentially establishes control and thereby grants power over what is known. The relationship between information (facts, data) and knowledge is a complex one. Information is generated and selected by means of prior knowledge and expectations. New information, however, may lead to a change in previously accepted knowledge and generate new expectations.
