ABSTRACT
The powerful appeal of global information inspired the generations after Ignatius to envision a program of publications which made carefully edited letters and histories of different missions widely available. The Jesuits were explicitly contributing to the globalization of knowledge. Despite Athanasius Kircher’s claims to mobilize the entire Jesuit network along with the Republic of Letters, the vast majority of observations sent directly to him were made in Europe, including Bartolomeo Martini’s two readings from Évora and Coimbra before leaving for China. By the end of the sixteenth century the Society of Jesus actively promoted the qualitative and quantitative skills that made Jesuits useful partners in advancing scientific knowledge. Giambattista Riccioli also incorporated new observations from the current generation of Jesuit missionaries whom Athanasius Kircher knew well. The Jesuit “information network” has been the subject of growing interest by historians of science, historians of early modern bureaucracy, and historians of the Society of Jesus.
