American nature by its uses and perceptions

Science and History in handwritten and printed works of Medical Botany and Natural History (Platin America, 18th century)

Abstract

The research project under development, briefly presented in this research note, is part of the effort to reassess the role played both by the Society of Jesus in so-called modern science and by local and indigenous population groups in the knowledge disseminated in the works of Medical Botany, Surgery and Natural History written by members of the order, copies of which can be found in European and Latin American libraries and archives. In these recipes and treaties, more than inventories of the natural world, interactions between different agents of knowledge and local and global exchanges operated by missionaries of the Society of Jesus installed in the four parts of the world are revealed, which were fundamental for the formulation of new scientific knowledge in the Modern Period.