A Cultural History of Exploration In The Middle Ages

Exploration in the Middle Ages involved Europeans’ travels throughout Asia, Norse travels to North America, Chinese voyages around South Asia, Polynesian (Oceanian) exploration and colonization in the Pacific, Austronesian colonization of Madagascar, Arawak/Taino colonization of the Caribbean, and Aztec expansion in Mesoamerica. With motives varying from settlement to the expansion of trade, from religious conversion to the pursuit of alliances, and with methods both peaceful and warlike, it was a period of extensive global integration: Muslim expansion and travel into Europe, Africa, and Asia; Mongol expansion out of Central Asia to the east, south, and west; the establishment of long-distance maritime and terrestrial trade networks spanning the Afro-Eurasian landmass; the exploration of Africa and the African encounter with Europe as travelers or through slavery; and maritime technological and navigational breakthroughs permanently linking pre-existing Mediterranean, Atlantic, Indian Ocean, and South China world systems. In any era, exploration cannot be defined purely in terms of geography—it involves language, culture, materiality, and values, all of which change from one culture to the next. Drawing upon both visual and textual sources, A Cultural History of Exploration in the Middle Ages presents an overview of the period and examines key cultural case studies on the themes of technologies of exploration; motivations and methodologies for exploration; ideal and idealized explorer typologies; the explored and their explorations; verbalizing exploration; visualizing exploration; and authority, finance, and exploration.