Searching the East by the West: Martin Behaim revisited

  • Rui Manuel Loureiro CHAM, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (FCSH), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1069-061 Lisboa https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4635-4096
Keywords: Portugal, 15th century, Martin Behaim, History of European Expansion, Geography, Século XV, História da expansão europeia, Geografia

Abstract

Martin Behaim is an historical figure presently known above all as responsible for the conception of a terrestrial globe that is associated with his name. The Behaim Globe, poduced in 1492 and kept at the Germanisches National Museum, in Nuremberg, is the oldest extant terrestrial globe. Martin Behaim's life and work have been exhaustively dealt with by modern historiography, particularly in connection with the great Iberian voyages of maritime exploration of the end of the fifteenth century. Therefore, many of the legends associated with the name of Behaim have been dully criticized. But the biography of this German merchant / cosmographer / navigator, who spent an important part of his life in Portugal, continues to raise problems and perplexities, which are revisited in the present text.

Martin Behaim é uma figura histórica atualmente conhecida como responsável pela concepção de um globo terrestre que está associado ao seu nome. O Globo de Behaim, produzido em 1492 e conservado no Germanisches National Museum, em Nuremberg, é o mais antigo globo terrestre existente. A vida e a obra de Martin Behaim foram exaustivamente tratadas pela historiografia moderna, em particular no que se refere às grandes viagens ibéricas de exploração marítima do final do século XV. Mas a biografia deste mercador / cosmógrafo / navegador alemão, que passou uma parte importante da sua vida em Portugal, continua a suscitar problemas e perplexidades, que são revisitadas no presente texto.

Author Biography

Rui Manuel Loureiro, CHAM, Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas (FCSH), Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 1069-061 Lisboa

Rui Manuel Loureiro holds a PhD in History from the University of Lisbon (1995). He is currently director of the Instituto Superior Manuel Teixeira Gomes, in Portimão, and researcher at CHAM – Centro de Humanidades, Universidade Nova de Lisboa. He is also a member of the Academia de Marinha, the academic institution of the Portuguese Navy. He has published many sources and studies about the history of Iberian contacts with the Asian world in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and namely about the production and circulation of manuscripts and printed books.

Published
2021-12-31
Section
RiMe 9/II n.s. (December 2021). Special Issue