The word
means rebirth, and the most obvious example of this phenomenon was the regeneration of Europe's classical Roman roots. The Renaissance began in northern Italy in the late 14th century and culminated in England in the early 17th century. Emphasis on the dignity of man
(though not of woman) and on human potential distinguished the Renaissance from the previous Middle Ages. In poetry and literature, individual thought and action were prevalent, while depictions of the human form became a touchstone of Renaissance art. In science and medicine the macrocosm and
microcosm of the human condition inspired remarkable strides in research and discovery, and the Earth itself was explored, situating Europeans within a wider realm of possibilities. Organized thematically, the
covers all aspects of life in Renaissance Europe:
History; religion; art and visual culture; architecture; literature and language; music; warfare; commerce; exploration and travel; science and medicine; education; daily life.

If one had looked for a potential global city in Europe in the 1540s, the most likely candidate would have been Antwerp, which had emerged as the center of the German and Spanish silver exchange as well as the Portuguese spice and Spanish sugar trades. It almost certainly would not have been London, an unassuming hub of the wool and cloth trade with a population of around 75,000, still trying to recover from the onslaught of the Black Plague. But by 1700 London’s population had reached a staggering 575,000—and it had developed its first global corporations, as well as relationships with non-European societies outside the Mediterranean. What happened in the span of a century and half? And how exactly did London transform itself into a global city?
London’s success, Robert K. Batchelor argues, lies not just with the well-documented rise of Atlantic settlements, markets, and economies. Using his discovery of a network of Chinese merchant shipping routes on John Selden’s map of China as his jumping-off point, Batchelor reveals how London also flourished because of its many encounters, engagements, and exchanges with East Asian trading cities. Translation plays a key role in Batchelor’s study—translation not just of books, manuscripts, and maps, but also of meaning and knowledge across cultures—and Batchelor demonstrates how translation helped London understand and adapt to global economic conditions. Looking outward at London’s global negotiations, Batchelor traces the development of its knowledge networks back to a number of foreign sources and credits particular interactions with England’s eventual political and economic autonomy from church and King.
London offers a much-needed non-Eurocentric history of London, first by bringing to light and then by synthesizing the many external factors and pieces of evidence that contributed to its rise as a global city. It will appeal to students and scholars interested in the cultural politics of translation, the relationship between merchants and sovereigns, and the cultural and historical geography of Britain and Asia.

In 1616, an English adventurer, Nathaniel Courthope, stepped ashore on a remote island in the East Indies on a secret mission - to persuade the islanders of Run to grant a monopoly to England over their nutmeg, a fabulously valuable spice in Europe. This infuriated the Dutch, who were determined to control the world's nutmeg supply. For five years Courthope and his band of thirty men were besieged by a force one hundred times greater - and his heroism set in motion the events that led to the founding of Manhattan, the greatest city on earth. A beautifully told adventure story and a fascinating depiction of exploration in the seventeenth century, NATHANIEL'S NUTMEG sheds a remarkable light on history.

In the tradition of Dava Sobel's Longitude comes sailing expert David Barrie's compelling and dramatic tale of invention and discovery—an eloquent elegy to one of the most important navigational instruments ever created, and the daring mariners who used it to explore, conquer, and map the world.
Since its invention in 1759, a mariner's most prized possession has been the sextant. A navigation tool that measures the angle between a celestial object and the horizon, the sextant allowed sailors to pinpoint their exact location at sea.
David Barrie chronicles the sextant's development and shows how it not only saved the lives of navigators in wild and dangerous seas, but played a pivotal role in their ability to map the globe. He synthesizes centuries of seafaring history and the daring sailors who have become legend, including James Cook, Matthew Flinders, Robert Fitz-Roy, Frank Worsley of the Endurance, and Joshua Slocum, the redoubtable old "lunarian" and first single-handed-round-the-world yachtsman. He also recounts his own maiden voyage, and insights gleaned from his experiences as a practiced seaman and navigator.
Full of heroism, danger, and excitement, told with an infectious sense of wonder, Sextant offers a new look at a masterful achievement that changed the course of history.

“我们现在哪里人都不是了。”
★ 曾开启“航海大发现”的远航船垂头丧气归来，庞大的葡萄牙帝国版图破碎在海浪中——
昔日称霸世界的海洋帝国，何日重现荣光？
数百年前的海上英雄被驱赶回国，如何以失败者的身份在已然陌生的故国生活？
★ 与若泽•萨拉马戈并称“葡语文坛双子星”，卡蒙斯文学奖得主安图内斯直面葡萄牙大航海史代表作，浓缩葡萄牙海洋帝国波澜壮阔的历史兴衰
★ 《远航船》入选《纽约时报》年度好书，简体中文版获得【卡蒙斯合作与语言学院】资助出版
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▼【内容简介】
15世纪，位于欧陆尽头的葡萄牙曾引领“地理大发现”，开启辉煌的大航海时代。20世纪70年代，随着非洲殖民地悉数独立，昔日海上英雄被驱赶回国，在帝国的废墟中匆忙搁浅。扭曲叠加的时空里，曾游历亚洲数十载、写下《远游记》的费尔南•门德斯•平托成了推销次品的小贩，印度的“发现者”达•伽马靠出老千赢下半个葡国，致力传播基督福音的圣徒沙勿略更是摇身变为皮条客……
历史的真实与虚妄孕育出一幕幕荒诞的悲喜剧，野心与狂热伴随着帝国梦一起破碎在海浪中。远航船从海上垂头丧气归来，陆地上连接欧洲的火车却在轰鸣作响。在这海洋与陆地、非洲与欧洲的一进一退之间，葡萄牙艰难地重塑着自己的过去、现在与未来。
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▼【媒体及名人推荐】
（安图内斯）运用葡萄牙语时有大师风范，善于揭露人性中不可告人的黑暗角落，使他成为对文学现实清醒又具有批判性的模范作者。
——卡蒙斯文学奖评委会
安图内斯是21世纪最重要的在世作家之一。
——哈罗德•布鲁姆
安图内斯是一位洞悉人心的文学大师，是以科塔萨尔表达的纳博科夫，以迪伦表达的果戈理。
——《洛杉矶时报书评》
安图内斯对人类情感的矛盾性怀有深刻的同理心。
——《纽约时报书评》
《远航船》是一部伟大的、永不过时文学杰作。
——《南德意志报》

Plants seldom figure in the grand narratives of war, peace, or even everyday life yet they are often at the center of high intrigue. In the eighteenth century, epic scientific voyages were sponsored by European imperial powers to explore the natural riches of the New World, and uncover the botanical secrets of its people. Bioprospectors brought back medicines, luxuries, and staples for their king and country. Risking their lives to discover exotic plants, these daredevil explorers joined with their sponsors to create a global culture of botany. But some secrets were unearthed only to be lost again. In this moving account of the abuses of indigenous Caribbean people and African slaves, Schiebinger describes how slave women brewed the �peacock flower� into an abortifacient, to ensure that they would bear no children into oppression. Yet, impeded by trade winds of prevailing opinion, knowledge of West Indian abortifacients never flowed into Europe. A rich history of discovery and loss, Plants and Empire explores the movement, triumph, and extinction of knowledge in the course of encounters between Europeans and the Caribbean populations.