The Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery and the early history of geology

Abstract

Research Article| July 01, 2011 The Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery and the early history of geology Henrique Leitão; Henrique Leitão 1Centro de História das Ciências, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Edifício C4–Piso 3, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Walter Alvarez Walter Alvarez † 2Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA, and Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Contrada Coldigioco 4, 62021 Apiro (MC), Italy †E-mail: platetec@berkeley.edu Search for other works by this author on: GSW Google Scholar Author and Article Information Henrique Leitão 1Centro de História das Ciências, Faculdade de Ciências da Universidade de Lisboa, Edifício C4–Piso 3, 1749-016 Lisbon, Portugal Walter Alvarez † 2Department of Earth and Planetary Science, University of California, Berkeley, California 94720-4767, USA, and Osservatorio Geologico di Coldigioco, Contrada Coldigioco 4, 62021 Apiro (MC), Italy †E-mail: platetec@berkeley.edu Publisher: Geological Society of America Received: 10 Jul 2010 Revision Received: 30 Sep 2010 Accepted: 30 Sep 2010 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Online ISSN: 1943-2674 Print ISSN: 0016-7606 © 2011 Geological Society of America GSA Bulletin (2011) 123 (7-8): 1219–1233. https://doi.org/10.1130/B30368.1 Article history Received: 10 Jul 2010 Revision Received: 30 Sep 2010 Accepted: 30 Sep 2010 First Online: 08 Mar 2017 Cite View This Citation Add to Citation Manager Share Icon Share Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Email Permissions Search Site Citation Henrique Leitão, Walter Alvarez; The Portuguese and Spanish voyages of discovery and the early history of geology. GSA Bulletin 2011;; 123 (7-8): 1219–1233. doi: https://doi.org/10.1130/B30368.1 Download citation file: Ris (Zotero) Refmanager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All ContentBy SocietyGSA Bulletin Search Advanced Search Abstract Geologists usually trace the history of their science back to the Geological Revolution, ca. 1800, when it was recognized that the Earth is very much more ancient than indicated in the biblical account. Geologists are thus accustomed to think that geology is a much younger science than modern astronomy and physics, which date back to the Copernican Revolution, ca. 1540–1690. We argue that this is only because geologists are neglecting a major advance in understanding the Earth that occurred a century before that. We argue that geologists should recognize the Portuguese Voyages of Discovery, later joined by the Spanish, as a major episode in the history of what would now be called geology. This revolutionary advance was driven by technological changes, yielded a cornucopia of discoveries, was marked by great excitement, and led to major changes in worldview and society. The Voyages of Discovery have been intensely studied by historians of geography, but not by historians of geology. Therefore we are at pains to show that they should be taken as part of the history of geology, as well as that of geography, for they led to central geological discoveries. These discoveries included the shape of coastlines whose match later demonstrated continental drift, the fact that there is more ocean than land, the arrangement of planetary climate zones, and the patterns of winds and the geomagnetic field. This new historical viewpoint sees geology as a science at least as old and worthy of respect as physics and astronomy, and this is an important consideration as a scientific understanding of the Earth becomes critical to the flourishing of the biosphere and of humanity. You do not have access to this content, please speak to your institutional administrator if you feel you should have access.

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