eBook

Navigational Enterprises in Europe and its Empires, 1730–1850

Rebekah Higgitt, Richard Dunn, Rebekah Higgitt, Richard Dunn, Peter Jones

2015,2016

Overview

01 02 Navigational Enterprises in Europe and its Empires, 1730–1850 brings together the work of international authors to explore European experiences in the development of new navigational techniques and instruments in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. This is the period in which the 'longitude problem' has been presented as being solved in an unproblematic way. Challenging this narrative, the book looks beyond just the British story to examine the role of governments, institutions, men of science, practitioners and navigators across Europe, and the use of the new and old techniques and instruments in practice. As the different chapters show, the methods available, including long-established navigational techniques such as dead reckoning and the newer astronomical and timekeeping methods of longitude determination, were complementary rather than exclusive. When and how they were used depended on local, national and other circumstances, although their development must be seen as the result of international and transnational exchanges. 04 02 1. Introduction; Rebekah Higgitt and Richard Dunn 2. A Southern Meridian: Astronomical Undertakings in the Eighteenth-Century Spanish Empire; Juan Pimentel 3. The Longitude Committee and the Practice of Navigation in the Netherlands, c.1750–1850; Karel Davids 4. From Lacaille to Lalande: French Work on Lunar Distances, Nautical Ephemerides and Lunar Tables, 1742–85; Guy Boistel 5. The Bureau des Longitudes: An Institutional Study; Martina Schiavon 6. Patriotic and Cosmopolitan Patchworks: Following a Swedish Astronomer into London's Communities of Maritime Longitude, 1759–60; Jacob Orrje 7. 'Perfectly Correct': Russian Navigators and the Royal Navy; Simon Werrett 8. A Different Kind of Longitude: The Metrology and Conventions of Location by Geodesy; Michael Kershaw 9. Testing Longitude Methods in Mid-Eighteenth Century France; Danielle M. E. Fauque 10. Navigating the Pacific from Bougainville to Dumont d'Urville: French Approaches to Determining Longitude, 1766–1840; John Gascoigne 11. Navigation and Mathematics: A Match Made in the Heavens?; Jane Wess 12 . Longitude Networks on Land and Sea: The East India Company and Longitude Measurement 'in the Wild', 1770–1840; David Philip Miller 02 02 This book explores the development of navigation in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. It examines the role of men of science, seamen and practitioners across Europe, and the realities of navigational practice, showing that old and new methods were complementary not exclusive, their use dependent on many competing factors. 08 02 \"Higgitt, Dunn and their learned authors present a fascinating alternative history of longitude, latitude and navigation ... Historians of science and empire, maritime and physical histories will want it on shelves as soon as possible.\" - Alison Bashford, Jesus College, University of Cambridge, UK 13 02 Richard Dunn is Senior Curator of the History of Science at the National Maritime Museum in Greenwich, UK, where he has worked since 2004. Rebekah Higgitt is Lecturer in History of Science at the University of Kent, UK, and formerly Curator of History of Science at the National Maritime Museum, Greenwich. Dunn and Higgitt are co-authors of Finding Longitude: How Clocks and Stars Helped Solve the Longitude Problem (2014).

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan,Palgrave Macmillan UK
• Subject: 18th Century History / 19th Century History / Astronomy, space & time / European History / Expeditions & Discoveries / Historical geography / HISTORY / History of Medicine, Science and Technology / History of Science / History, Modern / Imperial and Postcolonial History / Imperialism and Colonialism / Modern History / Modern history to 20th century: c 1700 to c 1900 / Modern/General / Navigation / navigation history of navigation longitude exploration empire imperial history cartography hydrography history of astronomy history of mathematics horology maritime history history of science history of technology navigational instruments scientific instruments naval history East India Company / Palgrave History Collection / Transportation / World History, Global and Transnational History
• ISBN: 9781137520647, 1137520647, 9781137520630, 1137520639, 9781349567447, 1349567442