Ceremonies of Possession in Europe's Conquest of the New World, 1492-1640

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Cambridge University Press, Oct 27, 1995 - History - 199 pages
This work of comparative history explores the array of ceremonies that the English, the Spanish, the French, the Portuguese and the Dutch performed to enact their taking possession of the New World. The book develops the historic cultural contexts of these ceremonies, and tackles the implications of these histories for contemporary nation-states of the post-colonial era.
 

Contents

Houses Gardens and Fences Signs of English Possession in the New World
16
Ceremonies The Theatrical Rituals of French Political Possession
41
The Requirement A Protocol for Conquest
69
A New Sky and New Stars Arabic and Hebrew Science Portuguese Seamanship and the Discovery of America
100
Sailing in the Wake of the Portuguese
149
The Habits of History
179
Index
195
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Page 4 - It is a lived system of meanings and values constitutive and constituting - which as they are experienced as practices appear as reciprocally confirming. It thus constitutes a sense of reality for most people in the society, a sense of absolute because experienced reality beyond which it is very difficult for most members of the society to move, in most areas of their lives. It is, that is to say, in the strongest sense a 'culture', but a culture which has also to be seen as the lived dominance and...
Page 4 - It is a whole body of practices and expectations, over the whole of living: our senses and assignments of energy, our shaping perceptions of ourselves and our world. It is a lived system of meanings and values, constitutive and constituting — which as they are experienced as practices appear as reciprocally confirming.

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