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The Shogun's Silver Telescope

2020 Art
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Release : 2020
Genre : Art
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 036/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Shogun's Silver Telescope by : Timon Screech

Download or read book The Shogun's Silver Telescope written by Timon Screech. This book was released on 2020. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The East India Company, founded in London in 1600, was the world's biggest trading organization until the twentieth century. It was originally a spice trading organization, and its existence was precarious in its early years. But its governors soon began to think bigger. A decade after itsfoundation, they started to plan voyages to more fabulous places, notably Japan. Japan had silver, was cold in winter, and had no sheep, so was a perfect market for England's main export, woollen cloth. The Company planned to add to its spice-runs, sailing back and forth to Japan, exchanging woolfor silver. This could be done quickly and easily, over the top of Russia - or so the maps of the day suggested (these same maps also showed Japan twenty times too large, about the size of India).Knowing the Spanish and Portuguese had got there before them, the Company prepared a special present to impress and win over their Japanese hosts. They chose as their first gift a silver telescope. The expedition carrying the telescope departed in 1611, and the Shogun was finally presented with thetelescope in the name of King James I in 1613. It was the first telescope ever to leave Europe, and the first made as a presentation item. Before this voyage had even returned, the Company had dispatched another with an equally stunning cargo: nearly a hundred oil paintings.This is the story of these two extraordinary cargoes: what they meant for the fortunes of the Company, what the choice of them says about the seventeenth century England from which they came, and what effect they had on the quizzical Asian rulers to whom they were given.

The Shogun's Silver Telescope and the Cargo of the New Year's Gift

2020-10-15 History
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Release : 2020-10-15
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 027/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis The Shogun's Silver Telescope and the Cargo of the New Year's Gift by : Timon Screech

Download or read book The Shogun's Silver Telescope and the Cargo of the New Year's Gift written by Timon Screech. This book was released on 2020-10-15. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The East India Company, founded in London in 1600, was originally a spice trading organisation. But its governors soon began to think bigger. After a decade, they started to plan voyages to more fabulous places, notably India and Japan. Rich in silver, Japan was a desirable trading partner; crucially, it was also cold in winter. England's main export was woollen cloth, which would not sell in hot places, so the Company envisaged adding to its spice runs by sailing back and forth to Japan, exchanging wool for silver. Maps suggested that this could be done quickly, above Russian. But these maps also made Japan twenty times too large, the size of India in fact. Knowing the Spanish and Portuguese had preceded them, the Company prepared a special present for its first extended sailing to India and Japan. In the end, the Company missed India, but got to Japan in 1613. The Shogun, the military dictator of Japan, was presented with a silver telescope in the name of King James. It was the first telescope ever to leave Europe and the first made as a presentation item. Before this initial ship had even returned, the Company dispatched another, named the New Year's Gift, with an equally stunning cargo: almost 100 oil paintings. These would be given and sold to the Indian and Japanese courts. This book looks at the formation and history of the Company, but mostly examines the meaning of these two extraordinary cargoes. What were they supposed to mean, and what effect did they have on quizzical Asian rulers?

Tokyo Before Tokyo

2024-11-12 Art
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Release : 2024-11-12
Genre : Art
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 555/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Tokyo Before Tokyo by : Timon Screech

Download or read book Tokyo Before Tokyo written by Timon Screech. This book was released on 2024-11-12. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A rich and original history of Edo, the shogun’s city that became modern Tokyo. Tokyo today is one of the world’s mega-cities and the center of a scintillating, hyper-modern culture—but not everyone is aware of its past. Founded in 1590 as the seat of the warlord Tokugawa family, Tokyo, then called Edo, was the locus of Japanese trade, economics, and urban civilization until 1868, when it mutated into Tokyo and became Japan’s modern capital. This beautifully illustrated book presents important sites and features from the rich history of Edo, taken from contemporary sources such as diaries, guidebooks, and woodblock prints. These include the huge bridge on which the city was centered; the vast castle of the Shogun; sumptuous Buddhist temples, bars, kabuki theaters, and Yoshiwara—the famous red-light district.

Love and Hate in Jamestown

2007-12-18 History
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Release : 2007-12-18
Genre : History
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 70X/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Love and Hate in Jamestown by : David A. Price

Download or read book Love and Hate in Jamestown written by David A. Price. This book was released on 2007-12-18. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times Notable Book and aSan Jose Mercury News Top 20 Nonfiction Book of 2003In 1606, approximately 105 British colonists sailed to America, seeking gold and a trade route to the Pacific. Instead, they found disease, hunger, and hostile natives. Ill prepared for such hardship, the men responded with incompetence and infighting; only the leadership of Captain John Smith averted doom for the first permanent English settlement in the New World.The Jamestown colony is one of the great survival stories of American history, and this book brings it fully to life for the first time. Drawing on extensive original documents, David A. Price paints intimate portraits of the major figures from the formidable monarch Chief Powhatan, to the resourceful but unpopular leader John Smith, to the spirited Pocahontas, who twice saved Smith’s life. He also gives a rare balanced view of relations between the settlers and the natives and debunks popular myths about the colony. This is a superb work of history, reminding us of the horrors and heroism that marked the dawning of our nation.

Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy

2018-10-31 Science
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Release : 2018-10-31
Genre : Science
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : 075/5 ( reviews)

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Book Synopsis Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy by : Neil English

Download or read book Chronicling the Golden Age of Astronomy written by Neil English. This book was released on 2018-10-31. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The invention of the telescope at the dawning of the 17th century has revolutionized humanity's understanding of the Universe and our place within it. This book traces the development of the telescope over four centuries, as well as the many personalities who used it to uncover brand-new revelations about the Sun, Moon, planets, stars and distant galaxies. Starting with early observers such as Thomas Harriot, Galileo, Johannes Hevelius, Giovanni Domenico Cassini, Robert Hooke and Christian Huygens, the book explores how these early observers arrived at essentially correct ideas concerning the objects they studied. Moving into the 18th and 19th centuries, the author describes the increasing sophistication of telescopes both large and small, and the celebrated figures who used them so productively, including the Herschels, Charles Messier, William Lassell and the Earls of Rosse. Many great discoveries were also made with smaller instruments when placed in the capable hands of the Struve dynasty, F.W. Bessel, Angelo Secchi and S.W Burnham, to name but a few. Nor were all great observers of professional ilk. The book explores the contributions made by the 'clerical astronomers,' William Rutter Dawes, Thomas William Webb, T.E.R Philips and T.H.E.C Espin, as well as the lonely vigils of E.E. Barnard, William F. Denning and Charles Grover. And in the 20th century, the work of Percival Lowell, Leslie Peltier, Eugene M. Antoniadi, Clyde Tombaugh, Walter Scott Houston, David H. Levy and Sir Patrick Moore is fully explored. Generously illustrated throughout, this treasure trove of astronomical history shows how each observer's work led to seminal developments in science, and providing key insights into how we go about exploring the heavens today.

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