Spatial Perceptions, Juridical Practices, and Early International Legal Thought around 1500
Keyword(s):
This chapter surveys the legal practice of drawing demarcation lines between 1479 and 1529 and illustrates that considering the changing knowledge about space is an important element for writing the history of international law. Important advances in cartography and changing spatial perceptions around 1500 clearly impacted international legal thought. The practice of drawing demarcation lines around 1500 can be understood as a blending of traditional practices, empirical observations, and new scientific knowledge. What has been called a ‘rationalization of space’ was a complex and slow process that built upon tradition, and existing practices and went hand in hand with explorations and experimental knowledge-creation by measurements.
Keyword(s):