On 30 December 1986, a local fisherman incidentally discovered the remains of a seventeenth-century merchantman off the coast of Rincon, a small municipality on Puerto Rico's west coast. Some days later, he and some acquaintances extracted objects from the site and stored them in a nearby restaurant. The assemblage of artifacts recovered included, among other items, pins, scissors, ordnance, pewter ware, woodworking tools, a myriad of concretions and a nautical astrolabe. It is from the last that the wreck site took its name. The operation continued for months until local authorities, alerted by a member of the salvage group, issued a cease and desist order. At that point, the whole affair entered a legal process that on the summer of 2005 had not reached its conclusion. The purpose of this thesis is twofold. First, the author presents the story of the shipwreck from the moment it was found until the court ruled regarding ownership of the artifacts. Since this was the first time ownership of a shipwreck was debated in Puerto Rican courts in recent history, this gives the reader an idea of how legal precedence was established concerning the island's submerged cultural resources. Second, based on what was popularly perceived to be the site's most remarkable find, a study was developed on the sea or mariner's astrolabe, a navigation instrument that played a fundamental role in the process of European maritime expansion during the late fifteenth, sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The reader of this text will learn that, during the fifteenth century, Portuguese navigators saw the need to gradually depart from the traditional Mediterranean navigation technique known as "dead reckoning." As their explorations along the West African coast forced them to sail far into the Atlantic Ocean for prolonged periods, a new method was developed that consisted of measuring the angle of certain heavenly bodies above the horizon in order to determine the latitude of the observer with reasonable precision. For this purpose, instruments that traditionally belonged to the field of astronomy were adapted to be used by seamen. Among them was the astrolabe, which became the most popular by the turn of the sixteenth century. After discussing the instrument's origin and development, the author analyzes how a renewed interest on the nautical astrolabe, which emerged in Portugal in the early twentieth century, introduced the instrument to the field of modern scholarly research. This work also presents a catalogue of sixteen sea astrolabes, some of which have never been published. The catalogue shows statistics and other relevant information, while placing the artifacts in the context of the previously existing data.

L’astrolabe, sous la forme dans laquelle il s’est répandu dans le monde arabo-persan, puis dans le monde occidental, est un instrument d’origine hellénistique. Mais nous ne disposons guère, pour témoigner de cette origine, que d’un traité d’usage de cet instrument, écrit au VIème siècle par un auteur alexandrin, Jean Philopon. Nous proposons tout d’abord une réédition de ce traité, sur une base nettement plus large que la seule édition existant à ce jour, et nous l’assortissons d’une traduction et de commentaires. Ce traité d’usage a connu un très grand succès à Byzance à l’époque des Paléologues, et nous nous posons la question de savoir dans quel environnement, astronomique et mathématique, s’est produit ce spectaculaire intérêt pour le traité alexandrin. Nous examinons pour cela ce qui a pu être disponible à Byzance à cette époque, en provenance de l’étranger, et cela nous amène à éditer et traduire deux traités d’usage, l’un en provenance du monde arabo-persan, dont l’auteur est Shams-le-Persan, et l’autre, d’auteur anonyme, en provenance du monde occidental. Nous passons ensuite en revue les œuvres de trois auteurs byzantins, Nicéphore Grégoras, Isaac Argyros, et Théodore Méliténiote, concernant cette fois la construction de l’astrolabe, et nous éditons, ou rééditons, totalement ou partiellement, les œuvres des deux premiers de ces auteurs, avec des traductions et des commentaires. Enfin, nous éditons et traduisons un traité d’origine occidentale, traduit à Chypre par Georges Lapithès, traité dont nous pensons qu’il a pu jouer un rôle dans l’existence, sous la plume de Nicéphore Grégoras, du premier texte authentiquement byzantin ayant trait à l’astrolabe. Cela nous permet de dresser un panorama critique du niveau atteint par Byzance, à cette époque, dans la maîtrise de la construction et de l’usage de l’astrolabe. / The astrolabe, as it spread in the Arab-Persian world and later on in the Western world, is an instrument of Hellenistic origin. However, the only available source to substantiate this origin is a treaty written in the 6th century by an Alexandrian author, John Philoponos. This present work will first of all present an edited version of the treaty with a much broader basis than that of the only existing edition, along with a translation and commentary. Philopono’s treaty met with great success in Byzantium at the time of the Palailogus and therefore one aim here will be to make sense of the environment, astronomical and mathematical, in which such interest took place. In order to do this, this study will proceed to examine the foreign sources available at the time as well as edit and translate two treaties, one from the Arab-Persian world written by Shams the Persian and other by an anonymous Western author. This will be followed thereafter by a review of the works of three Byzantine authors, Nikephoros Gregoras, Isaac Argyros, and Theodore Meliteniotes, which refer this time to the building of the astrolabe. As well as edit or reedit (fully or partially) the works of these first two authors, the present work offers translations along with commentary. A final step will be to edit and translate a Western treaty, translated in Cyprus by Georges Lapithès and believed to have played a part in the existence of the first authentically Byzantine text related to the astrolabe, by Nikephoros Gregoras.This allows for a critical overview of the level of command reached in the building and use of the astrolabe in Byzantium at that time.

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People are active participants in coral reef ecosystems. This ethnobiology study considers and contrasts folkbiological knowledge of people living in two groups of artisanal fishing villages in Kadavu Province, Fiji. The high level of biological diversity on the Astrolabe Reef provides insights into folk categorization and classification methods that include colour, shape, size, physical features, and habits of certain reef fish and marine animals. Surveying large numbers of experts and novices on defined groups of creatures yields more depth and range of responses allowing higher confidence levels in response accuracy. A comparison of the data with Berlins (1992) proposed principles yields mixed results. Sea cucumbers have high ecological salience and their identification requires attention to the affect of two centuries of trade on Fijian society. Effective ethnobiological research provides productive options to contribute to coral reef sustainability programs with long term benefits for local people and marine life. Key words: Kadavu, naming and classification of fish, coral reef ethnobiology.

Submitted by Leonardo Cavalcante (leo.ocavalcante@gmail.com) on 2018-05-03T12:33:08Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 6002949 bytes, checksum: 0ed7572907f269ddd55b584658c9ccd2 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Viviane Lima da Cunha (viviane@biblioteca.ufpb.br) on 2018-05-03T13:17:53Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 6002949 bytes, checksum: 0ed7572907f269ddd55b584658c9ccd2 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2018-05-03T13:17:53Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Arquivototal.pdf: 6002949 bytes, checksum: 0ed7572907f269ddd55b584658c9ccd2 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-08-28 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / The Age of Discovery was an important historical period that occurred between the end of the fteenth century and the beginning of the seventeenth century. It was marked in an European point of view by discovery and invasion of America, the transition from the Atlantic to the Indian Ocean in southern Africa and the rst circumnavigation travel. These transoceanic voyages were only possible thanks to a tremendous e ort to search for the development of sciences, especially, Mathematics. In the present work, we present the main instruments that was commonly used in that astronomical navigation, and a Mathematics involved on them period for. / A Era das Grandes Navegações foi um importante período histórico que ocorreu entre o m do século XV e o início do XVII e é marcada, para os europeus, pelo descobrimento das Américas, pelo estabelecimento da rota do Atlântico para o Índico pelo sul da África e pelas primeiras viagens de circunavegação do globo terrestre. Essas viagens transoceânicas só se tornaram possíveis graças a um esforço tremendo de busca pelo desenvolvimento das ciências, especialmente, a matemática, No presente trabalho, apresentamos os principais instrumentos que possibilitaram o desenvolvimento da navegação astronômica e a Matemática aliada à criação, constru ção e manuseio desses instrumentos náuticos antigos.

Le but principal de ce travail est de fournir des outils concrets aux enseignants afin de favoriser une plus grande utilisation de l'histoire dans l'enseignement des mathématiques. Pour ce faire, nous avons réuni plusieurs activités basées sur des instruments mathématiques historiques. Comme nous croyons qu'un des liens les plus évidents entre les mathématiques et notre société est celui existant entre la navigation et l'astronomie et par le fait même, la géométrie, nous nous attardons principalement à plusieurs instruments mathématiques historiques qui, pour la plupart, ont un lien avec l'astronomie et la navigation. Nous nous attardons également à quelques instruments qui ont un lien moins direct avec l'astronomie et la navigation. Cependant, certains d'entre eux se prêtent facilement à des activités ayant un côté ludique indéniable. Les activités avec la règle et le compas à partir d'extraits de textes anciens de Bion (1723) en sont un bon exemple. Pour chaque instrument, nous faisons une description, parlons de son origine en le mettant dans son contexte historique autant que faire se peut, et proposons des activités à faire avec des élèves. Les activités proposées, qui sont le cœur de notre travail, sont détaillées de façon assez exhaustive afin que le travail d'adaptation nécessaire pour les réaliser soit minime. Nous pensons réellement que leur réalisation permet d'utiliser l'histoire dans l'enseignement des mathématiques d'une façon intéressante et dynamique. Les activités en lien avec les instruments mathématiques historiques ont cependant été séparées en deux chapitres. Dans le chapitre III, nous avons réuni les activités en lien avec le compas de proportion et le bâton de Jacob. Pour chacune des activités, nous avons mis à la fin une étape intitulée Tout au long de l'activité. Dans cette dernière étape, nous avons tenté de préciser une grande quantité de détails ou de questions auxquelles il serait important de porter attention lors du déroulement de chaque activité. Dans le chapitre IV, nous avons réuni des activités en lien avec le compas et la règle, le bâton de Gerbert, le quadrant, la sphère armillaire, l'astrolabe et le cadran solaire. La seule différence dans ce chapitre, c'est que la dernière étape de chacune des activités, intitulée Tout au long de l'activité, n'a pas été développée comme c'est le cas dans le chapitre III. ______________________________________________________________________________ MOTS-CLÉS DE L’AUTEUR : astrolabe, bâton de Gerbert, bâton de Jacob, cadran solaire, compas, compas de proportion, enseignement, histoire, historique, instrument, mathématique, quadrant, sphère armillaire

Histories of medieval astronomy have brought to light a rich textual tradition, of treatises and tables composed and computed, transmitted and translated across Europe and beyond. These have been supplemented by fruitful inquiry into the material culture of astronomy, especially the instruments that served as models of the heavens, for teaching and for practical purposes. But even now we know little about the practices of medieval astronomers: how they obtained and passed on their knowledge; how they drew up and used mathematical tables; how they drafted the treatises in which they found words to express their ideas and inventions for their particular audiences. This thesis uses a case study approach to elucidate these medieval astronomical practices. Long thought to be a holograph manuscript in the hand of Geoffrey Chaucer, the Equatorie of the Planetis (Peterhouse, Cambridge MS 75.I) has recently been identified as the work of John Westwyk (d. c. 1400), a Benedictine monk of Tynemouth Priory and St Albans Abbey. His draft description of the construction and use of an astronomical instrument, with accompanying tables, provides an opportunity to reconstruct the practices of an unexceptional astronomer. The first chapter of this thesis reconstructs Westwyk’s astronomical reading and understanding, through an examination of the other manuscript that survives in his hand: a pair of instrument treatises by the outstanding monastic astronomer Richard of Wallingford. I show how Westwyk copied this manuscript in a monastic context, learning as he annotated texts and recomputed tables. In the second chapter I discuss the purposes of planetary instruments such as equatoria, their place among other astronomical instruments, and the physical constraints and possibilities experienced by their makers. Through this discussion I assess the craft environment in which Westwyk came to write his own instrument-making instructions. Chapters three and four assess Westwyk’s language, explaining the basis for his choice to write a technical work in the vernacular, and analysing how his innovative use of Middle English furthered his didactic objectives. In the final chapter, I undertake a technical reassessment of the Equatorie treatise, an integrated analysis of the instrument with the somewhat neglected tables that Westwyk compiled alongside it. The thesis thus applies a range of methodologies to examine the practices and products of a single inexpert astronomer from all angles. It aims to show what an in-depth case study approach can offer historians of the medieval sciences.

Translations of works containing Arabic and ancient Greek knowledge of the philosophical and mechanical underpinnings of the natural world—a field of study called natural philosophy—were disseminated throughout twelfth-century England. During the twelfth and thirteenth centuries, institutional (ecclesiastical/university) scholars received and further developed this natural philosophical knowledge by reconciling it with Christian authoritative sources (the Bible and works by the Church Fathers). The subsequent discourse that developed demonstrated ambivalence towards natural philosophical knowledge; institutional scholars expressed both acceptance and anxiety regarding the theory and practice of alchemy, astrology/astronomy, and humoral/astrological medicine. While the institutional development and discourse surrounding natural philosophical thought is well-represented within medieval scholarship, an examination of the transmission and reception of this institutional discourse by broader sectors of English medieval society is needed. Examining fourteenth- and fifteenth-century Middle English public writings, texts, and copies of Latin works provides an important avenue of analysis when exploring the transmission and reception of institutional natural philosophical discourse to the laity. By comparing the similarities of discourse evident between the institutional and lay texts and the textual approaches the Middle English writers employed to incorporate this discourse, these works demonstrate that the spheres of institutional and lay knowledge traditionally separated by medieval historians overlapped as the clerics and laity began sharing a similar understanding of the philosophical underpinnings of the natural world.

Since its foundation between 1410 and 1414 the University of St Andrews has acquired what can be considered to be ‘artefacts of significance’. This somewhat nebulous phrase is used to denote items that have, for a variety of reasons, been deemed to have some special import by the University, and have been displayed or otherwise presented in a context in which this status has been made apparent. The types of artefacts in which particular meaning has been vested during the centuries under consideration include items of silver and gold (including the maces, sacramental vessels of the Collegiate Church of St Salvator, collegiate plate and relics of the Silver Arrow archery competition); church and college furnishings; artworks (particularly portraits); sculpture; and ethnographic specimens and other items described in University records as ‘curiosities’ held in the University Library from c. 1700-1838. The identification of particular artefacts as significant for certain reasons in certain periods, and their presentation and display, may to some extent reflect the University's values, preoccupations and aspirations in these periods, and, to some degree, its identity. Consciously or subconsciously, the objects can be employed or operate as signifiers of meaning, representing or reflecting matters such as the status, authority and history of the University, its breadth of learning and its interest and influence in spheres from science, art and world cultures to national affairs. This thesis provides a comprehensive examination of the growth and development of the University's holdings of 'artefacts of significance' from its foundation to the mid-19th century, and in some cases (especially portraits) beyond this date. It also offers insights into how the University viewed and presented these items and what this reveals about the University of St Andrews, its identity, which changed and developed as the living institution evolved, and the impressions that it wished to project.