Thinking of the New World History and Modernity

The articulation of the concept of New World is directly linked to the renewal of the foundations of European medieval knowledge. Realizing the presence of land beyond the horizons defined by modes of knowledge-construction inherited from the late Middle-Ages led to a reconsideration of the outdated historical discourses which had established such boundaries. This rearticulating entailed the elaboration of an accurate historical narrative, thenceforth distanced from poetic discourse so as to allow the historical and cosmographical delineation of India and the New World. European thought thus established modern principles of knowledge-construction: the re-evaluation of testimony and its rational analysis.