The Geographic Imagination in Early Modern Europe

The Geographic Imagination in Early Modern Europe refers to how people of that time viewed and understood the world around them. It involved the ways in which explorers, scholars, and societies pictured distant lands, economic opportunities, and cultural differences, often influenced by maps, stories, and emerging knowledge. This imagination shaped decisions like exploration, colonization, and trade, creating a worldview rooted in both curiosity and bias. It reflected evolving European perceptions of their place in the world, connecting geographical discovery with political, economic, and cultural expansion during the period.