“南方大陆”想象与英国南太平洋事业的发端

The Imaginationof Terra Australis and the Beginning of Britain’s Exploration of the South Pacific

欧洲的"南方大陆"假想缘起悠久,对近代早期欧洲国家的地理发现进程影响深远,同时期的英国则因兴趣的缺乏与知识的隔绝,将其视为虚幻可疑的存在。17世纪末以来,当这一地理假想已经在欧洲大陆衰落之时,英国探险家与私掠者的航海日志激发起公众对南太平洋的关注,他们在地图册、航海文集与历史地理志等出版物中热烈讨论"南方大陆"的地理位置、自然风貌与可利用性,在民族情绪中要求英国官方探索与殖民这块大陆。到18世纪中叶,南方大陆假想的理论体系日趋完备,它被谨慎地纳入海军部的决策轨迹中,在英国太平洋探索政策的关键成型期加强官方的特定关注,促成多次环球航行的发起,直至这一神话被詹姆斯·库克最终破除。在此过程中,"南方大陆"假想并非始终如一的静态观念,它是既有知识与现实需求互动的产物,同时借由出版物与人际网络,运作于民间与官方的交流对话之中。"南方大陆"假想作为英国域外期待的投射,深刻地影响了英国南太平洋事业的开启进程。

The enduring idea of Terra Australis Incognita had a far-reaching effect on Europe’s geographical discovery during the early modern period.But in the meantime,England regarded it as a suspicious illusion because of indifference and insufficient knowledge.Since the end of the seventeenth century,English peoples’national concern towards the South Pacific was aroused by the travel journals of explorers and privateers.They discussed this topic in atlases,essays,and pamphlets zealously,and urged an official exploration of that Southern Continent.In the middle of the eighteenth century,the theory of Terra Australis hypothesis had been more completed.It was brought into the consideration of the Admiralty discreetly to support several global voyages and explorations,and was finally disapproved by James Cook’s voyage.The imagination of Terra Australis was constructed in the interaction of existing knowledge and realistic demand between the official and the public,aided by publication and social network.As the projection of Britain’s imperial desire,it influenced the launching of the South Pacific exploration significantly.