CAT | CAS

The history of naturalist exploration follows a course parallel to the development of natural sciences. At the start, explorations only had the objective of recognising and describing new elements in nature, while today they seek explanations on the diversity observed.

The professional naturalist explorers appear in the 18th century. Since then, cartographic resources and means for exploration have improved extraordinarily. Now new habitats and places are being explored that were unthinkable just a couple of decades back.

The images of the planet and of the natural elements have parallel lives. During over 1,500 years, up to the start of the modern age, the limits of the world remained almost inalterable. The Mediterranean was at the centre and the rest of the world was still diffuse. The scientific representation of natural organisms depended on human aptitudes and the precision of the pictorial arts.

 

 

The Modern age meant an extraordinary advance. In a short time an almost exact vision was formed of the shape and size of the continents and of the arrival of photography, at the beginning of the 19th century, was fundamental for establishing the naturalist image.
Nowadays, digital technologies allow very accurate data to be obtained and at a distance from the changes that take place on the planet’s surface or in any remote natural space..

 

 

Technical evolution is also present in the resources available for exploring. Exploration tools, clothing and transport means are critical factors in achieving increasingly ambitious objectives. In aquatic environments, equipment is fundamental.

Seas and oceans bear witness to human stubbornness in exploring beyond physical boundaries. The exploration of aquatic environments is a direct reflection of technological progress oriented towards guaranteeing survival in an environment that can be lethal for human beings.