La Mudança de los Tiempos

Astrology, Medicine and Meteorology in Early Modern Iberian American Almanacs
Sergio Orozco-Echeverri (Universidad de Antioquia)
4 March 2026 · 18:00 (Lisbon) · Online

On 4 March 2026, Sergio Orozco-Echeverri will deliver the Helena Avelar Seminar on Ancient Astronomy & Astrology, hosted by CIUHCT (Centro Interuniversitário de História das Ciências e da Tecnologia) and the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Lisbon.

The lecture, titled La Mudança de los Tiempos, examines the circulation and transformation of astrological, medical, and meteorological knowledge in early modern Iberian American almanacs — the repertorios de los tiempos that structured temporal experience across the Spanish and Portuguese empires.

Far from being mere popular calendars, these almanacs functioned as portable cosmographies. They coordinated celestial configurations, seasonal prognostics, medical advice, and environmental expectations, stabilising shared temporal frameworks across distant and unequal territories. In doing so, they translated astral knowledge into practical regimes of orientation: guidance for navigation, agriculture, health, and governance.

The seminar explores how air, climate, and celestial influence were reconfigured within these printed artefacts, and how such texts contributed to the making of early modern environmental knowledge. By situating Iberian American almanacs within broader debates on astrology, medicine, and the sciences of the atmosphere, the lecture highlights their role in shaping lived understandings of time, place, and natural order.

This event forms part of the Helena Avelar Seminar series on Ancient Astronomy & Astrology and will take place online at 18:00 (Lisbon time).

Registration details and access information are available through CIUHCT.