Introduction: History of early astronomy in Centaurus

Since its founding, Centaurus has served as a journal of reference for the history of astronomy. To celebrate this tradition, our first virtual issue assembles ten articles from our archives and one article that is in currently in press. Together, these articles show off the range of contributions in history of astronomy that have appeared in the pages of Centaurus from the 1950s onward. Articles cover a number of contexts that have strongly informed the development of mathematical astronomy and celestial physics in Europe: from ancient (Babylonian, Greek, Roman) to medieval (Arabic, Jewish, Latin) to early-modern. A second important theme of this issue arises naturally from these contributions placed side-by-side: the history of European astronomical development is one of trade, circulation, appropriation, innovation and continuity, over great differences in culture and geography.