Synopses & Reviews
To learn about its territories in the New World, Spain commissioned a survey of Spanish officials in Mexico between 1578 and 1584, asking for local maps as well as descriptions of local resources, history, and geography. In
The Mapping of New Spain, Barbara Mundy illuminates both the Amerindian (Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec) and the Spanish traditions represented in these maps and traces the reshaping of indigene world views in the wake of colonization.
"Its contribution to its specific field is both significant and original. . . . It is a pure pleasure to read." and#8212;Sabine MacCormack, Isis
"Mundy has done a fine job of balancing the artistic interpretation of the maps with the larger historical context within which they were drawn. . . . This is an important work." and#8212;John F. Schwaller, Sixteenth Century Journal
"This beautiful book opens a Pandora's box in the most positive sense, for it provokes the reconsideration of several long-held opinions about Spanish colonialism and its effects on Native American culture." and#8212;Susan Schroeder, American Historical Review
Synopsis
Although Cortes conquered the Aztec empire in 1521, imperial Spain knew little about the Mexican territory under its control when Philip II acceded to the throne in 1556. As part of a vast project to learn about its territories in the New World, Spain commissioned a survey - the Relaciones Geograficas - of Spanish officials in Mexico between 1578 and 1584, asking for local maps as well as descriptions of local resources, history, and geography. Offering the most complete contemporary record of what sixteenth-century Mexico looked like, the sixty-nine manuscript maps from this survey also highlight the gulf between colonial and indigenous conceptions of Mexico. In The Mapping of New Spain, Barbara Mundy illuminates the complex cultural negotiations that colonists and indigenes undertook in mapping the colony. Her book explains both the Amerindian (Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec) and the Spanish traditions represented in these early colonial maps, and traces the gradual reshaping of indigene world views in the wake of colonization.
Synopsis
To learn about its territories in the New World, Spain commissioned a survey of Spanish officials in Mexico between 1578 and 1584, asking for local maps as well as descriptions of local resources, history, and geography. In
The Mapping of New Spain, Barbara Mundy illuminates both the Amerindian (Aztec, Mixtec, and Zapotec) and the Spanish traditions represented in these maps and traces the reshaping of indigene world views in the wake of colonization.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 247-267) and index.
About the Author
Barbara E. Mundy is an assistant professor of art history at Fordham University and a contributor to Volume 2, Book 3 of The History of Cartography.
Table of Contents
List of Illustrations
Preface
Acknowledgments
Author's Note
Ch. 1: Spain and the Imperial Ideology of Mapping
Ch. 2: Mapping and Describing the New World
Ch. 3: Colonial Spanish Officials and the Response to the Relacion
Geografica Questionnaire
Ch. 4: The Native Painters in the Colonial World
Ch. 5: The Native Mapping Tradition in the Colonial Period
Ch. 6: Language and Naming in the Relaciones Geograficas Maps
Ch. 7: The Relaciones Geograficas and Other Viceregal Maps in New Spain
Ch. 8: Conclusion
App. A: Catalogue of Maps Studied
App. B: The Questionnaire of the Relaciones Geograficas
App. C: The Nahuatl Inscriptions of the Macuilsuchil Map
App. D: A Typical Viceregal Acordado
Notes
Bibliography
Index