Environmental Perspectives on the Cartography Analysis of Hispanic-Indian’s Areas. Northeast of the Basin of Mexico

Abstract

The spatial distribution and the relationship between society and landscape are two subjects which concern Environmental History. From the perspective of this discipline, the aim of this paper is to propose a synthetic model, useful in several scales, regarding the spatial changes and continuities that were verified during the transition between Pre-Hispanic to colonial period. Through the European colonial expansion process of sixteenth century, the practice of cartography and the map itself, originally forms of technical knowledge, will modify their character to turn into a form of the codified discourse serving the political and religious power, objet of manipulation and control, censorship and secrecy. In this work, we present some examples of maps, graphics and pictograms where, besides the multiple evidences of this process, it’s also verified the presence of hybrid cultural elements, which characterize the early colonial period.