Abstract

GANDINI, María Juliana. Experience, cartography and instruction. The problem of representing the new world according to Alonso de Santa Cruz. Folia [online]. 2022, n.43, pp.25-52. ISSN 0325-8238.  http://dx.doi.org/10.30972/fhn.0435844.

From 1526 to 1529, Alonso de Santa Cruz (1505-1567) took part in the expedition that Sebastián Caboto commanded towards the Solís river, as a trustee (veedor) and treasurer. Later on, while appointed as cosmographer by the Casa de la Contratación de Sevilla and of the Spanish king himself, Santa Cruz wrote the Islario general… (c. 1560), an ambitious cosmographic work in which he included a chorographic description of Brazil and the renamed La Plata river. In addition, he composed a draft containing instructions pertained to the accurate description of the Indies. Considering these instances and the different roles that Santa Cruz played in them, we will analyze both the complex links between exploration experience, cosmographic knowledge, and raison d’état, on one hand, and the broader and more complex problem of the production of an accurate representation of the New World, on the other.

Keywords : Cosmography; La Plata River; Representation.

        · abstract in Spanish     · text in Spanish     · Spanish ( pdf )