Heidi V. Scott

Mining loomed large in colonial Andean society. In the eighteenth century, projects to reform existing mines and establish new ones were increasingly accompanied and shaped by mapping. Numerous mining maps from the colonial Andes are preserved in archival collections. This study examines the roles that these frequently overlooked maps played in the exploitation of the underground. How were they made and used, and what effects did they have? What do these maps reveal about colonial understandings of the subterranean? How might they enrich understandings of the Spanish American Enlightenment? These questions are explored through the prism of small stories about the mapping of mining sites in late colonial Bolivia, Peru, Chile, and Ecuador.

Landscape is never static, but changes continuously when seen in relation to human occupation, movement, labor, and discourse. Contested Territory explores the ways in which Peru's early colonial landscapes were experienced and portrayed, especially by the Spanish conquerors but also by their conquered subjects. It focuses on the role played by indigenous groups in shaping the Spanish experiences of landscapes, the diverse geographical images of Peru and ways in which these were constructed and contested, and what this can tell us about the nature of colonial relations in post-conquest Peru. This exceptional study, which draws from archival records and sources such as cartographies, offers a richly nuanced view of the complexity of colonial relations. It will be read with appreciation by those interested in Spanish history, geography, and colonialism.

Landscape is never static, but changes continuously when seen in relation to human occupation, movement, labor, and discourse. Contested Territory explores the ways in which Peru's early colonial landscapes were experienced and portrayed, especially by the Spanish conquerors but also by their conquered subjects. It focuses on the role played by indigenous groups in shaping the Spanish experiences of landscapes, the diverse geographical images of Peru and ways in which these were constructed and contested, and what this can tell us about the nature of colonial relations in post-conquest Peru. This exceptional study, which draws from archival records and sources such as cartographies, offers a richly nuanced view of the complexity of colonial relations. It will be read with appreciation by those interested in Spanish history, geography, and colonialism.