geography and empire in the late renaissance - botero's assignment, western universalism,

8/13/2019 Geography and Empire in the Late Renaissance - Botero's Assignment, Western Universalism,

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Geography and Empire in the Late Renaissance: Botero's Assignment, Western Universalism,and the Civilizing Process

Author(s): John M. HeadleyReviewed work(s):Source: Renaissance Quarterly, Vol. 53, No. 4 (Winter, 2000), pp. 1119-1155Published by: The University of Chicago Presson behalf of the Renaissance Society of AmericaStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2901458.Accessed: 24/10/2012 07:32

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GeographyndEmpirenthe ateRenaissance:Botero'sssignment,esternniversalism,and theCivilizingrocess

byJOHN M. HEADLEYThe rticleeeksorelatehe merging,ew isciplinef eographyo he uropeanndspecificallyheberian,atholicxperiencef xpansion,ower,nd mpirenthoseecadesfSpain's lignmentith ortugalndtheir espectiveolonialnterprises.he ase fGiovanniBotero,hereeminenttalian nterpreterfAmericaor he aterixteenthentury,sexaminedntermsfCatholicxpansion,orld eography,utmoremmediatelyn termsf he uropeancivilizing rocess n the ndigenouseoplesofAmerica s that rocess ertains o thepre-Columbianivilizations,hristianonversionnd he oncurrentpracticefthe educciones.

he presentssay ttemptso draw ut and explicatehe ase for hatcomplexfforcesonstitutingithinheWesternraditioncompre-hensive, nifying,niversalizingrocessreleaseduponthe globe byRenaissanceEurope,and nowpeculiarly einforcedyan incipientgeo-graphical culture. The inherent mperialismof Europe's geographicalknowledge, estknown nthework ftheRoyalGeographical ociety ur-ing the nineteenth entury,'had its earliestmanifestationsn thenewtrajectorypon whichEngland mbarkedfter 5752 and,as willbe arguedhere, n thepractices nd attitudes f the Catholic worldofSpain and ofRome inAmerica,Asia, and Africa in short,wherever ewlandsandnon-European eoples appeared nd even where heydid not. But in con-trast o thebetterknownEnglishexamplewith tsdistinctivelymergentnational haracter,he berian, eflectingMediterraneanulturewithpro-nouncedclassicalroots nd antecedents, illevince a more universalizingcharactern itscommitmento a civilizing rocess.

*This rticle s dedicated oJohnW O'Malley n anticipationfhis seventy-fifthbirthday.twaspresentednthree reviousora uring 998:theRenaissance orkshopttheUniversityfNorth arolina, hapelHill; theTrianglentellectualistoryeminarttheNationalHumanities enter;nd at theJohn arter rown ibrary.heauthor ishesto thank hemembersfall three or heir riticismnd especially elissaBullard, eterBurke,Martin ewis, ohn ichards,nd RonaldWitt or heir houghtfuleading fthepapernd ndividualuggestions.e wishes lso o recognizegenerousrant eceivedromtheJohn arter rown ibraryllowingim o completeiswork nBotero t this resentstage f nquiry.'Richards,06-07.2Cormack,1997.

Renaissance uarterly3 (2000): 1119-55 [ 1119 ]


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1120 RENAISSANCE QUARTERLY

For such a broad inquiry fewpreliminary efinitions re in order.Fromthe verybeginning ftheir urrencyn Europe,the terms eographyandcosmographynd their onnotations ouldbe intertwined,xpressiveftheir ommonsource nClaudius Ptolemy'swn Geographia, hich n itsfirst atin translation yJacopoAngelida Scarperiawould be entitledCos-mographia.he samePtolemy fthe better nownastronomical lmagestdefines ttheoutset f hisGeographiahedecisive erm as thepictorial ep-resentation of the entireknown earth and with what it is generallyassociated"; horography,romwhich t sdistinguished,reats he ndivid-ual local parts.3Most simply tated, hegeographynherited rom lassicalantiquityncluded hree ranches: hemathematical,hechorographic,ndthedescriptive,he first est evincedby Ptolemy,he astbyStrabo.4Cos-mographyigures nly s another ame,derived rom liny ndimported yAngeli,nkeepingwith heunderstandingf theLatins nd their espect ortheauthority fPlinytheElder.5Ptolemymathematized eography, ytreatinghe celestial nd terrestriallobesas equivalent, pplying he samegrid ystem oeach, and reaffirmingheparallelbeltsorclimates.6ndeedthechartingftheheavens nd oftheearthwouldremaino enmeshed hatit is possiblePtolemy'srucialthird rojection or he earth'surface, re-sented nbook7, wasactually onstructedhroughhe use of an armillary,thetraditionalphere or he constructionftheheavens.7 he gradualde-tachment f theseterms nd their ubstantive onnotationswould in thecourseof the sixteenthenturyead to thedisplacementfcosmographianfavor fgeographia,lthough heformeramewould inger n until heendof theeighteenthentury.Secondly,s usedinthis tudy,heterm niversalonnotes hatprinci-ple inheritedrom lassical ntiquity xpressing potentiallyomprehensiveintegrationr nclusion f all peoples nto broadcommunityogether iththetheoretical,egal, nd constitutionalssues ntailed.8 he expanding ik-oumene f the Greekworld, nformed y the Stoic notion of cosmopolis,found tspractical ealizationntheRomanEmpire nd Roman Law. WhileCicerodefines hebarbarians nd theprovincials part from he resulting

3Ptolemaeus, .i (sig.a): Geographia mitatio st picturae otiuspartis errae ognitae,cum is, quae sibiquasi universaliteruntannexa.4Cormack,1991, 641-42.5De Smet, 16-17.6Cormack,1991, 644.7Ptolemaeus, II.vi (sig. M4).'I am heredrawing pon the significantxposition f this dea by Pagden, 1995, 11-62,esp.21-24, but argely s interpretedy my ownreview rticle f the book in 1996, 875-77.


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GEOGRAPHY AND EMPIRE IN THE LATE RENAISSANCE 1121

community, e extends o them t the same timethat ommunity. s An-thonyPagden nicely xpresses t: "the frontier etween he world ofcivilmen and thatof the barbarianswas forever issolving."Christianitytselfprovides furthereinforcementnd dimension o thisuniversal ynamic sevinced nthe Pauline appeal, Galatians3:28, to a transcendentneness nChristJesus.With the graftingf the ChristianChurchupon the Romancommunity, he mperium hristianum artakes fand extends his ame"simultaneous penexclusiveness,"his ension etween n apparently ar-row dentitynda potentiallyroad nclusion. heAristotelian-Ciceroniancomplex erved o demarcate heworld f civil urban)civichumanityromthebarbarians, rovincials, agani, and outsiders, etopened itself p totheirnclusion. he fifth-centuryhristian nd the ixteenth-centurypan-iardwould have recourse o this omplexmechanismf ncorporation.Inthe atterase, twouldsubsequentlyppear hat nly hepapacy, otthe classicalRomanEmpireorany of ts ecularderivatives,ossessed ny-thingapproachinga trueuniversality. or only the Christian Churchextended rsought o extend tsecumenical urisdiction o allhumankind,making ny ndependent ecular laim to suchuniversalityssentiallyhe-torical, nless tsomehow nformed ndvalidated tself ythe morecertainecclesiastical laims nd religiousura. n the sixteenthenturyucha rolewould fallto Spain - and to heralso the taskofattempting o achieveameasure ofcoincidence among the overlappingconcepts of humanity,Christianity,nd classical urban) civility.Thirdly,s used in this ssay, civilizing rocess" oes not directlyon-note theproperly istorical elativismnd subtlemutations uggested yNorbertElias inhisfundamentaltudybythattitle, ut rather blunter,more ubstantialeality,peratings an ingredient ithin hecrash rogramfor heconversion f newly iscoveredndigenous eoples:namely, hosera-tionaland humane featuresnforminghe classical radition ogetherwithfurthernhancementsycontemporary uropean culture.'While alreadyevident,s we have ust argued,ntheuniversalizingendenciesf theWest-ern nheritances serving ecisivelyo supplement hristianity,heclassicalcomponent,defining hecivilizingprocess,warrants onsideration nceagain,butnow n itsmore pecificallyeculardimensions.Amongthenewtypes fknowledgegerminating ithintheRenais-sance,geography ecommendstself orhistoricalnquiry.Althoughmostmodernprofessionaleographers nderstand eographyo have establisheditself s a distinct,ormal iscipline nly nthe ourse fthe aternineteenthcentury,herebyffectivelyismissinghedramatic evelopmentsnthe ix-

9Cf. lias, : 53-59.


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teenth entury,heearly ractitionersf this tudyn their wn timeclaimed hat heir eographyonstituteddiscipline.ndeed heymadem-portantnd fundamentaldvancesnthemathematicalndchorographicbranches f this mergingubject s well s itsbetter nown escriptivebranch,fwhichhe astprincipallyistinguishedhese arlyffortsn theeyes fthe wentieth-centuryrofessional.et he brupt xpansionfthegeographicnterprise,ootedn theheighteneduthorityfexperienceswell smathematics,asnotwithoutts mbiguities.dmittedly,heficti-tious ndthehyperbolicostled hemore cientificeaturesmphasizedhere; eography,specially nder hename fcosmography,ould ongsupportnumberftraditionalictions,s well s new nes reatedy heimaginationndthe ntoxicationfthe utopticision.10evertheless,hemathematical/cartographicmportftheyoung iscipline ould urvivethefictitiousndhyperbolicpicyclesf nflatedlaims opersonalxperi-ence ndthe ndulgentntertainmentf broad eadership.On the ther and,nemphasizinghedignitynd cientificharacterofgeographysanemergingiscipline,emust otfail oadmittsprac-tical nd ubjectiveistortionsor conomicndpoliticalnds.Asevincedin themap, eographicalnowledgeromptlyssumed heformf com-modityubjecto the nterestsfprincelyatronagend thepolitical ndcommerciallaims f mpire.hemaphad nfact ecome politicallyndcommerciallyharged roduct.n theCastilian-Portugueseontroversyover he ongitudeftheMoluccas, heprofessionaleographers,henewscientificxpertsftheday,wouldnownotablyebroughto thenegoti-ating able fhigh iplomacy,here ach ide ought oadvancetsownrival, artisanlaims.n itsbasic cquisitiveness orbetter,ts ssentiallyrhetoricalature thenewdisciplinef tudy ouldnot ffordobeneu-tral nd detached.'1The imperializing,niversalizinglementppearso beintegralo thenaturefgeography,r t east othe xploitationf his ew orm fknowl-edgebyEuropeansfthe ixteenthentury. aps representlanguagefpower nticipatingmpire:oname, o ocatemathematically,odefinear-tographicallynrelationo others ecomes he ssentialreparatorytep orpossession,ontrol, astery.12fthedevelopmentfperspectiven theRe-naissance ffordedheEuropeantheconceptualkeyto such global

"See Lestringant."On the decisivenatureofthiscontroversyor he earlydefinition fgeography ndmore generally or hemap as a commercial nd politicalproduct ee the valuable studybyBrotton, 38-53 and passim. Cf. Buisseret, 992.120n the politicalreading nd import fmaps see Harley, 988a in general nd 1988b,282 and 301, and mostrecently lair,174-75.


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dominance, omethingfthe seedofthisrecognitionccurs n thethoughtofthatgreat ioneer fperspective'study nd uses,L. B. Alberti,when heconfidentlyeeks o apply o thevisibleworld heuniversal, athematicali-sionofproportionality,irstevealed otheageinPtolemy's eography.13

IA brief onsiderationfthe emerging eographical ulture f ate medievaland Renaissance uropebestprovides henecessary istoricalontext or urinvestigation.nherentn thisnewtheater f ntellectualnterprise,he tudyofgeography perated niversalizingnd imperializingorces hatwould af-fordEurope the supreme dvantage f defining he global arena. For theenergies eleased y the new discipline f geographyn the form fmathe-maticalperspective nd thegraticule fmathematical oordinateswouldequip Europeans, speciallyberians, ith n improved artographyndnav-igation, peningup theworldto their ggressivenessnd allowing hem obegin oestablish globalarenaofopportunity;xploitation,nd conquest.Deep within herecessesfthemedieval niversity'snstruction,ocatedinthequadriviumfthe rts aculty,here xisted practicalmathematicsn-volvinggeometry nd optics- the ast of which having mplications orperspective.acrobosco'sDe sphaera, s a standard extbook, ad playedapart nthisrespect incethemid-thirteenthentury.hortly hereafter,ohnPecharm'serspectivaommunesecame he tandard extbooknoptics ttheuniversitiesown totheendofthe ixteenthentury. lthoughheworkdidnotaddress hedistancing actor nd therationalizationf pace, t neverthe-less ought odescribe owobjects ppear o n observer.14uringtheperiod1344 to 1357, at the UniversityfParis,Domenico da Chivassomovedto-wardtreating erspective, enceoptics, as a mathematical cience,to beincluded with the originalfourof the quadrivium,which now in its ex-panded formcomprised arithmetic,geometry,music, astrology, ndperspective5Bythe imeAntonioPollaiuolo xecuted he ombfor opeSix-tus V in 1484, he includedPerspectivas theEighthLiberalArt. 6And atthe turn fthecentury henAlbrecht irer cameto explain hewordper-spectivasmeaning seeing hrougheinDurchsehung)atherhan he arlieroptical enseofa seeing learly, perspectivaliewofspacehademerged, olonger atisfied ith heforeshorteningf ndividual bjectsbut nowgoingon to thecreation f a systematicpace,a managed distancing: heentire

3Gadol, 98.4Lindberg,9-35.5SeeVescovini.6Lindberg,2.


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composition ad been turned nto a windowallowing ne to look into thisrationalized, rtificial pace.7 Panofskydentifieshis inear,perspectivalconstruction s expressivef "a quite specific,ndeedspecificallymodernsenseof pace,or fyouwill, ense ftheworld."Wellmighttbeinquired sto themeaning fthis lidefrom aumgefzthl"sense fspace")to Weltgepfihl("sense ftheworld")onlybymeansof a merewennman o will "or fyouwill").'8 Welt otonly ntailsmost mmediatelyhephysical niverse, rag-gingwith t profound mplicationsor tsmeasurementnddescriptionnanascent eography,utmore argelytsuggests totalperspectivalonscious-ness nd a distinctivelyestern erceptionfreality.'9Yetone ofthedistinctiveeaturesfgeographys a new ncipient ype fknowledgewas tsnecessarynd essentialinkswithpracticalitynd applica-tion;whatevertsmathematicaloots ntheuniversity,eographyrom hestartppeared s anapplied ciencedevelopingonnections ith earnedhu-manistic irclesoutsidetheuniversityuch as thatof Paolo Toscanelli nFlorenceor the Portuguesemonarchs'patronageofJewish stronomers.Here Abraham acuto significantlyffectedhe receptionf slamic stron-omy nd cartographyythePortuguese,s theymovedout ntotheAtlantictoclaimnew slands ndas theynched heirway o fatefullyown thewest-erncoastof Africa uring he fifteenthentury.20uildingupon and itselfgeneratingn improved nowledge fgeography hroughuccessive arto-graphic refinements,navigation provided the tangible evidence andannouncement fthe diverserootsand practicalitiesf the newscience.Moreover, hrough avigation hristianity ould at lastbe able to imple-mentglobally ts claims to universality.21he compasswould serve asmetaphor or typeofknowledge hat uguredEurope'sencompassmentandpotential onquest ftheglobe.No single vent o mobilized nd reorientedhisnew earning s there-covery nd translationnto LatinofPtolemy'sGeographia,ithertoost totheWest. Let itbe recognized t the outset hatthiseventprofoundly e-flectedwhatwe havecome to expectof humanism nd theRenaissance: toccurredwithin he circle f young,Greek ficionados, reated y ManuelChrysoloras's resencen Florence t theendof thefourteenthentury.ntheGeographia,tolemy efines is subject s a survey fthe arth n its ustproportionsndhe calls upon its practitionerso concentrate pon the po-

"7Panofsky,7; 75-76."Ibid.,15.19Ibid.20Goldstein,4-25; eed,1995,118-26.21Phelan, 8.


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sitionratherhan the nature fa place. Likewise,n itsopening hapter eposits mathematical roportionalitys applicable both to geographyndpainting.The Geographia an well be judged the most significantinglework n the Italian Renaissance'srecovery f classical texts, or twouldbeckonartists nd astronomers, artographers,nd navigators o applyamathematicalroportionalityo thevisibleworld.22Through Jacopo Angeli's translation, tolemynow describedto theLatinworldof cholarship hree rojections. f these he ast, n a modifiedconic surface, ould pictorially eveal o the earned ublic nitsfirst arto-graphic ublication,Bologna, 1477, the thenknown nhabitedworld, heoikoumene.t is difficult o recreate he awe imparted y that ntellectualachievement perhaps heonly omparablemodern ffecteing hat on-veyed by theApollo photograph of Earthrisetaken fromthe moon.Ptolemy's epictionof theoikoumene,r moreprobably fourteenth-cen-turyByzantine econstructionased upon his third rojection, reated hepurchasersf thevolume t a glance o a perspectiven all thatmattered,arsuperior o what theOlympiangods had beenenjoying.23his capacity ostandoutside nd beyondone's tinyhome,thisplanet, nd plot ts surfacethrough erspective nd mathematicswould culminate t theend of thecenturynthetangible, esthetic s wellas intellectualxperience f thefirstterrestiallobe,producedbyMartinBehaim, nthe ame year hatColum-bus sailedwest.If we may pressfurtherhe mplications f thistangiblereduction fthe macrocosm o the microcosm hrough he earth'smapping, ffectednthesubsequent decades, we can beginto appreciate heintellectual, es-thetic delight derived fromthe mathematical achievement of GerardMercator. n theDuisburgcartographer'swn choice of theword tlas fter1569 todesignate is structuredollection fmaps,he raises he aestheticexperience fintellectual ossessionto the evelofgod-likemastery ndcomprehension. ombiningboth divine nd human qualities n itssuper-natural inclusiveness, this microcosmic renderingof the macrocosmbordersupon thearchetypal ermetic xperience fmastery, ossession,empire hroughnosis.24

220n the recovery f the manuscript f Ptolemy's eographyee Hankins, 119-27; on itscontent nd import ee Gadol, 69-71.23Seemap 1.24The mport f the cognitive esonances reatedby mapping nd terrestial lobeswar-rants urtheronsideration or he ate Renaissance.On Mercatorhere ee Akerman, 1, 24;on geography nd possession ee Blair,174-75.


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We think f the Renaissance o muchas humanism's ecoveryf classi-cal rhetoric hatwe take forgranted,ven gnore, hat ranspositionfthemind, hat ntellectual ffortoattempt o bring rom fixed antage ointthevestiges fan age and itsculture nto focus.This aspectofperspective,ofseeing, pplied to time, perspectiveessmathematical han emotionaland cognitive, othevinced nd promoted deepening ndnew complex-ity othe elf. imilarly,heapplication fperspectiveospaceby meansofcartography nd mathematics, est known n Renaissancepainting,hadconcurrence nd complementarityn Europe's geographical ccomplish-ments hatmoved towardher conquestof the globe. Moreover t the veryleastin the mathematical sesofperspective,whathas longbeen recog-nized as the hallmark of Renaissance painting applied as well to con-temporaryartography.or n therecourse o perspective,aintersnd car-tographers ovedtogether nd initsearly seswereoften onjoined nthesame person.25 ervingto nurtureBrunelleschi'sgreatexperiment hatwould establish inearperspective,he Ptolemaicseeingfrom ne fixedpointwith tsmathematical onstructionfspace had invaded Florentinehigh, ay ociety; rtists,he cientificallyifted, luswealthy atrons ouldbe foundconvening t a newscriptorium ngaged n thereproductionfPtolemaic tlaseswhose hand-coloredmaps,notaccidentally,erereferredtoaspitture.26ndeed twould appearthatrather hanrhetoric r evenphi-lology, dame Perspectiva,he human mind's capacityintellectually oproject nd to survey oth ntime nd inspace,this ontrolled istancing,bestassembles heenterprises well as theimport fthatculturalmove-mentidentified s the Renaissance. Only ifwe appreciatethe decisivenature fthisdistinctiveommonground haredby cartographersnd art-ists n theconstruction f a rationalized pace can the so-called Age ofDiscoverywith ll its mplicationse conceptuallyntegratedntothemaincourseoftheEuropeanRenaissance.Yetperspectivelonebyno meansexhausts he mmediate ignificanceof the Latinpublication fPtolemy'sGeographia. espite itsgrave imita-tions,which hrough hecourse fsuccessive ditionswould ead to itsfinaldisplacement yOrtelius's tlas of1570, Ptolemy's orkpossessed notherfeature nstructiveo our purposehere. Ptolemy ast a net orgraticule fmathematical oordinates verthe faceoftheoikoumene,he atitude ndlongitude ftheAlexandrianchool,whereby e couldpresumablystablishwithmathematicalxactitudehe ocation f ndividual laces.The assump-

25Buisseret, 998.26Edgerton, 8-99; Broc,205-21, esp. 205-07 and 217-21 for he ntimate ssociationand collaboration fpainters nd geographersntheordering fspace.


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tion makingthis act possiblearisesfrom heconfidence hat the earth'ssurfacesessentiallyomogeneous, huspermittinguch mathematization.The gridwouldshortlye extended o theentire lobe andconstitute vitalfeaturef thenewgeography.olumbushimself, ollowing is firstoyage,willcall for newmapfornavigationwherein hecollocations ffordedylatitude nd longitudemight eplace hewindroseof formerartography.27The gridwouldnotonlybe extended lobally o an expanded cumenebutrefined nd tightenedvermore ncreasinglyobecomeanothermetaphorforhumanexistencen thedawningmodern ge.

An awakening enseof a newtype fknowledge reets sfrom hebe-ginning f thecenturyndcontinues oresound.From heSwiss antonofSt. Gallentheeminent olymath oachim adian n hiseditionof theclas-sical geographer omponiusMela (1518) willgivea significantwist oPlato'sadmonitionthat no man is human without knowledge farith-metic; now those are designated inhumaniwho lack a knowledge ofgeography. e willgo on to celebrate hatfollowing ponVespucci'sdis-covery fAmerica sic) this andappears obe populated nall itszones,asthePortuguesehavealso made clear n theirpenetration f thesouthernhemisphere.28n producingwhatwouldbecome for he sixteenthenturythe standard extbook fmathematical eography, eterApian speaks nhisdedicatoryetter o theArchbishop fSalzburg,figurings preface ohisCosmographicusiber f1524, notonlyof thegeographicaisciplina utalso of thegeograficatcosmographicarofessio. o a learned public stillgroping ts wayamid the explosiveknowledge f the globe,Apian definesgeographynterms fcartography,lthough he term s stillto be mintedand hiscontinentss notyet dentical o the moderncontinent.29ikewisewithPhilip I's cosmdgrafoayor, lonso de SantaCruz,serving he Houseof Tradeat Seville 1536-1564), theprologue o his slario eneral e todaslas islasdelmundodefinesgeography s thedescription rpictureoftheearth terra),whilecosmographys a scienceordisciplinewhich treats fthe universemundo); nd the authorproceeds odefine hevocabulary fhissubject.30

Towardthe endof his ifeSanta Cruz found youngcollaborator ndintellectual eir nJuanLopez de Velasco,whowould composethegreatestsinglegeographicalynthesisfambas ndias in the sixteenth entury,l-thoughnot published untilthreehundredyears ater.His Geografta27Rico, :600; cf.Thrower, 1-53.28NWf,:267, 270.29Lindgren,55.30For he text f Santa Cruz's slario eneral ee Naud6, 127-70 at 140, 145.


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descripcidnniversal e as ndiasprovided hemost oherentynthesisf re-gionalgeography or NewWorld hat ncluded hePacific rea nd farthestAsia as well as the Americas.Appointed o theCouncil of the ndies as itsfirst osmigrafoeal, his elf-mademan, ackingnall academic redentials,workedunder ts able president, uande Ovando 1571-1575. Apparentlyacting pontheunrealizedntentionsfhis formermentor,antaCruz,Ve-lascocomposed searchinguestionnairefthirtyuestions irected o500communitiesntheNewWorld, hetrueharbingerfthenewbureaucraticage.31The resultingRelaciones eogrdficasn itstopographic nd ethno-graphic spects, ts nquiry nto the resources f the new lands and theirpopulations, at once introduces us to the chorographic level of six-teenth-centuryeography.n itseffort o provide detailed informationsuitable ogovernment,dministration,nd policy, heworkbestexempli-fies henaturalinkbetween eographynd empire. urthermore,ta timewhengeography as definingtselfpartfromosmography,hegeographicwork f thecosmdgrafoeal workgeodetic/astronomic,thnographic,e-mographic, nd topographic suggestshatgeography'sater mergencesa recognized isciplinenthenineteenthentury as ina sensea reoccupa-tionofsomeofthose ategoriesarlierncluded n the morphous otionofsixteenth-centuryosmography.Ingeography'sffortsodefine tself nd achieve ntellectualespectabil-ity, t resumes ts mathematical oots n theuniversity,hile at the sametime dvancingmorepubliclytspractical nd descriptivespects.GiuseppeMoletti, Filosofo t Matematico ccelentissimo,">hoprecededGalileointhechair fmathematicst Padua,willconsciously ddress llthetermsndrulespertaining o geography, hen participatingn GirolamoRuscelli'stranslationnd edition fPtolemy's eographia1561). In treatingmaps, a-bles,and the collocation fcoordinates, e sought o drivehissubject llaperfettioneellascienza.EmulatingPtolemy, e aspired o producean en-tirelynewgeography fthe whole earth,but as it is found today comehoggicdi truova)withtheir oordinates.32nd shortly rom isa,wherehehad held the chairofmathematics ecently ccupied byGalileo, FilippoFantoniwouldproduce ttheend ofhis ife n unpublishedCompendiariainstitutioosmographiaetastronomiaerima earum rtium udimenta om-plectens which, while addressing the announced rudimentsof thesedisciplinesartium), urns mphaticallyn thedirection f thatdescriptivetype fgeographyowemerging ithgreater requencyromhepress.33 y

31Butzer,53-57, 361; cf.Mundy,18.32Favaro, 1-53.33Schmitt,6-60.


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1616 a distinct hairforgeography ad been establishedtLeyden,whichwasrapidly ecoming urope'sforemostniversity.34This rudimentaryurvey f the tentative eginningsfgeographys adistinct orm fknowledge asbeenrequired otsimply ecause he ubjectseems ohaveescapedthedirect ttentionf historians or uggesting dif-ferents well as expanded understandingf theRenaissance;rathermorespecifically,t s thepeculiarly niversalizingheme ssociatedwiththe ad-vancementofgeography hat also must claimour attentionhere. For itwould appearthatno other ntellectual iscipline,nchoateordeveloped,serves hetotalcomprehensivespirations, hetherxploitativer mission-ary, f a civilizationas does geography.By itsverynatureglobal, in itsimmediate ddress o the andsand peoplesoftheearth,when associatedwiththe mproved echnologyfsixteenth-centuryavigation, eographicknowledge roughtheentire lobewithints urveyndeventual ompass.Inkeepingwith tsPtolemaic oots, eography asat onceclosely ssociatedwithcosmography, ertainingo theastronomicalystem,ndyet, s thestudy f theearth, eography ould nthecourse fthecenturyecome n-creasingly etached and defined apartfromcosmography. uch a richheritageerved o establish hepeculiarlyniversalizingharacterfgeogra-phyas a newknowledgethatcould be exploitedforreligious,political,economic, ndmilitary urposes pona global tage.The dimensions oour problem fa universalizingrocessdo notendthere.Forthenavigation nd confidence hatsuddenlymade the wholeworld ccessible oEuroperevealedmoreprofound nd subtle spects otheopportunitiesndchallengesffordedygeographysa new form fknowl-edge.The thoughtsftwohumanistsommandourattention:he Hellenicscholarand Protestantheological eader at Basel at thebeginning fthecentury,imonGrynaeus,ndMicheldeMontaigne t itsend.Grynaeus's areer xemplifieshepassageofhumanismfrom iterarytexts otheapplication f tscriticalxegesis omathematical,osmographi-cal, physical,botanical, medical, and metallurgical texts: to be sure,humanism nd sciencehere oalesce.To himthediscovery f a new conti-nentwasnoaccident uttheproduct fman's ational owers; he ystematicinquiryntonature s partofthe divinerevelation ecame a religious ndspecifically hristian uty.Anticipatinghe ater nd moreextensive ollec-tionsofRamusio and ofHakluyt,he published n 1532 his Novusorbis,whichbrought ogether number faccounts fexploration,ome pre-dat-ingColumbus. n a prefatoryetter e proclaimedmathematicsnd physicsas thehighest uxiliary isciplines ftheology, ornatural hilosophy ro-

34Gusdorf,.1:383.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIRE N THE LATE RENAISSANCE 1131

vides nother ype fknowledge f the upremeArchitect an intellectualdevelopment hichwould culminatewithRobertBoyle nd theRoyalSoci-ety.n a resonant assagehe acclaims ationalman's vercoming, astering,and harnessing f every pparent bstacle hatNaturemight resent oncethereliabilityndconstancyfNaturehad been establishedthome":

Indeed, he cuity f thehuman]mind urpasseslloftheforcesfNature,andas tfindsts wnway hroughllobstacles,ulfillinghedesire hiche-cretlynd ilentlyevoursvery ell-formedntelligence. . and s tperceivesYoumore losely,ather,nYourworks,twillbecome llthemore eeply er-turbednd ts isceralppetite illburn ll themorentensely.hus tfollowsYou throughll seas, o all ends fthe arth s f razed. ..

Thus had the ntellectualontemplatio undi, owraisedbya broadly on-ceived geographicalknowledgeto a pitchofreligiousfervor, ecome aravenous hirst, ecognizing o barriers,o master heglobe.Was itreallythis hat heChristianGod had intended this ncompassing niversaliza-tion? Plus oultre, ndeed No wonderthat as theSpanish juggernautofconquest nd explorationurned s itdid inthe ixties o farthestsia, t eftin its wake in thegovernor's alace at Santo Domingo the mottowrittenover he escutcheon: TheWorldSufficethot."36WithMontaigneweencounter less ppalling,more ttractivespect otheuniversalizingngredientnEuropean ivilization. rom hetower-studyonhis estate utside fBordeaux, heessayist ouldreflectponthepresentransacking fAmerica:"So many cities razed, so many nations extermi-nated, so many millionsof people put to the sword . . and [all] for hetrafficnpearls ndpepper " 695). And earlier: Our worldhas ust discov-ered anotherworld, and who will guarantee that it is the last of itsbrothers . .?" (693). Montaignewillconclude llhis ifemusingsnthecul-minatingmasterdeaof thecommun umain: hedefinitionndaffirmationofthecommon,humanpattern, niversallypplicable the ntrinsicoli-darityand mutualityof all humankind - risingto thatwonderfulstatementn"On Repentance" hat achpersonbearswithin neself heen-tire orm fthehumancondition 611, 857).37For t has been said that hediscoveriesad thus nvented umanity. erepresumablyhere s intendednot thetraditional, lassical dea ofhumanitas s an individual, ubjectiveendowment utrathern incipient otion fthehumanrace s a single ol-lectivity.38 his sudden exposureto an apparentlyfully nhabited, yet

5Pendergrass,6.36Scammell, 12. For CharlesV's mottoPlusoultre,eeRosenthal.37Montaigne, 1965; cf.Villey nd Saulnier's 988 editionof Les essais :13, 1116.38Godinho, 1; Bddeker, 074-76.


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extra-Christian orld, hisabruptly xpandedecumenewith tsvarietyfpeoples,would ntime reate n increasinglyecular, eligiouslyeutralens,gradually evealing he commonbiological ndmoralunity fhumankind.Differentlyxpressed,n the terriblehockofEuropeansuponhitherto n-knownpeoples, he contacts osited he fact fhumanity s an idealto berealized n some distant uture. orbeyond he brutal mpact nd beyondthe mmense roblem fAdam'snew found hildren,he ntellectualnstru-ments ffordedythe recrudescencefStoicism nd naturalawfalterednachievingheuniversalommitmentmplicitnthe dealof a singlehuman-ity.But in the context f so muchexplication,he hope presented ythisuniversal deal brieflyttained rticulation. s AlphonseDupront arguedfifty ears go: "The truefruit fthe Discovery f theWorld' s thecerti-tudeofa commun umain."39The apparent gentfor he realization fthe multiplemplications oruniversalism ithin he Western raditionwas none other han the Catho-lic King, Philip II ofSpain. By 1580, through hepersonalunionwithPortugal nd the alignment f the twoIberiancolonialempires, o mon-archon earth r in earlier istory,ther han theMongol Khans, had evercommanded,however mperfectly,o much real estate.Philip's mmediateextra-European oldings evealed colonialism niqueinthat tsought oincorporatehe ndigenouspopulations nto a total, omprehensive ath-olic system. he broadlyheld belief dvancedbymostcartographerss tothe existence f a great outhernontinent,incethe1540s known s TerraAustralisor Magellanica, presumably ulsatingwithother peoples andabounding n resources, eld out theseeming pportunityorfurtherx-ploitationand missionizing n a world whose boundariesstillawaiteddefinition.WithinEurope tself he talianpossessions fCastile nNaplesandMilan provided hemostevident upport o theSpanish mperial ys-tem. Fromeach citywould come, in the last decade of the sixteenthcentury,hepreeminent olitical tatementsftheage:fromNaples, Tom-masoCampanella'sMonarchiadi Spagna;fromMilan via Rome GiovanniBotero'sRelationi niversali.n the case of the atter,henature f his as-signment,which servedto generatethe composition oftheRelations,compelledhim to look beyondtheSpanishmonarchy o thepresenceofChristianityngeneral hroughoutheglobe.Forhispatron nd lord,Fe-dericoBorromeo, ardinal-ArchbishopfMilan, inquiredwhat thenewly

39Dupront,3. Even nthehell hat stensibleuropean niversalismad created ortheAfricannd ndian eoples, hefragile,lickeringurvivalfnotions fhumanityndnatural ightsan be found otonly n thewritingsnd actions f Las Casasbut lsowithTomas e Mercado, artolomeeAlbornoz,ndAlonso e Sandoval. n this eeBlackburn,150-56.


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constituted lobe signified or he Christian eligionn general.40he as-signmentntrinsicallyequired n extensive xercisenthat hird ranch fgeography,he descriptive,ogether ithan assessment f political ondi-tions and opportunities hroughout he globe. Less technical nd math-ematicalthanpolitical and narrative, otero's addressingofgeographywould engagethe mperializingeatures f thenewsubject.

IIBorn nPiedmontn 1544,GiovanniBoteromaturednthe brilliantumi-nosity mparted ythe talianCounterReformationnd a restored ome,asit assumed tstriumphalist,aroque guise. His trainings a Jesuit roughthiminto contactwithRobertBellarmine s a classmate.But after lmosttwenty ears s a Jesuit, certainwaywardnessn his temperamentmadehimunsuitablefor heSociety, nd eightyears fter is ordination o thepriesthood, n 1580, he honorablywithdrew rombecoming professed.Carlo Borromeo, he mposingCardinal-ArchbishopfMilan, drewhiminto his service nd madehim hissecretaryor he ast two years f thatre-former'sife.Between1584 and 1586, Botero erved he House ofSavoy nParis ndthen nteredhe ervice f FedericoBorromeo, ousinofCarlo,astutor nd later s secretary.hortly hereaftere published he first f histhreemainworks,TheCauses f heGreatnessfCities,whichwould providethechief laim forBotero's eputations thefounder f demographictud-ies. Indeed, his awareness of the increasein Europe's population, thestrengthfa political ommunityn terms f tspopulation, nd histheo-rizing n the nfluence fdisease, amine,nd waruponpopulationswouldcarry verhenceforthntohis aterworks.Although reditedwithbeing hefirst emographers wellas thefirst ceanographer,oterohasbeengener-allyassessed s at besta second-ratemind whoseliterary roduce,bytheverynature f ts argely edestrian ature,ent tself o a wide, ay reader-

40Botero, 622, Relationi niversalihereafter,u) 3.1.3-4. There is no bibliographicalstudy nd analysis f the Relationi niversali ther han the ndividual temsprovided n Eu-ropeanAmericana nd Streit's ibliothecaMissionum, ol. 1. After heBergamoedition of1596, subsequent ditions ollowwithonlyminor hanges nd rearrangements,speciallynthe dedicatory etters o the separate ooks constitutingach of the fourparts.The only de-parturefromthis basic organization occurs when Parteprima becomes so long that theprinter r author ought o separate ut, as volume 2, all the materials earingupon islands,in apparent espect o the ong established radition f the solario. he pagination s in ac-cordance with each individual part. On the basis of the numerous editions thatI haveexamined ttheJohnCarterBrownLibrary, pagination onsecutivehroughoutirstccursin the Bertani dition Venice,1671), a copy ofwhichProfessor aul Grendler entme. I havechosen to use here the 1622 Venice edition. The first umberrepresentsheParte, he sec-ond, the ibro, nd the third efers o the page therein.


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ship. TheReasonofState,whichappeared n 1589, broughtnto ssue theamoralityfMachiavelli orpolitics nd served o promote he iteraturefanti-Machiavellianism.ythiswork,he is bestknown o us today.Yet twould be his thirdwork, he Universal elations, hichwould givethegreatesturrencyo the uthornhisown time.Beginning irstn 1591,withsubsequentpartscomingout in 1592, 1595, and theBergamofirstcomplete ditionof 1596, thisvastcompendium fcontemporarynowl-edge of the knownworld - physical, geographical,anthropological,economic,political, nd religious marked newgenre,namely hatofpoliticalgeography.he book would remain ornearly centurythetrueand proper eopoliticalmanualof thewholeEuropeangoverninglass," c-cording oLuigi Firpo.Before heend of the eventeenthenturyver ixtyeditions ndtranslationsf thetotalityr tsparts ppeared nLatin 1596),German 1596), English 1601), Spanish 1603), and Polish 1609).41The universal, omprehensivenquiry xpected fBotero's ssignmentfigureds part fa larger oncurrencefevangelical nergies vincedbyCa-tholicism t this time. Forin the astdecade ofthe sixteenth entury hegreatground wellof Rome'srevival est expressed tself n the manifoldprogramsorworld vangelizationrestingt thecentury'surn.The globalopportunities,resented yvistas fextra-Christianeoples tretchedut toRome,wouldsoon lead to the establishmentf theCongregatio e Propa-ganda Fide in 1622. Our former esuit hareda space/timewith someformidableontemporariesngaged n theenterprisefproselytizingn aglobal cale:Jose e Acosta ndAlonsoSanchez,MicheleRuggierind Mat-teo Ricci, AlessandroValignano and Antonio Possevino. Botero onlydifferedrom isformerellow esuitsn thathe would never eavehisdesk

41Bireley,6-48; cf. Firpo's rticle n Botero,particularlyt 357 wherehe broadlygives"un centinaio" of editionsand translations, hileBireleyunaccountablyreckons ighty.count sixty-one. n Botero'sworkbeing the geopoliticalmanual of theentire uropean gov-erning lass, Firpo ndeed proved oo enthusiastic. he Englishreceptions disappointinglylimited o the secondpart, hepolitical, nd thenbecomes n successiveater ditionsfirsttravel uide to Europe and then n epitomeof theentirety.he Relations ever aw a Frenchprinting.Nevertheless, ierre 'Avity pparently ndertook French ranslation. or in hisLe monde,n thededicatoryetter o Pierre eguier,written y Claude d'Avitywitha prefaceby an anonymous riend, ho hascollected hematerials nd published hemposthumously,we read at sigs.eij-eiijv irst hat Les Geographes ntfiguree tableaude toute a terre, re-gardons e monde comme une ville, nt voulu e faire ognoistre ux hommes, ui ensont escitoyens." fterrticulatinghis dea oftheglobalvillage,newly reated ygeography nd al-readypresent n Louis Le Roy and Jean Bodin, the prefacegoes on: "traduit e Botero ennostre angue a donne moyen tous es Franqais e le lireplusfacilement."hat thework nquestion s Botero'sRu becomes clearbyallusionsto theauthorhaving ddressed he samematterss had D'Avity nd as pertaining o the anguages nd rarities f all peoples. On theRu as representing newgenre nd Botero's ractices fcompilation eeSmith,136-42.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIREIN THE LATERENAISSANCE 1135

atRome for istant artsnthemissionary ields ftheworld.The repeatedpublication fhisRelationswouldbenefit rom hoseuniversalizingorcesstemming ncemorefrom aputmundi forces hat harted broadcur-rent n thehistory fearlymodernEuropeand its relation o theoutsideworld. n factPossevino's wnplanforworldevangelization, resentnhisBibliothecaelecta, ppeared n 1593 almost imultaneously ith hebegin-nings f Botero'smore xpresslyeographical ffort.42The Relationi niversalis laid out infourparts:1) thegeneral olloca-tion of continents nd islandscomprising heterraqueousglobe; 2) themajorprinces nd states f theglobe; 3) theearth's eoples nd their eliefs;and 4) the uperstitionsf thepeopleof theNewWorld nd thedifficultyfintroducingheChristian eligion. lthough twill be this astpart hatre-quires ur study, few alient haracteristicsegardingotero'spproach anbe quickly ulledfrom heearlier arts.God, we aretold,has given o man the ompassfor vangelization tofacilitatehepreaching f thegospelto thosepeoples ong buried npagan-ism and also to compensate hechurchfor osses to heresy nGermany swellas northernurope ngeneral:It allows im opursue henvestigationow f newworld, ow f heArcticstrait,ow heAntarctic,ow heMoluccas, ow hePhilippines,ow he o-lomonslands,ndtocircumnavigatelltheworld n a fragile oodenhip, sif ontendingn both peed ndgreatnessf xtent ith hose f he un.43

Boteropartakes fa Europeangeographicalnowledge f theworld hatis still nconclusivendinneed ofdefinition.n addressinghe mergingactoftheso-calledNewWorld,he preferso speakofcontinents, amely wo,America ndMagellanica, hefirstomprisedftwohugepeninsulas, orthand SouthAmerica,inkedbyan isthmusnNicaraguawhichwouldappeartoinvite,morepoliticallyhan conomically or pain, canal.Weighingtscosts n laborand treasure,otero eems ohesitate n itsconstruction. orifGod hasgiven heworldfor he useof ushumans,has he notplacedter-

42Donnelly;f.Chabod, 90-96.43Botero,u1.4.170: . . . e qui sipu6veramenteonoscereuanto ddio i diletti i faroperationi araviglioseermez[z]i assi, dipochissimoilievo:erche,hecosaha inseun'aguglia iferro,tropicciataon a calamita, i riguardevole,dipretioso? purda leidipendeamaggiormpresa,lapiuammirabilerte,he i essercitiall'huomo,h'e anav-igatione. llaporge rdimentolmarinatei asciarsidietroe Gadie'l termine,hepose.//A'primi avigantiercolenvitto.di mettersiell' nchiestaora i unnuovoMondo;horadello tretto,rtico; oradell'Antartico;oradelleMolucche; oradelleFilippine; oradell'isoleiSalamone; digirareopra n fragilegno,uttolmondo,uasi ontendendo,divelocita, di grandezzai viaggio'l Sole."Cf. 1.1.1-2.Alltranslationsf Botero remyownunless therwisetated.


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minito the ea not tobe removed y human rdor?1.5, 177; 1.[5].189)AsforMagellanica,whichfor hemajorityfcosmographersurpassesngran-deur llofEurope,Asia,andAfrica, oterohimself emainskeptical; atherthan till nother ontinentprawlingroundthe earth'southern ole,thevarious xpeditionsf theEnglish ndCastilianswouldsuggesthat t s sim-ply vastnumber f slands 1.6.197, 208; 1 vol.2].1.7).In turning o the slands n the earth'surface, distinctubject n thegeography f the dayas evinced n the solario, oteroasks fthere an beany imits fa topographicalature lacedupontheRoman Church.Deny-ing any possible boundaries,and nicelycoupling theclassical with theChristian, eappealsnotonly o thetraditionalmandate ftheGreatCom-mission o go forthnd teach ll peoples Matt.28:19-20), but also to theAeneid1.278-79,when tspeaksofplacingneither imitsnor timesuponthe Romansand ofgiving hem mperium ithout nd. ForBotero,how-ever, he last reference ertainsnot to theRoman emperors,but to theRomanpontiffs1 vol.2].1.3-4).Part2 provides wo furtheromparisons hatmove n the direction fassemblinghe basis for European mperialistniversalism.n pursuit fpolitical xamples fgrandezza, otero t thevery utset laims hatustasVergil alled talypregnant ith mpire n accountof themultitudef freecities, his magecan now be extended ocontemporaryuropeas a whole,pregnant iththeexplosive nergies f rival tati, etmarked ya counter-poiseofforces2.1.1). He concludesthesectionwiththe observation hatfrom he creation f theworldtherehas never een an empiregreaterhanthatwhichGod has conceded theCatholicKing Philip I) especiallyfterthe union withPortugal 2.4.109). Locationenhancesnavigationn pro-motingtheopportunities orglobalrule: ust as Italy's ocationgaveherdominionoftheMediterraneanea, so nowSpain'sgeographical ositionprepares er er 'Imperio ell'Oceano2.4.118).In Part 'sconsiderationfpeoplesofallbelief, hristian, ew,Moslem,andpagan, hevarietiesf thefirstoom argest. eyondCatholicism, oterotreats heProtestantsunderstoodhereas schismatics),heJacobites,Ma-ronites, opts of theNearEast and NorthAfrica,s wellastheNestorians rSt. Thomas Christians f ndia. Greek nd RussianOrthodoxy eceive cantconsiderationnder Moscovia." n hisconsideration fAfrica, aughtbe-tween hedisproportionaterevalencef"Mohammadism"i.e., Islam) andthepervasivenessfGentilism, speciallynterestingre hisallusions o thePortuguese eachingut to theGrandNegusofAbyssinia, hom he associ-ates with the followersof themythicalfigureof PresterJohn. ThesePrestegiannireofMonophysiteersuasion,ocated nanexpandedAbyssiniacalledbycontemporaryeographers onomatapa n the asternoastofAf-


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ricaroughly ppositeMadagascar.nJapan ndtheMoluccas, heJesuitsndFranciscansbtain onverts.he general ictures one of catteredlusters fChristiansmidst seaofMoslems, agan dolatersGentilism), nd Jews.Thusallthemorepressing ecomethechallenge nd theopportunityfadvancing hristianityntheNewWorld.Withpart , Botero ddresseshedispositionfthenewly iscovered merican eoplestothegospel.Here hesignificantlyouches his answer n terms f a broadly ustainedpeace as afunctionfempire, romotingheclassical aluesof civicpolity.

Peace nd quietusually lourishrimarilynder greatmonarch.... Peaceopens he ortalsfkingdomsndcities, ivingccess ocommerce,xchange,themutual ommunicationfpeoples nd consequentlyo the xpansionftheword nd thename fGod. Withpeaceflourishight eaching,pright-ness, ivility,rder, ood customs,nd the rts evised o rendermanmorepleasing, ospitable,ind nd cultivated. ithouthem heres nothing....The greatnessfempirehen ignifies uch or hepreachingf hegospel fpeace, or o empirelone speace onjoined. ndfor his easonntheprim-itive hurch hristiansrayed ssiduouslyoGod for hepreservationftheRoman mpire.44Boterowould certainly ot be alone at this ime npreaching p the mplicitparallelbetween he ateRomanimperial rder nd thepresent mergingglobalorder ftheCatholicKing, nsofar s eachsought oprovide stablegroundupon which ayers f religious nstructiondoctrine)nd civicvir-tues virtz, iviltA,olitia) might e inculcated.45

"4Ru4.2.12: "Primieramenteotto ngranMonarca ioriscerdinariamentea quiete,la pace .. la pace pre 'entrate,iporte e' Regni, le porte elleCitta 'commertij,'traf-fichi,llascambievoleommunicationsellegenti: per onsequenzalla dilatationsellaparola del nomede Dio. Con la pacefioriscea dottrina,la virtu,a civilta, la politia,buoni ostumi, le arti tte render'huomo i piacevole, pii hospitale, ansueto,do-mestico, h'egli enzaquelle,non e . . . [m]olto dunque importa lla predicationsdell'EvangelioellaPace a grandezza ell' mperio,lla quale suole ommunementessercongiuntaapace:perquesta agione ella hiesa rimitivaChristianiregavanossidua-mente ddioper a conservationeell'Imperioomano." he Italianword mpericoesnotprimarilyignifympire ut omething ore eneral power, uthority,olitical rder,rule. have ried o do ustice o Botero'sndiscriminateseof he erm, utwhere he on-text eems o demand empire," hen ssociated ith herule f ungranMonarca r thewordRoman, have elt ree o use t. Similarly onarchiaas ts mbiguitiesutthey remore oliticalnd onceptualhan ntrinsicallyerbal. ornthe resenteriod fHabsburgpreponderancehere ccurs restructuringf he erms onarchndmonarchyo connoteuniversal orld mperorndempire. n thismattereeHeadley, 996,880 andtherefer-ences ited herein. hileBotero ever lludes o a SpanishMonarchy,e does apply heterm,s onemight xpect,o the hurch Monarchiael/a hiesa hristiana,shavingtsown ee seggo)nthenewly iscoveredegionsutside fEurope Ru1.1.2).450nthis oint eeHeadley, 995,643.


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In assessing he resources or ddressing he mmense roblem f con-version, Botero, always capable of thinkingconcretely beyond theimmediate ieties, dentifieshree: rms, anguage, nd the relative oliticalunity chievedthrough mpire,beforewhich therehad been neitherawsnor comity.Here the formerpostleofthe medium-sized dministerablekingdom,which madegood sensefor heEuropeancontextpresentednReason f tate, ow nthecontinentalontext fAmerica, ecomes head-vocateofempire nd theworldruler. or he seeksto relate hegreatnessfdominionto the effectiveultivation fthesciences, ndustry,nd study,which,we aretold,werenever o great swithAlexander heGreat ndAu-gustus.He seems o wanttocorrelatevangelization ith hewellorganizedexternal owerof a great uler, ngranMonarca, s the channelfor ivilityand all gentleness.46n facthe readily rants hat hepre-Columbian reatmonarchies ftheMexicans nd the ncashad achievedmportant repara-tory tepsfor hepresentask fevangelization.irst mpire erves oeffectthe commoncurrencyf anguage: ustas theGreeks,Romans,Arabs, ndPortuguese pread unifyinganguage, ikewise hepowerof the Mexicansand Incas wentfar o reduce welter fdialectsrespectivelyo a commonone, therebyn each case expediting hepresent ask of evangelization(4.2.12). Furthermorerandezza ell'Imperioerved o congregate he peo-ple, living cattered bout heretofore,nd bring hem nto one place. Incontrast o theroving xistence videnttodaywith theBrazilians,Chi-chimeca, nd Floridas, he nca and Mexicansattained mongtheir wn ameasure fcommunity,nducing hemto livetogethern order hattheymight overn hesenewly onqueredpeoplesmore asily.Here, however, efinds hatMexicosurpassed eru;whereas nlyCuzco merits eingcalled acity,Mexico has several uch.Nevertheless,efore hecoming fthe mperiodell'Inga hepeopleofPeru ived ikebeasts; fterwardshroughagrandezzadello tatodel Dominiothey chieve degree fpolitical ophistication ndeffectiveontrol o as topossess ufficientivilti o havebroughtheir eo-ples fromdispersion nd barbarism o thestabilizing rtsofagriculture,textilemanufacture, ining, nd viablegovernment4.2.13-14). Perhaps

46Ru .2.13-14: "Hor sottoungranMonarca i popoli si raffazzonano si ripuliscono;si essercitano ell'humanitai;Superiori er sapergovernare,sudditiper saperubldire, met-tere n essecutione uel, che lorviencomandato:& a Prencipi ornabene introducere e glistati oro e artiper cavarneutile, commodo,e di favorirea virtuier essere erviti on piugrandezza, decoro:e la possanza, i come desta Prencipi a pensieri enerosi, ad alte m-prese, osi eccita nche sudditi d essequirle, a metterleneffetto. ercioveggiamo, he leartid'ogni sortenon fiorano n Greciamai tanto, quanto sotto Alessandro Magno, ne inRoma, quanto sottoAugustoCesare. Crebbero on la grandezzadel Dominio le arti, le in-dustrie, e scienze& gli studij."


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIRE IN THE LATERENAISSANCE 1139

evenmore nterestingere hanBotero's ositive referenceormonarchiafthe grand tyle shisgrantingheMexicans nd Inca a respectablemeasureof native ivilt,4 rior o thearrival f theSpaniards.While idealizing heprogress nd extent fconversion, oteroreadilyadmitsthe realobstaclespresentn the customsof theAmericanpeoples:namely, odomy, dolatry,annibalism, arying egrees fnudity, lus ackof ettled esidencend effectiveovernment4.3.36-40). Christ ommandspreaching hegospel nd teachingllpeoples, utbecausenot allpeoples reof one disposition nd thesamecapacity,t s notadvisable o instructndteach hem llinthe ameway.Aristotleays hat erocious eoplesought obe tamedbyforce. n thebeginningof theenterprise ne could doubtwhethert was icit o use force, ut now t seems o Boterono longer mat-ter fdispute, specially iven hecurrent anger resented y theMoslemsin the Philippines nd the English nd otherhereticsn America.The con-version f the New World depends upon preaching,which depends upongovernment. rawing s so manyof the missionaries id upon theexperi-ence of the early hurch n order to provide ome parallel forguidance,Botero makes a significant istinction: he Apostlesfortheirpreachingneeded miracles o achieveheadway gainst heMoses of theJews nd thephilosophy f theGreeks.Buthere n theNew Worldwherebestiality re-vails, heres no needof miracles utrather fhumanhelp and ingenuityoconduce thesepeoples"ad uso di ragione, a gustod'humanita."47 nd in anotable side he observeshat hebeauty fGod's law can work odaywith-out the earlier mpediments f Greekarroganceor Jewishpresumption(4.3.41). Implicitly,otero ubscribeso thebelief, roadly eld by thereli-gious orders t east n theearlier art fthecenturynd best videntn LasCasas,whosewritings oteroknows, hat hemindsof the natives re ikewaxor putty obe shaped twill. Neverthelessone magined hat hecon-versionof the New World would be effectedwithoutmanyand greatdifficulties theprime nebeing gnorance fthe anguageswith hecon-sequent ncongruitiesrising rom neffectiveranslation4.3.42).Boterowas certainly nough the product fRenaissancehumanism orecognize he ntimateinks f anguagewith ognitionnd social bearing.fthe inguisticwall preventingffectiveommunication orthe Christianmessagewastobepierced,tfellnevitablyothe nitiativef themissionar-ies to attempt hebreakthroughrom heir ide by achievingbetter hancompetencenthenativeanguages. eyond he ntrinsicifficultyf earn-ing a pre-Columbian anguagestood an evenmore imposingdifficultysuccinctlytated y recenttudy: toconveyn an alien anguage message

47Ru .3.41:"torational abit ndhuman efinement."


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whichwas itself lien to theculturewhich thatanguage rticulated."48ot-ero's pparent espect or hebeauty f some of the native anguages t onepointallowshimtochallengernplicitlyheassumption fanyconqueringpeopleas tothetransparentuperiorityf tsowncivilization,ested reem-inentlyn its anguage.While hisrapturesver theMexicanlanguagecanelicit xclamationsegardingts richnessndbeauty,49 henh turns o de-scribethehighculture f theMechouacans,he momentarilyhrowsntoquestion hewholeenterprisefHispanicitynd for hatmatter uropeancivilization. or he claims the Mechouacanlanguage o be so copious andrich n words, o metaphorical nd sophisticated,hatthosewhoknow t,prefert to Latin.50When one considers he centralityfLatinitas forRo-manitas nd Christian ivilization, lthoughwe cannot creditBoterowithsuch grand oncepts,twouldneverthelessppearthat hispresentnthusi-asm might underminehiswhole intention.Yet his largerpurposeherewould appearto dictate he mplicit rgumenthatpre-Columbian iviltaserves,f notdirectlys apraeparatio vangelica,s had classical ulture, tleast s a useful reparationor uropeanpolitical rder nd culture.ndeedlanguagewastheproblem, rawingwith tandbringingntofocus he ssueofcivilti?ngeneral nd in itsextra-Europeanimensions.

48Pagden, 982, 158.49Ru .2.12: "la lingua Messicana ... (ch'dbellissima, ricchissima)."50Ru .5.185: "ma moltopiu si puo comprendere alla ingua oromh'6tato copiosa, ericcadi vocaboli; anto igurata, artificiosauei,ches'intendono,a preferisconolla Latina."An extraordinarytatement ven after akingntoaccounttheoccasional,yet ll too isolated,

statementsf respect fferedytheconqueror o thecultural chievements f the ndigenouspeoples. Montaignereadily ffers imself s an example 158). Cases could be multiplied:henotable nterpreternd translatoruanBaptista e Lagunas nhis Arteydictionariopeaksofthe vocabulary s "quan subtily curiosa" nd intheArte e la lenguaTarasca e is claimed tohavewrittennthe amestyle s Nebrija"porque a latitud, rasis encarecimiento el Tarascoseamuyelegantes lenosde misterios."n theprefaceo thereadernthe Vocabularion en-gua CastellanayMexicanabyAlonso de Molina wereadofthe ecrets f thenativeanguage laqual es tancopiosa,tanelegante tanto rtificio primos nsus metaforas maneras e decir."See also cazbalceta, 81 and 190. Botero's tatement ears omparisonwith hat fMendieta'ssimilar eaction, 945, 3.4:215: "Y puedo con verdad firmar,ue la mexicanano es menosgalanaycuriosa ue la latina,y aun piensoquema's rtizada ncomposcio'ny derivacion e vo-cablos, y enmetiforas, uya nteligencia uso se ha perdido,y aun el comuin ablar e va decada diamascorrompiendo." nfortunately,heworkwas notpublished ntil1870, and it smostunlikely hatBotero ould have everhad contactwithMendieta whenthe atter ame toMadrid n theearly 570s.How then rewe tounderstand otero's tatement?s itmerely or-mulaic?An empty, assingnod?Or somethingmore?The fact hat he earliest ditions f theRu, specificallyheRome, 1591-1592, and theFerrara, 592-1593, include Greek s well asLatin, hus lapreferisconolla Greca,& alla Latina" t 1.4.173 and 369 respectively,auses tslater mission oarguefor omethingmore onsidered nd deliberate.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIRE IN THE LATE RENAISSANCE 1141

Botero's ccasional nthusiasm or nother eople's ultureuggestshatlongexposure nd reflectionpon foreign eopleshad givenconsiderableelasticityo theoutlookof this hampion fBaroqueRome.The mostout-standing ndication ofour ex-Jesuit'sulturalflexibility,venrelativity,appears, s one might xpect,withhistreatmentf China. For Boterobe-longedto the first eneration fEuropeanSinophiles nd stronglycclaimsthe ntrinsic,uperiormerits fChinese nelle ose ivili politiche. fter a-vorably omparingChina'swealth, bundance, ong history, nd naturalsalubrityothoseofEurope,he willsubscribeo thewidelyheldand reiter-atedparableof the three yes n the earlymodernperiod:thatwhile theChinese have two and thepeoplesofEurope (ipopoli d'Europa)have one,therest fhumankind avenone.51The issueoftherelationship etween onversion oChrist nd conver-sion toEuropean ivilizationomes ntofocus.The twohadbeenso closelyassociatednthecourseofthe Middle Ages as tobe virtuallyndistinguish-able; onlywiththeRenaissancewould the rudimentsof a concept of"civilization" eginto emerge, he term tself aving owaituntilthe ateeighteenthentury.n hisDe inventoribuserum,n a concluding assage nthePreeminence f theChristian ommonwealth atingfrom 521, Poly-doreVergil dentifies heprocessof civilizingwith theveryheart andpurpose fChristianity;nthat hereceptionftheChristian eligioned tothereplacement fsavagerywith multitude fsocial virtues, ivilizationappears s thevirtual oal oftheChristian aith.52With theJesuits,heseapparentprioritiesremoreappropriatelye-versed. ortheJesuits,t had become matter fmissionaryolicy,whetherevangelizingnthe ndies or inthoseotrasndias, uchas the backalleys fNaples, first o establish civility" efore ttempting aptism nd formalconversion.53 e arereminded ftheir oalescence, he Christian nd thebroadly lassical,whenBotero vers hat here snothingmore liento evan-gelicaldoctrine hanunsociablenessnourbearingnd crueltyfmind,forChristpresents imselfs gentle ndhumble fheart n whichmanner t seasier o teachpeoplesmoreeffectivelyhemeaning fhumanity.We heartheapostle skingus to beareach other's urdens nd inanother lace dulytorespect ur superiors ecco a somma ellaciviltQ, dognigentilezza:

5'Ru 2.2.55. Foran extensive resentationnd analysis fthe parable of the three yes,see theforthcomingtudy fRubies,madeavailable omebycourtesy fCambridgeUniver-sityPress.For a useful treatment f Botero's political thoughtwithreference o Asia ingeneral, ee Lach,235-52.52Hay, 7-78.53Selwyn,8. I am grateful omy colleagueProf. ance Lazar forbringing his rticle omy attention. n Otras ndias see Prosperi.


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Thus considert he reatestdvantageothentroductionf he aithhat e-finement, hatevertmaybe, s introduced y governmentnd byrule(Imperio)fthegreat rincesnAmerica,ecause tremoveseoples romrudenessnd from arshness,isposinghem o thegentlenessndpleasant-ness hat o become he ife f Christian.54

The classical nforms,romotes,nd is fulfilledn theChristian. m-barkedon a processofultimateuniversalnclusionof all humanity, owmade seemingly ossibleby geographical nowledgend navigationalbil-ity,Rome throughungranMonarca,the Catholic King,was exportingChristian eligion, ecessarilyeinforcedyand itselfmparting classicallybased,European ivility.Probablymore thanany others, orhissourcesBotero eans upon Go-maraand Acosta,oftenfollowing he atter n pointsoffact,detail,andjudgment.55boutthemiddleof1592, after ompletinghe first edactionofthe "Primaparte"Botero ame ntopossession f thegreatJesuit's isto-ria naturalymoral.56 His dependenceuponAcostaforunderstandinghegeographynd ethnographyfAmerica anoften rove obe quitespecific,althoughhe showshimselfn occasions apable of emancipating is udge-mentfrom heJesuit.57 everthelesst is through isrecourse oAcosta'searlierwork, heDeprocurandandorum alute f 1588, thatwe seeBoteroto have absorbedsomething f Acosta's wareness fculturaldifferencesamongpeoples nd theconsequentenseofdue proportionndof ppropri-atelydiversemeansfor heir onversion.In the De procuranda ndorum aluteJos' de Acosta had made the twofeaturesf iteracynd settlement,utchieflyiteracy,heprimedetermi-nantsfordistinguishing ifferentegrees f civilizationwithin hebroadcategoryfbarbarism.hus theChinese s mostobviouslyiterate s wellassettled ecommended hemselvesnthe first ategory,heMexicans nd Pe-ruvians as settled but only most primitively iterate belonged to anintermediateategory, hereasuchnomadicpre-literateeoples s theBra-zilians nd Chichimeca evealed pre-social ondition f utteravagery59-77). By defining measure f civilization eligiously eutral ccordingo thedeterminantsf iteracyndsettlement,costahad neffectrovided frag-54Ru .2.14: "Recbdunque giovamente randissimoll'introduttione ella Fede la pu-litezza (quale ella si fosse) introdottadal governo, e dall'Imperio de Prencipi grandinell'America: erche olsea i popoli dellaruvidezza, dall'asprezza, gli dispose allamansue-tudine,& piacevolezza, he si ricercanella vitad'un Christiano." Pulitezza"here seems tohavesomething f the sense ofcivilization.

55Albonico, 02, 115, 118, 130, 137-51, 161-69, 178-83.56Ibid.,161.57Ibid.,167, 170-71.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIRE IN THE LATERENAISSANCE 1143

ile,slender edgeuponwhich ouldbe extended hebroadly ecognized ndevenadmiredarchitecturalnd social features fthe Mexican and Incanpeoples.EarliernhisCities, oterohad takennoteofhow thePortuguesenBraziltogether iththeJesuits oax those catteredn caves and huts ntomore ettled ircumstances,here iving ivilly nd socially vivendo ivil-mente) heymaybe more ffectivelynstructedn thefaithndgoverned yofficialsf theking.58n hisanalysis f theopposition f avageryersus iv-ilization t theroot fhis anthropologicalhinking, e enriches his ontrastby series f ntermediatelements hat end o dissolve hedichotomyntoan expandednotionof civility r civilizationomprehendingheextra-Eu-ropean reasofAmerica nd Asia.59We are concernedherewiththespecificallyecularizing,lassicalele-ment fpolizia or civiltuis it figuresnthe arger omposition nd effectingof Christian onversion. ot that vangelizationnd civilization an everbeultimatelyeparable, utwhatwe shouldbe prepared o see inBotero s ahumanisticallyased, greater ppreciation f theclassical,Aristotelian o-tionofsociety hatcharts civilizing rocess, rwhatscholarsrefer o asincivilimento,wordwhich, las,Boteronever ttains, lthoughhe hasthesense.The passageto everhigher orms funderstandingod certainlye-mainsone of the essential haracteristicsf ncivilimento,ndeedtheprimeone. Butfor tsvery xistencet cannotomit n assemblage f other actors,mutually einforcinghe specificallyeligious, ffordingmoreample andcomplexpurpose: namely, heeconomic,with thepassagefromnomadicand pastoral o agricultural;hepolitical nd juridic, videntn stablegov-ernmentndpromulgatedaws;and thecultural,most mmediatelyvidentin architecture.hus for he author fCities nd Reason fState people'sacceptance fChristian octrine, omatter ow essential othewhole pro-cess,could neverprovewholly atisfactoryithout lso appropriatingheeconomic, industrial,political,scientific, nd artistic omponentsthatserved o define ivilt.60Thesecomponentsrenecessarilyiscoverednthecity s social,political, egalcommunity.While Botero angrant t leastformal reeminenceo the Catholicre-ligion s thecivilizing orce nd appliesto ittheprotective, nifyingoleoftheworldruler, issensitivityo materialtructuresnd social factorsmake

58Albbnico, 4.59Ferritti,31.60Chabod, 337. For the full consolidation of the term ncivilimenton its modernmulti-secularmplicationsnd as associatedwiththegeneral evelopment f humansociety,a maturation ccurring uring heseventeenthentury,eeVivanti.


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thecity he center f his nterestntheprocess fcivilizing.6"ndeed, s wehaveseen, s a result f hisbroad, uperficialxposure o thepeoplesoftheearth,Botero s sufficientlylastic nd relativistichathe can admit othercivilizationseyond heclassically asedpresent hristian uropeancivili-zationand even assert hesuperiorityf theChinese with tsunsurpassedcities.More than ustetymologically,hevery ssemblage fpresumablyr-istotelianly ociable humans n theurban contextof a city, uropeanorotherwise, equires nd creates civility,thatrefinement hatever tmaybe." Perhaps urenterprisingx-Jesuitshere s much thefather furbanstudies s he is the first emographernd oceanographer. otwithstandinghisapparentrelativismnd opennessto othercultures, otero's ommit-ment to Rome, to Catholicism, and to his assignmentwould workultimatelyo lock intoplace theuniversalizingmplicationsf a classicallybasedEuropeanrefinement.Yet tmustbe confessedhat heUniversal elationsffers ew nstancesfor he dentificationfcivilizationwith ts mostobviousreference theclassically ased,Europeancivicpolity.twouldappearthatfor heformerauthor ftheCities,herecognized eed ntheNewWorldfor rotectionndcontrol rovided yungranMonarcahasnecessitated shift: hepolity fthecity snurseryfculture ivesway o thepolity fempire sshield or he ul-tivation fsuchpresumedivic ualities urturedyurban ommunity.

IIIAlthoughBoterohasbeen considered hepreeminenttalianauthority nmatters merican uring he ater ixteenthentury,62twould be mislead-ingto expecthere nyexactfitbetweenhisown ideas on Spain's mpire nthe New World and those of theCouncil of the ndies. Indeed the atterseemedquite nnocent fany ndsimplyaw the andsof theNewWorld sextrapolationsrom hecorekingdom fCastile.63 o appreciate he talian-ate propensity orempire n thisperiodwe need to recallthepoliticalcontext fopportunityhat xistedn thepeninsuladuring he twocentu-ries fSpanishHabsburgdominance: hefragmentationnddivisionsnthepeninsula's ast,yetthecontinuance nd evenrevival fRoman imperialthemes,meantthat, acking nyviable national ontext, hepoliticalreali-ties of thedaymoved between the two poles of theparticular nd the

61Ferretti,36-40; Ru 2. Proemio, 3]- 5].62Romeo, 9-93.63Accordingo a royal dictof22 October1523, the slands nd terrafirmamerging sit werefrom l maroceano reirrevocablyo be annexed to theCrown ofCastile. Coleccidn1895, ix.Pt.2: 185-87.


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GEOGCIAPHY AND EMPL(E IlNTHE LATE RENAISSANCE 1145

imperial,etweenarnpanilisraond universalism.sevincednthe arliercase fCharles 'sGrand hancellor attinara,ore han nechild f hepeninsulawouldbe drawn nto theorbit fSpain'sgiobalexpansion nd tothe pparentocationf rrpire4Botero'sunderstandingfthecivilizing rocessoperativen the NewWorldomes o focusnthreeorces:heChristianizingith eligion'snev-itable ndessentialeinforcementf hepolitical;he mperializingith heprotectivehield fferedythenewglobalmonarch otheheraldsfthefaith;nd he itys the ocial nd nstitutionaltructureor henurturingfsettlediving.he ast f hese,speciallysmediatedhroughhe upportfempire, endersheapparent oalof evangelizationr the conversion f theindigenous opulation oChristianity servanrtto themoreexplicit askofHispanizationrEuropeanizationr more mmediatelyntegrationnto heemergingolonialrder.WhileChristianization,ispanization,ndciviliza-tion nterlockneasily,t stre ast fthese, ith ts pecificallyuropeandictates,hat ains ffectivereenminence.briefook tviceregaleruvianordern the ixteenthenturysexpressednarchitecturend ingovernmentpolicyuggestshat otero'sresentationf he hallengendopportunitiesfor painntheNew X\orldssentiallyeflectedhe hreeorcestplayntheSpanish olonial evelopLment.lthoughothinganbe claimedornyn-fluencet this ime n hapingmperialolicy; otero'sdeas, speciallyhosebearing n population,werewellknown nd entertainedmongthe rbitris-tas nthehighesteachesf he ionarqiddsovernment.65If tcanbeadmittedhat he eligious,pecificallyhristian,ngredientin themixofuniversalizingnergies onstitutinghecivilizing rocesslargelyervespolitical,ocial,ecular ndforixteenth-centuryastile ndexists s one among everal ther nfluences fferingcomplex lready vi-dent nthe houghtfRamusio,66wearebetterreparedo entertainhepossibilityf theprominence, ifnot preeminence,f thecitytself s the a-lientnd decisiveivilizingorce. onfidencen the ivilizingndowmentsorthe classical polisor Civitaseems mplicit in the thought f ourworldly-minded,x-Jesut.And uch lso eemsuite xplicitn the panishcolonialpresencen nerica inRtheirstenturyf tsexistence. he archi-

64Barbero, .6"Namely theJunta e Reformacio'l, speci commission eviewing heprospects f re-form n the period nmrked y theshift rom heregime fLerma to thatofOlivares. SeeColeccidn 932, 236: "pues entre as demas cossas porqUeEspafia s tenidapor esteril,como

diqeJuanBotero) no es pordefeyode la fierra,inopor a faitade la gente" Anonimoa Fe-lipeC, 1621).66SeeHeadlcy,1997, 13-14.


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tecture f Spanishcolonial urbanplanning nd thepolicyofFranciscodeToledo bothprovide vidence or hisbelief.Central o theverynmost xistence f theSpaniard s thepueblo,themunicipality,heordered ommunity. efore dvancing n Tenochtitlan,Corteshad quickly efashionedisrebelliousxpeditionnto municipalityatVera Cruz as a meansofobtaining reateregal everagend thus ustify-ing his actionsbeforeheemperor.67he conquerorswould soon repeatedlyexpress heir dmiration or heorderlyayoutofthe pre-Columbian ity,mostparticularlyhatofCuzco thatbetrayed measure fpolica, thecru-cialwordin all urbanpoliticaldiscourse.Policia connoteda civilsocietyhaving just form fgovernment;urthermoretconveyed number f at-tributes of civilized existence such as order, rationality,politeness,cleanliness.While the conqueror could often nformally redit he con-queredwith t best degree fpolicia, uchrecognitionever iguredntheofficialhinking nd practicesfthenew colonial ystem.n fact here sanapparent ssimilation o Spanishpractice; or xample, ne reports n thenature f Inca masonry hat "the tones reso smooththatthey ook likepolished slabs with the ointsin regular rder fter heusage n Spain. 68SomeSpanish nalyseswent o far s tocredit hepreviousnca conquerorsof the ndigenous opulationwith hecapacityoreduce hese etterlessar-barians topolicia y culture. ndeed long beforeFranciscode Toledo, theterms educirnd reduccion,uggestingesettlement,iguredmostsignifi-cantlyn the exicon fconquest.69Thepolica of civicexistence,mpelling tspractitionerso civilization,had manyfiner spects beyondtheobvious features f straight, moothstreetsnd thegrouping f thechief uildingsround heplaza. Alongwiththepresumedorderly,ettled xistence t included getting he natives owearclothes, it n chairs, at at tablesratherhanoff he ground, leep nbeds, nd haveonewife. he oidor ftheAudiencia fCharcas,Juan eMa-tienzo,whowouldsoon becomechief dviser o the great iceroy oledo,canextol n 1567 thevirtues freducciones,hichwould bring he ndians,hithertocatteredbout ncaves ndravines,nto olica for onversion. isbasic assumptionwas broadly hared: living n towns meant becomingChristian nd evenmore,becomingtruemen. To a Franciscan riar ouryears ater, heorderlyities madetheirnhabitants orthyfbeingcalledmen." One oftenfinds gainthattriadofa largeruniversalizing rocessmarching ogether: ivility, hristianity,nd humanity. n theeveofthe

67Nader,4-98.68Fraser,3,29,48.69Ibid.,2-24.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIREIN THE LATERENAISSANCE 1147

viceregalrdinances,hegrid lan eemed o providehebest nd ndeedobvious orm or he owns fboth paniardsnd ndians, or tservedsthevisiblemanifestationf he rdered,hristianommunity.70Of the ast wo, umanityndChristianity,hoseonghistoryf sso-ciationwe have arlieruggested,he ixteenth-centurypaniardrom asCasas oAcosta ould greehat he apacityf he ndian or hristianiza-tion, process ependentpon hepossessionf rationaloul, ecamehedefinitiveeterminantf native'sctual umanity.71utwhatweneed oappreciaten this espector otero,nd ndependentlyvincedn Spanishpractice,s the ssociationfthese wowith he pparent ecessityf ra-tional ivility,hichwould ndicatehat hristianitytself idnot xhaustthecivilizing rocess.Yetfor hose ranciscansikeGeronimo e Mendieta, hotook heirapostolic overtyeriouslynd sought o create he ndians s a special p-ostolicpeopleof the final ge,free fEuropeancorruptions,t wasimportanto distinguishetween hristianitasnd Hispanitas.n hisdis-trustfthehabits nd socialpolityfhisfellowpaniards,heFranciscansaw the wo onceptssmutuallyxclusive. e assailed hegovernment'spracticesfHispanizationhroughheAudiencia nd ts ncouragingheIndians o itigaten theAudiencias a means f cquiringheprinciplesfRoman awand civilizationmbodied y his igh ourt.72he Franciscanvision hrowsnto eliefhathe oalescencef he wo onceptsndthe d-vancementfthe riad, hristianization,ispanization,nd Civilization,belongedothe arger oliticalurposesf he dministrators.et gaint sclarifyingoconsiderhe houghtsfAcosta shecomposesn1576-1577the entativeules efiningcollege or aciques. heJesuitatherpecifiesthat henativeaws f heRepublicandiana,nsofarsthey onot onflictwith henaturalndtheChristianaw, retobemaintained for o dootherwiseould nly rove alamitouso allorder and thattshouldnotbeour ntentiono make hem paniardsn allthings.73In the dvancementfthereduccions the omprehensivenswer oSpain'solonial eeds,hebasic deaemergesarly,lthoughts mplemen-tation emains elayed.nMarch1503,thegovernorfEspanfola,onNicolas de Ovando,receivedrders rom lcalade Henares, ndagainshortlyhereafterromaragoza,ogatherhe ndiansn ueblosor he x-

70Ibid.,2-46.On Juan e Matienzo s the eritablerains ehind oledo's educcionesseethe Etude reliminaire"o Matienzo, 967, xi-lxiindthe haptersited herein.71Seed,1993.72Phelan,8-89.73Monumentaeruana (1576-80). 57-61 t460.


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presspurpose primarilyo instruct hem moreeffectivelyn the Catholicfaith, ut alsoto exercise othpolitical nd economic ontrol ver heir er-vices.The onlyhint fthe ocial andcivilizing spect f theprogramanbefound nthemodestdesire hat heyivetogethervivanjuntamente),hichhardly ttains o the notionofpolicia. n furtheroyal ddulas,heneedforadministrableontrol fthe natives or conomicpurposesbegins o loommoreominously ver heneedfor heirndoctrination.74nMexico, Corteswas encouraged obuild uponthe lready xisting ztecpractices orurbanexistence.n Peru,however,he ong raging ivilwarsbetween heconquer-ors prevented or everal ecadesthesystematicpplication fa policy hatwould address he cattered,emoteiving onditionsmong argenumbersof the nativepopulation. n the nstructionsiven o theViceroyDon An-toniode Mendoza in 1538 the commitmento civilorder n theplannedcommunity eemergesesidetheeffortoachievebetter hristianizationfthe natives.75ubsequently heCrown's fforto implement educcionesndto have the ndianstreated s Christians ndhombresibres ersists. o Juande Matienzo nhiscomplaint o theAudiencia tLima in 1567, themanyIndians iving catteredpartdo not iveenpolica, which stheprincipaln-conveniencepreventing heir ndoctrination.His detailedplan fortheinternalayoutofeachpueblowould serve s thebasisfor he reduccionesshortlyobe instituted76By thetimethat heViceroy rancisco e Toledo arrived n thescene,more hanhalf centuryf bureaucratichought ad cometosee the reduc-cionas essential o theeffectingfconversion,octrinayostumbreyolicia(conversion, eligiousnstruction,onventional ractice, ivilsociety).Hebeganwith heCercado nLima itself hereheexpressedhe ntention hatin the municipalcommunityhe ndians "might e more separate n thesenseof ndividualizedindependientes],ave moreconveniences,ivewithsocialdecency nd allow thepriestndthemagistratereater acilityor d-ucatingand protectinghem."77 erhapsbecause of thespecialattentionafforded ythecapital, heCercado for he ndians tLimaproved airlyf-fective; ccording oone observern 1630 the ndianswere o espanfolizadosthatvirtuallyllthemenandwomen pokeandunderstoodpanish,main-tained Spanish households, indeed had black slavesand demonstratedabilitywitha variety f musical nstruments. everthelesshereduccionesthatfollowed heviceroy's eneralnspection f1571 proved obe,atbest,

74Medina,42-43.75Ibid.,44-45.76Ibid.,55-56.77Ibid., 57.


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of ambiguousworth,fnot deleterious o the ife f the disorientedndian.Two reasonsmay be offered or he mixed,disappointing esults: he poorquality ftheexecutors, ndertakinguch an ambitiousprogram; nd,al-most nevitably,he economic and narrowly oliticalneedsofcontrollingthe abor services fthe ndianscametodisplace n importancehe civiliz-ing, socializingpossibilities nd even theinterestsor ffective hristianindoctrination.78hatever hedegree ffailure, here anbeno doubt as tothe presence fthe civilizingdeal n thepurposes fthereduction,oexist-ing alongwith he religious nd the patently conomic nd administrative.

IVIn any final ssessment f Botero's urpose nd intentionn theRelations,thenature f theoriginal ssignment orcedtself pontheultimate ompo-sition nd completion f hiswork, s italso prevailsnconcluding urowninvestigation ere:the preeminence f the religious sserted tself,eavingBotero's ivilexcursions nd his adumbration f ncivilimentos a reminderofa not inconsequentialngredient perative n the mperialist rogram fSpanish olonialism.n the end and ata considerablyaterdate he mustre-port hat ingeneral hroughoutheglobethe Christians re morethantheMohammadans, hehereticsmorethantheCatholics, heschismaticsmorethan theheretics nd the Mohammadans, schismatics nd hereticsmorethan heJews, ut thepagans redisproportionatelyore han ll therest fhumankind ogether."79evertheless,he ubdued mperial nduniversaliz-ing themes ofBotero's geography, nevitable productsof theiroriginalChristian nd classical ources, ersistn the text s theydo in so muchofthe beriangeographical nterprisef the ate Renaissance.As Spainin 1618 entered hedeepeningnternationalonflagrationora longer tay han hethirty ears llotted omost, hepossibilityfrealizingsome sortofHispanic-Roman global hegemonybegan to recede. WithRomeand Madridnormallyt odds,there ouldhardly e a viable fitbe-tween Spanish imperialism and Roman universalism, although theyoverlapped onstantlyn the twofoldpatronal ystemsnd uneasily, er-force,drewupon each other. In the verysame yearsthat saw Boterocontendingwithdefininghe newglobal opportunitiesorChristendom,Portuguese artographer,nacio Moreira,nthe retinue f theJesuitnspec-torgeneral,AlessandroValignano,visitingheEmperor fJapan n 1585,

78Ibid.,163-67.79Gioda,3:327. Botero's inal, ifthartoftheRu,whichhe wrote n the ast decadeofhis life,did not appear in printuntil the end of the nineteenth enturywith thestudyofCarloGioda.


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produced muchneeded,more recise,lthoughinceost,mapofJapan.Later,ometimen the 590s,Moreira urtherroduced map f heworld,whichwasonly ecoveredn1986.Conceiveds aninstrumentor hris-tianproselytizing,hemap representseligious eographyn thegrandmannernd s a formfChristianropaganda:hristianingdomsre ol-oredgold ndChristianeoples ppearwithin agankingdoms.ntendedto end urthermpetuso the onversionf heJapanese,hemappresentsa global ision fcontemporaryhristianity.80tamountedobeing geo-graphical roclamationfanadvancinghristianmpire hroughoutheglobe. husthebroad efinitionsnd confidentoloringsfthe artogra-pher, peratingn the therideofthe arth, ouldpresent ore ositiveprospectsorChristianityhanhadtheultimatelymbiguousndmutedlettersfferedyGiovanni oteronhisRelationi niversali.et hePie-montese adsuggestedhat hepossibilitiesor uropean niversalismidnot imit hemselvesothe pecific imensionfChristianitynd thereli-gious lone, utdrew pon ndpromotedeep-seatedlassicalnd mperialelementsor heir nhancementndpromotion.THE UNIVERSITY OF NORTH CAROLINAAT CHAPEL HILL

80Nebenzahl, 1-23; cf.map 2. I am greatlyndebted o Dr. Nebenzahl forpermissionto presentt hereaswell as forprovidingmewitha fresh acsimile f themap.


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GEOGRAPHYAND EMPIRE N THE IATE RENAISSANCE 1151

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