humboldt's mexican landscapes
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merican Geographical Society
Humboldt's Mexican Texts and LandscapesAuthor(s): Andrew SluyterSource: Geographical Review, Vol. 96, No. 3, Humboldt in the Americas (Jul., 2006), pp. 361-381Published by: American Geographical SocietyStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/30034513.
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HUMBOLDT'S MEXICAN
TEXTS
AND
LANDSCAPES*
ANDREW SLUYTER
ABSTRACT. While n New
pain
from
803
to
1804,
Alexandervon Humboldt
interactedwith
some f ts
andscapes
nd
he extshat
epresented
hem.
nalysis
f
thosenteractions
regarding
heBasin fMexico nd heGulfowlandsemonstrateshat
urely
ext-based
studiesf he
roduction
f
laces
annot: he
ontrastingandscape
lementsnd
atterns
that ad
merged
vermillennia
uringrecolonial
imesn
those wo
laces,
heirelative
degrees
f
depopulation
uring
he olonial
ra,
nd he elative
egrees
f
igor
umboldt
applied
o
nteracting
ithhe
esulting
andscapes
nd he extshat
epresented
hem
reatly
affected
is
representations
f
hose
laces
n
his
1811
ssai
olitique
ur e
royaume
e a
Nouvelle-Espagne.
is
representations
f
the
recolonial
asin
fMexico s
productively
developed
nd f he
recolonial
ulfowlandss
pristine
ave nfluencedhe ransforma-
tionsf hoselacesn he woenturiesfterew painecameheMexicanepublichrough
its
wars of
independence
1810-1821).
Keywords:
conomic
evelopment,
lexander
onHum-
boldt,
andscape,
exico,
ristine yth.
Notwithstanding
he
xtreme
arewhich bestowedn
verifying
he
esults,
I
have odoubt
fhaving
ommitted
anyplusieurs]ery
erious
rrors,
whichwillbe
pointed
ut
n
proportion
s
my
work hall xcite he
nhabit-
ants
f
New
pain
o
tudy
he tate
f
heir
ountry.
-Alexanderon
Humboldt,811
The bicentennialfAlexanderonHumboldt's
ear-longojourn
n
Mexico,
rom
March1803 o March1804,provides he stimulus o analyze
his
role
n
the relation-
ship
between
ong-term andscape
transformationnd the cultural
bias that
con-
tinues to be such a central
rthodoxy
n modern economic
development Sluyter
1999).
That
orthodoxy,
he
"Pristine
Myth"
n
William Denevan's
(1992)
terms,
maintains
hatthe
precolonial andscapes
of the Americaswere
undeveloped
and,
therefore,
hatnon-Westernersre
unproductive
nd economic
development
must
equate
to culturalwesternization
Sluyter
001).
James laut
1993)
coined a
slightly
differentermto label that same
orthodoxy:
he
"myth
f
emptiness,"
hich dic-
tatesthat
development
must diffuse rom he West to the
non-Wests.
espite
this
article's
historical ocus on
Humboldt's
visitto late colonial
Mexico,
the
following
analysisdirectly
oncerns
present-day
conomic
development
Sluyter
002).
Mary
Louise Pratt
1992)
has
already
cast Humboldt
in a central
role
in that
phenomenon.
he
concluded
hatHumboldt
reinvigorated
he olonial
pristinemyth
on the eve of the
ndependence
f
many
of the Latin
American
epublics.
His char-
acterization
f
the
Americas
s
"primordial
nature"
urned colonial
belief
nto a
*
Although
he iews
xpressed
nthis
ssay
o not
necessarily
eflecthose
f
he
eople cknowledged,
thank
Ulrikeeitneror
haring
nsights
n
Humboldt's
npublished
ield
otebooks,
he taffs
f
he atin merican
Rare ooks oom fTulane
niversity
nd f he
pecial
ollections
oom f he ouisianatate
niversity,
nd
the
nonymous
eviewers.
DR. LUYTER
s
an assistant
rofessor
f
geography
t Louisianatate
niversity,
aton
ouge,
Louisiana
70803.
The
Geographical
Review
96
(3):
361-381,
July 006
Copyright
2007
y
heAmerican
eographicalociety
fNewYork
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362
THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
modern cientificact: Even he abel'NewContinent'
s
revived,
s if hree
entu-
riesof
European
colonizationhad never
happened
or made a difference. hat held
for
Columbus
held
again
forHumboldt: the state
of
primal
nature s
brought
nto
being
as
a
state
n
relation o the
prospect
of
transformative
ntervention rom
u-
rope"
(Pratt
1992,126-127).
That conclusion derives from textual
analysis
of
Humboldt's
writings
n the context
f his
influence
n the
modern sciences s
well
as on the
political
elite and
foreign
nvestors n the Latin American
republics
hat
became
independent
from
Spain
over the three
decades
following
his
1799-1804
expedition
Miranda 1962,
106-107,
205-210;
Livingstone
992, 33-138;
Pratt
1992,
111-113, 175-182;
Florescano
1994, 203-204;
Mendoza
Vargas
nd Bernal
200oo3).
Although
hework f Pratt nd others uch s Edward
aid
1979)
spawned
boom
n
textual
nalysis
f scientificraveliteraturehat
enerally
onfirmednd
elaborated er onclusions,hehas also had critics. he mostmeaninglessfferhe
cliche hat ecauseHumboldt
as,
ike
verybody,product
fhistimehe cannot
be held o
themoral tandardsfours.
hey hereby
isrepresent
ratt's
oal,
which
is to
understand,
ot o
udge,
Humboldt'sole
n
a
process
hat as o
greatly
rans-
formedheworld
recisely
ecausehe wasnot
only product
fhis ime ut lso
major producer"
fhis
time-and
ours.The more
meaningful
ritiques
eanalyze
his texts
sing
lternative
ssumptions
nd
thereby
ome
to somewhat
ifferent
conclusionsbouthisrole n that
rocess
Sachs
200oo3).
Yet,
rrespective
f he onclusionsf uch extual
nalyses,
hey
lonewillnever
resolve umboldt's ole nthe post)colonialeinvigorationfthepristinemyth
because
they
verge
n idealism
Sluyter
997).
Nobody,
not even someone of
Humboldt's
tature,
an
mpose
n
idea about
place
on
a
place
imply ywriting
aboutthat
lace.
Even
ccepting
ratt's onclusion hatHumboldt's
ritings
ere
centrally
nvolved
n
the modern
reinvigoration
f the colonial dea that he
precolonialandscapes
f LatinAmerica ere
ristine,
e based hose extsn
part
on
preexisting
exts nd on his observationsf
andscapes.
ll of those
exts-the
ones on whichHumboldt
rew,
s well s thosehe
wrote-partially
erived rom
the olonial
ransformation
f
those
andscapes
nd
subsequently
ecame nvolved
in
their urtherransformation.
To understandumboldt'sole nthat rocess equiresnalysis otonly f he
texts e wrote nd drew n
but
also
of
his
nteractions
ith
andscapes
hat
had
undergone
ramatic
ransformations
uring
olonial imes. his
tudy
ocuses n
the
nteractions
etween
umboldt's811
Essai
olitique
ur e
royaume
e a Nouvelle-
Espagne
hereafter
the
Political
ssay")
nd two
andscapes
hathe
directly
b-
served nd describedn that ext: heBasinofMexico nd the owlands
long
he
Gulfof
Mexico.' The
textual
ole
of the
analysis,
he Political
ssay,
s one of
Humboldt's
majorpublications
nd the
only
ne
to
derive rom
heMexican
eg-
ment f the
xpedition.
he
following
ections ketch hat ext's
enesis
nd con-
tent nd addressn turn achofthe wo andscapesy stablishinghat either as
pristine
n
precolonial
imes
nd
by
assessing
ow Humboldt
epresented
hem:
one
as
pristine;
heother s not.The
subsequent
ections ontrast
umboldt'sn-
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN LANDSCAPES
363
102 98 94
160 0 10 200km
Pacific
Ocean
QAcapulco
GulfLowlands
Gulf
of
Mexico
eracruz
Bsin of
Mexico
Puebla
Jalapa
MEXICO
CITY
Toluca
/Pachuca
Morelia
'Guanajuato
.20
Humboldt's oute
Through
ew
pain
-
route
PAIN
New
FIG.
1--Humboldt's
oute n New
Spain
with
ocations ftheBasin fMexico
see
Figures
and
3)
and theGulf owlands
see
Figures
and
5).
Source: odified rom
rand,
959,
ig.
.
Cartographyy
the author nd Clifforduplechin, epartmentfGeographyndAnthropology,ouisiana tate
University)
teractionswiththe Basin of
Mexico and the Gulf
owlands,
n terms
f both their
landscapes
and the
texts hat
represent
hem,
o reveal ome of the
factors hat
re-
sulted n
his
representing
hem so
differently.
THE POLITICAL ESSAY
Humboldt arrived n
Acapulco
on
22
March
1803
nd
departednearly year
ater,
on 7 March 1804,fromVeracruz Figure1). With the supportofViceroyJosede
Iturrigaray,
e
traveled
hroughout
entralNew
Spain,
made firsthand
bservations,
and collected
unpublished
statistics nd
maps (Sluyter
006).
Before
sailing
for
Philadelphiaby way
of
Cuba,
he
presented
he
viceroy
with
a
synthesis
f
the re-
sults,
Tablas
geogrficas
olticas
elReinode Nueva
Espaa, que
manifiestan
u
super-
ficie,
oblacin, gricultura,bricas,
omercio,
minas,
entas
fuerzas
militares
AGN,
Historia,
vol.
72,
part
2,
ff.
71-294;
Humboldt
[1799-18591 980, 125-126; 1803-
1804]
1970).
On
returning
o
Europe,
Humboldt took
up
residence
n
Paris and
began
to
prepare
his notes for
publication
n
multiple
olumes underthe uniform itle
Voy-
ageaux rgionsquinoxiales u NouveauContinent,aiten1799, 800, 801, 802, 803
et
1804
par
Alexandre e
Humboldt tAim
Bonpland
1810-1838;
eitner
00ooo).
ev-
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364
THE GEOGRAPHICAL
REVIEW
eral
volumes
treatMexico
to some
degree,
but
only
the
Political
Essay
does so di-
rectly
nd
systematically.
ts three
olumes,
wo of text
nd
one
an
atlas,
ppeared
n
fascicles
beginning
n
1808
and
in
complete
form under the
uniformtitle Essai
politique
ur e
royaume
e la
Nouvelle-Espagne
vec un atlas
physique
t
gographique
in
1811,
he
year
afterMexico's
wars
of
independencebegan
and
a
decade before
final
ictory
ver
Spanish
sovereign ower
Humboldt
1811,
812;
Sluyter
00oo6).
he
work
became
immensely opular,
so
Longman
of London
published
a four-vol-
ume
English
translation hat ame
year
Humboldt
[1811] 966;
Leitner
000).
The
Political
ssay ncorporated
he Tablas
geogrdcificas
oliticas
ut
greatly
xpanded
the
nontabular ectionswithmaterial romhis field
notebooks,
r
Tagebiichersingular
Tagebuch),
most of which
have been
published
Humboldt
[1801-1804]
986-1990,
1:
389-392).
Humboldt so
thoroughly
mined those
Tagebuicher
or
publishable
ext
thattheygenerally o notcontain andscape descriptions eyondthose n the Po-
litical
Essay
Leitner
2004).
The
1,833
ages
of the Political
ssay,
xcluding
he
engthy
ndex,
divide nto a
"Geographical
ntroduction" nd fourteen
hapters,
hemselves
ivided
among
six
books
(Sluyter
2006,
99).
The
"Geographical
Introduction"
details Humboldt's
sources for
maps
and other
figures.
Book
I"
treats he
and of
New
Spain;
"Book
II,"
the
people;
"Book
III,"
each of New
Spain's
fifteen
olitical
territories;
Book
IV,"
the
prospects
for
agricultural
nd
mining development;
Book
V,"
the
pros-
pects
for
manufacturing
nd
commerce;
nd "Book VI" state revenues nd mili-
tary
efense.
ut,
beside
being uniquecompilation
f detaileddata on late
colonial
New
Spain,
the Political
Essay
constitutes
n
early
economic
developmentreport
(Sluyter
006,
100).
Humboldt's
explicitpurpose,
echoed in his
correspondence
with
Viceroy turrigaray,resages
imilar
tatements
n
current
ountry-level
co-
nomic
development
eports,
uch as the World Bank's 2001
prospectus
for
Mexico
(Humboldt
[1799-18591
980,
125-126;
[1803-1804]1970,
142; [1811]
1966,
1:
xvii,
1;
Giugale
001,
).
The form f
the
Political
ssay
oreshadowshe
onceptual
rame-
work
nderlying
odern
conomic
evelopment,ausing
onaldBrand
1959,123)
to
characterizet as "the irst
odern
egional
conomic
eography...,
oncerned
primarily
ith he
ources fwealth nd their istributionnd
utilization."
THE
BASIN
OF
MEXICO
By
the time
Humboldt saw the
landscapes
of the Basin
of Mexico in
1803,
nearly
three
enturies f
colonizationhad caused much desettlementnd
dedevelopment
(Figure
2).
The late
precolonial
population
of
theAztec
capital
of
Tenochtitlkin
ad
been some
300,000,
a
metropolis top
a settlement
ierarchy
ith a
total
popula-
tion
of around
1.5
million n a
basin
withan
area of
some
7,000
square
kilometers
(Ezcurra
1990o).
n relative
erms,
opulation
had fallen
by
about
90
percent
be-
tween
1520
nd
1620,
he first
entury
f
colonization,
nd
recovered o
only
bout a
thirdof the ateprecolonialpopulation bythe time of Humboldt'svisit Ezcurra
1990o).
he
dense
precolonial population
had
alteredbasin
hydrology
with such
engineering
worksas the
Albarrad6nof
Nezahuac6yotl,
dike more than
o10
ilo-
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN LANDSCAPES
365
meters
ong
that
prevented
ake Texcoco's aline waters rom
enetrating
he
chinampa
onethat
artiallyinged
enochtitlin.
he
chinampas
ere
gricultural
fields uilt n the akebed and
separated y
networkf
canals,
he
resultingys-
tem
ncorporating
uch unctionssfrost
mitigation,
utrient
ecycling,
nd,
possi-
bly, ubirrigation
o
produce sustainably igh yields Sluyter
994;
Crossley
004).
The freshwatern the outhern alf f he nterconnectedacustrine
ystem
erived
from
prings
hat lowed
rom hebasalt
lopesrimming
he wo southern
akes,
Xochimilco nd
Chalco,
which n turnfed nto Lake Texcoco
n
the
vicinity
f
Tenochtitkin.
uring
the late
precolonial period,
some
10o,ooo000-20,00ooo
ectares
f
chinampas
xisted,
bout
half
ringing enochtitlin
nd theother alf
tretching
southeastward
hrough
akesXochimilcond Chalco.
By
Humboldt's isit
nly
he
latter
hinampa
one survived
Armillas
971).
Yet, ven houghhose ettlementndagriculturalystemsad sufferedearly
three enturiesf olonial
egradation
y
803,
Humboldt id
not,
s content
nalysis
of thePolitical
ssay
demonstrates,
haracterizehe
precolonial
asin as
pristine
(Figure
).
He describedhe
estiges
f
precolonial
ydraulic
ngineering
orks-the
focus f this
nalysis
ecause
hey
ormed
uch
significant
spect
f thebasin's
infrastructural
evelopment-in
omedetail
nd
ingled
ut
he
hinampas
s
highly
productive
Humboldt [1811]1966,
: 29,
96-97,
101,
117-119).
And he did acknowl-
edge
hat
he
recolonialopulation
f he asinwasmuch
reater
han
t
was
n
1803.
His estimatehat ome
400,000 people
ived
n
Tenochtitkin,
n
fact,
xceeds
thecurrent stimate
y
a third
Humboldt
[1811]
1966,
:
80-81;
Ezcurra
990o).
Based
on his constant
ssumption
hat
opulation
ensity
orrelates ith
development
success nd
potential,
umboldt
herefore
oncludedhat
eople
admore
ffectively
developed
he
basin
n
precolonial
han n colonial imes
Humboldt1811]
1966,
:
91,94-95,
99).
Humboldt eems
o have
ecognized
hat
uropean
olonization
ad
negatively
impacted
hebasin's
hydrology
nd
thereby
ts
gricultural
evelopment.
e does
not seemto haveunderstood
hefunctional
elationship
etween he
ystems
f
chinampas
nd
dikes,
he ole
ntentionfwhich ebelieved o be to
prevent
lood-
ing
of
Tenochtitlin.
e
entirely
gnored
he
relationship
etween hedikes nd
the
creationf a freshwatermbaymentndchinampaone n LakeTexcoco. ut he
did
mplicate
olonial
rainage
f he akes n thedestruction
f he asin's
gricul-
ture
[1811]
1966,1:
xxvi-xxvii;
:
10o,
4,
31-34,120-123,147-148).
Drainage,
umboldt
lamented,
ad
"destroyed
he
germ
of
fertility
n a
greatpart
of
the
plain
of
Tenochtitlan
sic].
fflorescencesf carbonate f soda
tequesquite)
ave
ncreased
in
proportion
s themasses
f
running
ater
l'humiditi
e
'atmosphare
t a masse
de eaux
courantes]
avediminished.ine avannas ave
gradually
ssumed he
p-
pearance
f arid
steppes.
or
great paces
he soil of
the
valley
ppears
merely
crust f hardened
lay tepetate),
estitute
f
vegetation,
nd cracked
y
contact
withtheair" pp. 2:
170-171).
Humboldt
cknowledged
hat
he
recolonial
asinwas
densely
ettled
nd
pros-
perously
eveloped-not
ristine y any
tretch. e
evaluated
ative nd Western
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366
THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
99015'
Principal
auseways
nd
dikes
Probable
hinampa
ones
0
5 10
km
19030'.
ake
Chalco
XochiJiii
Lk
Albarrad6nf
Nezahuac6yotl
Lake
Texcoco
Lakek
Xaltoc49
The
Late Precolonial asin fMexico
Probable Pleistocene lakeshore
99015'
Lake
Zumpango
Tenochtitlan
190301
FIG.2-The late
precolonial
asinof
Mexico,
howing
he
ocations f
Tenochtitlin,
rincipal y-
draulic
ngineering
orks,
nd
ones
f
hinampa
griculture.
ources: odified
rom
West nd
Augelli
1966,
ig.
.13;
oolittle
990o,
ig.
.8.
Cartographyy
he uthor nd Clifford
uplechin, epartment
of
Geography
nd
Anthropology,
ouisiana tate
University)
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN
LANDSCAPES
367
FIG.
3-Excerpt
rom
Humboldt's
map
of
the Basin
of Mexico.
ource:
Humboldt
812,
l.
5.
(Reproduced
ourtesy
f
LouisianaState
University
ibraries'
pecial
Collections,
aton
Rouge,
Louisiana)
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368
THE GEOGRAPHICAL
REVIEW
technologiesccording
othe ame tandards.hose tandards ere
nherently
hose
of
he
West,
nd
his
position
oes ometimesecome omewhat
quivocal,
s when
he
appears
o favor
rainage
f the wofreshwater
akes,
halco nd
Xochimilco,
that
arbored he
surviving hinampas
[1811]
966,
2:
177).
But he
did
not
gnore
r
minimize he
precolonial
evelopment
f
the
Basin
of
Mexico.
THE GULF LOWLANDS
By
1804,
nearly
hree
enturies
f
colonizationhad also
greatly
esettled nd
dedeveloped
heGulf owlands hat
Humboldt rossed
n
ate
February,uring
he
depths
fthe
dry
eason,
n his
way
rom
alapa
o the
port
f
Veracruz
Figure
).
In
contrast,
hen
HerninCort6s
rrivedtVeracruz
n
1519,
he and theother on-
quistadores
ncountered
densely
ettled nd
productivelyeveloped andscape
(Siemens
1990).
Zempoala, city fapproximatelyoo,ooo, ccupied he opofa
settlement
ierarchy
n
a
region
f bout
,000
square
ilometers
ith
total
opu-
lation of
some
500,000
(Sluyter
002,
35-60).
The nhabitantsad
developed
everal
ystems
f
ntensive
griculture
ttuned
to
the
highly
easonal
recipitation
egime
f he
ubhumid
limate,
ncludinglop-
ing-fielderracing
nd ntensive
etland
griculture
Sluyter
002,
48-60).
Theter-
races
ccupied
he
iedmont
lopes, ccurring
n
complexes
f
hundredsfhectares.
The
precise hronology
nd extent fthose ields emain
lusive,
ut
farmerseem
to
have onstructedhem
y
learing
ieldstones
nto
ines
arallel
o
slope
ontour
inorder omanage oilmoistureor roppingmaize, otton,ndagave. he nten-
sivewetland
griculture
overedeveral housand ectaresf he elt
f
backswamps
just
nland rom he ordon f dunes
hat
arallels
he
oast.
Although
he
precise
extentnd
chronology
f
he
wetland ields emain
ncertain,
armers
eem o have
constructedhem
y ditching
nto nd
mounding
bove surfaces
hat
easonally
intersectedhe
water able.The most
general
unction f the
water-land
ystem
involved
egulation
f oilmoisturen the
ooting
one.
Butunlike
he
hinampas,
where ikes ontrolled
ater
evels nd the urfacesf he
arge
ectilinear
lanting
platforms
id not
ntentionally
ecome
ubmerged,
he
abyrinthineomplexes
f
small
latforms
nd narrow anals f
the owlands
ccurred
n
seasonalwetlands.
Theplatformsnd canals nabled armersomanage rainageoallow roppings
early
n he
ry
eason s
possible et
etain
nough
ater or
plash
nd
ubirrigation
well nto he
dry
eason.
With
apid
nd near otal
epopulation
uring
he
early
colonial
eriod,
n
the
caleof
99
percent
y
the nd
of
the ixteenth
entury,
he
piedmont
nd
wetlands ecame
poles
n a
system
f
regional
ranshumance.ens
of thousands f cattle
razed
hewetlands
uring
he
dry
eason,
etreating
o the
higher
nd drier
iedmont
ith heonset f therains.
eople
began
o
reoccupy
theGulf owlands n
number
nly
fter herevolutionf the
arly
wentiethen-
tury
esultedn the
breakup
nd redistribution
f
some
of the
haciendas
Sluyter
2002,
189-201).
Yet,
n
contrastotheBasin
f
Mexico,
umboldt id
not
cknowledge
he ense
settlementnd
productive evelopment
f the
precolonial
ulf
owlands.
e
did
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN
LANDSCAPES
369
acknowledge
hat
recolonial opulation
was
higher
nd and use more ntensive
than n
1804 ([1811]
1966,
:
254).
But,
relative
o
the
highlands,
e characterized he
precolonial
owland
population
as minimal
pp.
1:
89-90;
2:
254).
Even
though
he
followed heroyalhighwayhatpassed througheveral estigial omplexes f
precolonial
ields,
e
acknowledgedothing
f
that ntecedent
andscape
f
nten-
sive
griculture.
ndhe
did
not
visit ven he uins f
Zempoala, nly
15-kilome-
ter
xcursion
ff
he
royal ighway.
Humboldt
as,
n
fact,
enerally
essimistic
bout he
gricultural
otential
f
theGulf owlands. he eaflessndwitheredtate fmuch fthe
vegetation
uring
the
dry
eason nd the
hreat
f
yellow
evereem
o
have
negatively
nfluencedis
judgment
Humboldt
[1811]
966,
4:
154-156).
He
singled
out cattle
anching
s
par-
ticularly
nimical
o
developmentpp.
2:
255-256; :
101).
he
onlyhope
he
offered
for evelopmentnvolvedgriculturalntensificationy mmigrantshodidnot, s
he
believed,
uffer
rom
he assitude aused
by
he
ropical
limate
pp. 2:
253-255).
Humboldt haracterizedhe
precolonial
Gulf
owlands
s
populated,
lbeit
sparsely
elativeo the
highlands,
nd
undeveloped
elativeo their
otential.
e
characterizedhe olonialGulf owlands s evenmore
parsely opulated
han n
the
precolonial
ra and
undeveloped
elative o their
otential.
e
implied
hat
sincenative
eoples
nd
Spanish
olonizers ad failed o
develop
he owlands e-
yond
xtensiveattle
anching,
n hisview waste f heir
otential,
ther
urope-
ans would
have
o do
so.
HUMBOLDT'S
TEXTS
Comparative nalysis
f Humboldt's nteractions ith
the
texts nd
landscapes
of
the Basin of Mexico and the Gulf owlands reveals ome
of
the factors
nvolved
n
his
differing
epresentations
f those two
places despite
both
having
been
densely
settled nd
productively
eveloped
during
precolonial
times. Given that some of
the textsHumboldt drew
on to write he Political
Essay clearly
tate
thatthe
pre-
colonial Gulf owlandswere
densely
ettled nd
productively eveloped,
his failure
to
represent
hem s such at first eems
nexplicable.
After
ll,
he
spent
much of his
year
n New
Spain
"in
the intellectual nd scientific ommunities f
Mexico
City,
wherehe studied xisting orpuseson naturalhistory,inguistics,nd archaeology"
(Pratt 992, 36).
he reasons or is haracterizationf owland
andscapes
s
pris-
tinebecome clearer
hrough nalysis
f his interaction ith he texts
f those
"corpuses,"
hich all nto hree
major ategories:recolonial
odices;
yewitness
accounts f ate
precolonialandscapes
written
y
conquistadores;
nd
compila-
tionsof
precolonial
nd
early
olonial
historieshatmembers
f the
clergy
ad
collected
nd
codified
uring
he ixteenth
entury,
hen
greater
roportion
f
the
precolonial
odices nd oralhistories ere
till
xtant.
By
ate olonial
imes,
olonizationad
destroyed
he ast
majority
f
precolonial
screen-foldictorialexts,ypicallyeferredo s "codices." heconquistadorernal
Diaz del Castillo
[1632]
1986, 75),
for
xample,
aw
"many
ooks
of their
aper,
folded,
ike he loth f Castile"when
he first econnoitered
empoala
n
1519,
but
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370
THE
GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
96045
91~60301 96P'15'
Rio
Jamapa
Veracruz
Gulf
of
Mexico
La
Antigua$
The Gulf owlands
A
Ruins f
Zempoala
DII Wetland ield ones
Terrace ones
Lul
Dunes
Jalapahighway
S
Orizaba
highway
--,,
Humboldt'soute
0
10 20 km
19'15
000m
Antigua
Rio
de
la
Rio
Actopan
Lencero
930'
J.alapa\
1,000m
FIG.
4-The
Gulf owlandswith
ocations f
places,
oads,
Humboldt's
oute,
nd
field
ystem
e-
mains. ources:fteriemens
990,
fig.
;
Sluyter
002,
ig.
.6.
Cartographyy
he
uthor nd Clifford
Duplechin, epartmentfGeographyndAnthropology,ouisiana tateUniversity)
they
disappeared
during
he
ensuing onquest.
Most of the extant odices
probably
reached
Spain
early
n the
conquest
and were
subsequently
istributed
mong
Eu-
ropean
archives
Glass
1975,
1-13).
By
the time the Political
Essay
was
published,
Humboldt
[1811] 966,
:
160)
had seen
originals
f some of those texts nd
copies
of
others,
nd he
possessed
some
"fragments
f
them;',"
ublishing
everal
xamples
in Vuesdes cordillcres
181ob).
But,
lthough
he
clearly
worked
directly
ith t least
some of those
texts,
ot
one
of them
pertains
o either he Gulf owlands or the
Basin of Mexico.
Among
the accounts of
late
precolonial andscapes
written
y conquistadores,
the most
pertinent
re
the Historiaverdadera e la
conquista
e la Nueva
Espaia by
Diaz del
Castillo
(1632;
[1632]
1986),
the
Cartas
de
relaci6nby Cortds
1519-1526]
1988),
and La
conquista
e
Mdxico
yCortds's iographer,
rancisco
6pez
de G6mara
([1552]
1987]).
The Historia
verdadera, well-known, etailed,
yewitness
ccount
of
the
conquest
that a
conquistador
wrote n his retirement
uring
the
1550s
nd
1560s,
ontains
some
descriptions
f late
precolonial andscapes
of the Gulf ow-
lands and Basin of Mexico
(Diaz
del
Castillo [1632]
1800,
1632]1927,
1632]
1982).
Humboldt cited hework
everal imes
hroughout
hePolitical
ssay
[1811] 966,
:
91,157; :19, 8-59, 3-74, 46; 3: 427, 73).Yethe did not remark n Diaz delCastillo's
reaction o
riding
nto
Zempoala
for he first ime:
[Entering] mong
the
houses,
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN LANDSCAPES
371
FIG.5-Humboldt'smapof theGulfowlands,s excerptedrom ismapofcentral ewSpain.
Source:Humboldt
812,
l.
9.
(Reproduced
ourtesy
f Louisiana tate
University
ibraries'
pecial
Collections,
aton
Rouge,
ouisiana)
on seeing
such a
large city,
nd
having
een no other
arger,
we
greatly
dmired
t,
andhow twas o
uxuriant
nd ike
garden,
nd o
populous
withmen nd
women,
the treetsull fthosewho
had comeout to see us"
Diaz
del
Castillo
1632]
1986,
76).2
Given
hat he
paniards
rrivedn
April,
oward he ndof he
dry
eason,
he
description
mplies
rrigation,et
he
conquistador's
dmiration f thearchitec-
ture,
he dense
population,
nd the ush
vegetation
id not seem
mportant
o
Humboldt.r, erhaps,s his ranslationf notheruotationrom iaz delCastillo
suggests,
e
did
not
really
ead heHistoria erdadera.
umboldt,
resumably
n an
attempt
o
give
he
Political
ssay redibilityydrawing
n an
eyewitness
ccount,
claimed
([1811] 966,
2:
58)
thatDiaz del
Castillo
wrote,
'The death of the
young
king, ays
ernal iaz
[sic]
del
Castillo
an
old soldier ull fhonour ndof
naivety
of
expression),
was a
very njust hing.
nd t was
accordingly
lamed
by
us all
[Aussi
ut-elle
lamde
de
nous
ous],
o
long
s we were
n
the uite fthe
aptain,
in
his
march o
Comajahua.'
Yet hat
uotation
ittle esembles iaz del
Castillo's
words s rendered
n
either
he
632
Spanish
dition f heHistoria erdaderar ts
1800oo
nglish
translation
(1632; [1632]
1800;
[1632]
1927, 450; 1982
[1962],
523).
Hum-
boldt hus eems itherohave een xtremelyarelessnhis ranslationr to have
copied
the
quotation
rom n unreliable
econdar;y
ource. rancisco
lavigero's
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372
THE
GEOGRAPHICAL
REVIEW
Storia ntica del
Messico,
published
n
Italy,
eems the most
ikely
uch textbecause
it
attributes
1780-1781, : 233),
ust
as
erroneously,
similar tatement
o
Diaz
del
Castillo:" This
execution,
aid Bernal
Diaz,'was
very njust,
nd censured
by
all of
us who
went
on
that
ourney.' Seemingly,
umboldt did not
really
eruse
at least
one of the
eyewitness
ccountsthathe
represented
o readershe had read.
nstead,
he relied on a
secondary
ource that
misrepresented
iaz.
Humboldt cited G6mara's La
conquista
but,
apparently,
ever read the entire
text.G6mara did not witness ate
precolonial andscapes
firsthand,
ut
he
did write
La
conquista,
irst
ublished
n
1552,
n the basis of the etters nd confidences f
Cortes
Warren1973).
Despite
quoting
G6mara at
length
o
support
otherconclu-
sions
with
the
credibility
f
Cortis's
personal
biographer,
umboldt
[1811] 966,
:
li;
2:
322,
500oo;
3:
4,
80, 427, 473,
477)
electivelygnored
other
evidence,
uch as the
claimthatCortescharacterized empoala as "completelyoveredwithgardens nd
freshness,
nd with
fine
rrigated ardens"
G6mara
[1552] 987,
7).
Cortis's Cartas de
relaci6n
eem,
on the basis of
a count of
citations,
o have
been a
major
textual ource forHumboldt
([1811]
966,
:
xxxi,
xxiv,
1-13,
91,157,
173, 39-240;
2:
10-15,
9,27-29,32, 46, 48, 54-60, 77-78,
201-202,
20-321, 48, 456,
509;
3:
25-26,
111-112,
17,
425-426, 473-476;
4:
17-19, 2-28).
The
Cartas detail the
conquest
n a seriesof five
dispatches
Cortis wrote o
Emperor
Charles
V
between
1519
and
1526.
Humboldt's source forthose
dispatches
was Francisco Lorenzana's
1770
Historiade Nueva
Espaila,
which
ncludes
only
he
second,third,
nd
fourth
f
the five
dispatches Lorenzana [1770] 1980;
Humboldt
[1811] 966,
:
xxxi).
As one
example
of Humboldt's selective se of the
Cartas,
he
quoted
at
length
from the
dispatch
of
3o
October
1520
to
demonstrate that
late
precolonial
Tenochtitlin
was
comparable
to
Spanish
citiesof the
time,
yet
he
ignored
the de-
scription
f
the Gulf owlands n that ame
dispatch.
n
it,
Cortis
attributes o
the
district f
Zempoala
some
50
towns and fortresses
hat
could
muster
o,oo000
ar-
riors and
implies
that the
city
tself
was
comparable
to Seville:
"I
left
he
city
of
Zempoala,
which named Seville"
Lorenzana [1770] 1980,39-40).
Humboldt's
ex-
tremely
oor
translation
f
Cortis's
description
f
Tenochtitlin
uggests
he same
sortof carelessnesswith he Cartas s with he Historia
verdadera. ither
n
copying
ortranslatinghepassagefrom orenzana,Humboldt ntroduced ignificantrrors
of omission and
commission,
uch as
characterizing enochtitlin's
main market
square
as
"twice s
large
s thatof Seville" nsteadof Cortis's
original
two times s
large
as the
city
of
Salamanca"
(Lorenzana
[1770]
1980,
02-103;
Humboldt
[1811]
1966,
:
10-13).
Such errors
uggest
lack
of
rigor
more
than
willful
manipulation
f
data but are nonetheless
evealing
onsidering
hat
Humboldt's
[1811]1966,
2: lo-
13)
authority
s a scientist
ested
n
part
on
his
claim to
represent laces
such as
"Tenochtitlan
sic]
n
1520,
ccording
o the
description
f
Cortez
[sic]
himself."
Also available to Humboldtwere
compilations
f
precolonial
nd
early
olonial
histories, oth oral and textual, ollected nd codifiedduring hesixteenthentury.
Precolonial exts nd oral histories uffered
estruction
nd
truncation
hroughout
New
Spain
during
the
catastrophic
iolence and
depopulation
that characterized
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HUMBOLDT'S
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373
the
early
olonial
eriod,
ut the
Gulf owlands uffered ore
rapid
nd
greater
depopulation
han idtheBasin
fMexico.
empoala
nd other
major
ettlements
underwent
opulation
declinesof about
99
percent
etween
1519
nd
1580
Sluyter
2002,
153-159).
In
contrast,
he Basin of Mexico
underwent
only"
90
percent
de-
population
ver hefirst
entury
f
colonization,
o sometexts nd oralhistories
survived. he
paucity
f nformationn such
compilations
hat elate o the
Gulf
lowlands elative
o theBasinof Mexico
uggests partial
eason orHumboldt's
differingepresentations
f those
places.
Yet uch
compilations
o
contain uffi-
cient
nformationbout he
precolonial
ulf owlands
o conclude hat
hey
were
densely
ettled nd
productively
eveloped,
nformationhatHumboldt
gnored.
Humboldt as
familiar,
or
xample,
ith he
Codex
Mendoza,
copy
f
reg-
ister f tribute
evied
n
the
provinces
f theAztec
mpire,ncluding
hose
n
the
Basinof Mexico nd theGulf owlandsGlass
1975).
The firsticeroy,ntonio e
Mendoza,
rdered he
opy
nd the
panish losses
hat
xplain
he
Nahuatl
icto-
graphs.
romNew
Spain,
he Codex Mendozawent
o
Europe
nd ended
up
in
London
by
the
early
eventeenth
entury.
here,
amuel Purchas
[16251
1905-1907,
15:
417-504)
published
version
n
his
1625
PurchasHis
Pilgrimes.
ven
though
the
Political
ssay
eferredo theCodexMendoza s the Raccolta i
Mendoza,'
eem-
ingly
ollowinglavigero's
talian
sage
n theStoria
ntica,
urchas is
Pilgrimes
seems
o havebeen the ource f at least ome of the
pictographseproduced
n
Vues es ordillcres
1810b,
84-291,
pl.
58-59; 1811] 966,
:
18).
Humboldt
may
lso
have seen the
Matricula e
Tributos,
nother
opy
of the
Aztec ribute
ist, ery
similar o theCodex
Mendoza,
hat
iceregal
fficialsetainedn New
Spain
Glass
1975).
f
not,
e
certainly
aw he ersion f heMatricula e Tributoshat orenzana
( [1770] 980)
published
n
hisHistoria e Nueva
Espadia
ogether
ithCortis'sCartas.
Although
eitherhePurchas or he
Lorenzana ersions
f heAztec ributeist
is remarkableor
ccuracy
r
completeness,
othdemonstratehedense
opulation
and
agriculturalroductivity
f theGulf owlands. he
province
f
Cuetlaxtlan,
which
ncompassed
he
port
fVeracruznd
environs,
rovided
n annual ribute
of
6,720
oads f otton
mantles,
00oo
oads f
acao,
ndvarious
uxury
tems. urchas
([16251
905-1907,
5:
470-472)
includedthe
page describing
he Cuetlaxtlan ribute.
Lorenzana
[1770] 1980)
included he amepage.And Humboldt
[1811]
1966,
: 250)
was ware f he
quivalence
f
precolonial
uetlaxtlanndcolonial
otastla,
town
45
kilometersouthwest
fVeracruzhat e abeled n his
map
of he owlands
Fig-
ure
5). Although
onvoluted
ttempts
o
quantifyopulation
n thebasisof such
tributeists emain ar rom
onvincing,,720
oadsofcottonmantles
er
year
er-
tainly
houldhave
uggested
o Humboldt hat he
precolonial
ulf owlands ere
intensively
ultivatednd
densely
ettled
Sluyter
00oo2,
1-43).
Humboldt lso drew n themore
omprehensiveompilations
f native ral
and textual istorieshatmembers
f the
Spanish lergy
ad collected
uring
he
second alf f he ixteenthenturyeforehey estroyedhe riginalextsGibson
and Glass
1975).
He seems o haveknown bout
many
f the exts
alling
nto his
category
ven
hough hey
emained
n
manuscript
orm ntilwell fter
ublica-
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374
THE
GEOGRAPHICAL
REVIEW
tion fthePolitical
ssay;
n
example
eing
henotable istoria
eneral
e as
cosas
de
Nueva
Espafia
y
Bernardino e
Sahagtin,
esearchednd writtenver he ec-
ond halfof the ixteenth
entury
ca.
1550-1580]
950-1982;
umboldt
[1811]
966,
:
74;D'Olwer ndCline 973). utHumboldteems
mainly
ohave rawn n Juan e
Torquemada'sMonarquia
ndiana,
written etween
592
and
1613,
ncorporating
many
arlier
ompilations,
nd first
ublished
n
1615
Torquemada
1615]
969;
Alcina
Franch
973).
Humboldt ited
Monarquia
ndiana
nly
wice,
ut the
secondary
source e drew n
more han
ny
ther,
lavigero's
toria
ntica,
eiterates
uch
f
Torquemada (Clavigero
1780-1781;
umboldt
[1811]
966,
1:
cxxiv, 1, 1, 95,
139;
2:
14,
16,
18,
4, 26,
45, 58,73-74,
81,
87,
211,
62-263,
348, 441,513; :
26,
39>45,
110,
26,
473;
4: 135;
Ronan
1973).
Although
Monarquia
ndiana nd
Storia
ntica
provide
more
nformationn
theBasinof Mexico han n theGulf owlands,othprovideome on the atter.
Monarquia
ndiana,
or
xample,
elates he
origins
f
Zempoala
nd describeshe
Gulf owlands s
densely opulated,
lbeit
uitevaguely:settling
n the
plains
f
Zempoala,
ear he
port
fVera
Cruz,
opulating
hatwhole
erritory
ith
great
many
people"
(Torquemada
[16151 969,
1:
278).
Torquemada (pp.
1:
251,
96)
also
claimed
hat
empoala
was
a
grand ity
with
population
n
the rder
f
twenty-
five o
thirty
housand
ecinos
heads
of
household],"arge uildings,
roadav-
enues,
nd
many
houses
with ush
gardens-"altogetherppearing delightful
paradise."
ecause vecinos" eferso heads
of
households,
he total
population
would
have
been
4.5
times s
great,
ome
112,500-135,ooo
(Sluyter
002,
44).
Re-
garding
he
Gulf
owlands
more
roadly,
hen heBasin fMexico ufferedamine
due to
drought
r
frost,
he
owlands
upplied
enochtitlin
ith
maize
by
trade
and
tribute
Torquemada [16151
969,
1:
158;
Sluyter
993).
Monarquia
indiana also
repeats
ortes's
stimate hat hedistrictf
Zempoala
ontained ome
5o
towns
and fortresseshat ouldmuster
0,0oo00
arriors ut nflateshedistrict's
opula-
tion to "more han hundred nd
twenty
housand
ecinos,"
uggesting
total
lowland
population
of
540,000
Torquemada
1615]
969,1:522).Yet
umboldt
[1811]
1966,
:
74)
ignored
hat
assage
n theGulf owlandswhile
iting
nother
egard-
ing
heBasinof
Mexico hat
ppears
n the
facing
age
n the
facsimiledition f
Monarquia indiana (Torquemada
[16151
1969,
:
522-523).
Clavigero 1780-1781) e-
peated,
ometimes
erbatim,
orquemada's
laims
bout he
population
nd urban
characterf
Zempoala
nd
the
Gulf owlands.
Other exts hat
Humboldt sed
imilarly
onfirm
he
precolonial evelopment
of
the
Gulf owlands. umboldt rew n Gonzalo
Fernandez
e Oviedo'sHistoria
general
natural e las
ndias,
or
xample,
ut
apparently
id not
read
carefully
enough
o note
hatOviedo
parroted
ortis's
laim
hat hedistrictf
Zempoala
contained
0
towns
nd forts
apable
f
providing
0,oo000
oldiers
Fernandez
e
Oviedo
[15351
1959,
5:
11;
Humboldt
[1811]1966, 2:
415,
431-434, 436,
439,
446,
501,
515;
3:3,55).Humboldt lso drew n Antonio e Herrera
[1601-16151
944-1947, 3:
374),
who
imilarly
epeated
ortis's
laim
ut,
ike
Torquemada,
onvertedoldiersnto
vecinos and inflated he number o
120o,ooo.
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN LANDSCAPES
375
Clearly,
ll of
these exts
rebiased n
various
ways.
ortes
may
have stimated
the
population
ather
iberally
n
order o
exaggerate
is
ccomplishments
nd
the
potential
or
olonization,
ith
Torquemadanflating
venCortis's stimatesnd
Diaz delCastillo
xplicitlyttempting
o counteruch
xaggeration
n hisHistoria
verdadera. econstructionf
population
n thebasisof such ources hereforee-
quires
careful onsideration f and correction or uch biases
(Sluyter
002,
41-47).
Among
Humboldt's
econdary
ources,
ome,
uch s
Herrera,
learly
astardized
primary
exts,
hereas thers ere
xplicitly
ngaged
n
polemics.
orquemada,
or
example, xpressed
n
early
reole
patriotism,raising re-Columbianntiquity
and Mexican ature. uch
patriotism
ecame he
easoned,
nlightenment
ation-
alism
of the
eighteenth entury
Florescano 1994,187).
As
the
primary xample
of
that
uccession,
lavigero
rew n
Torquemada
o counter he
ighteenth-century
thesis hat heAmericas erenaturallynferioroEurope. hat o-called uerelle
d'Amdrique
temmed
rom
uffon's
laims boutthe
poverty
f
American
ature
and
society
elativeo
Europe
utbecame
popularized hrough
uch
publications
as Corneille e Pauw's
770
Recherches
hilosophiques
ur es miricainsndWilliam
Robertson's
778
History fAmerica
Glacken
1967,
680-685;
Pratt
992,
120o;
Flores-
cano
1994,
189-191).
Clavigero,
ike other
Enlightenment
ationalists,
homas
Jefferson
ncluded,
xplicitlyngaged
hat
olemic.
ot
only
id Humboldt
[1811]
1966,
1:
91)
recognize lavigero's
fforts,
e
supported
hem:
See
the
udicious
b-
servations f theAbbe
Clavigero
n the ancient
opulation
f
Mexico,
irected
against
Robertsonnd Pauw."
Although nderstanding
umboldt'snteractions
ith
he
biases fhistextual
sources
mayhelp
explain
he
popularity
nd
nfluence
f
the
Political
ssay
n re-
publican
Mexico,
he mmediatessue s hisbiaseduse ofthose
exts,
ottheir i-
ases
per
se.
Whether r not
any
of Humboldt's extual ourceswere
reliable,
e
drew n them o
support
is
representation
f theBasin of Mexicobut
gnored
themwhen
hey
ontradicted
is
representation
f
the
Gulf owlands.
Humboldt hus eified ather han evised he
pristinemyth
or he
Gulf ow-
lands
because,
n
part,
is use of textual ources acked
igor;
ut thereasons or
that ackof
rigor
emain
nclear.
ertainly
hose exts'
verwhelming
mphasis
n
theBasinofMexico nd theAztecs bscures he catterednd imitednformation
on the Gulf owlands.
erreting
ut the relevant
assages equiresong
hoursof
careful
eading. erhaps
umboldt
imply
acked ufficient
ime,
oth n the ibrar-
ies of Mexico
City
nd later
n Paris.
Possibly
e
reached
is conclusions
n the
basisofwhat ocal scholars old
him
nd
merelyelectively
kimmed he
primary
texts or
orroborating
ather han
contradictory
vidence.
onceivably
e
had
Carlos
Montlifar,travelingompanion
luent
n
Spanish,
o
that
kimming
or
him.
Perhaps
most
essential,
s textual
nalysts
uch
as Pratt
uggest,
ecause
Humboldt
pent
much fhis
ojourn
n New
Spain nteracting
ith ocal scholars
inMexicoCity,hePoliticalssay ncorporatesheir epresentationsfNewSpain
and
ntroduced
hem,
egitimated
y
Humboldt's
eputation
or cientific
bjectiv-
ity,
nto
xisting
uropean epresentations
Florescano994, 204-205).
AsPratt
1992,
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376
THE GEOGRAPHICAL
REVIEW
136-137;
talics
n
the
original)
put
t,
Following ndependence,
uroamerican
lites
would
re-import
hat
knowledge
as
European
knowledge
hose
authority
would
legitimate
uroamerican
rule" and continueto
disempower
native
peoples.
HUMBOLDT'S
LANDSCAPES
Textual
nalysis
an
only
reveal
o much of the
process,
ecause Humboldt's and-
scape
observations
hould have
mitigated ny
tendency
o
incorporate
o
naively
the
representations
f local scholars
nd their exts
Sluyter
002,
38-59).
He cer-
tainly
oted
estiges
f
chinampas,
ikes,
nd monumentalrchitecturen the
Ba-
sin of Mexico
(Humboldt [1811] 966,
:
47-48, 61,
80,
119).
If he had likewisenoted
the
vestiges
f
precolonial
ettlement nd
agriculture long
the
royalhighway
hat
crossesthe Gulf
owlands,
he would have revised
rather han
reinvigorated
he co-
lonial pristine mythfor thatregion. Why a supposedlykeen observer such as
Humboldt should have failed o observethose
vestiges
ecomes somewhat
clearer
through nalysis
of the
differing
andscape
histories f the Gulf owlands and the
Basin of Mexico and of Humboldt's
differing
nteractions
iththose
andscapes.
The
precolonialpopulation density
f the Gulf owlands
may
simply
have been
too low to
leave behind as
many
andscape vestiges
s in the Basin of
Mexico,
thus
reducing
he
probability
hatHumboldt
would encounter hem
along
his route. n
the Basin of
Mexico,
some
1.5
million
people
lived
n an area of some
7,000
square
kilometers,
density
f
about
214;
but in the Gulf
owlands,
ome
500,000
people
lived n an area of some 5,oo000quarekilometers, density f about
100.
But even
people
half as
densely
ettled n
the and as in the Basin of Mexico created and-
scape vestiges
isiblefive enturies
ater,
lthough dmittedly
most
readily
pparent
from he air
(Sluyter
002,
51-59).
So
perhaps
the
types
of
vestiges
common to the Gulf lowlands were
not as
visible at
ground
evel as were
those n the Basin of Mexico. The intensivewetland
fields f the owlands were
certainly
maller han
chinampas,
nd their
estiges
re
now
only marginally
etectible t
ground
evel as subtle
ineations n
topography,
soil
moisture,
nd
vegetation
Siemens
1990o,
18-120;
luyter
994).
Therefore,
ven
though
the
royalhighway
rom
Jalapa
o Veracruzruns beside
complexes
of vesti-
gialwetlandfields, heydisappearedfrom he textual ecordbetween he sixteenth
and twentieth enturies.
n
1560
Lucas
Hernindez
noted "a small lake which
ap-
pears
in
the
rainy
eason ...
and marshesditched
traight
outhward"
AGN,
Mer-
cedes,
vol.15,
.
191v).
n the
1970s
Alfred iemens
1990o,
iv)
noted heir haracteristic
vegetational atterning
hile
flying
nto theVeracruz
irport.
Between
Hernfndez
and
Siemens,
hough,
no one noted
anything
elevant.
Moreover,
Humboldt
(1966,
4: 154)
seems
to have left he
royalhighway
where t crossesthe Rio de la
Antigua,
followed ts bank to the town of La
Antigua,
nd
proceeded
to Veracruz
by way
of
the coast. He
might
therefore ave never been within
sight
of
vestigial
wetland
fields.
The remains f
sloping-field
erraces
re
also
more evident rom he air than on
the
ground,yet
ome otherGermanvisitors o the Gulf owlands noted those
ves-
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN LANDSCAPES
377
tiges
of
precolonial
development ust
a few
years
after
Humboldt failedto do so.
Carl artoriusrrived
n
Mexico
n
1824
nd
published
exico:
andscapes
nd
Popu-
lar ketches
n
1858, roviding
clear
escription
f
vestigial
erraces
ynoting
[1858]
1961,
o) that When he all
grass
s burnt own,we can see that hewhole
ountry
was formednto erraces ith he ssistance
f
masonry,verywhere
rovision
ad
been
made
gainst
he
ravages
fthe
ropical
ains;
hey
were arried ut on
every
slope'."
rantz
Mayer
nd
Hugo
Finck lso noted hosemoribund erraces
Mayer
1847,
11;
Finck
1871,
73;
Sluyter
002,
54-55).
Humboldt, however,
did
not-even
though
is route
assed
through
xtensive
omplexes
f ruined erracesnd
the
dry
easonwasfar
nough
dvanced or he
crubbyegetation
ohave ost ts eaves
and for ancherso be
burning
he xtensive
rasslands,
xposing
he haracteristic
rows
f stones
unning
long
lope
contours.
ossibly
umboldtmistook
heves-
tigial erracesor erracetts,he so-called owtours ormed henherds f cattle
graze
hill
slopes
(Trimble
nd Mendel
1995,
35-236;
Johnson
004).
Yet
Sartorius,
Finck,
nd
Mayer
resumably
ad cultural
ackgrounds
imilar
o
Humboldt's,
nd
they
ad no trouble
ecognizing
herows f stones s remnant
errace
alls.
In
addition
o the races f
past gricultural
se,
artorius
[1858]
961,
o10)
ec-
ognized
xtensive
recolonial
ettlement:On the
dry
flat
idges
he
remains f
large
ities re
found,
orming
ormiles
regular
oads."
ut Humboldt bserved
nothing-apparently.
ven heruins f
Zempoala
do
not seem o
have nterested
him.
They
rovided
n
opportunity
o see a
well-preserved,ajor
precolonial
ity
that, nlike enochtitlin,adfallen ntoruindue todepopulationather han
o
having
eendemolished
y
he
onquistadores
nd rebuilts a
Spanish ity.
ne of
Humboldt's
rincipal
extual
ources ven
roughly
dentifies
empoala's
ocation,
"twelve
eagues
67.2
kilometers]
rom a
Antigua"
nd stated
hat
t now emains
no more han rancho f that
name,
nd a
tower,
r ookout o
survey
he oast"
(Lorenzana
[1770]
1980,
i,
39n).
The distance
reference
may
be
wrong,
he
ruins
being
ess
than
0 kilometersrom a
Antigua,
ut
they
re
o
kilometers
irectly
inland
rom here he
watchtowert Point
empoalaguarded
he oast
during
he
eighteenth
entury
AGN,
General e
Parte,
ol.
7,
.
5).
Despite
hat
elativelyood
locational nformation
nd
short xcursion ff he
royal
ighway,
umboldt oes
not eem o havebeen nterestednough o ask ocals n LaAntigua ormore re-
cisedirectionso
the
uins,
ven
hough
e does ocate
oint
empoala
n his
map.
The location f
Zempoala
wouldfade
from he iteraturentil
ts
rediscoveryy
Estefaniaalas n about
1880
Strebel 883).
Humboldt hus
einvigorated
ather
han evised he
pristine yth
or
he
Gulf
lowlands
ecause,
n
part,
is field bservationsacked
igor,
he
principal
eason
probably eing
hehastewith
which
e traveledrom
alapa
o
Veracruz.
ccording
to his
etters,
e eft
alapa
n
17
February
804
n order o sailfrom
eracruz
n
23
February
[1811]
1966, 4:
166;
[1799-18591
1980,
130-132).
His
Tagebuch
for hat
eg-
ment f the ourney,otpublished utrecentlyelocated,pparentlyeveals hat
he arrivednVeracruzn 18
February,
aking
he
ourney
f ome
25
kilometersn
two
days
Leitner
002,
8;
2004).
The
Tagebuch
does
not contain
any
detailsof
his
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THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW
interactions
with the
landscape,
however,
nd
the
precise tinerary
herefore e-
mains obscure.Humboldt's
1810a, :
334)
Recueil
d'observations
stronomiques
ro-
vides some additional
nsight
ecause it records nstrumentalbservations t
places
along
his
route,
he same
toponyms
hat
punctuate
themodern
highway.
ut the
Recueil
d'observations
stronomiques
oes not
record he
dates
of
Humboldt's ob-
servations
nd
does not
reveal
whether e
stopped
for
he
night
t an
inn or
what
time of
day
he
passed
through
he terrace
one.
Because
the
sailing
was
delayed
until
7
March,
he could
have
made some excursions rom he
port
while
waiting,
but
the relevant
Tagebuch
ndicatesa
preoccupation
with
gathering
nformation
from
port
officials
nd
merchants,
s
confirmed
y
the extensive ata
on
imports
and
exports through
Veracruz
n the
Political
Essay
([1811]
1966,
4:
27-52;
[1801-
180411986-1990,
:
389-392).
In contrast, umboldtspent bout half year n the Basin ofMexico,using t as
a
centralbase
from
which to make excursions o
Pachuca,
Guanajuato,
and other
places
(Miranda 1962,
o100).
hose six
months-approximately
rom
mid-April
o
mid-May
1803,
June
nd
July
803,
nd
October
1803
through
ate
January
804-
allowed sufficient ime to
observe
the
basin's
varied
landscapes
at
length
and
in
differenteasons. The two
days
pent
raveling
etween
Jalapa
nd
Veracruz nd the
two
weeks stuck n
port
were
simply
nsufficiento make careful
bservations
f
Gulf owland
landscapes.
CONTINUING
CONSEQUENCES
Most
basically,
Humboldt
reinvigorated
ather han
revised
he
pristinemyth
for
the Gulf owlands
because those
places
had
undergone
different
andscape
histo-
ries,
nd his interactions
iththeir
andscapes
and the texts hat
represented
hem
lacked the
rigor required
to
counterhis
tendency
o
incorporate
he
representa-
tions of ocal
scholarship.
As New
Spain
became the
Republic
of
Mexico,
ts
politi-
cal and
scholarly
elites
reimported
the
myth
of
pristine
Gulf lowlands that
Humboldt's
growing
redibilityncreasinglyegitimated
s scientific act.The Po-
litical
Essay
became seminal
to Mexico's
development.
And the Gulf owlands de-
veloped,
as Humboldt had
recommended,
n the
basis of
commodity
griculture
involving xoticcropsand technologies,mainly ystems f concrete rrigation a-
nals for he
production
of
irrigated ugarcane.
The
indigenous
erraces nd inten-
sive
wetland
agriculture,
hich had sustained so
many
n
precolonial
times with
food
production
as well as
cotton,
ontinue moribund and
largely gnored
as
an
alternative hat
mightcomplement
unilateral
Westernization
Sluyter
2002,
204-
209).
In the Basin of
Mexico,
n
contrast,
t least some
chinampas
continue o
pro-
duce
crops (Sluyter
00oo6).
Pratt's onclusion therefore olds
true for he Gulf
owlands,
but
not the Basin
of
Mexico,
because her
emphasis
on
the
production
of
places
through
he
mposi-
tion of textual representations gnores such places' landscape histories and
Humboldt's nteractions ith those
andscapes.
As the
comparative
nalysis
dem-
onstrates,
he
types
f
andscape
elements nd
patterns
hat
developed
over millen-
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HUMBOLDT'S
MEXICAN
LANDSCAPES
379
nia
during
precolonial
imes,
he
degree
of
depopulation
over centuries
uring
o-
lonial
times,
nd the
rigor
Humboldt
applied
to
interacting
ith he
resulting
exts
and
landscapes
greatly
ffected is
representations
f
places.
Similar
geographical
research n
long-term andscape
transformationlsewherewould further
omple-
ment the
textual
nalyses
of
literary
cholars nd
help
us to better nderstand he
emergence,
ersistence,
nd
continuing onsequences
for
economic
development
of
cultural
biases such as the
pristinemyth.
NOTES
1.
Throughout
his
rticle
uotations
rom umboldt'solitical
ssay
ome romhe
widely
vail-
able
1966
AMS ress acsimileditionf he
811
ongman
dition. umboldt roten
Frenchnd
published
is
riginal
ext
n
Parisn
1811
s the ssai
olitique
ur e
royaume
e a
Nouvelle-Espagne.
His
ranslator,
ohn
lack,
enerallyrovides
reliableenditionf he
rench,
ut have onetheless
checkedll uotationsromhe oliticalssaygainsthe 8n ssai olitiquend ndicatell ignificant
differencesn
brackets.
2.
This
ranslation,
nd llothers
n
his
rticle,
remine.
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