Corography, territory and cultural policies in Santafe de Bogota (16th-17th Centuries)

Summary

The Spanish settlement of Santafe de Bogota is examined from a basic standpoint, that of the concept of corography introduced by the Spanish Monarchy as a means to gain control of the ever expanding Empire. Corography became the instrument through which Spaniards came to recognize the new environment and the people that inhabited it, but always from their own point of view. In this ongoing project, the concept is reintroduced through the analysis of material culture evidences (geological, biological, social) that present a more complex process of settlement than that stated by the settlers in the 16th and early 17th Century. Two subjects are analyzed here, territory management and cultural policies, particularly with regards to the use and signficance of water and of "la casa" (the house).

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Territory, settlement and material culture in the Iberian colonial empires (16-18th centuries)   •
• Society for Historical Archaeology 2013

Keywords

Spatial Coverage

Individual & Institutional Roles

Contact(s): Society for Historical Archaeology

Record Identifiers

PaperId(s): 640