The article analyses Alonso de la Vera Cruz's ideas on cosmography, including both celestial and geographical conceptions, displayed in De coelo from his Physica speculatio (1557). This book introduced in New Spain the hegemonic natural knowledge of the time as well as alternative ideas. At the same time, living for years in the New World, La Vera Cruz drew on his own experience when discussing the qualities of the Americas and their inhabitants. Unlike the imperial cosmography of the time, he valued not only the natural qualities of those lands but also their inhabitants, which had important social implications. The article also argues that La Vera Cruz reinterpreted European notions to adapt them to the Americas and, at the same time, developed a local perspective that transferred the idea of centrality from Europe to the New World. In doing so, he had to mediate with both local and transatlantic interests and visions. Reissued three more times in Salamanca since the 1569 edition, the Physica speculatio included references to the coasts of the American continent, which constitutes an exception to the secret nature of this kind of cosmographical information in the Ibero-American world.

The American De coelo: Heaven and Earth in the New World's First Printed Work on Natural Philosophy

Rodriguez, Omar
2023-01-01

Abstract

The article analyses Alonso de la Vera Cruz's ideas on cosmography, including both celestial and geographical conceptions, displayed in De coelo from his Physica speculatio (1557). This book introduced in New Spain the hegemonic natural knowledge of the time as well as alternative ideas. At the same time, living for years in the New World, La Vera Cruz drew on his own experience when discussing the qualities of the Americas and their inhabitants. Unlike the imperial cosmography of the time, he valued not only the natural qualities of those lands but also their inhabitants, which had important social implications. The article also argues that La Vera Cruz reinterpreted European notions to adapt them to the Americas and, at the same time, developed a local perspective that transferred the idea of centrality from Europe to the New World. In doing so, he had to mediate with both local and transatlantic interests and visions. Reissued three more times in Salamanca since the 1569 edition, the Physica speculatio included references to the coasts of the American continent, which constitutes an exception to the secret nature of this kind of cosmographical information in the Ibero-American world.
File in questo prodotto:
File Dimensione Formato  
American De coelo.pdf

accesso aperto

Tipologia: Documento in Post-print
Licenza: Accesso gratuito (solo visione)
Dimensione 3.4 MB
Formato Adobe PDF
3.4 MB Adobe PDF Visualizza/Apri

I documenti in ARCA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.

Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/10278/5048583
Citazioni
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.pmc??? ND
  • Scopus ND
  • ???jsp.display-item.citation.isi??? 0
social impact