Site and Region in colonial cartography. The case of Guadalajar and New Galicia

Abstract

The American Hispanic conquest and Spanish colonial life were taking place at the same time as the Royal and Viceroy Authorities were producing cartography of the American territory under their rule. Simple maps, baroques maps, technical maps, religious and political maps. Maps that were made, designed or drawn it by artists, cartographers and even the conquerors and the Indians scribes. Moreover, later each Intendencia was interpreted by the Spanish authority in a single way vis á vis its particular geopolitics, geoeconomics and geoculturals characteristics. This is the case of New Galicia and the Intendencia of Guadalajara, whose mapping representations during the Spanish Colony have been studied by me. This paper tries to demonstrate the geopolitics, geoeconomics and geoculturals relationships between the Spanish Crown and its ultramarine territory, such as New Galicia and Guadalajara.