Trail of Footprints: A History of Indigenous Maps from Viceregal Mexico by Alex Hidalgo

Abstract

Reviewed by: Trail of Footprints: A History of Indigenous Maps from Viceregal Mexico by Alex Hidalgo G. Rebecca Dobbs Trail of Footprints: A History of Indigenous Maps from Viceregal Mexico. Alex Hidalgo. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2019. Pp. xv+166, color illustrations and maps, notes, index. $29.95, paperback, ISBN 978-1-4773-1752-5. Alex Hidalgo's Trail of Footprints is a handsome volume, richly illustrated in color on thick glossy paper, and quite readable. The author conveys a good deal of information about the intertwining systems within which the maps he examines were embedded during the centuries of Spanish colonial occupation in Mexico. His spatial focus is mainly on Oaxaca, though given the nature of these intertwining systems, some discussion necessarily extends to the Mexican colonial capital and even across the Atlantic to Spain. These systems include both indigenous and Spanish constructions of land tenure, social class, legal processes, information conveyance, religion, trade, travel, resource knowledge and use, the materiality of documents (including maps), and the power of archives. Hidalgo's overarching message is that the maps made by indigenous people in Oaxaca were key elements in the functioning of this system of systems, and that the changes observed in the maps over the time period were adaptations to increasing Spanish cultural, legal, and spatial hegemony. Hidalgo has done some things very well. For example, he leaves the reader in no doubt about how entwined the maps were with the colonial legal system. New maps might be made (or sometimes an older one copied) for the purpose of legally confirming a community's land holdings, or as part of a petition to colonial authorities for a grant of land. The map then was "authenticated" by one or more colonial officials; this was a complex process that altered the original map considerably and made it acceptable as evidence in the colonial legal system. Typically, the process involved officials, scribes, and translators traveling to the land in question, observing the land, walking the boundaries according to markers depicted on the map, listening to explanations, annotating the map with descriptions and comments, and finally affixing an official signature. By that point the document has become as much a colonial and textual one as an indigenous and visual one, and was stored with the rest of the (textual) documents for the case. Hidalgo also notes changes to visual styles and cartographic conventions in the indigenous maps over the colonial centuries, as well as some [End Page 153] that persisted. Emblematic of these changes is the title's "trail of footprints." Preconquest cartographic traditions in the area incorporated footprints to depict specific journeys or routes of travel more generally. Early colonial maps by indigenous mapmakers did the same, for instance, representing a walking of the boundaries of a community's land. With the increasing presence of Spanish settlers and the animals they brought, hoofprints were added to the symbology, typically presenting alternating human feet and horseshoe impressions. Later still, the whole convention was dropped as maps became more standardized to colonial legal parameters. Other changes along that trajectory are mentioned throughout the text, if not addressed collectively as a topic of focus. My personal favorite in the book is the chapter called Materials. This chapter engages with the materiality of the maps in fascinating detail and from both sides of the Atlantic system, covering inks, color agents, adhesives, paper, and document sizes. It seems that indigenous inks were superior to European inks of the time period; yet, as Spanish suppression of indigenous culture and knowledge proceeded, indigenous mapmakers adopted European iron-gall inks rather than the other way around. Similarly, whereas indigenous adhesives were highly effective and long lasting, allowing maps to be created on large composite sheets, over the colonial period mapmakers instead adopted the Spanish folio document sizing so that maps could more readily fit into legal case notes. Despite the satisfaction I experienced from learning about these things, however, the book overall has some weaknesses. It is repetitious, with insufficient unique content to effectively fill its pages. It could certainly have benefited from better editing to reduce overlaps, develop meaning, improve word choices, and correct spelling. More importantly, Hidalgo...