Trail of Footprints: A History of Indigenous Maps from Viceregal Mexico

Abstract

Alex Hidalgo’s innovative study of Indigenous mapmaking and intellectual history considers some sixty painted maps produced for legal proceedings in Oaxaca spanning across three centuries, from the 1570s to the 1730s. From the perspectives of patrons and painters, as well as the materials and modes of authentication that were applied to maps, Hidalgo masterfully demonstrates that Indigenous mapmaking evolved over the course of the colonial period, as opposed to declining at the end of the sixteenth century as scholarly narratives have tended to argue. By placing Indigenous maps at the center of the study and presenting a distinct perspective with each chapter (patrons, painters, materials, and authentication), Hidalgo puts forth a compelling and comprehensive view of Indigenous mapmaking that highlights the nuances and complexities of how Indigenous maps were understood and used, arguing that Indigenous maps fostered new ways of thinking about the rationalization, spatialization, and acquisition of land for diverse members of colonial society over the course of what he calls the “long middle years of the colonial period” (3).From the patrons’ perspective, Hidalgo focuses on a case study of one Mixtec town’s plight to defend five acres of land against nearby Spanish ranch owners in three separate court cases that took place over several decades in the sixteenth century. In his analysis, Hidalgo emphasizes the distinct ways in which maps were understood by competing audiences and how maps were just one of many kinds of documentation that were presented in legal cases, along with boundary walking, witness testimonies, oral readings and translations of maps, and various acts of verification. From the painters’ perspective, Hidalgo considers how Indigenous painters were among an elite social group that held specialized knowledge and shaped thinking about spatial organization. Hidalgo’s compelling analysis of several maps made by the same artist over time demonstrates how a single artist adapted his approach based on the context of each map commission, exercising power and privilege in terms of how land was presented. In the chapter on materials, Hidalgo invites readers to consider the expertise that was required to make the inks, pigments, and substrates of maps. Specialized knowledge from both Europe and Mexico was adapted over time by skilled craftspeople whose material mastery enabled maps to be made. In the final chapter on authentication, Hidalgo paints a vivid picture of how maps were scrutinized and rigorously verified by court officials, emphasizing that officials were reliant on Indigenous painters and translators when it came to local geography and languages as part of the process. Hidalgo also highlights a shift in Indigenous mapmaking over the course of the colonial period, where sixteenth-century maps were primarily centered on land petitions in response to imperial policies while later in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, maps were more often used to defend patrimonial lands due to increased population and competition over land. As a result, the standards used to petition and measure maps shifted, as well. In the epilogue, Hidalgo considers the afterlives of Indigenous maps within archives and private collections, presenting a thorough analysis of Boturini’s collection.Hidalgo’s well-researched book presents a narrative of a vibrant and evolving Indigenous mapmaking tradition that adapted over the course of the colonial period, drawing from “social memory, indigenous and European conceptions of space and ritual, and Spanish legal practices” (2). Among the greatest contributions of his study are his reassessment of Indigenous mapmaking over the course of the colonial period and his focus on Indigenous intellectual history of Oaxaca. What is more, Hidalgo’s masterful translation of complex details from primary source documents into stimulating narratives will appeal to a broad readership interested in the history of colonial Mexico.