Urban Images of the Hispanic World. 1493-1780

Richard L. Kagan with the collaboration of Fernando Marías

ISBN: 978-84-86022-94-5

Year: 1998

Pages: 348

Illustrations: 166

Binding: hardcover with dust jacket

Size: 30 x 30 cm

Published by: Madrid, Iberdrola and Ediciones El Viso

Richard L. Kagan, professor at Johns Hopkins University, has conducted in-depth research on urban landscapes in Latin America, addressing not only their cartographic dimension but also their cultural and symbolic significance. In collaboration with Fernando Marías, he has assembled a vast collection of documents, maps, plans, and paintings—many of them previously unpublished—that allow us to explore how the occupation of the American territory was conceived as the creation of a new world, structured around ideal, Christian, and humanist colonial cities. The study analyzes both indigenous and conquistador representations, the moral meanings of the images, and the traveler's vision reflected in atlases and books. Mexico, Cuzco, Lima, and Potosí receive special attention, through codices, portraits, celebrations, urban reforms, and founding ceremonies. This work provides a comprehensive view of the process of urbanization and spatial symbolization in colonial America.