Abstract

HERNANDEZ ALONSO, María José  and  RUZ BARRIO, Miguel Ángel. “Mercedes” maps of Calpan. An. antropol. [online]. 2019, vol.53, n.2, pp.51-65.  Epub Nov 30, 2019. ISSN 2448-6221.  https://doi.org/10.22201/iia.24486221e.2019.2.67137.

The Spanish-indigenous Colonial maps were legal documents that had an administrative function. Some of these maps are now in the Archivo General de la Nación (Mexico) and are a valuable source for the reconstruction of historical geography. The objective of this article is to contextualize and reconstruct the geographic space of an Indian town, Calpan, in the 16th century through Colonial maps. We analyze two maps with elements of pre-Columbian tradition that were elaborated shortly one after the other, but are aesthetically distinct. We have reconstructed part of the landscape of this town with these maps with other documents and field work.

Keywords : Spanish-indigenous cartography; colonial cartography; historical cartography; Calpan.