The Animals of Spain: An Introduction to Imperial Perceptions and Human Interaction With Other Animals, 1492-1826 (Human-Animal Studies)

239 Pages·2011·2.68 MB·English

by  Abel A. Alves

The Animals of Spain
Human-Animal Studies
Editor
Kenneth Shapiro
Animals & Society Institute
Editorial Board
Ralph Acampora
Hofstra University
Clifton Flynn
University of South Carolina
Hilda Kean
Ruskin College, Oxford
Randy Malamud
Georgia State University
Gail Melson
Purdue University
VOLUME 13
The titles published in this series are listed at brill.nl/has
The Animals of Spain
An Introduction to Imperial Perceptions and
Human Interaction with Other Animals,
1492-1826
By
Abel A. Alves
LEIDEN • BOSTON
2011
Cover illustrations: Illustration of the Spanish Landing from the Florentine Codex. Courtesy of
the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, Florence; Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala, El Primer Nueva
Corónica y buen gobierno, ed. Rolena Adorno (Copenhagen: Royal Library Digital Facsimile,
2002), 1105. Courtesy of the Department of Manuscripts and Rare Books at the Royal Library,
Copenhagen.
This book is printed on acid-free paper.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Alves, Abel A.
The animals of Spain : an introduction to imperial perceptions and human interaction with
other animals, 1492-1826 / by Abel A. Alves.
p. cm. — (Human-animal studies)
Includes index.
ISBN 978-90-04-19389-5 (pbk. : alk. paper)
1. Human-animal relationships—Spain—History. 2. Human-animal relationships--Latin
America—History. 3. Spain—Colonies—America—History. I. Title.
QL85.A46 2011
508.46’09—dc23
2011022128
ISSN 1573-4226
ISBN 978 90 04 19389 5
Copyright 2011 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill, Global Oriental, Hotei Publishing,
IDC Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers and VSP.
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in
a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical,
photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher.
Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Koninklijke Brill NV
provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center,
222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA.
Fees are subject to change.
preface v

CoNTeNTS
Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
List of Illustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
I. Animals in the Atlantic World: Perceptions and
Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
II. Through the Prism of Human Perception: Spanish
Intellectuals Write about other Sentient Beings . . . . . . . . . 31
III. Valued Animals and Animal Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
IV. Spirit Guides to Hell? Shape-Shifting and the Power of
Animals Inverted . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 113
V. San Martín’s Companion Animals: Nature Domesticated
and Blessed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149
VI. The Animals of Spain: Continuity and Change . . . . . . . . . . 185
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 221

preface vii

ForeWorD
Fulfilling the mission of human-animal studies of bringing nonhu-
man animals and our relationships with them from the margin to
the center of the page, Alves describes the impact of the introduction
and proliferation of novel fauna and domesticated animals from the
Iberian Peninsula to Latin America over the course of three centuries.
The breadth of the influence of this “invasion of aliens” shows the
scope of the field of human-animal studies as the author examines
the uses of nonhuman animals for food, work, amusement, war and,
as importantly, for thinking about ourselves and our relationships to
them and the natural world. Although Alves argues that these rela-
tionships with and thoughts about nonhuman animals anticipate the
complexity and particularity of contemporary findings, some readers
may be more impressed by the differences than the similarities. Both
the conquered inhabitants of the New World and the conquerors had
a blurred rather than categorically discrete view of the distinction
between humans and other animals. For example, the theology of
the colonialists provided animals with souls, although mortal souls
and that allowed some animals to transform their beastliness into a
kind of saintliness. The thirteenth volume in this series is a major
contribution to the historiography of human-animal studies in Latin
America.
Kenneth Shapiro, Series editor
Animals and Society Institute, Inc., Washington Grove MD

preface ix

ACKNoWLeDGeMeNTS
Many institutions and individuals have contributed to the shaping
of The Animals of Spain. In chapter three, the Florentine Codex’s
illustration of the Spanish landing is reproduced with the permission
of the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. The Museo del
Prado in Madrid was kind enough to allow reproduction of La
Familia de Felipe IV, o Las Meninas by Diego rodríguez de Silva y
Velázquez and Sagrada Familia del Pajarito by Bartolomé esteban
Murillo. Infante Felipe Próspero by Diego rodríguez de Silva y
Velázquez was graciously provided by the Kunsthistorisches Museum
in Vienna. Through electronic correspondence, Concepción ocampos
Fuentes was especially helpful at the Prado, while Christa Hummel
played the very same role at the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Ivan
Boserup, Keeper of the Department of Manuscripts and rare Books
at the royal Library, Copenhagen and rolena Adorno of Yale
University were extremely helpful, providing access to the Felipe
Guaman Poma de Ayala manuscript by means of El Primer Nueva
Corónica y buen gobierno, ed. rolena Adorno (Copenhagen: royal
Library Digital Facsimile, 2002). The royal Library at Copenhagen
has done a great service through this electronic reproduction, and
the drawing of Guaman Poma, his son and their animals appearing
in chapter five is reproduced with permission from this electronic
source. The University of Illinois Press, Mary ellen Waithe, Maria
Colomer Vintró, and C. Angel Zorita were kind enough to permit
reproduction of citations from oliva Sabuco de Nantes Barrera, New
Philosophy of Human Nature Neither Known to nor Attained by the
Great Ancient Philosophers, Which Will Improve Human Life and
Health, trans. and ed. Mary ellen Waithe, Maria Colomer Vintró,
and C. Angel Zorita (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 2007).
Finally, my accessibility to resources was increased exponentially by
the professionalism and skills of the Interlibrary Loan Department
of Ball State University’s Bracken Library—especially Sandy Duncan,
Lisa Johnson, Karin Kwiatkowski and Kerri McClellan.
Intellectually, my efforts at interdisciplinary work have benefited
greatly from scholars who are willing to transcend academic bound-
aries. At cross-disciplinary symposia held by UCLA’s Center for