I. Exploration Encounters.

Modes of Appropriating the

New
World
Disputed
etymology of America: Ameraca or

Amerca, name given by cartographer Martin

Waldseemller to South America in honor of
Amerigo Vespuccis better grasp(intelegere) of
the geographical situation (1504 Mundus
Novus); 1507 - the first map with the name
America for the New World.
America extended to the northern continent by
Gerardus Mercator (author of Mercator
projection(proiectare) 1569)

The Discovery of America

Christopher Columbus a.k.a. Cristbal Coln,

Christoffa Corombo etc. arrives in the Bahamas on
October 12, 1492. Names the island San Salvador.
Four voyages to the New World on a double mission:
find gold & riches and Christianize the Indians;
thought he discovered a new route to Asia (the Indies).
Inspired by Marco Polos Travels, Columbus wrote a
diary of his voyages; the original has been lost, only
an abstract by Bartolome de Las Casas has survived
(abstract includes transcripts of and quotations from
Columbus Diario).

Columbus Four Voyages (Encarta)

The Discovery of America

Three features of Columbus Diario:

representation (self, nature, his men, and the

Arawak Indians);
relativization (Columbus contrasts New World
nature with Castilian nature, land and people are
thought to confirm his preconceived ideas);
renaming (places, people are renamed; Columbus
sees value in possession rather than exchange
beginning of colonization process).

Cultural Difference &

Translation
The natives should no longer be regarded as

victims, but partners in mutual misunderstanding.

Supposed linguistic incompetence of the Natives.
Interpreters (most of them Indians) were expected to
turn gibberish(jargon) into language.
Now we acknowledge the potential of translation to
turn imperial monologue into dialogue.

The Invention of the New

World
America was not discovered, but invented

(Edmundo OGorman).
Instruments of invention: sea voyage compilations
and portolani (sailing charts(diagrame) made by
observation, not academic presuppositions) before
and after Columbus.
These texts indicate a new view of the world, away
from metaphysical speculation and dogmatic
representation to a more pragmatic vision
predicated on observation and action, i.e. the
world
view
of
voyage
sponsors,
merchants(comercianti), and sailors interested in
ways to exploit the world most profitably.
The concept of the New World suits this vision.

English America

Richard Hakluyt; in compilations such as Diverse Voyages

Touching the Discovery of America (1582) and Principal
Navigations, Voyages, Traffiques, and Discoveries of the English
Nation (1589-90; 1598-1600), he urges fellow countrymen to do
something about the possibilities of the New World: We read
that the Bees, when they grow to be too many in their own
hive(multime) at home, are wont to be led out by their Captains
to swarm abroad and seek themselves a new dwelling place If
the example of the Grecians and Carthagians of the old time,
and the practice of our age may not move us, yet let us learn
wisdom of these small, weak, and unreasonable creatures.

This imperial argument brings together classical past, urgent

present, and natures eternal truths.

English America

Sir Walter Raleigh founded Virginia Colony in

1584 but failed to establish a permanent
settlement.
Captain John Smith founder of first
permanent English settlement at Jamestown
(1607).