Art & Art History ETDs

Publication Date

5-14-1974

Abstract

The Archivo General de Indias of Sevilla houses one of the largest collections of Spanish colonial maps and plans in existence. Those drawings related to process of urbanism and architectural constructions have hardly been touched by investigators. This study presents a body of 130 maps and plans from New Spain, the Floridas, and Louisiana ranging from 1579 to 1813. Drawings were selected from the holdings of the Archivo de Indias which depicted some facet of colonial urbanization. Aside from furnishing general information concerning city and regional planning, urban beautification, and fortification, these maps and plans also reveal, many aspects of cartography, Spanish governmental administration, and colonial society as a whole. The drawings have been classified into 24 groups or sections. If known, the historical situation which motivated the drawing of each map or plan is cited, followed by an analytic study of its urbanistic, architectural, and cartographic qualities. In cases where there are several drawings of a community, made at different times, an attempt has been made to trace the urban evolution of the town. The principal features of each drawing are described, and the accompanying glosses transcribed and translated. From the data furnished by the plans, it was possible to divide the urban sites of New Spain, the Floridas, and Louisiana—and by extension, the rest of the Spanish colonial world—into five general types: regular, semi-irregular, irregular, fortified with regular layouts, and unusual or exceptional.

Language

English

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Art History

Level of Degree

Doctoral

Department Name

UNM Department of Art and Art History

First Committee Member (Chair)

Bainbridge Bunting

Second Committee Member

Mary Elizabeth Smith

Third Committee Member

Robert William Kern

Fourth Committee Member

E. Boyd

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