There
have been considerable advances in research on travel,
travellers and travel literature in the New World. New and
diverse readings have been offered, with reflections and
interpretations of the sources from a variety of angles
and perspectives: history, geography, art, literature,
archaeology, politics, philology and science.
1999 saw the appearance of the influential book by
José Luis Martínez:
Pasajeros a Indias: Viajes transatlánticos en el siglo XVI
(México, FCE).
Here the author detailed the arrival of more than 1,522
foreigners to the Indies between 1493 and 1600, his figures
based solely on the official registers. In
2001,
Lourdes Ita Rubio published
Viajeros
isabelinos en la Nueva España,
a study of the different groups of English who arrived in
the Americas, specifically to New Spain (Mexico). Since then
this line of research has widened, especially in Mexico. A
prolific author in this area is Blanca López Mariscal, of
the Instituto Tecnológico de Monterrey. In 2003
she wrote an article which can be linked to Ita Rubio’s
work.
This was “Otros hombres con libros ilustrados: viajeros
ingleses a la Nueva España en el siglo XVI”.
(1) One year later she published
her thesis
Relatos y relaciones de viaje al Nuevo Mundo: un
acercamiento a la comprensión del género. She is also author of the very interesting
«Para una tipología del relato de viaje» in
Viajes y Viajeros, Monterrey, 2006. Within her framework for the classification of
travellers she analysed the stories of a number of women in
New Spain in
«El viaje a la Nueva España entre 1540 y 1625: el trayecto
femenino» in
Historia de las mujeres en
América Latina
(Universidad de Murcia and Centro de estudios sobre la mujer
en la Historia de América Latina).
This
field of study was given impetus by the Alexander Von
Humboldt international conferences
Travel Literature to and from
Latin America from the 15th to the 20th centuries.
Held in 2001, 2003 and 2005, these have given rise to the
establishment of interdisciplinary and intercultural studies
focused on the examination of tales of travel and
travellers.
In the
research on travel literature prominence should be given to
the work
Viajeros
isabelinos en la Nueva España,
(Elizabethan Travellers in New Spain) awarded a Special
Mention by the Fundación del Instituto Panamericano de
Geografía e Historia.
The author, from the Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas
of the Universidad Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo (Mexico),
is a member of the
Society for Irish Latin American Studies,
from which she has coordinated
A
través del espejo: viajes, viajeros y la constitución de la
alteridad en América Latina
(Morelia,
Instituto de Investigaciones Históricas de la Universidad
Michoacana de San Nicolás de Hidalgo, 2005) and the Second
Alexander Von Humboldt International Conference:
Viajes, viajeros y literatura de viajes hacia y desde
México, América Latina y el Caribe, siglo XV al XX,
held in 2003.
Here she
herself presented work on the accounts left by the
crew-members who were put ashore by John Hawkins in New
Spain in 1568.
This
excellent study
Viajeros isabelinos en la Nueva España
is based on the collection of testimonies by the various
groups of English travellers who for one reason or another
travelled to New Spain in the sixteenth century. Published
in 2001, it is a reference work both for historians of the
Americas and for those historians with a more modern focus
who are becoming interested in this field of research.
While
the presence of Spanish travellers and what they
accomplished in the New World was well known, the same
cannot be said of the role of English voyagers in the
Colonial world. What is original about the work reviewed
here is the multifaceted study of the different groups of
English who arrived in New Spain. The history of Mexico had
in reality been written generally from the point of view of
Mexican or Spanish sources. This study, on the other hand,
bases itself on English sources, and thus gives up new
insights and perspectives.
The
author’s goals were, in the first place, to learn about the
experiences of English travellers, the first non-Spanish
Europeans in the New Spain of the sixteenth century.
Secondly, she wished to see how English people viewed New
Spain in that century, and what importance they attached to
it. She sought to evaluate the geopolitical role of New
Spain and finally, to consider how all these factors
affected how the territory of Mexico was organised four
centuries ago. The primary source
for this work is Richard Hakluyt’s
The Principal Navigations, Voyages, Trafiques and
Discoveries of the English Nation made by sea or overland,
(published in twelve volumes by the University of Glasgow in
1903-1905 from Hakluyt’s second edition of 1598-1600). In
1965 the Hakluyt Society published a two-volume facsimile of
the London first edition of 1589 (Cambridge University Press,
London and Toronto).*
This is an extremely important source for Spanish-language
historians. Richard Hakluyt was at pains to record all the
information that English travellers could give him and asked
them to provide written testimony. Because it was based on
these accounts, his work was crucial in forming a new
paradigm as to how the Anglo-Saxon mind viewed the changed
world order of the sixteenth century. Without his efforts in
compiling the material, the history of England would have
been written differently, as indeed would have been the
impact of New Spain on the people of England. In this light,
the
Principal Navigations
formed a crucial contribution to the historiography of
Mexico.
Other documentary sources for the study of English traders
in New Spain include the
State Paper Rolls,
which house registries of their patents and ties to the
court. Finally in addition to these sources, though
secondary to them and not consulted directly by the author,
is the documentation in the
Archivo de Indias, specifically the Patronato Real or Mexico
sections.
Most
prominent in the study of English pirates is Richard
Hawkins’ own work, edited by James
Williamson, “The
Observations of Sir Richard Hawkins,
from the Text of 1622 with Introduction Notes and
Appendices” (London, The Argonaut Press, 1933). This book
was republished by the Da Capo Press in New York in 1968 as
The
observations of Sir Richard Hawkins, knight, in his voiage
into the South Sea.
Anno Domini. 1593. (London, Printed by I. D. for Ihon Iggard,
and are to be sold at His shop at the Hand and Starre in
Fleete-streete, neere the Temple Gate, 1622).
Viajeros isabelinos
is composed of an introduction and three substantial
chapters which analyse the diverse experiences of the three
groups of English citizens who travelled to the New World or
lived there during the century. In her introduction, the
author poses a central research question: Is it true that
Spanish America was hermetically sealed to English trade? In
some very original ways, however, the introduction offers a
more general history of the relations between Spain and
England.
The
first chapter studies the English merchants who traded with
Mexico during the sixteenth century. The second examines the
activities in New Spain of John Hawkins, Francis Drake and
Thomas Cavendish. Finally, the third chapter considers the
story of the 114 English sailors who were abandoned by John
Hawkins on the Tampico coast after the battle of San Juan de
Ulúa in Veracruz in 1568. The structure of the book is clear
and well put together, though the author is guilty of
occasional repetitions in various contexts and chapters. The
author skillfully deals with three questions. What
implications did the arrival of traders and pirates to New
Spain pose for the Spanish Crown? And for England? And for
New Spain?
While
the Spanish Crown could incorporate English merchants in its
own trading companies without jeopardising its monopolies,
the advent of English pirates or corsairs posed grave
threats, especially in the Pacific, hitherto considered a
Spanish lake. For England, the arrival of merchants and
pirates bringing all types of merchandise and booty from the
New World supplied an attractive incentive for English
traders and adventurers. At intervals of about a decade
three English pirates arrived in New Spain: John Hawkins in
1568, Francis Drake in 1578 and Thomas Cavendish in 1587.
These were to determine subsequent English sailing routes
and conditions in New Spain. The battle of San Juan de Ulúa
left its mark on Hawkins and especially on Drake, who from
then on thought only of revenge for the “treachery” of the
Spaniards. One of the main results of pirate raids on New
Spain was the development of changes in the design of
English ships. Hawkins’ efforts led to the remodelling of
the Elizabethan Royal Navy, which in 1588 was to achieve its
victory over the Spanish Armada. Ironically, as the author
points out, England’s** eventual triumph owed much to what
it learned from its failure at the Mexican port of San Juan
de Ulúa.
Another
event that had repercussions for English shipping was the
arrival of Drake at Huatulco, then the Mexican Pacific’s
international port. His appearance provoked panic through
the Spanish colony, since till then the Pacific had been
exclusively Spanish. This left its effects on the geography
of New Spain, as it forced coastal settlements to be moved
inland to avoid pillage by pirates. A third element of great
moment was Thomas Cavendish’s voyage around the Strait of
Magellan, for the first time open to English shipping. The
capture and looting of the galleon Santa Ana, as it
made its way from Manila was unprecedented. It demonstrated
to the Spaniards their strategic weakness in defending the
American Pacific. Spain had failed to construct sufficient
or adequate fortifications on its vast American coasts.
The
activities of pirates are well known to English-language
historians. However, as Rod Lévesque of the Society for
the History of Discoveries has pointed out, few have
paid attention to the testimonies of two youths - Miles
Philips and John Hortop - as published by Hakluyt. These
attracted interest not so much for the fact that they, in
company with 112 others, were cruelly marooned and abandoned
by Hawkins on his way back to Europe, but rather for how
they managed to survive. Miles Philips faced down every
danger with intelligence and audacity, but Hortop’s fate was
much more bitter. The former lived for fifteen years in New
Spain and learned to speak Spanish and Nahuátl perfectly.
Condemned and sentenced, he yet was able to reconcile
himself with the Inquisition at Mexico City. At length he
managed to return to England. In contrast, Job Hortop was
seized by the authorities in New Spain, sent to Seville, and
forced to serve in the galleys.
The
author brings to life all of these characters and is able to
situate their activities into the landscape of New Spain.
The historical geography which underlies this study,
receives support from no fewer than 13 maps. Composed by the
author herself, they provide a magnificent accompaniment to
the text. The book is written in clear and non-technical
language, with a clarity that maintains and indeed increases
the reader’s interest as he is introduced to different
places and personalities. The two final appendices bring
together in table form the various travellers who arrived in
New Spain. In the first, we see a synthesis of the
activities of the 16 English merchants who operated in New
Spain between 1522 and 1585. The second table offers an
overall view of a number of merchants, pirates and sailors
who arrived in New Spain, and gives their experiences in
that country, together with the varied fortunes they met as
they came to terms with the country and sought to ply their
trades.
The bibliography in this area is copious, but almost always
from English sources. In general, the literature owes much
to the work of historians such as Bernardo García Martínez
or Peter Gerhard, and their studies of sixteenth century
shipping, especially that of England’s merchants and
pirates, together with the formation of the Spanish Empire.
Perhaps
a
pioneering work on the English travellers was that by
Joaquín García Icazbalceta entitled
Relación de varios viajeros ingleses en la Ciudad de México
y otros lugares de la Nueva España.
Madrid, 1963. But it is not just the travel literature which
is becoming more extensive.
The history of English pirates, particularly
Hawkins, Drake and Cavendish, and indeed of piracy in
general in the New World, has attracted interesting studies
in Spanish.
For example, see
José Antonio del Busto, “Los últimos corsarios isabelinos”,
in
Historia Marítima del Perú.
Tomo III, volumen 2, Lima, 1973.
The
story of the marooned English is well known in Mexico and
has been covered in many publications. The article by Samuel
Temkin: Los méritos y servicios de Carvajal, 1567-1577 (Revista
de Humanidades del Tecnológico de Monterrey, num. 21, pp.
147-186), chronicles the testimony given by Hortop and
Phillips wehn they reached Tampico. There are also
statements by Spanish witnesses of the encounter, and these
show that the English were viewed with great suspicion,
notwithstanding their dishevelled and defenceless condition.
Regrettably, this book lacks a gegraphic index, be it
organised by place or by theme.
But to sum up, the work reviewed here brings us on an
emotion-filled journey to the
New Spain of the sixteenth century, as we follow the English
travellers from their disembarkation at the ports of Mexico.
We see their first steps in the New World and their failures
and successes. It is a journey made through English eyes,
one that sees the reality of New Spain from a different
perspective.
Cristina Borreguero Beltrán
1
Published
in the Revista de Humanidades: Tecnológico de Monterrey,
nº 15, Autumn 2003.
Author's Reply
Translated by Claire Healy
I thank
Cristina Borreguero for her review of Viajeros Isabelinos
en la Nueva España (FCE, México, 2001, 230 pp) and for
her kind and interesting comments on my book. I wish only to
refer to the penultimate paragraph of her review. In my
opinion, the story of los desembarcados,
(those put ashore by Hawkins at Pánuco in 1568) is, despite
its importance, quite unknown in Mexico. It has attracted
little treatment in Mexican historiography. The Battle of
San Juan de Ulúa between the fleet of John Hawkins and that
of the Viceroy Enríquez de Almansa has similarly received
insufficient attention. I decided to use the term los
desembarcados following the English sources. The term
used to refer to the 114 Englishmen is that they were put
on shore on the wild and dangerous north-eastern coast
of New Spain. This term - los desembarcados - as well
as the very structure of Viajeros Isabelinos en la Nueva
España- was reused two years after its publication, in
2003. The author of the article in question was Blanca López
de Mariscal, anad her title is very similar to that of the
work reviewed by professor Borreguero: Viajeros Ingleses en la
Nueva España en el siglo XVI. It was published in the
journal of the Humanidades section of the Tecnológico of
Monterrey, coincidentally the same review which in 2005
published the article by Samuel Temkin which the reviewer
cites above. Temkin’s article mentions, as I myself state in
Viajeros Isabelinos (p.163), that the testimonies of
Hortop and Philips refer to Luis de Carvajal, mayor of
Tampico. This man was later to be condemned by the
Inqusition as a secret Jew, a few years after the surviving
marooned English sailors appeared before that body at Pánuco.
In my view, prior to the publication of Viajeros
Isabelinos in 2001, few Spanish-language historians had
dealt with Philips, Hortop and the 114 “desembarcados”
at Pánuco. Those who did so generally took as their source
the translation to Spanish of the testimonies published by
Hakluyt towards the end of the sixteenth century. These were
done by Joaquín García Icazbalceta and published after his
death by José Porrúa Turanzas. This may explain why the
Relación de varios viajeros ingleses by Icazbalceta
leaves out any mention of Hakluyt as source. It appears that
the editors were unaware of it. As professor Borreguero
indicates, one of the goals of my book was to establish the
importance of different sources, specifically English, for
their rich descriptiveness and their usefulness as
accompaniment to other material. I hope to have achieved
this to some degree.
My
thanks to Cristina and to the editors of this journal.
Lourdes de Ita |
