Next Thursday, July 2nd, Casa de América (Plaza de la Cibeles s/n, Madrid) will host the round table discussion “Borders, Cartography, and Territorial Configuration in Hispanic and Portuguese America during the 18th Century,” as part of the series “1776: Spain, America, and the Monarchy of Charles III in a Changing World,” coordinated by José Manuel Santos, professor at the University of Salamanca. The event will take place at 6:00 p.m. in the Simón Bolívar Room. Admission is free until capacity is reached. Organized by: Casa de América and the University of Salamanca.
The 18th century was characterized by major political, social, and institutional transformations. One aspect that is sometimes forgotten is that it was also a century of profound advances in cartographic science and in efforts to clearly and scientifically establish, with new principles that would bury the old medieval agreements, the territorial boundaries between the different political entities, both in Europe and in America.
South America was the subject of observations and measurements to clearly establish boundaries that had been diffuse and permeable in the two previous centuries. The territorial configurations that resulted from these field studies were first translated into maps and then into treaties, shaping, as in the case of Brazil, geographical delimitations that would ultimately determine the borders of nation-states in the 19th century. This panel will discuss these transformations, which were crucial in the evolution of events in the Americas during the 18th century.
Welcome:
– Moisés Morera, Programming Director of Casa de América.
Speakers:
– José Manuel Santos, Professor of American History at the University of Salamanca.
– Benita Herreros, professor at the University of Cantabria.
– David Martín Marcos, professor of Modern History at the UNED (National University of Distance Education).
