Cannibalism In A Cultural Context: Cartographic Imagery And Iconography Of The New World Indigenous Peoples During The Age Of Discovery

Abstract

This dissertation seeks to explore the imagery of the indigenous peoples as cannibals on the fifteenth-century cartography of the New World. This imagery represented the Amerindians of the South American interior on maps and in the minds of Europeans who relied on accounts and illustrations to inform them about the New World. The geographic specificity of cannibal imagery on New World cartography reflected the accounts by voyagers who returned from their transatlantic journey. While many of the cartographers never left the European countries of their origin, their work often encompassed both the littoral boundaries and the cultural differences that defined the New World for the Old World. This cartography provides present day scholars and historians with an additional resource for studying fifteenth-century Europeans and their understanding of the New World.