History of libraries in Latin America

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The history of libraries in Latin America dates back to before the conquest of the continent by the Spanish. Although the indigenous peoples of Mexico, Central America, and South America had developed a written language and, in some cases, created libraries and record depositories of their own, library history of the continent tends to focus on post-conquest institutions. This article will discuss the history of libraries in Latin America.

Contents

Mexico and Central America

Pre-Conquest

The Aztecs, Maya, Mixtec, Olmec, Purépecha, and Zapotecs had all developed written language prior to the Spanish Conquest. [1] It is important to note that although numerous cultures in the region had developed writing systems, only the Maya had developed a phonetic language. [1] Although numerous types of writing surfaces were used, such as stone, bone, metal, and ceramics, the most famous surviving artifacts are the codices. As in other regions, codices were made from long strips of material folded into an accordion shape; in this region, bark from the amate tree, agave fibers, and/or animal hides were used as paper, and the codices were protected by wooden covers. [2] The Nahuatl codices (containing works from the Aztecs, Maya, and Mixtecs, among other tribes in the Nahua language family), are the most famous of these. [1] Codices were used to record a variety of types of information, including astronomical knowledge, religious calendars, genealogies of the ruling families, cartography, and tribute collection. [3] Temples and schools were the first "libraries" in the region, as this is where the codices were stored and used as educational materials. [3]

Maya Libraries

During the Golden Period of Maya Civilization also called the Classic Period (250–900 AD), the Maya were believed to have large libraries filled with books. [4] By the end of the Maya Classic Period it is assumed that Maya libraries housed thousands of books, written on bark paper or deer skin. [5] These libraries contained codices that covered important subjects such as genealogy, astronomy, rituals, information about plants and animals, medical knowledge, and history. [6]

Aztec/Mexica' Records

It was said that the Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, had become such "a splendid city that, according to records, it dazzled the Spaniards." [7] The Aztecs had an advanced prosperous civilization. Though it is speculated that the Aztecs had libraries, not much is known about where the Aztecs actually kept their records. [8] Conquistador and eyewitness Bernal Diaz mentions seeing a "whole house filled with large books" in Tenochtitlan. There was also mention of a library that belonged to Netzahualcoyotl in Tetzcoco with books from other Mesoamerican civilizations and one in Xochimilco. Through surviving codices and accounts from Spaniards, it is known that the Aztec, kept records on facets of life, including events, genealogical histories, practices, math, land ownership, maps, and civil and criminal laws. [9] In fact, at the time of the conquest, the Aztecs had just begun to codify their [customary] laws into a more formal written form." [10] The Aztecs collected information in the form of glyphs or picture and images on books (called amoxtli in the Nahuatl language). [11] The Aztec codices, in keeping with other Mesoamerica codices, were folded into 'screenfold' style and bounded so that readers could view many pages at once. [6] The bounded books were made from deer hide and agave plants. [9] Though the Aztecs kept records some of the books that the Aztecs possessed where in fact "biased Aztec version of history". [9] "The Aztecs had previously tried to wipe out Mayan culture and traditions" in order to be seen as the dominant empire. [9] Though there is not much to share about where exactly the Aztec kept their books, whether it was in one large library or several storage areas, "hundreds of indigenous books were in use in Mesoamerica" before the arrival of conquistadors. [6]

Post-Conquest to 1600

The Spanish arrival meant that preexisting Mesoamerican books and libraries were destroyed by conquistadores and missionaries. [3] Only 15 codices survived after 1521; these include the Borgia codex, the Vatican B codex, and the Tro-Cortesiano codex. [3] However, codices were slow to die out; Spanish-language, bilingual, and indigenous-language codices continued to be produced, with the list of materials changing to include paper and the subjects focusing on the Christian religion and tribute to colonial administrators. [3] One such example is the Codex Mendoza; it contains ethnography of the Aztecs with a commentary by Spanish priests and was created in 1541 as a gift for Charles V of Spain. [12] The first Mexican printing press was established in 1539 by Juan Pablos [13] The first book published in the Western hemisphere was Doctrina breve, written by Juan de Zumárraga, the first archbishop of Mexico. [14] It was printed in Tenochtitlan, what is called Mexico City today, in 1539. [14] Due to the lack of widespread Spanish literacy, most printed items were stored in the library of the university of Mexico City or in the private libraries of clergy, noblemen, and government officials. [15] In 1646 the oldest public library in Americas, Biblioteca Palafoxiana, was established in the Mexican state of Puebla. [16] Born in 1648, Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz was one of the intellectuals of Mexico during the late 17th century. [17] The Carmelite nun used a 4,000-volume library established by her grandfather to further her education; she corresponded with Sir Isaac Newton and was also renowned for her skill in poetry. [18] Unfortunately, Sor Juana became embroiled in a battle with Church politics in 1690; although she passionately defended the right of women to an education, she was banned from writing and her library in 1691, dying four years later. [19]

South America

The Andes

Pre-Conquest

The Inca Empire had developed a complex system of knots, called Quipu, used to record information; whether this could be considered a writing system, and collections of quipu libraries, is debated. [1]

Post-Conquest

As with Mexico and Central America, printing was slow to arrive to the Andes. Quito, Ecuador, obtained its first Spanish press in 1760. [13] As with the other colonies in Mexico and Central America, many printed materials found their way to the library of the University of Lima. [15]

Brazil

Post-Conquest

Prior to the mid-18th century, printing was strictly prohibited in Brazil due to its status as an agricultural colony. [20]

The Biblioteca Nacional do Brasil was founded in 1810 by the Portuguese royal family; the collection was left behind in the country following the terms of the treaty that allowed the royal family's return. [21] The library is one of the largest in the Americas, with over 9 million items in the collection. [22] The Biblioteca Nacional organized the first classes in library science in South America and pioneered modernization. [23]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex</span> Historical ancestor of the modern book

The codex was the historical ancestor of the modern book. Instead of being composed of sheets of paper, it used sheets of vellum, papyrus, or other materials. The term codex is often used for ancient manuscript books, with handwritten contents. A codex, much like the modern book, is bound by stacking the pages and securing one set of edges by a variety of methods over the centuries, yet in a form analogous to modern bookbinding. Modern books are divided into paperback and those bound with stiff boards, called hardbacks. Elaborate historical bindings are called treasure bindings. At least in the Western world, the main alternative to the paged codex format for a long document was the continuous scroll, which was the dominant form of document in the ancient world. Some codices are continuously folded like a concertina, in particular the Maya codices and Aztec codices, which are actually long sheets of paper or animal skin folded into pages.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztec mythology</span> Collection of myths of the Aztec civilization

Aztec mythology is the body or collection of myths of the Aztec civilization of Central Mexico. The Aztecs were Nahuatl-speaking groups living in central Mexico and much of their mythology is similar to that of other Mesoamerican cultures. According to legend, the various groups who were to become the Aztecs arrived from the north into the Anahuac valley around Lake Texcoco. The location of this valley and lake of destination is clear – it is the heart of modern Mexico City – but little can be known with certainty about the origin of the Aztec. There are different accounts of their origin. In the myth the ancestors of the Mexica/Aztec came from a place in the north called Aztlan, the last of seven nahuatlacas to make the journey southward, hence their name "Azteca." Other accounts cite their origin in Chicomoztoc, "the place of the seven caves," or at Tamoanchan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scribe</span> Person who wrote or copied manuscripts

A scribe is a person who serves as a professional copyist, especially one who made copies of manuscripts before the invention of automatic printing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maya codices</span> Manuscript written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script

Maya codices are folding books written by the pre-Columbian Maya civilization in Maya hieroglyphic script on Mesoamerican bark paper. The folding books are the products of professional scribes working under the patronage of deities such as the Tonsured Maize God and the Howler Monkey Gods. Most of the codices were destroyed by conquistadors and Catholic priests in the 16th century. The codices have been named for the cities where they eventually settled. The Dresden codex is generally considered the most important of the few that survive.

<i>Dresden Codex</i> Manuscript

The Dresden Codex is a Maya book, which was believed to be the oldest surviving book written in the Americas, dating to the 11th or 12th century. However, in September 2018 it was proven that the Maya Codex of Mexico, previously known as the Grolier Codex, is, in fact, older by about a century. The codex was rediscovered in the city of Dresden, Germany, hence the book's present name. It is located in the museum of the Saxon State Library. The codex contains information relating to astronomical and astrological tables, religious references, seasons of the earth, and illness and medicine. It also includes information about conjunctions of planets and moons.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aztec codex</span> Manuscripts painted by pre-Columbian and colonial Aztec

Aztec codices are Mesoamerican manuscripts made by the pre-Columbian Aztec, and their Nahuatl-speaking descendants during the colonial period in Mexico.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Codex Borbonicus</span> Aztec codex

The Codex Borbonicus is an Aztec codex written by Aztec priests shortly before or after the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. It is named after the Palais Bourbon in France and kept at the Bibliothèque de l'Assemblée Nationale in Paris. The codex is an outstanding example of how Aztec manuscript painting is crucial for the understanding of Mexica calendric constructions, deities, and ritual actions.

Mesoamerica, along with Mesopotamia and China, is one of three known places in the world where writing is thought to have developed independently. Mesoamerican scripts deciphered to date are a combination of logographic and syllabic systems. They are often called hieroglyphs due to the iconic shapes of many of the glyphs, a pattern superficially similar to Egyptian hieroglyphs. Fifteen distinct writing systems have been identified in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica, many from a single inscription. The limits of archaeological dating methods make it difficult to establish which was the earliest and hence the progenitor from which the others developed. The best documented and deciphered Mesoamerican writing system, and the most widely known, is the classic Maya script. Earlier scripts with poorer and varying levels of decipherment include the Olmec hieroglyphs, the Zapotec script, and the Isthmian script, all of which date back to the 1st millennium BC. An extensive Mesoamerican literature has been conserved, partly in indigenous scripts and partly in postconquest transcriptions in the Latin script.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mesoamerican literature</span> Extensive body of literature from 1st mil. BCE times

The traditions of indigenous Mesoamerican literature extend back to the oldest-attested forms of early writing in the Mesoamerican region, which date from around the mid-1st millennium BCE. Many of the pre-Columbian cultures of Mesoamerica are known to have been literate societies, who produced a number of Mesoamerican writing systems of varying degrees of complexity and completeness. Mesoamerican writing systems arose independently from other writing systems in the world, and their development represents one of the very few such origins in the history of writing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Feathered Serpent</span> Mesoamerican concept

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Writing material</span> Material which can be written upon

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<i>Antiquities of Mexico</i>

Antiquities of Mexico is a compilation of facsimile reproductions of Mesoamerican literature such as Maya codices, Mixtec codices, and Aztec codices as well as historical accounts and explorers' descriptions of archaeological ruins. It was assembled and published by Edward King, Lord Kingsborough, in the early decades of the 19th century. While much of the material pertains to pre-Columbian cultures, there are also documents relevant to studies of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Antiquities of Mexico was produced to make copies of rare manuscripts in European collections available for study by scholars.

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<i>Maya Codex of Mexico</i> Pre-Columbian Maya book

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 656. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  2. ↑ Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 656–670. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 657. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  4. ↑ Phillips, Charles (2017). The illustrated encyclopedia of Aztec & Maya: the greatest civilizations of ancient Central America with 1000 photographs, paintings & maps. Jones, David M. London. p. 486. ISBN   978-1-78214-340-6. OCLC   1005933447.
  5. ↑ Fischer, Steven R. (2001). History of writing. London: Reaktion Books. p. 228. ISBN   978-1-86189-588-2. OCLC   438712074.
  6. 1 2 3 Lyons, Martyn (2011). Books : a living history. London: Thames and Hudson. p. 84. ISBN   978-0-500-29115-3. OCLC   857089276.
  7. ↑ "Cortés and the Aztecs - Exploring the Early Americas | Exhibitions - Library of Congress". www.loc.gov. 2007-12-12. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  8. ↑ "Basic Aztec facts: AZTEC BOOKS". www.mexicolore.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  9. 1 2 3 4 Murray, Stuart, 1948- (2009). The library : an illustrated history. New York, NY: Skyhorse Pub. p. 136. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4. OCLC   277203534.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  10. ↑ Collections, Special. "Tarlton Law Library: Exhibit - Aztec and Maya Law: Aztec Legal System and Sources of Law". tarlton.law.utexas.edu. Retrieved 2020-04-20.
  11. ↑ Lyons, Martyn (2013). Books : A Living History. London: Thames & Hudson. p. 84. ISBN   978-0-500-29115-3. OCLC   857089276.
  12. ↑ Lyons, Martyn (2011). Books: A Living History (2nd ed.). Los Angeles: Getty Publications. p. 86. ISBN   978-1-60606-083-4.
  13. 1 2 Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 660. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  14. 1 2 Murray, Stuart (2009). Library: An Illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 136.
  15. 1 2 Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 661. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  16. ↑ "Biblioteca Palafoxiana" (PDF). UNESCO Biblioteca Palafoxiana.
  17. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). Library: An Illustrated History. Skyhorse Publishing. p. 138. ISBN   9781616084530.
  18. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History (1st ed.). New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p.  139. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4.
  19. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History (1st ed.). New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p.  140. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4.
  20. ↑ Roldan Vera, Eugenia (2013). "The History of the Book in Latin America (Including Incas and Aztecs)". In Suarez, Michael; Woudhuysen, H. R. (eds.). The Book: A Global History (1st ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 659. ISBN   978-0-19-967941-6.
  21. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History (1st ed.). New York: Skyhorse Publishing. pp.  276–277. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4.
  22. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History (1st ed.). New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p.  276. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4.
  23. ↑ Murray, Stuart (2009). The Library: An Illustrated History (1st ed.). New York: Skyhorse Publishing. p.  277. ISBN   978-1-60239-706-4.
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