1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910465613403321

Autore

Gužauskytė Evelina <1975->

Titolo

Christopher Columbus's naming in the diarios of the four voyages (1492-1504) : a discourse of negotiation / / Evelina Gužauskytė

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Toronto, [Ontario] ; ; Buffalo, [New York] ; ; London, [England] : , : University of Toronto Press, , 2014

©2014

ISBN

1-4426-6824-5

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (290 p.)

Collana

Toronto Iberic ; ; 12

Disciplina

972.902

Soggetti

Names, Geographical - Caribbean Area

Names, Geographical - South America

Electronic books.

Caribbean Area Discovery and exploration Spanish

South America Discovery and exploration Spanish

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Description based upon print version of record.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Illustrations -- Acknowledgments -- Abbreviations -- Introduction -- 1. "Named Incorrectly": The Geographic and Symbolic Functions of Columbian Place Names -- 2. Words and the World: The Known Corpus of Columbian Place Names -- 3. "Y saber dellos los secretos de la tierra": Taino Toponymy and Columbian Naming -- 5. Iguana and Christ -- 6. Infernal Imagery: Spirituality and Cosmology in the Final Two Voyages -- Conclusion -- Appendix: A Comprehensive List of Columbian Place Names -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index -- Backmatter

Sommario/riassunto

In this fascinating book, Evelina Gužauskytė uses the names Columbus gave to places in the Caribbean Basin as a way to examine the complex encounter between Europeans and the native inhabitants.Gužauskytė challenges the common notion that Columbus's acts of naming were merely an imperial attempt to impose his will on the terrain. Instead, she argues that they were the result of the collisions between several distinct worlds, including the real and mythical geography of the Old World, Portuguese and Catalan naming traditions, and the knowledge



and mapping practices of the Taino inhabitants of the Caribbean. Rather than reflecting the Spanish desire for an orderly empire, Columbus's collection of place names was fractured and fragmented - the product of the explorer's dynamic relationship with the inhabitants, nature, and geography of the Caribbean Basin.To complement Gužauskytė's argument, the book also features the first comprehensive list of the more than two hundred Columbian place names that are documented in his diarios and other contemporary sources.