******************** POSTING RULES & NOTES ******************** #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message. #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived. #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern. *****************************************************************
Best regards, Andrew Stewart - - - Subscribe to the Washington Babylon newsletter via https://washingtonbabylon.com/newsletter/ Begin forwarded message: > From: H-Net Staff via H-REVIEW <h-rev...@lists.h-net.org> > Date: November 7, 2019 at 11:47:45 AM EST > To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > Cc: H-Net Staff <revh...@mail.h-net.org> > Subject: H-Net Review [H-LatAm]: Cooley on Flint and Flint, 'A Most > Splendid Company: The Coronado Expedition in Global Perspective' > Reply-To: h-rev...@lists.h-net.org > > Richard Flint, Shirley Cushing Flint. A Most Splendid Company: The > Coronado Expedition in Global Perspective. Albuquerque University > of New Mexico Press, 2019. Illustrations, maps, charts, tables. 464 > pp. $95.00 (cloth), ISBN 978-0-8263-6022-9. > > Reviewed by Mackenzie Cooley (Hamilton College) > Published on H-LatAm (November, 2019) > Commissioned by Casey M. Lurtz > > "People of ambition were attracted to a very ambitious plan" (p. > 321). So Richard Flint and Shirley Cushing Flint characterize the > fateful story of the so-called Coronado expedition. When don Antonio > de Mendoza started gathering resources, people, animals, and > information for a three-phase approach to Asia, he captured the > imagination of the young men of New Spain, eager for glory and > riches. The expedition to this Tierra Nueva north of New Spain was > meant to realize the original goals of Christopher Columbus's project > by establishing a direct route to Asia. The resulting company marched > northward on the advice of native guides, with livestock, friars, and > various specialists in tow, relying on corn tortillas for sustenance > and disrupting the lives of indigenous Tierra Nuevans despite the > leadership's unsuccessful attempts to improve their treatment. With a > focus on a flurry of activity from 1539 to 1542, Flint and Flint > reveal a history of bold-faced hope followed by doubt, destruction, > and disintegration of the expedition, which located neither Asia nor > the seven cities rumored to tower over the North. The ambition that > had fueled the set of plans then started to crumble as the era of > exploration gave way to the sobering development of bureaucratic > colonialism in New Spain. > > _A Most Splendid Company: The Coronado Expedition in Global > Perspective _is committed to demystifying the Coronado expedition. > Over eighty-nine chapters, the authors organize a colossal amount of > archival research into four chronological sections: "Essential > Background: Prior to 1530," "Before the Expedition: 1530-1539," > "During the Expedition: 1539-1542," and "After the Expedition: After > 1542." This study explores the many intersecting stories that came > together in this expedition. Flint and Flint seek to capture the > perspective of their historical actors by emphasizing their words, > worldview, and the contingent nature of their actions to pin down in > exacting detail the nature of the expedition and the logistics that > made it possible. > > New archival research from Spain and Mexico, maps from the John > Carter Brown collection, and other primary source material underpin > this analysis. Flint and Flint triumphed over a considerable archival > challenge: not only was the Coronado expedition remembered "as a > colossal fiasco" in colonial New Spain but there is also no > comprehensive list of its participants (p. 329). Flint and Flint have > accumulated a wide array of data through which to understand > expeditionaries' ages, diverse occupations, reliance on local guides, > and preexisting social connections. Such careful data collection will > doubtless provide the empirical backbone for a new generation of > scholarship committed to the history of colonial Latin America and > centuries of migrations across what today are the US-Mexico > borderlands. The authors supplement their litany of archival > discoveries and informative charts with archaeological remnants of > the voyage, including slingshot stones used by indigenous allies, > Murano and Spanish beads, horseshoe caret-head nails, and crossbow > bolt heads. This rich integration of archaeological evidence > highlights the expedition's material constraints and forces the > reader to grapple with the logistics of the expeditionaries' > achievement. > > Flint and Flint provide a comprehensive timeline of the events and a > succinct summary of hierarchies involved in executing and planning > the expedition. One of the central interventions of this study is a > revision of the expedition's leadership from viceroy to companies and > calpollis. Though the expedition was named for its young captain > general, Francisco Vázquez de Coronado, the authors posit that, were > the expedition named for the driving force behind it, it would have > been called the Mendoza Expedition after its organizer and principal > investor, don Antonio de Mendoza. An alternate name would be the > Tierra Nueva expedition. The book's title sits somewhat awkwardly > with this revisionist position. > > _A Most Splendid Company_ is filled with rich charts, appendices, and > lists built on years of research. The authors have organized and > quantified expeditionaries' previous fighting experience, > highlighting the many conflicts from the Italian Wars to Tunis to > Chontales that prepared the young men on this voyage. The appendices > are a strength of the volume, as they include a list of signatures > that not only reveal the paleographic difficulty of the research but > also bring the signatories to life through their unique hands. The > authors' coverage of animal involvement in this expedition--from the > similarities between bison and yak to the use of livestock on the > expedition--is already fueling new scholarship. Finally, in line with > a commitment to open-source historical data, Flint and Flint have > generously published the troves of research on which this book is > based at https://coronado.unm.edu/. This is a highly usable database > that would be excellent for both research and teaching US borderlands > and the sixteenth-century history of colonial Latin America and is a > true service to the field. > > A few key figures emerge. Mendoza, his ambition curtailed by rising > doubt, is one of the most interesting. He had been writing to the > Spanish Crown since the mid-1530s to learn more about what lingered > beyond the boundaries of New Spain and had been preparing > reconnaissance and conquest missions to the North. However, by 1539 > he seems to have questioned fray Marcos de Niza's wondrous reports > about Cíbola. Yet, if one thread of the expedition led to failure, > then another led to lasting results in the form of contact with Asia. > One of the greatest archival accomplishments of this volume appears > in chapter 70, "International Trade," where the authors discuss the > involvement of Guido de Lavezariis using documents found in the > Archivo General de Indias. Born to a family of Genoese booksellers > resident in Seville, Lavezariis worked as a bookseller and merchant > banker in Mexico City as the expedition was in the planning phases. > Through his keen interest in Mendoza's attempts to reach Asia, > Lavezariis invested more than twenty thousand pesos in the Tierra > Nueva expedition. Upon its failure, he became invested in the > Villalobos expedition across the Pacific to the Islas de Poniente, > which departed immediately after the return of the Tierra Nueva > expedition in 1542. While half of his company died in the voyage, > Lavezariis survived with a book of navigation in hand. He cultivated > connections to Asia with a ginger plantation outside of Mexico City > and eventually became governor of the Philippines. > > While the underlying research is impressive, the volume is marred by > editorial weaknesses and might have benefited from improved graphics. > Similarly, the book suffers from some unresolved tensions between its > lengthy presentation of background information and its cutting-edge > research. The authors attempt to deliver both facets of their title > by providing a global perspective and detailing the "splendid > company" who constituted the Coronado expedition. It succeeds in the > latter but struggles with the former, the case of Lavezariis > notwithstanding. That said, the sheer breadth and depth of the > research collected in this volume makes it a must-have for any > scholar of colonial Latin America, the US borderlands, and > exploration history. > > Citation: Mackenzie Cooley. Review of Flint, Richard; Flint, Shirley > Cushing, _A Most Splendid Company: The Coronado Expedition in Global > Perspective_. H-LatAm, H-Net Reviews. November, 2019. > URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=54184 > > This work is licensed under a Creative Commons > Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States > License. > > _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
