"a simultaneous view of history": the creation of a hypermedia database

Leonardo

"A Simultaneous View of History": The Creation of a Hypermedia DatabaseAuthor(s): Lily DíazSource: Leonardo, Vol. 28, No. 4 (1995), pp. 257-264Published by: The MIT PressStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1576185 .

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GENERAL ARTICLE

A Simultaneous View of History:

The Creation of a Hypermedia

Database

Lily Diaz

his paper describes my research into the con-

figuration of a space-as-information model within a historical context. With the term "space-as-information model" I mean to elucidate a systematic approach that includes both the bio-

logical and social aspects of information processing and its relation to the production of images. This model is not my main topic here, but I mention it because I would like to en-

courage the reader to consider that the production of art, images, science and ideology is neither random nor sponta- neous, but rather is rooted in and derives from the ecology that surrounds a given culture.

When taking inventory of our ecological system, one has to include the artifacts that shape its development and contrib- ute to its sustenance. Artifacts that extend the vision either outward or inward (such as the telescope or the microscope) augment an organism's perceptual capacity. One cannot ob- viate the fact that they also act as filters between the organism and the thing being observed. (A.D. Coleman has referred to the result as "lens-derived understanding" [1].) In the case of the computer, at this point in time, it could be said that bi-

nary logic is the filter through which all information is sifted. At its simplest, a space-as-information model is realized pic-

torially in computer graphics (at least in raster graphics) through the manipulation of numerical values and coordinates that indicate position, boundaries and fill. One of the crucial differences between this model and the one available

through traditional pictorial representation is that the com-

puter provides the user with the ability to dynamically alter the point of view from which an object is represented.

I have explored this potential by using the computer to create a hypermedia application, A Simultaneous View of History. Within the intellectual space of the application, I have com-

piled sources related to the practice of visualization by Euro-

pean explorers in sixteenth-century America. I have also re- constructed some of the scientific techniques that these

explorers utilized in the gathering of this data. Visualization is the assimilation of data into an image by

the human visual system. Modern scientific visualization makes use of the computer to render an image from data that otherwise would not be accessible through normal perception. In many cases, this inaccessibility is due to the magnitude of the subject matter being studied. It is important to re- member is that it is we who create categories and decide what is important to render visually.

Lily Diaz (artist), 7 Park Avenue, 5J, New York, NY 10016, U.S.A.

Received 6 October 1994.

My interest in visualization stems from the hypothesis that, although we live in an era of tech-

nological innovation, our modes of thought regarding data investi-

gation and interpretation are left over from other eras [2]. I believe that it is the role of the artist to envision new forms of human

agency. Visualization through the

computer can open a new formal discourse for artists. However, it

ABSTRACT

This paper describes the creation of the hypermedia application A Simultaneous View of His- tory, a compilation of sources related to the practice of visualization by European explorers in sixteenth-century Latin America. The overlapping layers of data that can be constructed through hypermedia design are compared to a palimpsest. Both the palimpsest and hypermedia can present a simultaneous view of different discourses. The artist discusses her idea of presenting a "palimpsest view" of history by using hypermedia to juxtapose historical materials and thus point to differ- ing versions of historical events. She discusses the research in- volved in the creation of the application and reconstructs some of the techniques that European explorers used to gather data in Latin America. She compares the sixteenth-century European practice of compiling and presenting data from foreign lands to modern scientific visualization, which uses the computer to present images of otherwise imperceptible data.

is very easy to let ourselves be seduced by technology. We must not forget that, as producers of technology, we bring our own biases to its design.

I chose the title with the intention of highlighting the type of polyphonic discourse that can result from presenting information about the same topic from diverse views. A Simulta- neous View of History also refers to the process of presenting information through the concurrent use of diverse formats, such as text, graphics, audio and video.

I created the work for use by researchers, software develop- ers and other artists. The database should also prove useful for educators building curricula about Latin American culture [3].

Fig. 1. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990- 1995. Window showing Juan L6pez de Velasco's Questionnaire of 1577, which is reproduced with permission of the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain.

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LEONARDO, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp. 257-264, 1995 257

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THE PROJECT

A Simultaneous View of History is a database containing primary and secondary sources pertaining to the early colonial

history of Latin America. Primary and

secondary sources are organized in sepa- rate modules. The database can also be searched by topic. The Relaciones

Geogrdficas de America, a collection of the

replies by local officials in Central and South America to a standard questionnaire, form the core of the textual and

graphical primary sources. Several versions of this questionnaire

were developed by imperial bureaucrats in Madrid between 1569 and 1586. The version used in this study (Fig. 1) is referred to as the Questionnaire of 1577 and was developed by Juan L6pez de Velasco. The Questionnaire of 1577 stands out from the others because of the number of responses it elicited.

The database also includes writings pertaining to the scientific practice of

L6pez de Velasco and a selection of texts

by a variety of cosmographers. I selected these texts because their authors were

L6pez de Velasco's contemporaries and collaborated with him in Spain's systematic survey of its newly conquered lands.

Excerpts from Historia Natural de las Cosas de la Nueva Espana, an illustrated chronicle created in approximately 1575

by native artists working for Fray Fran- cisco de Sahagun, are also among the

primary sources. These excerpts elucidate information from an autochthonous

point of view. I also included a sample from the drawings of John White, who was the first governor of Virginia, in order to demonstrate the complex economic and political interests present in the region [4]. Among the secondary sources I included are articles written by scholars about the Relaciones Geogrdficas and modern depictions of some of the artifacts that are described in the primary sources. I attempted to limit the

primary sources to a narrow historical

period; most of them are documents

originating between 1575 and 1600.

Technically, the application is com-

posed of multimedia datasets [5]. I used

graphics to illustrate, expand on and re- construct the subjects of the various texts. The engraving in Fig. 2, for example, il- lustrates what the city of San Juan might have looked like in the late sixteenth cen-

tury. An audiotrack provides partial En-

glish translations of the material. I used hypermedia to create an envi-

ronment that allows for the simultaneous presentation of diverse texts. The

participant is able to view/hear various versions of a single subject. These versions include original transcriptions, English translations and commentaries on the primary sources. The application provides the user with the ability to per- form Boolean searches, or searches for selected information, and it monitors

Fig. 2. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990-1995. A view of San Juan, Puerto Rico from the collection of urban sites by Arnaldo Montamus, published by Theodore de Bry in his Views of America (Amsterdam, 1671). This engraving represents an accurate portrayal of the city in the late sixteenth century [38].

iS;a h in >n Pi ,,uertn 1ico - XVI Centur v L -nr.r i

the user's pathway through the database in order to facilitate orientation.

In the 1920s, archeologist Zellia Nuttall

attempted to apply a similar analysis to the Relaciones Geogrdficas, comparing re-

sponses to the Questionnaire from three settlements. She recognized the importance of the information that integration and cross-comparison of responses from different locations could yield. Her use of

graphics to expand on the data provided information that would otherwise be unavailable, as these cultures were in transition from a pictographic to a written system of notation [6].

THE ARTIST AS HISTORIAN:

CRITICAL THEORY AND RESEARCH The fact that I had to travel to Spain to research primary sources says something about the issue of access in historical research. The lack of access can present a

major barrier, and not only in the physical sense. Access can be also be hin- dered in an intellectual sense by the gap between past and present modes of

thought. Like other discourses, the discourse

of science constitutes a body of knowl-

edge that changes over time owing to new discoveries and reinterpretations. Yet, it seems to me that we often resist

analysis that questions objectivity in scientific discourse. We forget that modern scientific discourse is just another system of knowledge with its own categories and procedures for explaining natural phenomena. Biases are built into the

way in which we formulate discourse. The Mercator projection's rendition of the continental land masses is a good example of how cultural biases can affect scientific data:

The Mercator projection places Eu- rope at the center of the world and ex- aggerates its size, while relatively di- minishing the extent of Africa, the Americas, and the southern hemi- sphere in general. It is not trivial to suggest that the "North-South debate" begins with this projection. One historian of cartography cites the Mercator projection as an example of the 'geo- political prophecy' of colonialism [7].

The obliteration of information is an additional concern that historians must face. This insidious practice has been

performed in myriad ways. The most common and well-documented has been the destruction and dispersal of a culture's intellectual heritage. There is also the more subtle, yet no less effec-

258 Diaz, A Simultaneous View of History



tive, process of omission, by which a dominant culture excludes the voice of the "other" from its historical narrative, thereby vanquishing it from human- kind's collective memory.

Those who attempt to engage in an ar-

cheology of history might want to exam- ine texts with a view toward investigating the congruence between the various in-

terpretations of a history. They might also consider the potential presence of diverse layers that are not readily appar- ent in the historical narrative. Popular history engendered by oral traditions often diverges from the history recorded in formal or "sacred" books, which is usually coopted by the state and utilized as an instrument of legitimacy.

Because of its information-processing capabilities, computer technology has been successfully employed in areas in-

volving textual and semantic analysis [8]. The next steps could focus on find-

ing ways of using the computer to sift, filter, gradually expose layers and evoke the diverse voices present in historical discourse.

THE TRANSITION FROM PARCHMENT TO PAPER TO ON/OFF SWITCHES A palimpsest is an ancient manuscript or codex, usually inscribed on parchment. When one exposes it to light from an ultraviolet lamp, one can see the remains of other texts behind the writing on the surface of the material. The main factor that led to the production of these artifacts was the difficulty that writers en- countered in finding and obtaining suit- able materials for writing, which

encouraged the practice of inscribing, erasing and rewriting over the same surface [9]. The existence of palimpsests leads us to reflect on remnants of other cultures and different world views. The

palimpsest came out of an insular world in which recorded information was a

precious commodity. Writing materials were not generally available, few knew how to read or write and information was not readily shared.

At a more abstract level, the concept of

palimpsest history has been used to describe the ways in which recent literary forms, such as the novel, make use of

"history as itself as fiction" [10]. I use the idea of a palimpsest view of history to see

history as a dynamic process involving the

writing, erasing and subsequent inscrip- tions of layers of discourse over previous layers. A palimpsest view of history dis-

Fig. 3. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990-1995. A map of Xonotla, Mexico, from the Relaciones Geogrdficas de America (1580). Reproduced with permission of the Archivo General de Indias, Seville, Spain.

plays the discourses that are hidden in the crevices. It illumines versions that have been either pushed to the back-

ground or altogether obliterated. It pos- tulates that a remedy to problems of access, bias and obliteration could be found in the creation of electronic repositories that allow for storage and wide dissemina- tion of the knowledge that is humanity's heritage. It envisions electronic environ- ments in which information-processing tools such as templates will be able to access and present data according to crite- ria established by the viewer [11].

The production of palimpsests ended with the invention of paper, its wide-

spread availability and use, the invention of the printing press and the rise of a scholastic culture devoted to the production of books. These changes ush- ered in the 400-year-old model that Western culture has used to negotiate the recording and apportionment of

knowledge. In this model, text is organized sequentially into pages that are

gathered together in a self-contained unit known as a book.

The development of new information

technologies is bringing about changes similar in magnitude to the ones just described. Hypertext is one such recently developed technology that allows for a new form of design and production of information structures. Often defined as

"nonsequential writing," hypertext allows the reader to dynamically alter the manner in which information is presented

[12]. This means that the task of reading no longer has to follow a sequential order. Textual material can now be accessed in an associative manner.

Hypermedia is the term used to de- note a superset of hypertext that includes other media objects such as

graphics and sound. Hypermedia tech-

nology provides authors with the potential to create a document that can im-

part an array of sensory experiences. A hypertext document can only be

presented on a computer screen. It can mimic a book and may seem to occupy the traditional x,y coordinates of a page. It may even use the organizational con- ventions of the scholastic tradition, such as a table of contents, chapters and pagination. This semblance, however, masks

hypertext's radical departures from this tradition. Hypertext's restructuring of information signals the collapse of the

page as a physically delimiting agent and the end of the book as a unit of physical enclosure.

In the electronic landscape of hypertext, documents can be designed so that the reader is an active entity free to choose his/her trajectory. Theoretically, all references can be made accessible

through links, allowing the interested reader to explore other materials that inform the text. The hypertext author is free to include multiple iterations of the same subject as seen from different

points of view. In Landow's words, the resulting condition liberates the text

Diaz, A Simultaneous View of History 259



from "psychological, sociological and historical determinism" and opens it "to an apparently infinite play of relation-

ships" [13]. It may be possible to use this new ability to superimpose layers of text and to access other texts from within a text as a kind of ultraviolet lamp, reveal-

ing hidden voices in the palimpsest of historical narrative.

VISUALIZATION IN THE PRE-COMPUTER ERA Much of the information on pre-Colum- bian and early colonial Latin America that has survived to our day is in the form of reports containing narratives and illustrations. These were completed by civil and scientific personnel working under the auspices of the Spanish crown. They were used by a bureaucracy comprised of individuals who, for the most part, had not seen and would never see Spain's newly acquired territories [14]. One wonders if the Europe- ans' growing need to acquire a more

comprehensive vision of the colonies

might have motivated the development of an early, pre-machine model of scientific visualization.

Sixteenth-century cosmographer Alonso de Santa Cruz, for example, described cosmography as the science that makes a painting of the earth, "because

phia is the same as painting and cosmos is world" [15]. The knowledge derived from this scientific pursuit would be stored in information-holding devices such as maps. Ursula Lamb explains that

cosmographers "were in greatest de-

mand when the New World was new, and

they were called upon literally to take its measure, fix its image, and to compre- hend and explain its nature" [16].

Understanding this empirical duty as the scientist's objective, one can follow the opinions contained in the "Consulta del Consejo Num. 103" [17] of 1583, in which the Counsel of the Indies discusses an upcoming trip to America by cosmographer Jaime Juan. This consulta

begins with a document dated 12 Janu- ary 1583, describing the purpose of

Juan's mission:

... to measure the accidents of the land wherever he goes, to measure the magnetic deviation in respect to the pole in all the places he goes, to observe the eclipses of the moon that occur... as all of this is of paramount importance for Geography, Navigation and other urgent issues pertaining to His Majesty [18].

Attached to the document is another text dated 5 February 1583 and signed by L6pez de Velasco. It further specifies Juan's duties and lists the scientific instruments that he will use to complete his assignment. In the summary, also dated 5 February, Juan is mandated to meet with other scientists, such as Fran- cisco Dominguez in Mexico and Alonso Alvarez de Toledo in Colombia.

At a microlevel, the cosmographer was to observe the local geography and to record or draft its form. At a macrolevel, through the measurement of magnetic deviation and the observation of eclipses, he is to abstract mathematical values that will be used to estimate placement of the locations observed. When the documents were received in Spain, that data would

be entered into other maps and documents that were maintained and regu- larly updated by cosmographers em-

ployed at places such as La Casa de Contrataci6n in Seville.

Without considering the techniques available to us through modern compu- tational devices, we can see that, concep- tually, the visualization practices of the sixteenth century are not very far re- moved from those of our era. Both forms of visualization are based on a no- tion of the image as a repository of

knowledge.

GATHERING AND PROCESSING INFORMATION WITHOUT THE COMPUTER In 1571, Juan L6pez de Velasco, the

newly appointed Spanish cosmographer- chronist, was given the task of "organiz- ing and conveniently arranging all the

things pertaining to the cosmography and description of the Indies" [19].

L6pez de Velasco approached this task

by directing a series of inquiries, the most famous being the Questionnaire of 1577. Authorized by Spain's King Philip II, this document consisted of 50 questions that

sought detailed descriptions about almost

every aspect of life in the Spanish colonies. Howard Cline describes the contents of the Questionnaire:

Starting out with political geography, the questionnaire progresses to the environment and terrain, with queries on toponymic and related matters. It re- quires coverage of town bounds, and for Indian places, language affiliations, native governmental structures, modes

Fig. 5. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990-

Fig. 4. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990- 1995. A demographic comparison of some Latin American urban 1995. A map showing the location of Xonotla, Mexico, with re- sites in the late sixteenth century. Population density is measured

spect to other sites mentioned in the Relaciones Geogrdficas de by the number of vezinos, or tribute-paying individuals, in each America. community. h - -h a 1- ............ ......... ........ ........U.._.................. I_li

airreaeaor ae si esta caveaera sulos son aMn..vaTtrin...u*z.amai, y ngna.o....e.ea.n y .:a..r FTranCisco Ayotusco.

(Capitulo doce) Al capitulo doze rrespondieron que las caveceras que en torno de si tiene este pueblo son Quytlalpa que cahe a la parte del poniente que ay de aqui alla sets leguas grandes y por caminos doblados y torcidos y barrancosos y malos de caminar. Y por la parte del sur le

..........




of war, historical traditions, and com- parative demography. Names of plants, both native and imported are sought, with emphasis on medicinal herbs. Questions on mineral resources are followed by others on defensive arrange- ments, house types, and economic life. Religious and social welfare institutions close the portion of the questionnaire to be prepared for non-maritime settlements [20].

Figure 3 shows one of the responses to question number 10, which instructs the respondent to create a painting or other visual depiction of the particular city, town or village being surveyed.

Approximately 208 questionnaire re-

sponses, or relaciones geograficas, are extant. Although scholars believe that

L6pez de Velasco planned to use these

responses to write an all-encompassing description of the Americas, the work was never completed. It might well have been intended as a sequel to his

Geogrdfia y Descripcion General de las

Indias, an extensive chronicle consid- ered to be the first statistical portrait of the New World [21].

Another document, also drafted by L6pez de Velasco, is titled "Instrucci6n

para la Observaci6n del Eclipse" and is dated 1582. In it, L6pez de Velasco provides instructions for the proper record-

ing of the moon's shadow during the

eclipse and includes directions for assem-

bling an instrument used in the observation. Upon completion, these notations followed the usual route back to Spain.

Despite the lack of developed tech-

nology and the inaccuracies inherent in some of the methodology used to obtain these readings, the results are relatively reasonable, according to Clinton Edwards, a geographer who has studied the cartographic materials created from

responses to both the Questionnaire of 1577 and the "Instrucci6n para la Observaci6n del Eclipse:"

Jaime Juan included in his report a lengthy mathematical treatise which yields insight into how accurately the ex- perts in Spain may have been able to as- sign a position.... Juan's observations and calculations placed it [the Audiencia Real in Mexico City] about twenty-one kilometers too far south and about twenty-three kilometers too far west, not a bad estimate for the times [22].

L6pez de Velasco's quest to render as accurate an image as possible of the new continent led him to develop a new

methodology. He combined the use of instruments and information-gathering techniques to produce and catalog im-

ages in a manner that foreshadowed

E CIsioo Terd[o: 1200 - 1519 d.C. IF-1-,::LL' I

...... " o : ?que agora lo ._.--. ..................................................... ::_.~i. _| J~ lB o nth elnm~ nm in

Fig. 6. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990-1995. A timeline illustrat-

ing the major cultural eras in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica.

contemporary scientific visualization. What we witness in L6pez de Velasco's work is a systematic approach to extract-

ing chunks of information that will be used to construct a multidimensional

space. In this space, L6pez de Velasco creates an image for the reader of a world as complex as the one described in the responses to the Questionnaire.

When I began my research for this

project in 1990, one of the exercises I

engaged in was to plot onto blank sheets of paper the locations of various villages as they were described in the responses. I would then utilize these (sometimes unsuccessfully) to help me locate these towns on maps from different time peri- ods. It was not until 1995 that I found a

map of Mexico that shows the location of the village of Xonotla. In comparing this 1898 Rand McNally map to my own sketches, I found (to my delight) that the description in the text matches the location as depicted on the map. To me, this indicates that the Questionnaire was successful in yielding data that can be transferred from one format (textual) to another (graphic).

The responses to the Questionnaire arguably constitute one of the richest sources of information about living conditions in early colonial America. Almost 5 centuries later, traveling backwards in time, I have attempted to compile these documents into a computer application in order to allow a glimpse into a reality that is not readily available through normal perception.

DESIGN OF A GRAPHICAL INTERFACE

Upon initializing A Simultaneous View of History, the user encounters its graphical interface. In the words of Brenda Lau- rel, a graphical interface is "a represen- tational environment containing the means for people to search the database themselves by topic or keyword" [23]. The main screen of the graphical interface in A Simultaneous Viezv of History includes six icons that facilitate access and create a logical framework (Color Plate A No. 1). Each icon represents one of the six topics in which the materials are

organized: Palaeographic Materials, Natural Sciences, Physical Sciences, So- cial Organization, and Secondary and

Primary Sources. Within each category, texts are integrated through a multilay- ered approach that can be traversed in a linear or an associative manner.

A pictorial illustration of one of the halls of the Archive of the Indies in Seville is used to represent the entry point into the primary sources. Access-

ing the artifact through this gateway brings the user to a menu that presents four alternative pathways titled Introduc- tion, the Relaciones Geograficas, Maps, and Related Documents. The introduction offers an overview of the application and features two subcategories, History and Document Analysis. The History section

provides information about the creation of the primary sources. Document Analy- sis discusses the characteristics of the




.Jl !i.LU.s .Ili la LUJllaOl cl UcIL ClSU acl I CGULUVI SUVUITciS ca wii SCivj.cla jr Luc.S - : PurLV CJu,

fecha de los quatrocientos afios de su fundacion a esta no ay mas ni menos gente sino siempre estan en un soil y quesia poblazion hizieron los antesesores del governador que Ann-A oc a nr c ar ti err mA c c>mnlAlA I A%r m-in i IC lnc chi ian c A lA I ar vm]> a elI n c>rTnan n r

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The Painter The good painter is a Toltec, an artist; H e creates with red and black ink, with black water...

The good painter is wise, Qod is in his heart. He puts divinity into things; He converses with his own heart. He knows the colors, he applies

.a. pitulo..noven.o Al capitulo noveno rrespondieron que este pueblo se llama Xonotla, LlamAnlo asi deste

Fig. 7. A Simultaneous View of History, hypermedia database, 1990-1995. The main te the narrative is in the background. Highlighted keywords in the main text are linked rectly to the text in the foreground. The viewer opens the text that appears in the fc ground by using the mouse to click on one of the highlighted words in the main texl resulting superimposition of texts contributes to the sense of a narrative composed multiple, layered views.

Relaci6n de Temazcaltepec, which he classified as complex, all of the sample's Relaciones are of the simple type. This

i means that the report was compiled by an official reporting on a single jurisdiction as "he followed the Instructions, listed its dependencies and submitted a

single or simple Relaci6n" [25]. Cline in > classified as composite any Relacidn in

which the official "listed briefly the main s places of his jurisdiction, and then in la that sequence prepared for each a more

or less extensive Relaci6n" [26]. Re- sponses in which the official "provided information on that topic for each major place under his jurisdiction" [27] are classified as complex.

I assumed that the simple Relaciones would be easier to use for the purpose of establishing cross-comparisons. My decision to include the Relacidn de

........ Coatepecwas based on the richness of the text. This Relaci6n is not only one of the

rxt of Ixdi- longest and most detailed; it also repre- Dre- sents a major Indian urban center that t. The survived the Spanish invasion. I in- of cluded the Relacidn de Temazcaltepec in

the sample because of its illustrations.

Relaciones within the context of the docu- mentary tradition. From Document Analysis, the user can access the Palaeographic Materials section through a direct link. Palaeographic Materials can also be accessed through the main screen. The next major category, the Relaciones Geogrdficas contains a sample from the responses to the Question- naire. At this writing, the sample consists of nine Relaciones, from Caracas, Coatepec, El Tocuyo, Huexotla, Puerto Rico, Temazcaltepec, Teutenango, Xonotla and Zimapan.

In gathering this sample, I have attempted to encompass the largest possible geographical distribution and have tried to maintain factors that may have been an integral part of the original inquiry.

In the Questionnaire, L6pez de Velasco divides territories according to whether they are maritime or not. I therefore included a response from a maritime site in my sample. As it turns out, the only extant of these is the Relaci6n de San Juan de Puerto Rico, which dates from 1582. This text contains abundant information on the use of local flora for medicinal purposes, includ- ing a cure for syphilis [24].

Another major division implicit in the Questionnaire is between Spanish and Indian towns. Caracas and El Tocuyo (in

Venezuela), San Juan de Puerto Rico (in the Caribbean) and Zimapan (in Mexico) are all cities that were founded by the Spanish. The first two are the original settlements from which the con- quest of South America gained a foot- hold. San Juan de Puerto Rico was a port for ships en route to the Americas and, later, a military bastion. Zimapan was ini- tially an outpost dedicated to the exploi- tation of local silver deposits. Coatepec, Huexotla, Temazcaltepec, Teutenango and Xonotla are examples of Indian settlements that display the fractures resulting from the impact of colonization. The map that accompanies the Relaci6n de Huexotla, for example, depicts a new church built on the ruins of an ancient temple. The Relaci6n de Xonotla refers to the existence of two languages: the native Totonac and the Mexica. This kind of information points to the displacement the Spanish enforced on the indigenous populations.

A final form of categorization that I made use of in assembling the sample was established by Howard Cline. Cline, a scholar who carefully researched many of these sources, established a system of classification that divided the Relaciones into three major categories: simple, composite and complex. With the ex- ception of the Relacidn de Coatepec, which he classified as composite, and the

ZOOMING INTO THE DATA: THE VILLAGE OF XONOTLA

Selecting Xonotla takes the viewer into a window containing the text of the Relacidn de Xonotla, which was compiled in October of 1581. This text was written by Marcos de Berrearce, a scribe in the service of the Spanish crown. Also present during the writing were Joan Gonzalez, Corregidor (magistrate); Don Hernando de Luna, Governor and native of the land; the Spaniards Diego Gonzalez and Alonso de Valenzuela; and a "Mexican Ladino yndian" [28].

Xonotla was a Cabezera de Corregimiento, or a head town in charge of teaching the new religious doctrine. The Relacidn describes its location as "40 leagues to the east of Mexico in the mountains of Jalapa, in proximity to the Spanish city of Veracruz" [29]. The text is augmented by a map (Fig. 4) that depicts the actual location of the village of Xonotla with respect to the other urban sites mentioned. The town was densely populated, with 700 vezinos, or tribute-paying individuals [30]. The density of this population is demonstrated in Fig. 5, which provides a demographic comparison with other contemporary sites in the continent, such as Guadalajara (150), Caracas (55) and San Juan de Puerto Rico, or Coatepec (200), a town in the outskirts of Tenochtitlan (1200), the ancient


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name for Mexico City (which was known

simply as Mexico at the time of the writ-

ing of the Relaciones) [31]. The Relaciones contain information

that explains the establishment of urban centers. Sample texts are accessible

through a query that presents the various

responses to question nine, which reads:

State the name and surname that every city or town has or had and the reason, if known, why they were so named; also who was their founder, who named them, and by whose order or mandate he made the settlement; the year of its foundation and the number of inhabitants at that and at the present time [32].

Xonotla was founded 400 years prior to the arrival of the Spaniards. Figure 6 shows a historical timeline indicating that this was about the time of the destruction of Tula, the capital of the Toltec

empire, and the beginning of the Aztec

migration into the valley of Mexico. In the Relaci6n, Xonotla is also de-

scribed having been an autonomous site until about a century prior to the writing of the response, when Moctezuma I, ruler of the Aztec nation, conquered the city. Its inhabitants are listed as members of the Totonac tribe. For the most

part, the scribe describes the residents as fragile, uneducated and "rough in the

understanding" [33]. Their occupations are listed as planting maize, chile and cotton. Some of them, however, are des-

ignated as "smiths, carpenters [and] painters" [34]. '

Who were these people who, as the Relaci6n states, had, in pre-Columbian times, instituted a court of law with five

judges to review cases, who shunned al- cohol and early marriage and who utilized herbs to cure themselves that the scribe could not describe, as "they do not have the equivalent in Spain?" [35] At-

tempts to answer this question can be accessed by using the mouse to click on cer- tain highlighted words in the Relacion, such as "Smith" or "Painter." These words are directly linked to texts that

open in a new window when the user clicks on the highlighted word. The new text is then superimposed on the text that the viewer is currently reading (Fig. 7). In Fig. 7, the text superimposed on the Relacion de Xonotla is a translation by Le6n-Portillo of a section of the Historia Natural de las Cosas de la Nueva Espana.

The Painter The good painter is a Toltec, an artist The good painter is wise, God is in his heart. He puts divinity into things; He converses with his own heart

The Smith If they began with the figure of an

animal they searched only for the similarity; They imitated life so the image they sought would appear in the metal [36]

These lines will present the curious reader with a different impression of the native, one that is, hopefully, more three- dimensional. They offer a glimpse into the refined sensitivity of these people toward the practices of arts and crafts.

CONCLUSION

In comparison to the extraordinary technological advances of our time, L6pez de Velasco's schemes may seem

puerile to some. I believe they embody the quest of a serious scientist to tran- scend the limitations of his practice.

I imagine the solitary figure of the scientist on moonlit nights in Madrid, Seville and Toledo. While time passes in syncopation with the rhythmic turning of the hourglass, he makes his notations in silence [37]. He knows that this moon will be seen by his colleague somewhere in San Juan de Puerto Rico, in Mexico or perhaps in Panama.

Ours is an era in which technological innovation proceeds at an exponential rate. It may be to our advantage to inves-

tigate how antiquated modes of thought affect the design and application of the new tools we are in the process of devel-

oping. These new tools can be used to formulate new metaphors to better describe both the past and the pluralistic environment we presently inhabit.

Through investigating the origins of our current modes of thought, we can reflect on how these modes may influence what we create for the future.

Acknowledgments Most of the investigative work for this project was completed under the auspices of a Fulbright fellow- ship at the Archive of the Indies in Seville, Spain. This archive is the world's largest repository for documents related to Spain's colonization of America. I also researched the holdings at El Escorial, the summer residence and site of King Philip II's personal library, and worked in the Royal Observatory of the Marine archives in Cadiz, Spain. My skills in paleography were honed through study at the University of Seville. My good fortune in lo- cating so many fascinating sources was due to the generous help of archivists, historians, librarians and other personnel at these institutions.

I would like to thank the following individuals and institutions for their help with this research: Maria del CCrmen Alvarez and Angel Lopez Cantos of the Department of History at the University of Seville; David Chacon of the Venezuelan consulate in Spain; Karen Fields, Director of the Frederick Douglass Institute at the University of Rochester;

Arthur Hafner, Chief Librarian at the College of Staten Island; the Commission for Cultural Ex- change between the U.S. and Spain; and all my friends at the Archivo de Indias in Seville, Spain.

References and Notes

1. See A.D. Coleman, "Lentil Soup, A Cultural His- tory of the Lens," Photocommunique, Special Issue on Photography, Science and Technology (Spring 1986) pp. 10-18.

2. Coleman's studies [1] demonstrate that the invention of the photographic machine was the result of cultural urges that had been building for several hundreds of years.

3. Persons who wish to explore this application will be able to access an on-line version modified for presentation on the World Wide Web. This version will be accessible through the World Wide Web site of the College of Staten Island/City University of New York in spring 1995. It will also be available on CD-ROM in the near future (date unavailable at time of publication).

4. In 1585,John White was recruited as the official artist on an expedition organized by Sir Walter Ra- leigh. "In May 1585, when Grenville's flagship the Tiger, entered West Indian waters, White and Harriot set to work. A Spanish source tells of En- glishmen on Puerto Rico taking away banana plants and making drawings of fruits and trees ..." Paul Hulton, America 1585 (Chapel Hill, NC: Univ. of North Carolina Press, 1984) p. 9. My source for White's drawings was the collection of the British Museum. America 1585 also contains reproductions of some of the drawings by White that I included in A Simultaneous View of History.

5. The materials were put into a multimedia format using Microsoft Multimedia Viewer 2.0. A Simulta- neous View of History runs in the Windows environment on an IBM 486 personal computer.

6. Zellia Nuttall, "Official Reports on the Towns of Tequizistlin, Tepechan, Acolman and San Juan de Teotihuacin," Papers of the Peabody Museum of American Archeology and Ethnology, Harvard University 1, No. 2 (Cambridge, MA: Peabody Mu- seum, 1926).

7. Stephen S. Hall, Mapping the Next Millennium: How Computer-Driven Cartography is Revolutionizing the Face of Science (New York: Random House, 1992) p. 380.

8. Marcello Gigante and Mario Capasso, "Papyrology and Computers," Rediscovering Pompeii (Rome: "L'Erma" di Bretschneider, 1990) pp. 56-61.

9. Parchment had been the surface of choice for writing in Europe throughout the Middle Ages. The oldest parchments do not antecede the seventh century. Paper, invented in China, did not reach Europe until 1100 A.D. In the thirteenth century, paper began to be used in Europe as a substitute for parchment, and, by the fifteenth century, it had become the material of choice for writing. In Spain, the first paper factory was constructed in Jatiba in 1150. Among some famous palimpsests are the Codex Obetense, which is located in El Escorial, and Cicero's De Republica, held in the library of the Vatican.

10. Christine Brooke-Rose, "Palimpsest History," in Umberto Eco, ed., Interpretation and Overinter- pretation (Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1992) p. 125.

11. What I mean by a template in this context is an electronic format that is designed with the purpose of providing the user with a way to navigate through data. Within the repository of information that is a book, the table of contents and pagination are ele- ments whose function is similar to that of a template. In the new electronic media, mechanisms such as graphical user interfaces and hypertext links give the designer the option to create malleable templates that allow the user to access information in a range of ways, such as through Boolean searches. The




World Wide Web interface Mosaic is perhaps the most obvious and well-known example of a template.

12. See George Landow, Hypertext: The Convergence of Contemporary Critical Theory and Technology (Balti- more, MD:Johns Hopkins Univ. Press, 1993) p. 4.

13. Landow [12] p. 10.

14. Juan Manzano, "La Visita de Ovando al Real Consejo de las Indias y el C6digo Ovandino," El Consejo de las Indias en el Siglo 16, No. 1, Serie Americanista (Valladolid, Spain: Universidad de Valladolid, 1970) pp. 111-119.

15. "Apuntes y Borrador para el Pr6logo al Yslario General de Alonso de Santa Cruz," Secci6n de Patronato, Legajo 260, No. 2, Ramo 6, folio 8, Archive of the Indies, Seville (n.d.). In his use of the term "phia" to refer to painting in the context of cosmography and geography, Santa Cruz pre- sumably meant to say "graphia." As the title indicates, these were the notes from a work in progress.

16. Ursula Lamb, "Cosmographers of Seville: Nau- tical Science and Social Experience," in Fred Chiapelli, ed., First Images of America: The Impact of the New World on the Old (Berkeley, CA: Univ. of Cali- fornia Press, 1976) p. 675.

17. This particular document was produced by the Consejo de las Indias, the administrative body created at the beginning of the sixteenth century to take charge of the administrative affairs of the Indies. Of all the documents created by this body, the consultas were some of the most important. In the consulta, several members of the consejo were asked their opinion about a given topic. These opinions were given in writing and filed together on a record that bore the title of the topic being discussed. As Vicenta Cortes explains, "The consultas were key to the royal decision.... They imply the participation of all intervening agencies in a jurisdictional ex- change, and they represent a crucial moment in the genesis of documents." See Vicenta Cortes, "La

Escritura y lo Escrito," Paleografia y Diplomdtica de Espana y America en los Siglos XVI y XVII (Madrid: Instituto de Cooperacion Iberoamericana, 1986) pp. 38-39.

18. "Consulta del Consejo Num. 103," Seccion Indiferente General, Legajo 740, Archive of the Indies, Seville (1583).

19. "Titula de Cosm6grafo-Cronista aJuan Lopez de Velasco," Secci6 n Indiferente General, Legajo 874, Archive of the Indies, Seville (1571).

20. Howard F. Cline, "The Relaciones Geograficas of the Spanish Indies, 1577-1586," Hispanic Ameri- can Historical Review 44 (1964) p. 348.

21. Maria del Carmen Munoz, "Estudio Preliminar, Juan Lopez de Velasco," in Marcos Jimenez de la

Espada, ed., Descripcidn Universal de las Indias, Juan Lopez de Velasco (Madrid: Atlas, 1971) pp. v-xliii.

22. Clinton Edwards, "Mapping by Questionnaire: An Early Spanish Attempt To Determine New World Geographical Positions,"Imago Mundi, A Re- view of Early Cartography 23 (Amsterdam: Leo Bagrow, 1969) p. 22. The Jaime Juan that Edwards speaks of here is the same cartographer mentioned earlier in the "Consulta 103."

23. Brenda Laurel, Computers as Theater (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1993) p. 26.

24. "Relaci6n de SanJuan de Puerto Rico," Seccion Patronato, Legajo 294, No. 2, Archive of the Indies, Seville (1582).

25. Cline [20] p. 348.

26. Cline [20] p. 349.

27. Cline [20] p. 349.

28. Relacion de Xonotla, Secci6n Indiferente Gen- eral, Legajo 1529, Archive of the Indies, Seville, 1582.

29. Relacio6n de Xonotla [28] folio 4.

30. Relacion de Xonotla [28].

31. Juan Lopez de Velasco, Geografia y Descripcion Universal de las Indias (Madrid: Fortanet, 1894).

32. [6] p. 58.

33. Relacion de Xonotla [28] folio 5.



36. Miguel Leon-Portillo, Aztec Thought and Culture: A Study of the Ancient Nahuatl Mind (Norman, OK: Oklahoma Univ. Press, 1963) pp. 153-155.

37. Methods of observing eclipses at that time in- volved the use of the hourglass to both measure and record time. The following account explains how the device was used: "In this day, Saturday, July 15 we measured the sun at noon, according to the clock of the city, and a half-hour hourglass. We counted until nighttime.... The moon was eclipsed during two half-hour hourglasses plus a few more minutes." From Descripcion del Eclipse de Luna Visto y Hecho en Panama por el Cosm6grafo Alonso de Palomares Vargas, Archive of the Indies, Secci6n de Patronato, Legajo 260, Num. 1, Ramo 3, 1581.

38. Anibal Sepfvelda Rivera writes, "It [the collection] constitutes the best example of graphic repre- sentations of various cities in the New World. Al- though some of the illustrations lack realism, the one of San Juan is an accurate portrayal of the city during the first half of the century. Although it is dated the year of its publication, it apparently represents an earlier view. It very probably corresponds to an epoch nearer to other Dutch maps that were created around 1625.... The original engraving, printed backwards, provides an idea of the size and density of the city." Anibal Sepuvelda Rivera, San Juan, Historia Ilustrada de su Desarrollo Urbano, 1508- 1898 (SanJuan, PR: Carimar, 1989).


