LOS IMAGINARIOS CULTURALES NOVOHISPANOS Y EL PAPEL DE LOS COSMÓGRAFOS EN LAS MISIONES CIENTÍFICAS ASTRONÓMICAS REALES

Abstract

This research aims to conduct a hermeneutic philological study of cultural imaginaries and the role played by cosmographers in the royal scientific expeditions, particularly through the drafting of the astronomical instructions that guided the scientists. It is based on a documentary analysis of the directives issued by the Spanish Crown and their application in the delimitation of overseas territories. The study also examines the contributions of these expeditions to the reconstruction of the historical memory of the Americas.

The study chronologically examines the sources used by cosmographers in preparing the most innovative and appropriate instruments, which enabled the sabios participating in the royal scientific expeditions to carry out their research in New Spain. These royal astronomical instructions ensured the success of the vast undertaking of producing maps, planispheres, astronomical tables, theories of the cosmos, instruments such as astrolabes, and all kinds of technical instructions that are now preserved in museums, archives, and libraries throughout the Americas.

Furthermore, the study assesses the reliability of the sources to which royal cosmographers had access during the early decades of colonization. These range from the Ptolemaic theories contained in the Almagestum, through unpublished texts such as Santa Cruz's manuscript Astronómico Real (1543), to the Prutenic Tables (1551) by Reinhold. This analysis makes it possible to identify both the scientific advances achieved in sixteenth-century viceregal Spain and the accuracy of the scientific accounts, in accordance with the provisions issued by the Council of the Indies to establish a scientific institution, exercise sociopolitical authority, and ensure control over these overseas territories through geographical delimitation under the provisions of the Ovandino Code.