In Search of Monsters: Indigenous Peoples in Spanish and Russian Chronicles of Discovery, Exploration and Conquest of America and Siberia in 15th-17th centuries
Abstract
This article undertakes a comparative analysis of constructions of the other and the otherness in accounts of the discovery, exploration and conquest of America and Siberia in the 15th to17th centuries. It is important to emphasize that in spite of the abundant material on these subject in both textual and graphical sources (maps, drawings, engravings and book illustrations), and important contributions to the theory of otherness in human history, until now there are no comparative works on the image of American native peoples in Spanish chronicles of discovery, exploration, and conquest of the New World and the aboriginal peoples of Siberia in Russian chronicles of the same period. This article aims to elucidate parallels in the construction of the other and the otherness in Spanish and Russian chronicles and to identify their origins in their cultural and historical contexts. Special attention is given to the supposed monstrosity of the indigenous population of America and Siberia and the origins of this stereotypic image in the science of classical antiquity.
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