“Silent and Alone”: How the Ruins of Palenque Were Taught to Speak the Language of Archaeology

Podgorny, Irina

doi:10.1007/978-1-4419-8225-4_15

Cited by 13 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 18 publications

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“…73 Only after the 1822 publication of Del Río's report in London were the ruins the subject of renewed attention, local as well as international. 74 The bureaucratic correspondence networks of the 1780s had therefore been most successful in generating discussion within their prescribed frameworks, but not so much in broader society. They would soon be rivalled by a novel way of communicating knowledge about Central American landscapes for the purpose of enlightened progress with foundation of a patriotic society and its newspaper.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape, Ruins, and Governance

Brockmann

2020

The Science of Useful Nature in Central America

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Landscape, Ruins, and Governance

Brockmann

2020

The Science of Useful Nature in Central America

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The Science of Useful Nature in Central America

Brockmann¹

2020

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Rica, it had great natural advantages, from being a place where 'the most exquisite fruits of all climes grow in abundance' to possessing harbours on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Indeed, it might well be 'the best of all the King's possessions'. 1 Yet, as a contributor to Guatemala's newspaper remarked in 1803, 'this kingdom, which should be one of the most prosperous, is one of the most miserable ones in America'. How to square these contradictions, and help fulfil the true potential of the region, was the mission of a group of reformers who came together in patriotic associations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They believed that geographical, climatic, botanical, agricultural, and demographic knowledge held the key to 'enlightened' progress. True patriots would not just be content with gathering such knowledge. Instead, theirs was a practical Enlightenment that would offer prosperity by applying scientific knowledge to the management of landscapes. As this book argues, Central American reformers found the meaning of a homeland not in abstract ideas of idealised national landscapes, but in experiential engagement with them. By the early nineteenth century, reformers imagined a new region, one that was self-confidently connected to the rest of the world through scientific communication networks, and one whose inhabitants were dedicated to developing its bountiful landscapes into ever more prosperous spaces. Although patriotic identities of the eighteenth century map onto nineteenth-century nationalisms imprecisely at best, the legacy of new visions of Central 2

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Introduction: A Kingdom of Vast Extension

2020

The Science of Useful Nature in Central America

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The Kingdom of Guatemala in the late eighteenth century was a paradox. It was simultaneously rich and poor, according to its colonial administrators, priests, merchants, and ordinary residents. It was a 'kingdom of vast extension' that should by all accounts be a wealthy province within the Spanish empire, as puzzled observers noted. As the Spanish administrative region spanning modern-day Chiapas, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Costa Rica, it had great natural advantages, from being a place where 'the most exquisite fruits of all climes grow in abundance' to possessing harbours on both the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. Indeed, it might well be 'the best of all the King's possessions'. 1 Yet, as a contributor to Guatemala's newspaper remarked in 1803, 'this kingdom, which should be one of the most prosperous, is one of the most miserable ones in America'. How to square these contradictions, and help fulfil the true potential of the region, was the mission of a group of reformers who came together in patriotic associations in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. They believed that geographical, climatic, botanical, agricultural, and demographic knowledge held the key to 'enlightened' progress. True patriots would not just be content with gathering such knowledge. Instead, theirs was a practical Enlightenment that would offer prosperity by applying scientific knowledge to the management of landscapes. As this book argues, Central American reformers found the meaning of a homeland not in abstract ideas of idealised national landscapes, but in experiential engagement with them.By the early nineteenth century, reformers imagined a new region, one that was self-confidently connected to the rest of the world through scientific communication networks, and one whose inhabitants were dedicated to developing its bountiful landscapes into ever more prosperous spaces. Although patriotic identities of the eighteenth century map onto nineteenth-century nationalisms imprecisely at best, the legacy of new visions of Central 2

show abstract

“Silent and Alone”: How the Ruins of Palenque Were Taught to Speak the Language of Archaeology

Cited by 13 publications

References 18 publications

Landscape, Ruins, and Governance

Landscape, Ruins, and Governance

The Science of Useful Nature in Central America

Introduction: A Kingdom of Vast Extension

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