Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas

A Critical Edition

Alexander von Humboldt, J. Ryan Poynter, Giorleny D Altamirano Rayo, Tobias Kraft, Vera M. Kutzinski, Ottmar Ette

• Publisher: University of Chicago Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780226865065
• eBook ISBN: 9780226865096
• Topic: Biowissenschaften
• Subtopic: Wissenschaftsgeschichte

In 1799, Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland set out to determine whether the Orinoco River connected with the Amazon. But what started as a trip to investigate a relatively minor geographical controversy became the basis of a five-year exploration throughout South America, Mexico, and Cuba. The discoveries amassed by Humboldt and Bonpland were staggering, and much of today's knowledge of tropical zoology, botany, geography, and geology can be traced back to Humboldt's numerous records of these expeditions.

 

One of these accounts, Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas, firmly established Alexander von Humboldt as the founder of Mesoamerican studies. In Views of the Cordilleras—first published in French between 1810 and 1813—Humboldt weaves together magnificently engraved drawings and detailed texts to achieve multifaceted views of cultures and landscapes across the Americas. In doing so, he offers an alternative perspective on the New World, combating presumptions of its belatedness and inferiority by arguing that the "old" and the "new" world are of the same geological age.

 

This critical edition of Views of the Cordilleras—the second volume in the Alexander von Humboldt in English series—contains a new, unabridged English translation of Humboldt's French text, as well as annotations, a bibliography, and all sixty-nine plates from the original edition, many of them in color.

Table of contents

• Contents
• The Art of Science: Alexander von Humboldt’s Views of the Cultures of the World - An Introduction by Vera M. Kutzinski and Ottmar Ette
• Note on the Text
• Dedication page from the first French edition, Paris, 1810–1813
• Introduction by Alexander von Humboldt
• Picturesque Views of the Cordilleras and Monuments of the Indigenous Peoples of the Americas
• Plates I and II: Bust of an Aztec Priestess
• Plate III: View of the Main Square of Mexico City
• Plate IV: Natural Bridges of Icononzo
• Plate V: Quindiu Pass in the Cordillera of the Andes
• Plate VI: Tequendama Falls
• Plate VII: Pyramid of Cholula
• Plate VIII: Detached Section from the Cholula Pyramid
• Plate IX: Xochicalco Monument
• Plate X: Cotopaxi Volcano
• Plate XI: Mexica Relief Found in Oaxaca
• Plate XII: Genealogy of the Princes of Azcapotzalco
• A Trial Document in Hieroglyphic Script
• Plate XIII: Aztec Hieroglyphic Manuscript Preserved in the Vatican Library
• Plate XIV: Costumes Drawn by Mexica Painters in Montezuma’s Time
• Plate XV: Aztec Hieroglyphs from the Velletri Manuscript
• Plate XVI: View of Chimborazo and Carihuairazo
• Plate XVII: The Peruvian Monument of Cañar
• Plate XVIII: Boulder of Inti- Guaicu
• Plate XI: XInga- Chungana near Cañar
• Plate XX: Interior of the Inca’s House at Cañar
• Plate XXI: Aztec Bas- Relief Found in the Main Square of Mexico City
• Plate XXII: Basaltic Rocks and the Regla Waterfall
• Plate XXIII: Basalt Relief Showing the Mexica Calendar
• Plate XXIV: The Inca’s House at Callo in the Kingdom of Quito
• Plate XXV: Chimborazo Viewed from the Tapia Plateau
• Plate XXVI: Epochs of Nature According to Aztec Mythology
• Plate XXVII: Hieroglyphic Painting from the Borgia Manuscript of Velletri and Day-Signs from the Mexica Almanac
• Plate XXVIII: Aztec Ax
• Plate XXIX: Aztec Idol Made of Basaltic Porphyry, Found under the Cobblestones of the Main Square of Mexico City
• Plate XXX: Río Vinagre Falls near the Puracé Volcano
• Plate XXXI: Mail Service in the Province of Jaén de Bracamoros
• Plate XXXII: Hieroglyphic History of the Aztecs, from the Great Flood to the Founding of Mexico City
• Plate XXXIII: Rope Bridge near Penipe
• Plate XXXIV: Cofre de Perote
• Plate XXXV: Mount Iliniza
• Plate XXXVI: Fragments of Aztec Hieroglyphic Paintings from the Royal Library of Berlin
• Plate XXXVII: Hieroglyphic Paintings from the Borgia Museum in Velletri
• Plate XXXVIII: Migration of the Aztec Peoples; Hieroglyphic Painting from the Royal Library of Berlin
• Plate XXXIX: Granite Vase Found on the Coast of Honduras
• Plate XL: Aztec Idol in Basalt, Found in the Valley of Mexico
• Plate XLI: Air Volcano of Turbaco
• Plate XLII: Volcano of Cayambe
• Plate XLIII: Volcano of Jorullo
• Plate XLIV: Calendar of the Muisca Indians, the Ancient Inhabitants of the Bogotá Plateau
• Plate XLV: Fragment of a Hieroglyphic Manuscript Preserved at the Royal Library of Dresden
• Plates XLVI, XLVII, and XLVIII: Hieroglyphic Paintings from the Mexica Manuscript Preserved in the Imperial Library of Vienna, Numbers 1, 2, and 3
• Plates XLIX and L: Ruins of Miguitlan, or Mitla, in the Province of Oaxaca; Survey and Elevation
• Plate LI: View of Corazón
• Plates LII and LIII: Dress of the Indians of Michoacan
• Plate LIV: View of the Interior of the Crater of the Peak of Tenerife
• Supplement
• Plates LV and LVI: Fragments of Paintings from the Codex Telleriano-Remensis
• Plate LVII: Fragment of a Christian Calendar from the Aztec Manuscripts Preserved in the Royal Library of Berlin
• Plates LVIII and LIX: Hieroglyphic Paintings from the Raccolta di Mendoza
• Plate LX: Fragments of Aztec Paintings from a Manuscript Preserved at the Vatican Library
• Plate LXI: Pichincha Volcano
• Plate LXII: Plan of a Fortified House of the Inca on the Ridge of the Cordillera of Azuay; Ruins of a Part of the Ancient Peruvian City of Chulucanas
• Plate LXIII: Raft from the Guayaquil River
• Plate LXIV: Summit of Los Órganos Mountain at Actopan
• Plate LXV: Columnar Porphyry Mountains of El Jacal
• Plate LXVI: Head Engraved in Hard Stone by the MuiscaIndians; Obsidian Bracelet
• Plate LXVII: View of Lake Guatavita
• Plate LXVIII: View of the Silla de Caracas
• Plate LXIX: Dragon Tree of La Orotava
• Letter from Mr. Visconti, Member of the Institut de France, to Mr. von Humboldt, on Some Monuments of the American Peoples
• Notes
• Annotations
• List of Plates from the Original Edition
• Humboldt’s Library
• Chronology
• Editorial Note
• Index of Names
• Index of Subjects
• Index of Toponyms