The Empirical Empire: Spanish Colonial Rule and the Politics of Knowledge

Arndt Brendecke

Published by De Gruyter Oldenbourg 2016

The Empirical Empire

Spanish Colonial Rule and the Politics of Knowledge

Arndt Brendecke

https://doi.org/10.1515/9783110369847

Overview
Contents

About this book

How was Spain able to govern its enormous colonial territories? In 1573 the king decreed that his councilors should acquire "complete knowledge" about the empire they were running from out of Madrid, and he initiated an impressive program for the systematic collection of empirical knowledge. Brendecke shows why this knowledge was created in the first place – but then hardly used. And he looks into the question of what political effects such a policy of knowledge had for Spain’s colonial rule.

2012: Preis Geisteswissenschaften International
2010: Habilitationspreis des Verbandes der Historiker und Historikerinnen Deutschlands

Author / Editor information

Arndt Brendecke, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität, München.

Reviews

"Brendecke has written an incisive and very readable history of imperial knowledge management. The scholar has delved deeply into Spanish archives to add substantially to current debates on empire, visitas, and corruption. [...] Students, generalists, and specialists alike will find this outstanding book a very rewarding read."
Christop Rosenmüller in: Hispanic American Historial Review, 98 (2018), 2; 302-304

"Meticulously argued and well documented, Brendecke’s book is a comprehensive, insightful analysis of the relationship between information and governance in the early modern Spanish imperial context. He brings to this question a critical eye trained to scrutinize any narrative for embedded politics and hidden intentions."
María M. Portundo, Hispanic Review

"... a remarkable book. It shatters many a preconception about the alleged relationship between empiricism, objectivity, and early modern imperial expansions. More importantly, it opens significant new perspectives on the links between knowledge and power."
Jorge Cañizares-Esguerra, Journal of Early Modern American History

"Brendecke bridges the gap between European and Latin American history to arrive at new interpretations of the function of knowledge in the constitution of authority and power."
Nino Vallen and Marcela Suárez Estrada, Critical Reviews on Latin American Research

Topics

Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Appreciations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	vii
Content Publicly Available Download PDF	ix
Illustrations Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Introduction Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
I The king – all-seeing and blind Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	17
II. Knowledge as the ruler’s postulate Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	56
III. Strolls through the world. The epistemic setting of the court Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	68
IV. The authorities of colonial rule Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
V. Knowledge in the setting of colonial rule Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	111
VI. Entera noticia: Ovando’s project of complete knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
VII. Practices of knowledge acquisition Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	192
VIII. Consulting: scenarios for the application of knowledge Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	235
IX. Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	279
Appendix Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	290

(Deutsch)

Language: English
Publisher: De Gruyter Oldenbourg
Audience: Historiker der Frühen Neuzeit (spanische Kolonialgeschichte), Kultur- und Wissenschaftshistoriker.
Pages
- Front matter: 11
- Main content: 322
Illustrations
- Illustrations: 15
Keywords: Kolonialismus; Spanien; Frühe Neuzeit; Wissenszirkulation

eBook

Published: October 10, 2016
ISBN: 9783110369847

Hardcover

Published: October 10, 2016
ISBN: 9783110375046