Codex Quetzalecatzin
The Library of Congress has recently acquired the Mapa de Ecatepec-Huitziltepec, a manuscript that was prepared in 1593 and is one of the few original documents surviving from 16th-Century Mesoamerica. It was apparently created by indigenous Nahuatl cartographers but reflects the rapid transition of a society under Conquest.
An image of the map is directly viewable (with panning and zooming) on the Library of Congress web site. The entry includes important metadata, including some modern landmarks to orient the viewer. I have included them in the map below to give readers a sense of the area covered by this treasure.
My favorite librarian and I spent the summer of 1989 in the region covered by this map, and encountered evidence -- four centuries later -- of the imposed fusion of cultures that it manifests.
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| LOC screenshot of the Codex. Follow link above for the full story, and the link below for a more detailed view. |
An image of the map is directly viewable (with panning and zooming) on the Library of Congress web site. The entry includes important metadata, including some modern landmarks to orient the viewer. I have included them in the map below to give readers a sense of the area covered by this treasure.
My favorite librarian and I spent the summer of 1989 in the region covered by this map, and encountered evidence -- four centuries later -- of the imposed fusion of cultures that it manifests.
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