Overview

The question about the first Americans’ New World roots is seldom given attention, although there have been approaches to finding answers. These initiatives were neglected due to the dominance of ideas of external origins. In 1493 all lands west of the Azores were declared Spanish possessions according to the Bula Intercaetera. When on fictitious maps and in the literature of the 16th century America was described as identical to or as part of Asia, connected by huge fictitious land connections, both Asia and America were considered Spanish territories. Such conjectures furthermore served to explain the presence of mankind on the American continent, which had not been mentioned in the Bible. These misleading concepts, however, made many believe that the inhabitants of the Americas were Asians and that they had brought their languages and cultures from Asia. The strong impact of these ideas led to the exclusion of the concept of the New World roots from the questionnaire of the research into the peopling of the Americas. Therefore a closer look into the development, reception and impact of fictitious ideas of origin and into the forgotten aspect of an autochthonous origin of the first Americans is presented here.

Full Product Details

Author:   Helga Gemegah
Publisher:   Peter Lang AG
Imprint:   Peter Lang AG
Edition:   New edition
Weight:   0.440kg
ISBN:  

9783631588833

ISBN 10:   3631588836
Pages:   212
Publication Date:   08 September 2009
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In Print  
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Table of Contents

Contents: The development of ideas of origin during the 16th century – Spanish political, religious and cartographic world views as motives for the development of ideas of origin – America: A continent without life? – Van den Putte’s misleading world map: Mongolia, India, Tibet and China as part of North America – José de Acosta’s and Juan Gonzalez de Mendoza’s conjectures – The reception of ideas of origin – Alexander von Humboldt’s criticism of Spanish cartography – The impact of ideas of origin on science – The role of the 17th International Congress of Americanists 1910 in the history of science – The peopling of Asia as seen by Davidson Black and Aleš Hrdlička – The reception of Spanish ideas of origin in the 20th century – Reconsidering comparisons of Asian and American populations with regard to cultural material, genetics and linguistics and their dependence on 16th century assumptions – Thomas Jefferson’s doubts about comparisons between Asian and American languages – The peopling of the Americas as seen by James F. Cooper, Karl May and C.W. Ceram.

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Author Information

The Author: Helga Gemegah studied Sinology as well as Ancient American Studies at the Archaeological Institute of the University of Hamburg. She concluded her doctoral thesis at the University of Bremen in Romance Studies about José de Acosta’s idea of origin. She has contributed various publications and congress presentations about questions regarding the peopling of the Americas and lectured at the University of Hamburg’s Meso-American Studies.

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