
The Santa Cruz Map (Also known as the Uppsala map) is the earliest known
city map of
Mexico City as the capital of
New Spain
New Spain, officially the Viceroyalty of New Spain ( es, Virreinato de Nueva España, ), or Kingdom of New Spain, was an integral territorial entity of the Spanish Empire, established by Habsburg Spain during the Spanish colonization of the Am ...
. The map depicts the city’s layout with its buildings, streets, and waterways surrounded by the lakes of the basin of the
Valley of Mexico
The Valley of Mexico ( es, Valle de México) is a highlands plateau in central Mexico roughly coterminous with present-day Mexico City and the eastern half of the State of Mexico. Surrounded by mountains and volcanoes, the Valley of Mexico wa ...
and the countryside beyond. In the map one can also see images of daily life, animals and plants. It is a watercolor map that was painted between 1550 and 1556.
The map gets its name from
Alonso de Santa Cruz
Alonzo de Santa Cruz (or Alonso, Alfonso) (1505 – 1567) was a Spanish cartographer, mapmaker, instrument maker, historian and teacher. He was born about 1505, and died in November 1567. His maps were inventoried in 1572.
Alonzo de Santa Cruz was ...
, court cartographer to
Charles V Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infant ...
(king of
Spain
, image_flag = Bandera de España.svg
, image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg
, national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' ( Latin)(English: "Further Beyond")
, national_anthem = (English: "Royal March")
, ...
at that time), and who for a while was considered author of the map. Since the 20th century, the map is viewed as being the work of a group of Tlahcuiloh artists at the
Colegio de Santa Cruz at Tlatelolco. This is posited because of the indigenous glyphs found on the map, its similarity to other works from the Colegio de Santa Cruz and also due to the fact that Alonso de Santa Cruz never visited New Spain.
The map currently resides in the archives of the
Uppsala University
Uppsala University ( sv, Uppsala universitet) is a public research university in Uppsala, Sweden. Founded in 1477, it is the oldest university in Sweden and the Nordic countries still in operation.
The university rose to significance durin ...
library and is the place where the map was rediscovered, hence the origin of the map's other title as the “Uppsala map”.
History
This map is believed to have been made in Mexico and sent to Alonso de Santa Cruz in Spain. After getting possession of the map Alonso de Santa Cruz included a dedicatory written in Latin for the king
Carlos v Charles V may refer to:
* Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (1500–1558)
* Charles V of Naples (1661–1700), better known as Charles II of Spain
* Charles V of France (1338–1380), called the Wise
* Charles V, Duke of Lorraine (1643–1690)
* Infa ...
and gave it to the king. After this, the exact whereabouts of the map was lost, with the only reference to it being a copy made by Alsonso de Santa Cruz in his ''Islario general de todas las islas del mundo.'' The map was rediscovered in Sweden in the Library of the University of Uppsala around the end of the 1880s.
Description
The exact identity of the material on which the map is on is disputed and there are two major views. One of the earliest scholars to comment was
Francisco del Paso y Troncoso Francisco de Borja del Paso y Troncoso (October 8, 1842 in Veracruz, Veracruz Mexico – April 30, 1916 in Florence, Italy) was an important Mexican historian, archivist, and Nahuatl language scholar. He "was and remains the outstanding major Me ...
who claimed that the map consisted of two pieces of animal skin joined together, while Sigvald Linne states that the map is made up of one long strip of
parchment
Parchment is a writing material made from specially prepared untanned skins of animals—primarily sheep, calves, and goats. It has been used as a writing medium for over two millennia. Vellum is a finer quality parchment made from the skins o ...
. The map is 1.14 m long and has a width of 78 cm. The map is heavily influenced by European Renaissance landscape maps, but also has a strong indigenous influence. On the map are around 200 toponymic glyphs with only around 120 of these being exactly identified, with some glyphs being given a
Nahuatl
Nahuatl (; ), Aztec, or Mexicano is a language or, by some definitions, a group of languages of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Varieties of Nahuatl are spoken by about Nahua peoples, most of whom live mainly in Central Mexico and have small ...
name written in the latin script. Many are not named though and at times it can be difficult to identify a glyph because of the European influence on them, which can make them look as if they were part of the landscape.
On the bottom of the map towards the middle there is a
Double-headed eagle
In heraldry and vexillology, the double-headed eagle (or double-eagle) is a charge associated with the concept of Empire. Most modern uses of the symbol are directly or indirectly associated with its use by the late Byzantine Empire, original ...
and on the lower right side there is a dedicatory in Latin for the king. A portion of the dedicatory is cut off and due to the age of the map, the dedicatory has also become illegible.
Orientation of the map
The map is oriented so that the viewer observes the city and Valley of Mexico from the east. North, therefore, is to the right, south to the left, and west at the top of the map. Mexico City occupies the center of the map, drawn enlarged in relationship to the surrounding lakes and countryside, as befits its importance. All the buildings are drawn with their front
facades facing the east, whether or not that was their actual orientation, so that they can be seen as though the viewer were standing in front of them.
Major streets are indicated, such as Tecuba Street. The new
cathedral of Mexico City
A cathedral is a church that contains the ''cathedra'' () of a bishop, thus serving as the central church of a diocese, conference, or episcopate. Churches with the function of "cathedral" are usually specific to those Christian denominations ...
is shown by the central plaza. Other important edifices include the Viceregal Palace, the churches associated with the Augustinian, Dominican, and Franciscan Orders, and
Hernán Cortés
Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca (; ; 1485 – December 2, 1547) was a Spanish '' conquistador'' who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of w ...
residence. Each major building had been built utilizing European architecture and is drawn with its characteristic architectural details, such as arches, so that the viewer would have an idea of how it actually appeared.
The lakes and marshes surrounding the city are represented accurately as they appeared in relation to the city; not in scale.
Digitization
The map was
digitized
DigitizationTech Target. (2011, April). Definition: digitization. ''WhatIs.com''. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/digitization is the process of converting information into a digital (i.e. computer-r ...
and annotated by a team from the
University of Art and Design Helsinki
A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' ...
and can be accessed online by the public at the project page.
References
Further reading
* Portilla, Miguel Leon and Aguilera, Carmen (2016) Mapa de Mexico Tenochtitlan y sus contornos hacia 1550. Mexico: Ediciones Era.
*El Valle y la ciudad de México en 1550; relación histórica fundada sobre un mapa geográfico, que se conserva en la Biblioteca de la Universidad de Uppsala, Suecia.
{{Refimprove, date=February 2016
External links
Description and images of the map, at the Uppsala University LibraryDiscussion of the map and its origins in "The postclassic to Spanish-era transition in Mesoamerica" at Google Books.
History of Mexico City
Maps of cities
Maps of the history of Mexico
16th-century maps and globes