Hospitality towards European travellers in Latin America in the colonial middle

ABSTRACTHospitality was considered a Christian and humanitarian virtue in the early modern period. This article studies hospitality in eight travel reports by Europeans who travelled Latin America in the colonial middle, i.e. the long seventeenth century. We show that even though an infrastructure of paid lodging had been established, hospitality in private homes continued to be a central form of accommodation. In contrast to early modern Europe, tourism had not yet emerged, despite some travellers’ motives being mainly curiosity. We show how the travellers got to know their hosts, what they expected from them and how they expressed their gratitude. Hospitality could be provided by countrymen but also by complete strangers, the latter sometimes being the last resort for travellers in need. Hospitality was central for travellers rich and poor. Hospitality happened mainly among Europeans. Hospitality without consent, we argue, should no longer be referred to as such.KEYWORDS: hospitalitytravelLatin Americaseventeenth century AcknowledgementsThe research for this article was funded by a Feodor-Lynen-Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for Sarah Albiez-Wieck. Funding for an archival visit came from the University of Münster and another one from the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America under the grant number 01UK2023B from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. We would like to thank colleagues present at a Workshop at CONICET-INCIHUSA in Mendoza, Argentina, and those from the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Inquality – Conviviality for their helpful comments, especially Samuel Barbosa. We are also grateful for the very insightful comments of the anonymous peer-reviewer which helped enrich the article.Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1 ‘La hospitalidad ha dejado de practicarse desde que los adelantos de la civilzación moderna, facilitando comodidades para los viajeros en establecimientos públicos destinados á este fin, la ha hecho hasta cierto punto innecesario’ Serrano, Diccionario universal de la lengua castellana, ciencias y artes, 683.2 Real Academia Española, Real Academia Española 1726.3 Covarrubias, La recepción de la figura y obra de Humboldt en México 1821-2000..4 Hamlin, Alfonso de Palencia. ¿Autor del primer vocabulario romance latín que llegó a la imprenta?.5 Palencia, Universal vocabulario en latín y en romance. Tomo I, f. CLXXXXVIIIr.6 Maczak, Travel in Early Modern Europe, 8–9.7 Classen, Traveling to/in the North During the Middle Ages: The World of Northern Europe in Medieval and Early Modern Travel Narratives, 286.8 Bauks, Koenen and Pietsch, Alkier, WiBiLex – Das Bibellexikon.9 IslamReligion.com, The Religion of Islam.10 Cavallar, The Rights of Strangers, 2–3.11 In this respect it is to be mentioned that in many sixteenth-century travel reports – which were written mainly by conquerors and related the first contacts with different indigenous peoples – the European authors highlight the generosity of the indigenous peoples with respect to offering food and shelter to them. According to Brunke (‘Zur Diskursivierung affektiver Kontaktmomente’ and personal communication, 06/2023), this behaviour is being interpreted by the authors as a capacity to love (‘amor’) and be charitable (‘caritas’) in a Christian sense. The concept of hospitality, however, is not explicitly being mentioned.12 Fradkin, Christian Hospitality and the Case for Religious Refuge in Interregnum England, 52.13 Barraza Lescano, El tambo andino bajo el régimen colonial, 16.14 Brandis, ‘los relatos de viaje’.15 Chouin, ‘Seen, Said, or Deduced?’, 63.16 Ginzburg, ‘Morelli, Freud and Sherlock Holmes’.17 It is unclear if it is appropriate to speak of this person with the female name Catalina. During most of the travels, the person uses male clothing and male names, with Antonio possibly the most common one. However, the person also speaks about revealing herself at some point as a woman, being examined by midwives. In this episode she says the following ‘the truth is this: that I am a woman: that I was born in x place, daughter of so-and-so and so-and-so’ (‘la verda es esta: que soy muger: que nací en tal parte, hija de fulano y sutana’). In her relation of merits and services, which is contained in the Appendix of the edition elaborated by Joaquin Maria de Ferrer in 1829 used by us, the person is denominated as ‘the lieutenant Mrs Catalina de Erauso’ (‘El alferez Doña Catalina de Erauso’; Catalina de Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 98,135.) This is why we chose to use the female name throughout the text.18 The borders of the historical jurisdictions correspond to the early eighteenth century and were proposed by Stangl, Data: Territorial gazetteer for Spanish America19 Restall and Lane, Latin America in, 141.20 Ibid.21 Maczak (Citation1995, 3), who studies travel accounts in Europe, notes a similar development with the proliferation of accounts starting at the close of the seventeenth century.22 Sociedad Geográfica Española, Atlas de los.23 For an overview about early modern travel writing, cf. Classen, Travel, Time and Space. For the period 1750-1850, one of the most widely cited books is Pratt, Imperial Eyes. The probably most widely studied traveller from this time is Alexander von Humboldt, who even has his own journal, the International Review for Humboldt Studies: https://www.hin-online.de/index.php/hin. We also decided not to include the naturalists who travelled in the 1730s and 1740s such as Charles Marie de la Condamine, Jorge Juan, Antonio de Ulloa and Miguel de Santisteban, first, because their travels do not really lie within the time frame; second, because their experiences are very similar to those of later naturalists; and third, and less importantly, because they normally had ample resources to pay for their lodging.24 Altuna, ‘Ciencia, Aventura y público’.25 Pérez Priego, ‘Estudio literario de los libros de viaje medievales’.26 Ibid., 208 (own translation).27 Catalina de Erauso has caught a lot of attention primarily for her queerness. (Cf. e.g. Ferrus Antón, ‘La identidad en fuga’. The most complete study on Erauso has been elaborated by Pérez Villanueva, The Life of Catalina De Erauso. For this article, we used one of the older and most complete editions which contain additionally further documents by and about her: Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez.Maria Sibylla Merian has mostly received attention for her pioneering work on entomolgy and zoology, which were combined with marvellous artistic illustrations (Cf. e.g Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian; Blumenthal, ‘A Taste for Exotica’, Stearn, ‘Maria Sibylla Merian’; Valiant, ‘Maria Sibylla Merian’.) Similarly to Humboldt, she has as an entire academic community studying her, who has reconstructed many aspects of her life and travel, and also published her letters on its website: The Maria Sybilla Merian Society: https://www.themariasibyllameriansociety.humanities.uva.nl/ (last checked 7 June 2023). In our analysis of Merian, we were also inspired by a talk by Rose Marie Tillisch on the 12th of November 2021 in a joint workshop at the University of Cologne, entitled ‘Maria Sibylla Merian’s Observant Appreciation of Indigenous Peoples’ Knowledge. An 18th Century Explorer Discovering Underlying Structures of Colonization.’28 His letter detailing is report is preserved in the Archivo Histórico de la Paz in Bolivia: Carta de Don Joseph Martínez y Luna, Citation1642.29 Albiez-Wieck and Gil Montero, ‘Conviviality as a Tool’; Albiez-Wieck and Gil Montero ‘A needle in a haystack’.30 This excluded Manuel Román, Samuel Fritz, José Gumilla, Francisco Eusebio Kino, Pedro Cubero Sebastián, and Antonio de Andrade, all mentioned in the Atlas of Spanish Explorers for the ‘time of transition’ Sociedad Geográfica Española, Atlas de los, 150–65.31 Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 62; Otte, Albi and Carande, Cartas privadas de emigrantes a Indias 1540 - 1616, 9.32 Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 31; Brunke, ‘zur Diskursivierung kultureller Kontaktmomente’.33 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 1.34 Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, Citation1704, Charcas 233, AGI, f. 3r.35 Catalina de Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, Doña Catalina de Erauso, escrita por ella misma, 25.36 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje al Río de la Plata y de allí por tierra al Perú.37 Archivo Histórico de la Paz, Carta de Don Joseph Martínez y Luna.38 Sloane, A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica.39 Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium.40 This is especially clear in her letter to Johann Georg Volkamer, written on October 8th 1702. Merian, Letters by Maria Sibylla Merian.41 According to Torreblanca, originally his surname was Chamijo: Relación histórica de Calchaquí, 20 f. 6.42 Ibid., 20 f. 6.43 Esteban ‘Introducción’.44 Pérez Villanueva, The life of Catalina, 184; Cf. also: Ferrer, ‘Prólogo del Editor’, XVI-XXIII.45 Relación histórica de Calchaquí.46 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje.47 Albiez-Wieck and Gil Montero, ‘A needle in a haystack’.48 González, ‘Prólogo’.49 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje (own translation).50 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje (own translation).51 Davis, Women on the margins, 141.52 Maczak, Travel in Early Modern Europe, 50.53 Ibid., 30.54 Ibid.55 However, with the possible exception of Sloane, none of the reports is a narration focused mainly on the sea voyage, or on the ship as a space of conviviality. Possibly some descriptions echo the medieval tradition that saw the ocean as dangerous. As Massmann argues, modern travel reports show early on the presence of hostile ships and a clearer focus on the experience of the traveller (Massman, ‘Buscando camino por la mar’).56 Relación histórica de Calchaquí, 20, f. 6.57 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje al Río de la Plata y de allí por tierra al Perú.58 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 570.59 Cf. Letter to Johann Georg Volkamer, 08.10.1702 in Merian, Letters by Maria Sibylla Merian and Blumenthal, A Taste for, 45; Valiant, Maria Sibylla Merian, 470; Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 45–46; Zemon Davis, Women on the margins, 167–69, 57.60 ‘con gran providencia tienen prevenido todo lo necesario para los pasajeros y hasta hospital para los españoles y tambo o mesón para que se alberguen y se eviten cuestiones o embarazos’ Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 41v, f. 56v.61 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, Doña Catalina de Erauso, escrita por ella misma, 50.62 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 505.63 Ibid., 505, 506.64 E.g. Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 65,70.65 Examples for food and clothing are from Robles, for money by Gemelli Careri: e.g. Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 566; AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, 24.66 Sloane, A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, LXV (80).67 AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 32v; Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 75 .68 AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 52v.69 Relación histórica de Calchaquí, 22, f. 9.70 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 507.71 Ibid.72 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje; AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, 25,35v,36,40,68v,86v,87v, 92v; Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 24; Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 566. Sloane even got the position that permitted him to travel to Jamaica in the first place, via a letter: Sloane, A voyage to the islands Madera, Barbados, Nieves, S. Christophers and Jamaica, Preface.73 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 568.74 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 100,102.75 ‘summisamente comunicándole cuanto había caminado, visto, y reconocido en sus largas peregrinaciones’ AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 53v.76 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 11–2.77 ‘andándose de estancia en estancia con voz de que estaba recibido en el asiento de negros y que iba a examinar si había alguna de venta pues de otro modo no se la hubieran permitido ‘AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 12.78 Ibid., f. 19v.79 Relación histórica de Calchaquí, 63, f. 69 Cf. also 23, f. 10 and 41, f. 33.80 Ibid., 23, f. 9-10.81 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 540.82 Ibid., 529,536; AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 52v, 56v; Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 102–3.83 Cf. also Albiez-Wieck and Gil Montero, ‘Conviviality as a Tool’; Albiez-Wieck and Gil Montero ‘A needle in a haystack’.84 AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 37.85 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 63,88,95.86 Zemon Davis, Women on the margins, 175–6.87 Valiant, ‘Maria Sibylla Merian’, 471.88 Zemon Davis, Women on the margins, 317; Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 102.89 Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium, caption to plate 4.90 Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 106.91 Zemon Davis, Women on the margins, 172,175,321.92 Carta de Don Joseph Martínez y Luna, f. 2vs-3vs.93 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 41–2.94 Ibid., 42.95 Ibid., 6–7.96 AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 70v.97 Ibid., f. 71.98 Erauso, Historia de la monja alférez, 82; AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 5.99 ‘un fulano Rocha que le compadeció, socorrió y avió hasta Córdoba del Tucumán’ AGI, Declaración de Gregorio de Robles, f. 30.100 Brunke, „Zur Diskursivierung affektiver Kontaktmomente’.101 Cavallar, The rights of strangers, 110.102 Albiez-Wieck, ‘Taxing Calidad’, 111.103 Relación histórica de Calchaquí, 24, f. 11.104 Gemelli Careri, A voyage round the world, 546.105 García Loaeza, ‘Fernando de Alva’.106 Examples are the captions to plate 7, 13, 33 and 36 in Merian, Metamorphosis insectorum Surinamensium.107 Cf. captions to plate 5, 10, 45 and 49 in ibid.108 Blumenthal, ‘A Taste for’, 49–50; Zemon Davis, Women on the margins, 175.109 Schubert, Maria Sibylla Merian, 79,81,86,88; Valiant, ‘Maria Sibylla Merian’, 471.110 du Biscay, Relación de un viaje al Río de la Plata y de allí por tierra al Perú.111 Vaca de Castro, Ordenanzas de tambos.112 Glave Testino, Trajinantes, 145; Barraza Lescano, El tambo andino bajo el régimen colonial; Vaca de Castro, Ordenanzas de tambos (Cusco, 1543); Chacaltana Cortez, De los tambos; Reclamación del cacique principal del pueblo de Oña, don Agustín García Chuquimarca, sobre los seis indios que debe proveer el pueblo de Cañaribamba, para que cumplan mita en el tambo del lugar, September 2, 1678, Indígenas, C12, E14, AHNE; Pedimento que hace don Juan Vicencio Chavarri, Corregidor de Ibarra, a la Real Audiencia, para que los gobernadores del pueblo de los Cayapas le faciliten cuarenta indios para servir en la mita que permitirá terminar el camino que está abriendo en la gobernación de Esmeraldas, con lo cual se logrará comunicar Quito con la provincia de Tierra Firme (Panamá). El puente sobre el río Mira, que era un impedimento, ya está acabado, April 15, 1666, Gobierno, C5, E8, AHNE; Denuncia del Protector General de Naturales en respaldo de la queja presentada por don Martín Cuenca, cacique principal de los indios forasteros del pueblo de San Lorenzo en la jurisdicción de Chimbo, por los abusos de corregidores, escribanos y curas, con los indígenas, pues con toda impunidad atropellan las leyes y ordenanzas que regulan el servicio de mita, June 16, 1704, Indígenas, C27, E21, AHNE.113 Cavallar, The Rights of Strangers, 77.114 AHNE, Indígenas, C12, E4.115 Cited in Cavallar, The Rights of Strangers, 112.Additional informationFundingThe research for this article was funded by a Feodor-Lynen-Fellowship by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation for Sarah Albiez-Wieck. Funding for an archival visit came from the University of Münster and for another one from the Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America under the grant number 01UK2023B from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research.