Theme

Indigenous History

Featured Items

Detail of a manuscript, hand-colored map depicting the Great Lakes, scattered trees depicted on surrounding land, and text in French.

Nouvelle Découverte de plusieurs Nations Dans la Nouvelle France en l'année 1673 et 1674

Louis Joliet
1673-1674
Detail of a colored manuscript chart shows a small cluster of homes and palm trees with text in English reading "Indian Village of Sancopana."

An actual survey of the River Orinoco from the great mouth up to the City of Angostura

1803
Detail of a printed map shows decorative elements such a sun, a person carrying arrows, ships and fish at sea, a scale, and a key with text in French at the bottom of the map.

Carte geographique de la Nouvelle France

Samuel de Champlain
1612
Detail of an engraved, hand colored print shows portrait of Hendrick, a Mohawk chief.

The brave old Hendrick the great Sachem or Chief of the Mohawk Indians...

1740
Detail of a printed book shows a decorative head piece on the title page written in Spanish.

Historia natural, civil y geográfica de las naciones situadaes en las riveras del Rio Orinoco

Joseph Gumilla
1791
Cover of Instructio[n]

Instructio[n], y memoria, de las relaciones que se han de hazer, para la descripcion de las Indias

Juan López de Velasco
1577
Detail of an engraved print shows children blowing bubbles in a grassy area. Items in the image are labeled and a portion of the key is visible.

Enseñar desde luego silabeando

Jose de Nava
1802
Detail of a printed book shows a title page with text in Latin.

Disputatio inauguralis medica

Justus Vesti
1704

Related

Engraving of two Nahua men speaking to one another. An angel hovers behind one of the men, preventing him from producing idolatrous speech, while the other has a snakes stemming from his mouth, which is representative of such language.
Fellow's Talk

"Brute animals" and "rational creatures": Defining humanity in the Indigenous-language vocabularies and pedagogies of New Spain

Detail from the Tovar Codex, showing a bearded Spanish man atop the symbol for house (calli), while holding a book that points to the letters of the Roman alphabet.
Fellow's Talk

Translating Late Medieval Classics into Nahuatl: The Imitatio Christi and How to Think About Latin-Nahuatl translation

printed text in English
Guided show-and-tell

A Curatorial Conversation: North American Indian Treaties at the JCB

A map showing the Americas and a constellation over them

Constellations: Reimagining Celestial Histories in the Early Americas

November 2020 - August 2021
cover image of Códice Santa María Tetelpan

Códice Santa María Tetelpan: A JCB manuscript transcribed, translated, and published in facsimile in Mexico City

October 7
Image of Peruvian Print Shop
Lecture

Historia del libro en lenguas originarias de América

Native Americans of present-day Mexico dance around two drummers

Picturing the Past: Indigenous Expressions in Colonial Mexico

Spring 2020
JCB Fellow Juan Cobo Betancourt views an exhibition at the John Carter Brown Library
Meet a JCB Fellow

Juan Cobo Betancourt, Donald L. Saunders Fellow

November 25

See Also

Pedagogical Materials

Maritime History