The Hispanic conceptualization of the American “Indian” in the 16th century, with special reference to the Chichimeca and Reche-Mapuche borderlands

Abstract

Through the analysis of colonial texts written by conquistadors, explorers, naturalists, theologians, jurists, and missionaries of the 16th century, complemented by recently published works, this article addresses the intellectual process of constructing the concept of the american "Indian". It is assumed that discourses surrounding the Indian emanate from actors governed by their own agendas (personal or institutional), which over time shifted from an ethnographic discourse that based its epistemological roots primarily on the theological and philosophical foundations of ancient and medieval thought to one based primarily on empirical evidence. A particular approach is made to the Chichimeca and Reche-Mapuche cases, the two most conflictive Spanish-Indian borderlands at the end of that century.