In West-Indien. 83.

Title

In West-Indien. 83.

The illustration shows a goldsmith in Peru, book page 83, with German description on the front and back.

ca. 1628

Artist

Bry, de - Merian (1528-1598)

In 1631, Matthäus Merian and Johann Ludwig Gottfried published Historia Antipodum, a heavily abridged, single-volume version of Theodor De Bry’s 14-part America series. After De Bry’s death, his sons continued the project. Merian, a skilled engraver, later married De Bry’s daughter and collaborated with Gottfried. The Historia Antipodum reorganized numerous travel accounts into three chapters covering nature, exploration, and recent colonial developments. Merian and Gottfried significantly reworked the content, merging reports and integrating illustrations into the text. Their depiction of the natural world and Indigenous cultures—drawing in part on José de Acosta’s writings—was particularly influential. The book stands as one of the most ambitious works of early modern travel literature.

Historical Description

In April 1532 Francisco Pizarro landed on the Peruvian coast. In November 1533 Pizarro reached the capital Cusco, which was handed over to him without any significant resistance. He appointed the younger brother Huáscars, Manco Cápac II as an Inca, who in 1536 dared a barely failed uprising. Pizarro had thus conquered the Inca Empire for the Spanish crown, and King Charles I, also known as the German-Roman Emperor Charles V, could say of himself: "The sun never sets in my empire." Pizarro founded today's capital in January 1535 Lima. The Spanish founded the Viceroyalty of Peru in 1542 with Lima as the capital, which, with the exception of Venezuela, included all Spanish possessions in South America. In 1572 the Spaniards took Vilcabamba, the last refuge of the Incas. Lima was developed by the Spaniards into a magnificent city and called the city of kings. While independence movements developed in most countries in South America from 1809, the situation in Peru remained relatively stable. The Bolivian dictator Andrés Santa Cruz invaded Lima in the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation War in 1836 and united the two countries into the Peruvian-Bolivian Confederation.