Sistema Regional de Información
en línea para Revistas Científicas de América Latina,
el Caribe, España y Portugal

Between 1626 and 1658 apostasy in the Philippines was dissimulated by royal authorities, the Mexican Holy Office and their commissaries. Some soldiers —who lived in the Asian archipelago— became apostates of the Catholic faith. To punish them under canonic law could prevent them from conquering and inhabiting the Moluccas and Mindanao. Thus, the Spanish Crown used forgiveness to safeguard the soldiers’ fidelity. The aim of this article is to analyze how dissimula tion and forgiveness were part of the negotiation strategies that the Spanish Crown utilized to preserve the fidelity of its subjects and the political unity in the Philippines; while these legal tools allowed the monarch to secure his dominion in areas where his power was feeble such as the Asian archipelago. This article analyzes documentation from at Inquisition file of the Archivo General de la Nación [National General Archive of Mexico], such as testifications and letters sent by inquisitorial commissaries of the Philippines to the Holy Office of Mexico relating to members of the Spanish military who renegaded from the Catholic faith to become Muslim or Calvinist in the years between 1625 and 1658.

The aim of this article is to study the entrepreneurs who participated in the asiento de víveres [army victualling state contracts] in the city of Puebla at the end of the 17th century, and the reasons behind their failure. To achieve a deepening understanding of the activities they developed and their experiences, two complementary objectives are pointed out: 1) to delve into the relations that the asentistas [state contractors] forged with stakeholders to make effective the exchange of supplies, and 2) to assess the sociopolitical impact that the activity had on both the city and its stakeholders. By a thorough analysis of notarial and municipal sources, this work proposes that the asentistas from Puebla did not belong to the elite and did not achieve the expected success.

This work aims to shed new light on the nautical and trading practices of the incipient maritime trade established between the Iberian Peninsula and New Spain in the 1520s. For that, the voyage made by Juan Vespucci to New Spain in 1527 on a cargo-laden ship is taken as a case study. The preparations for this trip are described in detail based on documents preserved in various collections of the Archivo General de Indias [Archive of the Indies] and on the notarial protocols of the Archivo Histórico Provincial de Sevilla [Provincial Historic Archive of Sevilla]. However, to reconstruct the journey itself, it has been necessary to go further, studying the whole set of contemporary navigations between Castile and the Indies. For that, a comprehensive compilation and cross-referencing of the data available in the two aforementioned archives has been carried out. The results of the research give a quantitative idea of the risks faced by transatlantic traders at the time and illustrate various types of solutions —nautical, financial, commercial, labor-related— undertaken to manage them. Moreover, several contractual arrangements that allowed foreigners to circumvent the regulations banning them from the lucrative New Spain trade are dissected. Finally, the article provides novel biographical data not only about Juan Vespucci but also about merchant Juan de Lerma and explorer Diego García.

The general purpose of this research is to analyze a pair of art commissions by the Tlaxcaltec priest and noble indigenous man Manuel de los Santos Salazar which are linked to his work in temples located in his native province: the temple of San Lorenzo, in Cuapiaxtla, and the temple of Santa Cruz, in the homonymous town. Namely, the works The Martyrdom of Saint Lawrence and the collateral dedicated to the souls in purgatory made between 1693-1710 and 1713, respectively. Through the iconographic and social study of the works, the places where they were destined, and Manuel de los Santos’ background, I will explain that these assignments go beyond simple clerical duty, that is, they respond to the personal concerns of the promoter and reflect part of his intimate world. To sustain this, two main sources are essential: the parish archives and the Salazar family files, which allow us to confirm the hypothesis because in different documents we get to know the problems that the priest faced during both administrations, such as the resurgence of idolatrous practices, or, in a more personal context, the last actions before his death, that can explain the intentions of his art commissions.

Librarians gained greater standing after the expulsion of the Society of Jesus from the Hispanic monarchy’s territories in 1767. With an overall view, this article aims to highlight the role of librarian and to show the general characteristics of their responsibilities in the nine colleges of the secular clergy during the final years of the New Spain. Thus, documentation from different historical Mexican and Spanish archives has been consulted, as well as specialized bibliography on the matter. This investigation enhances the importance of the profession that safeguarded the bibliographic heritage and was helpful for the proper functioning of the academical life, just as it occurred in other academic fields such as universities, conventual and episcopal libraries. For this reason, their contribution to the history of education should be reappraised in future publications.

Review of Rafael Rojas, Combates por la historia en la Guerra Fría latinoamericana (Mexico: Academia Mexicana de la Historia/Secretaría de Educación Pública, 2024), 94 pp

Review of Marcos Cueto y Gabriel Lopes, Uma História Global e Brasileira da Aids, 1986-2021 (Rio de Janeiro: Editora Fiocruz, 2023), 174 pp.

Review of the book Esperanza López Parada, Paloma Jiménez del Campo, Evangelina Soltero Sánchez, eds., Transferencias de saberes y de textos en el archivo virreinal de las Indias (Madrid: Iberoamericana Vervuert, 2022). 314 pp.

Review of the book Antonio Rubial García, Fortalezas de fe, pozos de esperanza. Una historia urbana de la Nueva España a partir de sus santuarios (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2024). 461 pp.

Review of the book Antonio Rubial García, Fortalezas de fe, pozos de esperanza. Una historia urbana de la Nueva España a partir de sus santuarios (México: Fondo de Cultura Económica, 2024). 461 pp.