Documenting distance : form and content -- Dangerous distance : a Visita by Archbishop Cortés y Larraz -- The mail in time : moving documents -- Taking it to the periphery : overland mail carriers -- The distant archive -- The inventories of Guatemalan archivists
Summary
Sellers-Garcia examines how distance was conceptualised in an empire that at its height spanned four continents, stretching from Europe to the Philippines. Distance mediated most aspects of how the Spanish empire functioned, but we know little about how it was envisioned and understood. This book argues that documents, particularly official documents, were crucial to overcoming long distances. Focusing on Guatemala, a part of the empire that has long been considered 'peripheral', the book examines how the creation, movement, and storage of documents reflect particular conceptions of distance
