La Visita en Mérida Colonial: prácticas y representaciones en la construcción social del espacio geográfico(Apuntes teórico-metodológicos para su estudio)

Abstract

This paper presents a proposal of historical research based on document analysis that is conceptually framed within the theoretical postulates of Historical Geography. From this perspective we aim to study the visits ordered by the “Royal Hearing” of Bogota (Courts set up by the Spanish rule in America) to the city of Merida during the 16th and the 17th century; time in which the colonial society of Merida was being forged. The visits were in charge of supervising the settlements, as well as the treatment and the doctrine received by the indigenous peoples who were subject to the regime of Encomiendas. The documents related to the visits inform of the social practices and representations relative to the perception of the landscape among natives, encomenderos and visitors. This could constitute the starting point of a historical analysis that grasps the social construction of the geographical space of colonial Merida.