The Matter of Empire - (Illuminations) by Orlando Bentancor (Paperback)

About the Book

This book examines the philosophical principles invoked by apologists of the Spanish empire that laid the foundations for the exploitation of the Andean region between 1520 and 1640. Orlando Bentancor ties the colonizers' attempts to justify the abuses wrought on the environment and the indigenous population to their larger ideology concerning mining, science, and the empire's rightful place in the global sphere. To Bentancor, their presuppositions were a major turning point for colonial expansion and paved the way to global mercantilism.

Book Synopsis

The Matter of Empire examines the philosophical principles invoked by apologists of the Spanish empire that laid the foundations for the material exploitation of the Andean region between 1520 and 1640. Centered on Potosi, Bolivia, Orlando Bentancor's original study ties the colonizers' attempts to justify the abuses wrought upon the environment and the indigenous population to their larger ideology concerning mining, science, and the empire's rightful place in the global sphere. Bentancor points to the underlying principles of Scholasticism, particularly in the work off Thomas Aquinas, as the basis of the instrumentalist conception of matter and enslavement, despite the inherent contradictions to moral principles. Bentancor grounds this metaphysical framework in a close reading of sixteenth-century debates on Spanish sovereignty in the Americas and treatises on natural history and mining by theologians, humanists, missionaries, mine owners, jurists, and colonial officials. To Bentancor, their presuppositions were a major turning point for colonial expansion and paved the way to global mercantilism.

Review Quotes

... excellent book on the conquest of the America's by Spain.-- "North of Oxford"

The Matter of Empire is essential reading for anyone contemplating the philosophical underpinnings of the early Spanish Empire.-- "Journal of Interdisciplinary History"

A compelling contribution to imperial historiography. . . . sure to draw wide interdisciplinary interest.-- "Hispanic American Historical Review"

Original, impressive, and important. Bentancor has written, broadly speaking, an intellectual history that brings together a number of fields--among them, economics, history of science and technology, and philosophy--as well as a number of interrelated subjects, such as the histories of metallurgy, racism, imperialism, capitalism, and globalization. This is serious scholarship.-- "Nicolas Wey-Gomez, California Institute of Technology"

This book brilliantly demonstrates how two very important presuppositions underlie Spanish imperial practices: instrumentalism and the doctrine that superior forms had to give shape to imperfect matter. Since both are grounded in Thomas Aquinas' ideas--later radicalized by Spanish thinkers--thanks to The Matter of Empire, scholasticism will become fundamental to an understanding of the colonial period.-- "Ivonne del Valle, University of California, Berkeley"

About the Author

Orlando Bentancor is assistant professor of Spanish and Latin American cultures at Barnard College.