Autoplay_docs_jesuits Ethnographers of the New World in the Old World

8/13/2019 Autoplay_docs_jesuits Ethnographers of the New World in the Old World

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XIII Jornadas Internacionais sobre as Misses Jesuticas

fronteiras e identidades: povos indgenas e misses religiosas

Dourados/MS Brasil-30 agosto a 3 de setembro de 2010

Simposio 6. Prticas Missionrias e (Re) arranjos culturais

JESUITS ETHNOGRAPHERS OF THE NEW WORLD IN THE OLD WORLD:

CLAVIJERO AND JOO DANIEL

Beatriz Helena Domingues

This paper aproaches de contributions of expelled Jesuits from New Spain and Brazil in

the 18c who returned to Europe to become scholars/ethnographers of the lands they were

forced to leave respectively in 1767 and 1759. It will do so focusing in the cases of Francisco

Xavier Clavjero, expelled from New Spain, and Joo Daniel, expelled from Brazil. They both

are here considered as important representatives of the Catholic Enlightment and defenders of

the Americas in the Dispute of the New World.

The Catholic Iberian American Enlightenment brings up a singular coexistence of

Catholicism, Enlightenment, and modernity in eighteenth-century New Spain. The main

development in this field seems to have been a complex interaction between religion, science

and politics in the process of constructing a Creole cultural identity in the eighteenth century.

This combination could be considered part of the Iberian intellectual life from the sixteenth

century onwards, and is to be found mainly in the eighteenth-century Jesuit writings1.

Spanish American and Portuguese American Jesuits expressed their reactions some

philosophical theseis deningrating the American continent through memoirs, political

treatises, and poetry, and, in both contexts, the discussion occurred within a Catholic

framework. But in Portugal the Society of Jesus encountered stronger opposition not only

from the Crown but also from other Catholic orders, specially the Oratonians. Even so, the

writings of the actors involved with the Jesuit question showed familiarity with Europeanenlightened writings on the New World, more precisely with the issues dealing with the

Iberian colonization and the role of the Jesuits.

1DOMINGUES, Beatriz H. Tradio na Modernidade e Modernidade na Tradio: a Modernidade Ibrica e aRevoluo Copernicana. Rio de Janeiro/Juiz de Fora: COPPE/UFRJ, 1997.


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In other words, it is not possible to separate the analysis of the place of the Jesuits and Brazil

within the Portuguese Catholic enlightenment from that of these themes across Europe. The

time when conflicts between Jesuits and the Portuguese Crown intensified, culminating with

the suppression of the Society in 1773 did coincide with the enlightened polemic on the New

World and with the appearance of a significant amount of literature on Jesuits in Brazil, eitherwritten by the Jesuits, by Pombals and other representatives of the Portuguese Enlightened

despotism, or European enlightened philosophers. But the volume of Portuguese works

aiming at European audiences seems certainly to be smaller than in the Hispanic World. The

success of the Pombaline compared to the Bourbon reforms may account for this difference in

the amount and type of material one finds on Brazil. Even so, a rich bibliography on the

Portuguese Enlightenment and the Jesuits seems to be opening up other ways to approach the

classical clash between Pombal and the Jesuits within the Catholic Enlightenment and its

significance to the European discussion on the Americas.2 With the Bourbon Reforms, Spainwas trying to re-conquer, through reconstruction, its ultramarine colonies, excluding the

colonial elite, strongly influenced by the Jesuits. Portugal was attempting to build a Brazilian

elite. It demanded an enterprise of construction, of internal re-organization of the Portuguese

kingdom in the sense of creating a colonial society there.

The Marquis of Pombal, head of the reforms, had no choice but to appeal for the

participation of this recently created colonial elite. Together with his advisors in Portugal -

called the estrangeirados (the foreigners) - Pombal sought to develop a pragmatic strategy

for Europeanizing Brazil through racial miscegenation. The Jesuit opposition to this policy,

along with accusations that the Society of Jesus was encouraging uprisings of the Indians

against the Crown, led to the expulsion. While attempting a 'modernization' of its Brazilian

subject, Pombal had more success than Charles III in securing the loyalty of the colonial elite

to the Portuguese Crown. One important consequence was that while the reforms of Charles

III are considered the beginning of the process of independence in the Hispanic American

colonies, the Pombaline reforms sealed an alliance between Brazilian and Portuguese elite,

which explains the moderate involvement in the Dispute of New World, as well as the

moderate transition of Brazil to an empire, instead of a republic, by the time of its

independence.

2See, among others, GNGORA, Mario. Studies in the Colonial History of Spanish America.Cambridge/London/New York/Melbourne, Cambridge University Press, 1975; MILLER, Samuel.Portugal andRome c. 1748-1830 : an aspect of the Catholic enlightenment.Roma: Universit Gregoriana, 1978.


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I intend to ilustrate the contribution of New Spain and Brazil to the construction of a

enthnografic study of the New World through the writings of Clavijero and Joo Daniel.

Clavijero

Clavijero's writings, as well as those of the Mexican Jesuit Generation of 1750 drewupon predominantly scholastic eclectic formulations, but in which one can detect, if not the

direct influence in terms of content, at least an attitude of sympathy toward the new, or

'modern' sprit: new forms of investigation, learning and teaching methods: criticism of

criterion of authority, etc. There was also incorporation, equally eclectic, of the enlightened

attitude, as well as of some of its ideas and methods. But most of the aspects of the

enlightenment that they incorporated were those represented by Vico, who valorizes history

over rationalism, resulting in the particularity of historical and cultural contexts rather than

the universalism and abstraction of the enlightenment in general. I will try to clarify the wayin which Clavijero, in his defense of the Mexican lands and people, mixes aspects of

enlightenment and Scholasticism, and to explain his complicated identification with his

subject, sometimes referred as us, sometimes as they.

Clavijeros work was in great part facilitated by the fact that Jesuits from so many

different places met one another in an enlightened Italy. In addition to the intrinsic value of

the works written by some Mexican Jesuits during their Mediterranean exile, one should

consider the circumstantial historical role of this literature as the first effort to divulge a new

culture from the American continent to Europe. Nevertheless such scientific and humanistic

movements of renovation as the one headed by the Mexican Jesuits would probably not have

happened there if they had not started already in New Spain.

Although, in general, the study of Jesuit thought in any time period can show

important differences in the philosophical, scientific and theological options among the

members of a particular school of thought, what I am referring to as the Mexican Jesuit

Generation of 1750 - represented by Clavijero - could certainly be seen as a united group.

This doesn't apply, of course, to the relation between this group and other Jesuits, and even

less to its relation with provincials or others occupying high positions in the hierarchy of the

Society. The fact that the Mexican Jesuit Generation of 1750 had become the Generation of

Expelled Jesuits in Italy after 1767 is fundamental for this study because most of the sources

preserved were written in the exile. Even if this Jesuit generation started innovating while

still teaching in New Spain, their philosophical courses of this period survived only in the

Latin and in manuscript form, making it difficult for researchers to gain access to them.


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Besides reading the works of Bacon, Descartes, Newton and Gassendi, New Spain

intellectuals also had access to the writings of the Spaniards Tosca, Losada and Feijo. New

Spain's cultural apogee coincided with the movement for the renovation of several courses -

philosophy, sciences, literature, theology, history, and law - provoked by the arrival of

modern ideas. Such renovation started with the Jesuits in New Spain, not after theirexpulsion. Although one can properly argue that another renovation movement took place in

New Spain after 1767, one cannot affirm that it broke with the Iberian and Jesuit tradition.

These men represented in the New World what may rightly be called the Christian

Enlightenment, which had already developed in Spain - well exemplified by Feijo, for

instance - and in other Catholic countries of Europe. Following in the footsteps of their

European counterparts, they clearly perceived the intrinsic value of the new learning and

realized that the future welfare of the Church - and that of the Jesuit Order - demanded their

coming to terms with modern thought insofar as it did not conflict with Catholic teaching andtradition. From their perspective, this had to be done on the basis of solid intellectual

foundations if they were to win the sympathy and allegiance of rational men3.

The pioneer role of the Jesuits in New Spain and the continuity of the movement of

renovation in their work in Italy and also in New Spain - mainly with Gamarra y Dvalos e

Jose Alzate - is brilliantly illustrated by the work of Clavijero, especially if one compares his

writings from New Spain with those written in Italy. One notable difference is the scarcity of

Jesuit writings dating from the New Spain period in contrast to the extensive production in

exile. In this aspect, Clavijero is the best representative example. The most important works

attributed to Clavijero during his time teaching and preaching in New Spain are Cursus de

Filosofia and Filaletes y Palefilo,A piece of the former survived in manuscript form. But

Dialogue entre Filaletes y Palefilo, which seems to have been very interesting from the

comment made by Gabriel Mndez Plancarte, is believed to be lost. This does not, however,

impede us from envisioning Clavijeros work during this time period once we can glean

information from the aforementioned letters exchanged between him and his colleagues and

provincials, and from his biography written by Maneiro.

Maneiro tells us, for instance, that in his first class teaching rhetoric at the Colegio

Mximo, Clavijero created a furor by criticizing, in public, the current evil, obscure oratory

and teaching known as Gongorism, characterized by the use of pompous, obscure, and

affected language and meaningless literary embellishments. Stressing the effectiveness of

3RONAN,Charles E.Francisco Javier Clavigero, S. J. (1731-1787): Figure of Mexican EnlightenmentRome:Jesuit Historical Institute, 1977


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simplicity, directness, and purity of style, he endeavored to advance the cause of cultural

renovation a step further4. It is - unnecessary to add that Maneiro himself was an enthusiast

of the movement for the renovation of teaching philosophy in New Spain. What makes his

writing so special for us, however, is the sense of being transported through time while

reading his book. He was in contact with this group of Jesuits while in New Spain and duringtheir exile in Italy, witnessing the suffering caused by their separation from their patria, as

well as their deep contact with European enlightened ideas. When publishing Clavijero's

correspondence in 1945, Romero Flores put forth the image of Clavijero as someone with

strong sympathy toward novelties and with difficulty in adhering to the discipline of the

Society of Jesus. One year after his publication, Jos Miranda concluded that, on the basis of

Maneiro's work and the correspondence published by Romero, it was possible to include

Clavijero entirely in the Enlightenment5.

My reading of the above documentation directed me towards a more cautious positionin terms of considering Clavijero an entirely enlightened man. The Clavijero who emerges

from his historical works written in exile, from the reading of his correspondence and from

the biography written by a contemporary, appears to me an example of a Jesuit under the

pressure of his Order and the Inquisition as well, as was so common in that time period. He is

trying to introduce the new without making it too evident and, certainly, is having some

difficulties in adhering to the discipline of the Society of Jesus. A very interesting piece of

anti-Jesuitism broadly disseminated during the eighteenth century, entitled Secreta Monita,

can be very helpful in threading of Clavijero's biography and his personal correspondence6.

In the letters exchanged between Clavijero and his superiors, as well as in those that he

exchanged with some modern Jesuits (Francisco Xavier Alegre) or poblanos (Torrija y Brisa)7

- which were the most known- it is possible to perceive some situations supposed to be the

rules of the Society of Jesus according to the Secreta Monitamaking sense for Clavijeros

case.

4Idem, p. 30. Clavijero's Cuban colleague, Julin Parreo, known as the reformer of the Mexican pulpit, led

the heaviest attacks against Gongorism, also known as gerundianismo.5MIRANDA, Jos. Clavijero en la Ilustracin mexicana in Cuadernos Americanos, n.4, Julio-Agosto de 1946,vol.XXVIII, pp. 181-196.6Secreta Monita. Societae Jesu (The Secret Counsels of the Society of Jesus, in Latin and English) with adiscourse on the authenticity of the work by Robert J. Breckinridge, Second American Edition, Baltimore:Edward J. Coale & Co, 1835. The first version of this document was published in Venice in 1596. The notedconcordance of the Jesuits and the reformers related to the Bourbon reforms on a philosophical approach - theeclecticism - cannot blind us of the possibility of a real repression taking place in the interior of the Society ofJesus7ROMERO FLORES, D. Jesus. Documentos para la biografia del historiador Clavijero in Anales del Institutode Antropologa e Historia, Mxico, 1945, tomo 1, 1939-40, pp. 307-335.


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This can only be done, however, if one bears in mind that throughout the eighteenth

century there was a crescent antipathy toward the Jesuits, which was probably the reason for

the wide distribution of a document entitled Secreta Monita, or The Secret Counsels of the

Society of Jesus. While discussing the authenticity of the document, Breckinridge suggests

three possibilities for its origins: 1) that it was the real Secret Counselof the Order emanatingfrom its head and revealed by accident; 2) that it may have been a revelation made by one

expelled Jesuit; 3) that it was a mere supposition, compiled by several Jesuit authors and

embodying what an enemy might suppose they would say if they officially propounded their

real secret instructions. The author of these comments, clearly an anti-Jesuit, argued strongly

in favor of the authenticity of the document. According to Breckinridge, Secreta Monitawas

first published in Venice in 1596, however there were several other editions published in

vernacular languages throughout the seventeenth and the eighteenth century. The first

translation of the work from its original Latin was to English in 1658. In the followingcenturies it was published in Amsterdam in 1717, in London in 1722 and 1746, in France in

1727 and in the USA in 1835, to quote only the most important editions8. Breckenridge

concludes that because the content in all of the translations was pretty much the same, it is

nearly impossible that the document was the work of just one expelled Jesuit. Breckinridge

points out that the idea that a disillusioned former Jesuit could author this kind of a

document is foreseen and preempted by the strict rules regarding expelled Jesuits put forth in

the document itself. One of the main preoccupations and precautions of Secreta Monitawas

the necessity of precluding anyone expelled from the Society from being accepted in other

orders and/or having access to press, and so on. And, even if someone had managed to do so,

how can one explain how such a homogenous document could have emerged from the various

enemies of the Jesuits in so many diverse locations and time periods?

Besides helping to shed light on the biographies and letters written by Jesuits during

the eighteenth century, in the context of this study the content of Secreta Monitaitself can be

taken as another illustration of the plurality of assimilation of enlightenments within the

Iberian World. Besides the diverse appropriations of Enlightenment thought by Jesuits and

the reformers linked to the construction of a national state overriding the power of the Church,

I would say that even within the Jesuit institution, supposedly the most centralized and

uniform institution within Iberian culture, one could find variations as well. The hypothesis

that the rules in Secreta Monitawere actually the secret rules of the Society of Jesus, does

8Secreta Monita. p.1


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make sense within the content of several documents - particularly letters included in

Clavijeros correspondence. Even so, one should be caution while testifying for the veracity

or falseness of the document.

What seems less problematical to affirm is that, reading these secrets rules, one can

sense the presence of Machiavelli combined with that of Saint Thomas, in the eclectic waycharacteristic of the Iberian thought in general and of the Jesuit order in particular9. If one

were forced to summarize the rules of Secreta Monitain one predication it would be that the

end justifies the means. Everything should be conditioned to the best interest of the Society:

in order to promote the Society it is licit, for instance, to use the secrets of the confessionary

involving matters dealing with the minimal weaknesses of human behavior or with questions

of state. Just as an illustration, the document has chapters on How the Society ought to

conduct itself when it commences a settlement in a new place; methods of preserving the

familiarity of Princes, Nobleman, and persons of great distinction; How should the Societyact with those who have great authority in the state; the role of confessors in relations with the

rich, widows, Princes, etc.

Reading the aforementioned document produces paradoxical feelings. Considering

the amount of Machiavellianism that lies beneath most of its propositions, this is

unquestionably a modern document. At the same time, the use of modern predicates in the

document by the conservative Jesuit against the modern ones- if this is the case -

illustrates a preoccupation in shielding the Society from innovations. In its opening, the

document makes clear that, these rules being secret, they were not supposed to be known by

the majority of the members of the Society. The Mexican Generation of 1750 certainly

seemed to have been included among those who were not to have access to it. Actually, while

reading the correspondence between Clavijero and Alegre, it is quite possible to relate their

behaviors and fears to some situations prescribed in the text. The correspondence between

Clavijero and the Provincials, for instance, reveals their framing of the rebel Jesuit in

accordance with some of the rules of Secreta Monita. The rule concerning how to deal with

those members who show more interest in their studies than in the success of the Society was

often applied to Clavijero, although he had fulfilled two major requirements for being

accepted into the Society: rich birth and intellectual capacity. If the question of the actual

modernity of Clavijero is a disputable one, from his biography and correspondence exchanged

9Coinciding with this insight I found out that the Latin edition of Secreta Monita, published in Amsterdam, wasactually calledMachiavelli Mus Jesuiticus, inscribed toJohn Krausius, a Jesuit.


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with colleagues, other priests and provincials it seems out of the question that he was simply a

tormented modern ideologue10.

II) Enlightenment and Thomistic ideas in Clavijero's historical writings in the Italian

exile.Clavijero's Historia antigua de Mxico was the most influential history of Mexico

since Jose de Acosta's Historia natural y moral de las Indias in 1590. It was, according to

Clavijero, a history of Mexico written by a Mexican. His historical work, written in Italy,

offers an amazing combination of Scholastic theology, modern natural history, enlightened

history, and a criticism of enlightenment that anticipated Romanticism. The idea here is to

point out some of the combinations involving these different approaches in the Historia

antigua de Mxico(1780) and in hisDissertaciones.

The author of the fundamental Historia Antigua de Mxico, 1780, remained the mostrepresentative of the group of exiled Jesuits in Italy. Once in Europe, these Jesuits assumed a

nostalgic attitude, similar to their European romantics, which had a strong impact on

Spaniard Americans, that is, Creoles who were neither pure Spaniards nor pure

Americans. The experience of exile further enhanced the sense that the New Spain that they

had been forced to leave, seemingly (and in fact) forever, had been a self-identifying political

community. For many of them, particularly when confronted with hostile foreigners, Spain

was still their nation, a world that indicated a common racial inheritance, but their culture or

their patria - a far more powerful term - was Mexican, or Peruvian, or Chilean11.

Clavijero's writings and those of others in Europe contributed to a break with the

regionalist and provincial in the Creoles' spirits, helping them to recover the past, the

nature, the culture and the intellect of their countries. Clavijero was one of the most engaged

interlocutors of Cornelius De Pawn and Buffon in the Dispute of the New World.

According to his biographer Juan Maneiro, he was already writing his Historia Antigua de

Mxicowhen the Philosophical Investigationsby De Pauw came out in print12. Buffon had

postulated that the nature of the New World was inferior to the European, mainly because of

its humidity, caused by a second American deluge, and De Pauw explored the degenerative

10A term used by Jos Miranda in Clavijero en la Ilustracin mexicana. The biography of Clavijero written byManeiro offers more signs of modernity in him than the letters published by Romero Flores or the ones found inthe Archive de Hacienda (see Navarro B., Bernab, Op. Cit., p.228).11PAGDEN, Anthony. Spanish Imperialism and the Political Imagination,New Haven and London: YaleUniversity Press, 1990.12De Pauw'sRecherches philosophiques sur les Americains and BuffonsNatural Historyhad being alreadypublished in 1767.


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consequences of such an environment on the American inhabitants. The most influential

American voices raised against Buffon and De Pawn's accusations were those of the North

American federalists and the Iberian American Jesuits, mostly Mexicans exiled in Italy. In

the writings of the Jesuits, as well as in those of scientists influenced by them, which I

intend to explore in my further research, one can find a rich source for the study of thecombination of science and religion aiming at constructing a national political identity.

With Clavijero'sDissertacionesand his Historia Antigua de Mxico, Mexico became

part of the debates of the Enlightenment in Europe, as these works gave Europeans access to a

body of encyclopedic knowledge about this part of the Americas, which aroused their

curiosity about exotic lands and peoples. It was this informative Jesuit literature that first

provided Europe with the detailed knowledge of the Americas and the Far East that helped to

create exoticism, an important element within the Enlightenment13. It is important to point

out, however, that not all Jesuits were apologetic of the nature and population of theAmericas. While analyzing Jesuits reactions to Buffon and De Pauw's theories, one should

distinguish, as Antonello Gerbi does, between the Spanish and the Spanish American

Jesuits, both exiled in Europe since 1767. Most of the European (Spanish and Italian) Jesuits

kept their sympathy toward Spain or were in a position of equilibrium between Europe and

the Americas. They were very concerned with De Pauw's recrimination of Spanish conquest

and colonization of the New World. The Mexican Jesuits, on the other hand, aimed to defend

the Americas their land and their people from such lies. In doing so, they produced the

first literature about American lands for Enlightenment audiences in Europe14.

In this sense, even if the exiled Jesuits did not play a direct role in the Spanish

American movement for independence, they were certainly an influence. Clavijero, the most

influential among the Italian exiled Jesuits, had an intensive correspondence with

independence leaders such as Francisco de Miranda, and Hidalgo was among his pupils in

New Spain. In a general sense, the Jesuits writings - either devotional or scientific -

continued to inspire the Creole patriotism that they had started to shape during their

missionary, educational and political work in the New World.

However, their writings, particularly the most important among them - Historia

antigua de Mxicoand theDissertacionesby Clavijero - relate to the Enlightenment in a very

special way. While one must note the enlightened influence in the conception of History, in

13MORNER, Magnus (ed.). The Expulsion of the Jesuits from Latin America.New York: Alfred A Knopf, 1967,p.10.14GERBI, Antonello. O Novo Mundo. Histria de uma polmica (1750-1900), So Paulo: Companhia dasLetras, 1996.


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the dismissal of the criterion of authority, and so on, at the same time Clavijero and other

Jesuits were defending their patria - Mexico and the American continent in general - against

the absurdities written about them by enlightened philosophers and historians like Buffon, De

Pauw, Raynal and Robertson. David Brading considers these natural philosophers the

enlightened representatives of a much older tradition - the Imperial Spanish Historiography ofthe New World - initiated in the sixteenth century with Oviedo, Seplveda, Gngora and Jose

Acosta15. How about the exiled Jesuits? How did they relate to the Enlightenment?

The easier answer would be to say that the Italian exiled Jesuits related to the

Enlightenment primarily in an eclectic way, considering their inclusion in a Catholic

Enlightenment. But how did they combine tradition and modernity, religion and the search

for historical truth? I would begin to answer this by pointing out the mixture of universal and

particular arguments that emerge from Clavijero's historical works in response to those he

calls enlightened philosophers. In general, the universal is attributed to the enlightenment,and the particularistic and casuistic to a pre-modern or medieval way of thought. In Clavijero,

however, this division is not very well delimited. His main aim, according to himself, is to

combat the abstract generalizations of the enlightened philosophers (Buffon, De Pauw,

Raynal, Robertson), which he considers to be without any basis in real observation or even

contact with reports from local witnesses. But the main argument used by the Jesuit to defend

his most important point - the equality of Mexicans and Europeans -, is based precisely on the

Universal Reason of Enlightenment. If there is anything still separating Europeans and

Mexicans, it is the latter's lack of education: The real obstacle is social rather than natural: it

is not imbecility but misery16.

How could Clavijero, with such strong enlightened argumentation, still maintain an

equally strong compromise with the role of the Sacred Writings in order to explain America's

nature, how it was populated and its present population? It seems to me that one can properly

argue that, in order to accommodate the Sacred Writings with natural and human history,

Clavijero makes two different uses of the particular argument against the universal argument,

as well as of the universal against the particular.

The use of the particular argument against the universal, understood as abstract

generalization, is what gives tone to his work. It is based on concrete (and isolated) cases that

he confronts mostly with Buffon' arguments belittling the nature, including fauna and flora, of

15BRADING, David. The First America. The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots, and Liberal State. 1492-1867.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991.16CLAVIJERO, Francisco Javier.Histria Antigua de Mxico.(1780)Primeira edio del original escrito encastellano por el autor, 4 tomos, Mxico, Editorial Porrua, S.A., 1945 (1780). Dissertaciones, p.43


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the New World. Clavijeros criticism of excessive generalization by the Enlightenment often

drives him back to the particularistic and casuistic elements that had been used since the

Middle Ages and then modified by neo-Scholastics in the sixteenth century. The fact that

almost ninety percent of his examples are from Mexico confirms the use of concrete data and

facts, in contrast with Buffon and De Pauw who had never set foot on the American continent.But one would be surprised to realize that he considered the Mexican case alone enough to

defend the entire American continent against the enlightened philosophers! Isn't he

generalizing, if not in the enlightened way then in a scholastic one? It is hard to give a

straight answer. Although he uses universal criterion when he needs to, Clavijero seems to be

aware of its impropriation, as can be seen in the hierarchical way he presents the societies of

the Americas. The universal criterion works for nature, but yet does not undermine

differences between civilized and uncivilized societies. In other words, Clavijero is defending

the nature of the whole American continent, but not all people who live in it.He starts his answer to De Pauw's thesis on the inferiority of the American population

by valorizing the particular over the universal and finishes it with a universal argument17.

While responding to absurd accusations related to the barbaric habits of the Americans, he

opts to make a clear distinction between the civilized societies in the Americas (Mexicans and

Peruvians) and the primitives ones. His compromise is only with the defense of the first. He

admits that several of De Pauws accusations may be true for other parts or tribes in the

Americans, although absolutely false for the Mexican case. In doing so, he approximates

Mexicans and Europeans in one group, opposing them to another group, composed of

primitive American Indians, Asians and Africans. Consequently, the abnormalities pointed

out by De Pauw may be true in particular cases, but can never be assumed to constitute a

general rule18.

This contradiction between his trust in one Universal Reason and in the opposition of

civilization versus barbarism is not something singular of Clavijero. It is actually part of the

Enlightenment as a whole. Although Clavijero criticizes the excess of generalization among

the enlightened philosophers he is attuned with them in what concerns the hierarchy among

societies and its consequences: there are societies more equal than others. He tries to prove

the equality of Mexicans and Europeans based on the fact that he, himself, had reached such a

conclusion by ocular witness of the Mexicans habits, customs, and behavior.

17Idem, p. 39718Here he offers some examples: the killing of imperfect babies, tribes where men, instead of women, had milkin their breast and nursed the babies, and so on. CLAVIJERO, F.J.Dissertaciones, p.395.


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Would it be the proof that the Mexicans share a universal reason, which he admits

does not extend to all societies? One may wonder whether his rationalism was founded on a

different basis than that of the enlightenment. It does seem more likely to me that Clavijero

bases his rationalism on an old attitude of recognizing the rationality of the Indians, but not of

all Indians, already present in Zumgara, Las Casas and other Jesuits before him. Clavijero istoo close to several decisive points of the enlightenment, making it hard for him to support his

position only in the writings of his predecessors. As already pointed out, he is quite familiar

with the enlightened distinction between civilized and uncivilized societies: the challenge he

faces is how to include the Mexicans in the former category. He is capable of amazing

arguments in favor of cultural relativism, but they are mostly included in order to present a

more favorable picture of Mexican society19.

Amongst the enlightenment authors, it seems that the biggest influence on Clavijero

was that of Vico, particularly the historical conception of the problematic Italian author andhis criticism of the excess of rationalism in Enlightenment. The diverse historical meanings

found in Clavijero's work are a consequence of the universalistic philosophy of history, akin

with the version of the Catholic Illustration, with which he entered into contact in Italy.

Although there is no sure indication that Clavijero had in fact read Vico, he had certainly read

and mentions often the writings of the Italian Boturini, an assumed follower of Vico. The

acceptance of the Viquian theories in more traditional Catholics circles was certainly limited:

it was restricted to the acceptance of the role of Providence and its revalorization of the

primitive cultures, especially in regards to their myths and religions. More difficult to accept

was Vico's theory of the ages, the ups and downs (corso and ricorso), and Vico's

questioning of the historical authority of the Sacred Holy Writs20.

The decisive role assumed by the Sacred Writings in Clavijeros historical works

complicates our puzzle even more. When dealing with the question of populating the New

World or arguing in favor of a unique and universal Deluge, Clavijero clearly recurs to the

universal as opposed to the particular criterion for religious reasons: the truth of one unique

universal Deluge is guaranteed by the truth of the Sacred Writings. Clavijero's main

argument against Buffon's theory of a second Deluge that supposedly took place only in the

Americas in favor of a single and universal Deluge is the authority of the Biblical text,

19Only in one moment he demonstrates admirations for the Araucanos, but this is owed to their resistance toconquest, not to respect for their customs, society or institutions.20TRABUSE, Elias. Clavigero, historiador de la ilustracin mexicana in ROSALES, Afonso Martinez.Francisco Xavier Clavijero en l ilustracin mexicana (1731-1787), Mxico: El Colegio de Mxico, 1988,pp.52-6


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although he also considers it plausible to prove this theological truth making use of natural

history and geography. But, even in this case, the force of religious doctrines would serve to

authenticate findings based on the study of natural history and geography. In the discussion

about the clime of the Americas, his arguments begin with a discussion about the best clime,

using the Bible as the reference. In contrast to the relativism with which Clavijero treats thissubject in the beginning of his response to Buffon, listing the different climates within

Mexico in order to show that they may be good for different purposes, his conclusion is that

the best climate is the one that approximates more to the eternal spring or the earthly

paradise21.

His commitment to religion seems also to be the key to explaining why, on a few

occasions, Clavijero commits the same mistake that he criticizes in Buffon and De Pauw:

making generalizations not based on concrete cases. In his discussion of the presence of the

demon among the Aztecs in Historia, for instance, he does not mention any concrete case(narration). He admits, generically, the evil presence in Aztec lives, at the same time that he

attempts to eliminate the devil from any explanation of Indian origins or habits22. The

challenge that Clavijero faced was to do so without contesting the Holy Writ's authority.

Clavijero accepts the thesis that assumes that the Americans had their origin in the New

World based on the theory of the united continents instead of any version of the migration

(Acosta, for instance). His explanation for the separation of the continents draws upon a big

earthquake23. The interesting consequence of such an explanation is that it argues that the

origins of the American Indians coincided with those of the Asians and Europeans. At the

same time, his explanation eliminates the possible influence of any other people over the

development of the Indians. The theory of the united continents serves not just to prove the

equality of the American Indians with other people. It is also an instrument to demonstrate

that the Indians had their own culture, without any influence from other cultures. The issue of

languages, for example, illustrates this well.

Differently from those (mostly Jesuits) before him who were trying to point out the

similarities hidden behind the differences between the Indian and other European and/or

Asian languages - as the universal syncretism of the XVII century24- Clavijero was prompt

to defend the singularity of the Indians language and culture. More than that, he actually

21CLAVIJERO, Francisco Javier.Histria Antigua de Mxico.(1780), Book I, p.98-13022Idem, p. 1623CLAVIJERO, Francisco JavierDissertaciones,p.13924Expression borrowed from PAZ, Octvio. Sor Juana Ins de la Cruz. As armadilhas da F.So Paulo: Cia dasLetras, 2000.


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emphasized the diversity among Indian languages: according to Clavijero, the language of one

tribe was different and incomprehensible to members of another tribe. In other words, there

was no such thing as one Indian culture25. The Anahuac did not share in the barbarism of

some northern tribes. As Pagden points out,

Clavijero's theory of continental drift thus relieved him of the need toexplain, or explain away, the more obvious barbarism of the

northern tribes and left him free to concentrate upon the people of

Anahuach26.

Here again Clavijero faces a great challenge while trying to explain the development

of the Indian societies. First of all, he was trying to locate the migration to America in terms

of biblical time, but justifying his capacity to do so in his ability to read the Indians own

records - their picture writings -, which could not be read by Europeans. In them, Clavijero

finds reference to an Aztec version of the Flood, and even to the Tower of Babel, whichwould explain the variety of languages spoken among the Indians27.

By the same token, Clavijero believes in the enlightenment premise that all cultures

should be judged by the same general criterion. When he tries to equalize the Mexicans with

the Europeans, for instance, he constantly makes reference to the fact that Aztec civilization

was far more advanced than several ancient cultures, and other contemporaneous cultures.

How can one reconcile the secular historian who searches to base his true history of

ancient Mexico in Indian primary sources and Spanish reports about the conquest with the one

engaged in religious purposes28? How could enlightenment principles and extreme religiosity

coexist in one man? I would say that Clavijero is certainly an eighteenth century product,

but his intellectual preferences were far from being wholly enlightened. As Pagden notices,

he sometimes deplores the freedom of thought that this century of enlightenment had

brought and the threat that it posed to the authority of the Church.

Much of his account of historical causation is conventionally

scholastic; so, too, are many of his cultural assumptions, and the

intellectual world to which he belonged remained, despite his

readings of Descartes and Montesquieu, the Aristotelian-Thomistic

25Idem, pp.21-226PAGDEN, Anthony. Spanish Imperialism and the Political Imagination,New Haven and London: YaleUniversity Press, 1990, p.10827CLAVIJERO, Francisco JavierDissertaciones,p.1428Note that when Claviejros history of Mexico ends at the conquest of the Aztecs by the Spaniards.


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one in which he had been schooled. But like many Jesuits, even in

the narrow intellectual confines of a colonial society, Clavijero had,

in his years as a professor of philosophy, read many of what he

called the moderns. The names of Descartes, Gassendi, Leibnitz,

and Fontenelle all appear in his writings and, as we shall see, manyof his more original ideas about the origins of culture are heavily

indebted to Montesquieu29.

That is to say that, in general, an enlightened view of the historical process

predominates in hisHistoria antigua de Mxico. This can be seen in his encyclopedic spirit,

as well as in his use of primary sources and the writings of other recognized historians in his

only historical work. It is a quite admirable is his view of the historical development of

Mexican Indians as a social phenomenon with roots in the pre-Hispanic past, withoutconnecting them to any ancient people from other continents. In the words of Jos Emlio

Pereira, hisHistoria Antigua de Mxico is an essential piece for the recuperation of the Indian

world - particularly the Aztec one - from the triple perspective of Catholicism, classical

culture and enlightenment30. By opposing certain aspects of European enlightened philosophy

Clavijero is offering a Creole enlightenment. Elas Trabuse diagnoses in him an attraction

toward the enlightened philosophers and historians in search of a meaning in History,

breaking with the antiquarian historians who reduce their works to a compilation of facts.

But, differently from them, he did not assume an attitude of neglecting the details. At the

same time that Clavijero broke with the schemes of this Spanish historiography, he confronted

the bias and preconceptions of the philosophical history from the depreciators of the

Americas31.

But this wasn't an easy task. At least two problems had to be resolved: the elimination

of the devil from the historical explanation and the association between ancient Mexico and

ancient Greece and Rome. Concerning the writing of a secular explanation for the Indian

past based on human causations Clavijero was far more successful than his predecessors.

This does not mean that Clavijero completely excluded references to the Devil from his

29Idem, p.99.30PACHECO, Jos Emilio. Lost Homeland: notes on Francisco Javier Clavijero and the natural culture ofMexico, in The Latin American in Resident Lectures, n.V, Toronto: University of Toronto, 1974-5.31TRABUSE, Elias. Clavigero, historiador de la ilustracin mexicana in ROSALES, Afonso Martinez.Francisco Xavier Clavijero en l ilustracin mexicana (1731-1787), Mxico: El Colegio de Mxico, 1988,pp.41-57, p.52


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History of Mexico32. Despite isolated references, he clearly intends to exclude from the

explanations of human affairs any non-human agent that has not been attested to by the Holy

Writ33. These non-human agents could be the Devil or the angels as well. He considers the

assumption that the original Indian inhabitants were transferred to the American continent by

angels to be an old superstition. Insisting that men are rational beings possessed of free willand that any explanation of human actions had to be expressed in terms of purely human

agency enabled Clavijero to exclude such non-human entities. As well posed by Pagden,

If the Devil was responsible for whatever deviant forms non-

Christian beliefs and practices might take, then the chronicler had no

need to trouble himself in explaining their origins34.

Moreover, the belief in the satanic origins of the Indians made the intended association

between ancient Indians and modern Creole cultures a hazardous business. In order to write a

secular, modern and enlightened history of the Mexicas that would allow for approximatingthem to the Creole, Clavijero had to remove from the whole project the threat of that

eschatological reductivism that, in his view, had vitiated the writings of so many previous

historians of the Amerindian societies. In his concern with offering readers the primary

sources he is standing upon, and his preoccupation with the search for truth through the use of

such sources, there is no doubt about the modernity of the conception of History in Clavijero.

But, in reality, Historia antigua de Mxico does not offer new sources on the Indian past

beyond what Sigenza y Gngora or Torquemada had used in his Monarquia Indiana

(1615)35. What distinguishes Clavijero from both of them is the style, much less tortuous and

much clearer.

The second puzzle, the creation of a classic antiquity for the eighteenth century Creole

elite, somehow associating Incas and Aztec with ancient Greeks and Romans, was not an easy

task either. Clavijero subscribed to the idea that the Indians living in New Spain in the

eighteenth century were too miserable to have their condition associated with any white

man, even in a remote past. The Creole solution, supported by Clavijero, was to claim that

the Creoles themselves were the true heirs of Indians in their imperial time. This could bring

further complications, however, for such association depended upon a dubious interpretation

32Some authors have point out the recourse to the Devil in some passages ofHistoria Anticua. See, for instance,VILLORO, Luiz. Grandes momentos del ingigenismo en Mxico. Mxico: Conselho Nacional de FomentoEducativo, 1987 (primera edicin 1950).33CLAVIJERO, F. J.Dissertaciones, p.3134PAGDEN, Anthony. Op. cit., p.100.35About this question of the Indians sources in the works of Torquemada and Clavijero, see CLINE, Howard F.A Note on Torquemadas native sources and historiographical methods in The Americas, n.25, pp.173-86


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and seventeenth century between Quetzalcatl and Saint Thomas, in addition to the virgin of

Guadalupe, symbols of Mestizaje by then associated with the Creole39.

According to Pagden, Clavijero's strategy was to run the gulf between past and

present to his own advantage40. He was always prompt to admit the huge gap between the

noble Indians of the past and the miserable ones of the present. But, he argues, didn't thesame happen to the Greeks and Romans? Who, looking at the Greeks in the present, could

believe that they produced a Plato or Pericles in the past?41 Charles La Condamine already

employed this kind of argument for the Peruvian case, and Carli openly criticizes Spanish

colonialism in hisLettere Americanae of 1780. Clavijero, La Condamine and Carli were, in

fact, applying Montesquieu's argument against slavery, source of decline and destruction of

peoples42. Another implication of the association between the Aztecs and the Greeks and

Romans was the possible resemblance between the Spaniards and the Turks: besides being the

classic enemies of the Spaniards, in the spirit of enlightenment, Turkey was a metaphor forroyal absolutism43.

Joo Daniel

The singularity of Father Joo Daniel rests, I think, in the simple fact that his work has

survived. At the time of his deportation, Daniel had been a missionary in the Amazon region.

In 1757, two years before the general expulsion of the Jesuits from Brazil, Daniel and nine

others were deported to Portugal, where he died in 1776. To my knowledge, only two Jesuit

writings, written in Portuguese prisons between 1759 and 1777, have survived: those of Joo

Daniel and those of Anselm Eckart (17211809), who had been expelled on the same

occasion.44But these two writers took fundamentally different paths. Eckart wrote while in

jail but he also continued to write out of jail after 1777, when he returned to his homeland in

Germany. His memoirs, published in Germany, describe his missionary experience in the

39PAGDEN, A. Op. Cit., p.10240Idem, p.10341CLAVIJERO, F. J.Historia anticua de Mxico, vol. I, p.12342MONTESQUIEU, Charles de. Ouvres compltes, Paris: ed. Roger Caillois, Bibliohque de la Pliade, 2 vols,1950, p.490 Apud PAGDEN, A. Op. cit., p.104. Clavijero'sDissertacioneswere dedicated to Carli, to thank himin the name of the Americans. for having studies accurately the History of America, and for having hadcourage to defend those despised Nations against so many renamed Europeans who have declared themselvestheir enemies and persecutors. In appealing to Montesquieu, Clavijero goes against mostly of the Jesuits whoaccused Montesquieu work of being infidel, which culminated with the ban of The Spirit of Lawby he Pope in1775. See ISRAEL, Jonathan Irvine.Radical Enlightenment. Philosophy and the Making of Modernity 1650-170,Oxford: Oxford University Press, 200143PAGDEN, A. Op. Cit., p. 104.44Anselm Eckart,Memrias de um Jesuta prisioneiro de Pombal[1791] (Braga, 1987).


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Amazon (with Joo Daniel), the expulsion of the Jesuits from Brazil, the persecution by the

Marquis de Pombal, his imprisonment, and his return journey to Germany. Although Joo

Daniel also wrote from prison, his memoirs, unlike those of Anselm Eckart, are not about his

imprisonment experience. Rather, he produced an encyclopedic treatise about the Amazon

region. Therefore, he continued a much older intellectual tradition of missionary writings byChurch chroniclers, who were concerned with collecting information on the natural world and

the inhabitants of the New Continent. Further, unlike Eckarts writings, his work was

published only in part for the first time in1836, and his complete works did not appear in print

until the twenty-first century.45

However, since Tesouro Descoberto no Mximo Rio Amazonas was written while

Daniel was in prison, it evinces inevitable lapses. With only his recollection as a guide, Joo

Daniel set out to write memoirs or treatises, either alone or in collaboration with imprisoned

fellow Jesuits. Perhaps, precisely because of these limitations, Joo Daniel seems particularlyattuned to the climate of opinion of his time. Consequently, Father Daniels life and

writings should be viewed in the context of the implementation of the Pombaline Reforms in

the Amazon by the government of Mendona Furtado in Gro Par (17511758). These

reforms required the reorganization of public administration and the construction of a

sumptuous palace as the administrative center of government. They also called for a highly

capitalized Company of Commerce to finance the development of the region, which required

the insertion of African slave labor. These reforms sought in part to isolate the native

inhabitants from the missionaries and transform them into colonists, and therefore invited

increased Jesuit opposition. While remembering the time he spent in the Amazon, Joo Daniel

offers observations on these reforms as well as on the natural world (flora and fauna) and on

ancient and recent history of the region, analyzing and evaluating current myths and legends.

His style is at once memorialist and encyclopedic: on the one hand, he sings the praises of the

land he had been forced to abandon; on the other, he treats several of his subjects as if they

were entries in a dispassionate eighteenth-century encyclopedia.

In his work, Daniel offers opinions on the Pombaline Reforms in the Amazon and comments

on Enlightenment theories about the Americans; therefore, his narrative is a richer document

than Eckarts in demonstrating both the participation of the exiled Jesuits in the climate of

opinion of the Enlightenment and their dialogue with Enlightenment ideas regarding the

45The work was originally written in 6 parts and 3 of them were published in 1949: the 2nd, the 5th and the 6th. The 5th part was first one tobe published, by Impresso Rgia, in 1820. Information concerning the publication of these works publication can be found in Wilson Salles,Rapsdica Amaznica de Joo Daniel, a presentation of Joo Daniel, op. cit., 1315 and in Serafim Leite,Histria da Companhia de Jesusno Brasil(Rio de Janeiro, 1949), v. 8, 1902.


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inferiority of the American continent. While strong nostalgia fueled his writings about the

Amazon, Father Daniel also provides detailed information on the New Worlds fauna, flora

and population. Ever since part of his account was discovered in the mid-nineteenth century,

Father Daniel has been widely recognized for his important observations, although his six

books in two volumes did not appear in print until 2004. Father Daniel systematized hisknowledge of the region, in terms of geography, ethnography, history, botany and so on. His

narrative offers a particularly valuable description of the cross-cultural contact then

underway.

Joo Daniels encyclopedic treatise consists of six parts. The first part offers an

historical-geographical overview of the Amazon: geographical description, discoveries,

internal navigation routes, origins of place names, principal rivers, water, climate quality,

populations, flora, and fauna. The second part, General News of the Indians, their natural

qualities, and some of their conceptions in particular (Notcia geral dos ndios, seusnaturais e algumas noes em particular), focuses on native populations and highlights

religious beliefs, languages, abilities and skills, demography, fertility rates, diseases, warfare,

the presence or absence of the practice of cannibalism, and the use of poison and antidote.

Entitled Reflections on the richness of the Amazons mines and the fertility of the rivers

banks (Notcia da sua muita riqueza nas suas minas nos seus muitos, e preciosos haveres, e

na fertilidade de suas margens), the third part describes the mines, fruits, wood, natural

painting, and noxious and medicinal plants. The fourth and the fifth parts describe the native

inhabitants way of life, with emphasis on prevailing economic and agricultural activities,

such as sugar mills, trading posts for sugar cane rum, principal plantations, methods of

pasturing cattle, fishing, manufacture of chinaware and ceramics, the life of the missionaries,

and the presence of the Spanish missions in the region. In the fifth and sixth parts, Joo

Daniel describes the means and the methods to improve the agricultural activities which

would shortly allow [the colonists] to populate and enjoy the Amazon. The sixth part

includes his observations on mechanical and hydraulic inventions. He comments on sailing

conditions, tide control, cane crushers, sugar mills, sawmills, use of pumps and pipelines to be

employed in the Amazon River (with five illustrations reproduced in voras original

material).

My interest here centers on Daniels views of nature and of New World inhabitants in

the context of the Dispute of the New World, which coincided with the expulsion of the

Jesuits. From the expulsion from Brazil (1759) and from Spanish America (1767) emerges an

important effort in memorializing the activities of the Society of Jesus in these regions. Often


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these accounts offered an opportunity to convey news from lands and populations unknown to

the European public, or, according to Father Daniel, known only through the work of authors

who had never set foot on American soil. The scientific expedition of European naturalists to

the New World undoubtedly inspired the exiled Jesuits as well as European Enlightenment

thinkers. Joo Daniel, for example, mentions the famous expedition of La Condamine, whoexplored the Amazon basin.46

My goal here is to underscore the dialogue between Joo Daniels writings and the

ideas and theses of his time, representing the eclectic Jesuit tradition of thought, which

emerged with the birth of the Jesuit Order but adapted itself during the centuries that

followed. Joo Daniels writingslike those of other Jesuits expelled from the Spanish-

American coloniescombine narrative description with first hand experience. In various

aspects, Father Daniel shows more affinity with the Enlightenment than with other

contemporary Jesuit writings, even without having to discount a medieval and baroque visionof the world. The author engages in a dialogue with stories of travelers through the Amazon,

describing nature with an admixture of pragmatism and openness to the marvelous that makes

his text a document representative of European post-renaissance dilemma transplanted to the

context of the colonial tropics.47

In his observations about the natural world, population, and potential development of

the Amazon region, Father Daniel might have had European, Portuguese, and Brazilian

audiences in mindan awareness that attests to his adaptation of traditional thought to

Enlightenment ideas. He seems particularly aware of Enlightenment ideas that denigrate the

American continent and of disputes within the Portuguese Empire. In this context, his

writings resemble those written by Jesuits exiled from Mexico and other parts of Spanish

America. His treatise on the Amazon River, although not published in his lifetime, seems to

be one of the best examples of the interaction between the writings of Jesuits exiled in Brazil

and the Dispute of the New World. Moreover, he was clearly engaged with the political

disputes regarding enlightened despotism in Portugal and provides a response to those who

viewed the Jesuit missions as an obstacle to progress.

46Charles-Marie de La Condamine,Journal du voyage fait par ordre du roi, a l'quateur : servant d'introduction historique a la mesure destrois premiers degrs du mridien(Paris, 1751), andA succinct abridgment of a voyage made within the island parts of South-America; fromthe coasts of the South-sea, to the coasts of Brazil and Guiana, down the river of Amazons; as it was read in the public assembly of theAcademy of sciences at Paris, April 28, 1745(London, 1747). An interesting approach on La Condamines expedition, seen as the initiator ofthe European scientific expeditions to other parts of the world, is Mary Louise Pratt, Imperial Eyes: Travel Writing and Transculturation(London, 1992), 15-37.47Jos Augusto Padua, Memrias Amaznicas, Mais, Folha de So Paulo, 29 de fevereiro de 2004. Online: http://www.ciencia-shop.com.br/shop/especial/res042.asp. In accordance with him, I would add that Joo Daniels text, if published at that time, would have

been filed as Jesuit literature that provided a portrait of Brazil to the enlighten Europe. Also see Jos Augusto Padua,Um sopro de destruio(pensamento poltico e crtica ambiental no Brasil escravista 17861888)(Rio de Janeiro, 2002).


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While praising the natural vastness of the Amazon and the kindness of its people, Joo

Daniel seems to be reacting against the derogatory theses about the New World. This becomes

particularly evident as he praises the climate and, to a lesser degree, the inhabitants of the

Amazon. But the author particularly emphasizes the commercial potential of the region. As he

refers to the river as the Mximo Rio Amazonas, he is indeed referring to its naturalvastness, but perhaps more so to its great potential for economic exploitation. Therefore, his

proposal for an alternate method of colonization of the Amazon assumes the maintenance of

the Jesuit enterprise for the well-being of the natives as well as the crown itself, which

would benefit from the defense of the borders and from natural resources, such as the gold

mines of Mato Grosso. Like the Jesuit Francesco Saverio Clavigero (17311787) [BIA: In

WorldCat his name appears not as Clavijero as you had but as Francesco Saverio Clavigero,

17311787, what is the correct form?Geraldo Sort of Geraldo. I checked in the original book by

him I have and his name there is Francisco Javier Clavigero. The name you got is the Italian version,because he wrote and published mostly after being exiled there. My suggestion is to use the Spanish

version ] writing on Mexico, or the Jesuit Miguel Venegas (16801764)48 on California,

Daniel is making politics as he faces delicate political issues involving the relationship

between Brazil and the Portuguese Crown.

MXIMO RIO AMAZONASAND THE DISPUTE OF THENEW WORLD

This section approaches in more detail some issues and aspects of Joo Daniels

memoirs/treatise that play a role in the Dispute of the New World. 49 I will therefore

juxtapose the writings of the Portuguese Jesuit with other texts produced by Mexican Jesuit

authors exiled in Italy, in defense of the American Continentespecially Francesco Saverio

Clavigero, author of the four-volume Ancient History of Mexico, the last one being entitled

Dissertaciones, entirely dedicated to challenging the theses of Buffon and De Pauw.50Joo

Daniels work, on the other hand, written sometime earlier and with no access to what others

had written, could only establish an indirect dialogue with these authors. It is important tonote that his history of the Amazon does not stop with the beginning of colonization as

48See Miguel Venegas,A Natural and Civil History of California(New York, 1966).

49I focus, here, on books 1 and 2, because this is where the author refers explicitly to the issues I am interested in.50Francesco Saverio Clavigero, The history of Mexico. Collected from Spanish and Mexican historians, from manuscripts and ancientpaintings of the Indians. Illustrated by Charts and other copper plates. To which are added, critical dissertations on the land, the animals,and inhabitants of Mexico (London, 1787);History of Mexico(New York, 1979); andHistoria Antigua de Mxico(Mexico City, 1945).


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Clavigeros does. This characteristic of his work, combined with the fact that his entire work

was not published until much later, bestows upon him a singularity that is worthy of analysis.

Daniels descriptions of the natural world and the natives of the Amazon are marked by

positive comparisons with the climate and people of Europe. Conceived as an encyclopedic

treatise, his text certainly shows the influence of the Enlightenment. At the same time, theauthor seems to criticize the Enlightenment. Like most of the exiled Jesuits, Daniel affirms

frequently that he bases his conclusions on first-hand experience, not in ready-made

theoriesas practiced by cabinet philosophers, a name that was then in vogue among

Jesuits and the founding fathers of the United Statesto underscore the superiority of their

knowledge of the Americas.51 Since Daniel knew firsthand the reality of the Amazon, he

considered himself less susceptible to the mistakes made by those who had never set foot on

the American continent. Clavigero made the exact same assumption in his history of Mexico.

Even so, depending on the occasion, neither Clavigero nor Daniel is afraid to appeal tobiblical authority. For example, both Clavigero and Daniel write about Saint Thomass

journey through America. For both of them, the Bible confers the final truth to the subject,

rather than any vestiges of experience. Therefore, for both writers, the myth of Saint

Thomas fills a narrative hole in the account of the apostles itinerary in the years that followed

Christs death, and it simultaneously sheds light on the distant past and situates the Native

Americans in the context of biblical history.

We should keep in mind that resorting to theological and biblical arguments, or

combining moral and scientific arguments, was not unique to the Jesuit. Count Buffons

treatise on natural history, considered the paradigm of scientific work at the time, explains the

inferiority of the American climate on account of excessive humidity as a result of the second

great flood, which had affected only the Americas. Basing himself on the authority of the

Bible, which accepts the existence of only one flood, Clavigero argues against the concept of

an American Great Flood.52Joo Daniel doesnt even seem to consider the possibility of a

second deluge. For example, when he refers to a very ancient construction that seems to him

similar to a factory (fbrica) or a convent (convento), Daniel affirms that it was built right

after the universal flood. Nevertheless, he recognizes the difficulty in finding precise

information on the origin of this factorywhich the Portuguese had mistaken for a convent

because of its shapedue to the natives primitiveness, which hinders the preservation of

their monuments.

51Joo Daniel. op. cit., 77.52But, according to him, even if there was an American great flood, the Mexican highland would not have been affected by it. BeatrizDomingues, Clavigero e sua incluso na ilustrao,Locus9 no. 1 (2003).


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EULOGY OF THENEW WORLD:A REACTION TO BUFFON?

Joo Daniels references to the climate, the fauna, and the mineral riches of theMximo Amazonas are intended to prove that the region is absolutely not inferior to

Europe or to Spanish America.

DEFENSE OF THE CLIMATE

Like Buffon, who was judgmental in describing the climate of nations, Daniel offers a

description of the natural aspects of Mximo Rio Amazonas, which does not set it apart in

moral terms from that of other regions. In the chapter entitled On the Amazons climate andhealthy air (Do clima e saudveis ares do Amazonas), the author focuses on the main issue

of the Dispute of the New World: the existence of superior and inferior climates and the

repercussions of the quality of the climate on nations. As in the work of other contemporary

Jesuit or non-Jesuit authors, one cannot easily distinguish science from religion, and myth

from history. Daniel writes, for example, that the Amazon has a much more moderate and

healthy climate than does Europe; for God tempered its heat with a most beneficial

atmosphere, as he did in the more temperate regions.53Daniel sees the humidity of the soil

considered by Buffon the best evidence of the inferiority of the New Worldas responsible

for turning the Amazon into the most fertile soil in all of the Americas, and perhaps the

entire world.54The Amazon region is so humid that the trees seem to be escaping the cold

by normally launching all their roots right into the earth, to better absorb the humidity below

and the heat above.55Its an everlasting spring, without the harshness of winter, unfriendly

autumn or the excesses of summer. The kindness of the climate is reflected in the trees, fields,

and prairies. The trees never lose their leaves, as in Europe: only through death may one see

them [trees] naked. And yet the same in Europe, transplanted in America, rejoice in the same

privilege (), which well proves that their loss of leaves in Europe comes only from the

severity of autumn.56

53Joo Daniel. op. cit., 77.54Ibidem, 78.55Ibidem, 78.56Ibidem, 79.


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Such arguments resemble those of both the Mexican Jesuits and of Enlightenment

philosophers. All are approaching the possible changes that might occur in animal, vegetal,

and human species in case of transplantation from the Old to the New World. On the

dislocation of Europeans to the Americas, De Pauw states that the natural environment of the

New World was so inferior and the climate of so much influence on the character of nationsas prescribed in Montesquieus theory of climatesthat Europeans actually did not stand as

tall when forced to live in such a hostile environment. Daniel inverts the value of this

assessment without inverting the line of thought. He assures the reader that the beneficial

climate of the Amazon positively affects the natural cycle of the trees. The temperate nature

of the climate would also be reflected in the natives gentle habits, which European settlers, in

turn, would adopt. Even the higher altitudes, such as Quito, for example, are spared the

harshness of the European winter.

If in some ways the Amazon is less healthy and shows a degree of morbidity, it is notbecause of the climate, but because of the lack of means of its inhabitants and natives.57

Daniels recurring examples are some few sickly lakes for reasons of not draining out and

therefore the water remains stagnant, often polluted already by the heat of the sun and

overabundance of fish, which die and putrefy.58From fetid conditions may erupt epidemics,

such as small-pox [BIA--what is the word in the original? I assume it is Bexiga, but I do not have

access to the original text; if so, it should be translated as small-pox and not as bladder disease

as you originally hadit would be good to have the original terms hereGeraldo (Yes Geraldo, the

word is BEXIGAS]and measles[BiaWhat is the word he uses for measles? Give these terms inPortuguese in parenthesesGeraldo (SARAMPO)]although Daniel is not convinced that the

stagnant water causes the diseases themselves, but more so the epidemics. One of the best

natural remedies against diseases and epidemics are the winds. But, unfortunately, other lakes

with more ventilation and abundant fishing are deserted, as in other regions. This is an

example of the authors recurring concern about the sparse population, and therefore the poor

exploitation of the Amazons immense resources.

DEFENSE OF THE FAUNA

57Ibidem, 79.58Ibidem, 80.


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Buffon argues that the absence of large mammals such as lions and elephants attests to

the inferiority of the American climate. According to him, the few large-size animals consist

of repulsive creatures such as pigs and reptiles. Clavigero replies that Europe does not have

these kinds of animals either, and that if animal size were to serve as the measure of the

quality of the climate, then we would have to conclude that Africa possesses the best of allclimates.59Joo Daniel does not approach Buffons argument in such a direct way. Instead of

remarking on the size of some animals, he relates the existence of large animals, considered

negatively by Buffon, to the vastness of Mximo Amazonas. For example, the alligator is

described as being the largest lizard in the world, capable of attacking and intimidating even

the strongest of giants. He adds, They say that the alligator is the worst thing created by the

Amazon; but I would say that its the fittest monster for the vastness of the river. Alligators,

as well as small fish, are perfectly adapted to the Amazon, and they all have proper use. For

God created nature in such harmony that everything has its place. If some of these places havenot been sufficiently understood, they still can be.

On this topic, Daniel describes the natives as those who best know and, at the same

time, dominate the environment in which they live, but also those who pose obstacles to

improving conditions because of their primitive nature. However, in some passages of his

text, Father Daniel recognizes that some apparent deficiencies in the lives of the natives can

be explained by a lack of a proper education. Likewise, Clavigero quite often takes a similar

position

This pragmatic and moral assessment of the fauna intertwines with the authors fascination

with the marvelous. The chapter dedicated to fish starts out with the marine-man, he being

the noblest of all sensitive livings:

The existence of marine-men has been proven several times by experience: they can be

either the ones called mermaids by historians, or any other species, as seems more plausible.

They have aspects that resemble the shape of fish and of man but without being entirely like

either of them. Like mermaids, below the waist they are like fish and above it like man; but

unlike other men, they are less rational.60

Among the statements in support of the existence of these fish-men are stories told by

natives, missionaries, and even authorities like Benito Jernimo Feijo (16761764), an

59Clavigero, op. cit.60Daniel, op. cit., 119.


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important reference to the exiled Mexican Jesuits.61A few pages earlier, when the author sets

out to investigate whether these marine-men existed or not, he comes to the conclusion that:

Their figure is very much similar to the human figure, including their stature. But with

a difference: their fingers and toes are linked to each other, bat-like. Otherwise their feet were

as perfect as those of other men. Their faces, however, are horrendous, as to allow that in theAmazon there may exist such marine monsters. But, even in this case, they are not the ones

who play the tambourine underwater, as the Indians believe.62

These references to marine-men seem not only intended to prove their existence; they

also suggest that in the Mximo Rio Amazonas even creatures taken for monsters still bear a

striking resemblance to rational beings. For a moment, the reader is led to think that, in this

case, the natives cannot escape the category of rational beings. However, Joo Daniel explains

that he disbelieves these stories because these marine-men are said to play the tambourine at

the bottom of the river. He considers the situation not very rational or verisimilar. At anyrate, his detailed description of the species of the region may suggest an influence of a

scientific approach to natural history, initiated by Lineu and adopted by Buffon and La

Condamine. Joo Daniel seems to adopt the Condamine perspective in connecting knowledge

of natural history to local lore. This will later influence the naturalists of the late eighteenth

and early nineteenth century.63

DEFENSE OF MINERAL RICHES

Father Daniel refers to the Amazon River on various occasions as if it were a living

thing, almost a person. For example, when reasoning on the discovery of the Amazon, he

resents the fact that he [the river] is not the one being searched for [by the explorers], his

riches are; neither do the visits make way towards him, but to his gold. 64Ironically, in the

course of his writings, Daniel himself seems to embrace the very attitude he criticizes,

numbering and praising the riches and economic potential of the Amazon. Note, for example,

his description of the mineral riches, especially gold and diamonds, of the Amazon. Perhaps

61Feijo speaks of marine-men in Tone 6, Speech 7,with handled proof: not only those of the same human flesh, and the fish-like, as maletitans and female mermaids, but also the perfect men, etc (120). There is also proof of the existence of satyrs or wild men in the island ofBorneo, India and in the strait of Malacca. See Benito Jernimo Feijo, Cartas erudtas, y curiosas, en que por la mayor parte se continadesignio de el Theatro critico universal, impugnando, o reduciendo a dudosas varias opiniones comunes ... (Madrid, 1765), and Dosdiscursos de Feijo sobre Amrica(Mexico City, 1945).62Daniel, op. cit., 91.63M. L. Pratt, op. cit., 356.64Joo Daniel, op. cit., I, 45.


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This is a stone shaped in the form of an altar very well made, as if by master hands.

And so that no one doubt that it is in fact an altar, it is proven from different angles: the

monument has at its center a cross, and on the sides two well-proportioned shelves, that

indicate their use for the ministry of celebrating masses. Its paved floor has a step, with

distinct footprints that can be inferred to be of the priest [Saint Thomas] who was offeringGod the sacred and bloodless sacrifice of the mass.69

The existence of the altar stone, added to other evidence of Saint Thomas passage,

prompted Daniel to reason that Thomas himself must have celebrated mass there. Inasmuch

as he left printed on the pavement his holy feet, and on the surface of the same stone, more

emblems of the cross [], and in the heart of the Indian, the mysteries of the faith, and of the

same holy cross.70The fact that the natives called him Sum and not Thomas (Tom) is a

small corruption of vocabulary, excused on account of the natives lack of books and thepassage of time before the arrival of the Jesuit missionaries. On this topic, Daniel does not

refer to the natives primitive nature.

When asked about how it was possible for Saint Thomas to travel through so many

continents (for he had been to China, India, and many other places in Asia, before going to

America), Daniel does not hesitate to appeal to divine authority. He writes that without doubt

no man could have gone through all of these places in one lifetime, although by divine will,

not only could he run through all of the aforementioned provinces, but through the entire

world not once but many times. This was not only a fact virtude exalto, but, in truth, did

happen to the holy apostles, as written in Church history and also the Divine Scriptures.71

Daniel suggests that physical evidence sufficiently corroborates this truth. Many

would-be Christian sites in the Amazon prior to the Portuguese colonizationsuch as the

chapel of the Good Lord (Bom Jesus) and the so-called Xingu River templereinforce the

belief of Saint Thomas passage, for theyre not works of nature, but artifacts, be it physical

or supernatural. Daniels sources include natives statements affirming that the Xingu

Temple has stone valves with hinges, like our portals, and that theyre always closed.72

Regarding two other temples believed to exist, Daniel laments the lack of more detailed

information due, precisely, to negligence of the natives and even of some missionaries. He

also believes that, potentially, other Christian sites, reputed to have been in existence prior to

69Joo Daniel. op. cit., 8170Ibidem, 82.71Ibidem, 83.72Ibidem, 83.


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Pedro Alvarez Cabrals voyage in 1500, remain yet be discovered. Even if these sites are not

actually found, the existing ones offer sufficient proof to deduce as being morally correct the

preaching of Saint Thomas in America. Daniel argues that vestiges of the Apostles stay

among the natives can be found in food tradition: Saint Thomas is said to have taught the

Americans to prepare mandioca (manioc), or farinha-de-pau (a type of manioc meal), whichis the usual bread of the Americans. Before that, Daniel suggests, the natives, beast-like, ate

nothing but wild berries, as manystill do.73He wonders whether these natives might be those

who did not have contact with the missionaries.74

The discussion of Saint Thomas passage through America makes apparent Daniels

ambiguous treatment of the Indians.75If these Indians did indeed have contact with the Gospel

at the same time as other nations, and if they also converted to Christianity, would it not be

incoherent to consider them as inherently brute? They would have to possess some kind of

rationality or ability to learn. In fact, Daniel admits on more than one occasion, as doesClavigero, that it is the lack of information/education that keeps the Indians apart from the

Europeans, not an inherent inferiority. Even so, his characterization of the natives is never

free of ambiguity. Even in the important discussion of Saint Thomas passage, the authors

judgments oscillate between considering the native Americans as primitive brutes and

considering them Christians, between valuable sources of information and those responsible

for the inexistence and/or destruction of that information.

Daniel also sees the natives simultaneously as both witnesses and impediments to a

satisfactory discovery of the location of the earthly paradise in the Americas. Avoiding

engagement in a polemic with those who locate the early paradise in Asia, Joo Daniel points

out strong indications that it must have been in America; namely, the spring-like weather and

the stories told by generations of natives. As it has been said before, the author recognizes, at

the same time, the difficulty in uncovering the truth of such stories, due to the primitive nature

of the Indians and the deficiency of their memory. At this point, he adopts the prevailing

beliefs of other historians, travelers, and missionaries of his time: the same natives who are

complimented for their lack of material ambition are suddenly criticized for their laziness.

Many Jesuits had faced similar dilemmas in the past affirming the natives rationality and

ability to learn, but frequently contradicting themselves in moments of despair, when facing

73Ibidem, 85.74When describing the populations of the Amazon, Joo Daniel differentiates wild Indians from those who had contact with the Portuguesecolonizers or the missionaries. The nations that lived farther away only had contact with the Jesuits. And after the expulsion of the Society ofJesus, their present situation bears witness to considerable retrogression from the progress they had experienced under the custody of the

priests (111).75Rocha Pitta supported a similar argument some thirty years earlier, following in the footsteps of many seventeenth- and eighteenth-centuryJesuits.


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difficulties in converting and civilizing them. In the Enlightenment, however, the

compatibility of the contradictory positions seems to have been especially complicated in

view of a dichotomy between civilization and barbarism. In some parts of Book II dedicated

to faith, habits and wondrous native things, Joo Daniel takes a more direct approach to the

argument for the supposed inferiority of American natives, as preached by EnlightenedEuropeans, particularly De Pauw, and not disputed by many of the missionaries:

The inhabitants and native Indians are well disposed and proportioned people, as are

the peoples of Europe, except for their colors. This does not mean that they are not human,

because they are. But, regardless of their disposition and physical features, some Europeans

considered that they were not real human beings, but just a blueprint of a human with some

semblance of rationality; or a species of monsters, in fact sort of monkeys with certain aspects

of human nature.76

There is no example to prove that Daniel may be directly responding to De Pauw, buthe certainly makes his stand in the face of the opinion of the time, which mostly favored the

concept of a universal and rational man as a parameter for judging others. Then, instead of

making it easier, Enlightenment thought only made it harder to put natives on the same

footing with Europeans. This is especially apparent in the writings of those involved in the

defense of Native Americans at the end of the eighteenth cent

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