Sociedad, economía y cultura material

In Historia urbana de Panamá la Vieja, Alfredo Castillero Calvo builds on four decades of research on colonial Panama to write a masterful economic, social, and cultural history of Panama City’s sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Founded in 1519, Panama was one of the first Spanish cities on the Spanish mainland. It served as the departure point for the conquest of Peru and became an important center of imperial trade in European merchandise and Peruvian silver. Given its economic and strategic importance, the study of Panama City has received remarkably little attention. Castillero’s book does justice to this topic and, alongside the recent studies of Havana and Lima by Alejandro de la Fuente and Alejandra Osorio, respectively, contributes to a richer understanding of colonial port cities and their place in the global culture and economy of the early modern era. These port cities played a crucial role in the creation of new urban models of consumption and social relations that reflected their place as centers of trade among Asia, Africa, Europe, and America.This volume remarkably combines great scope and in-depth research and analysis. Its subjects include environmental conditions, material culture, urban politics, social relations, and intellectual and religious life. The first part of the book teaches a fascinating history of the social and ecological experiments of early Spanish settlers. Castillero explains how they dealt with the constant threat of hunger during the early days of colonization, and the processes through which they reshaped the local environment and created a new agricultural hinterland. He also studies the technological and cultural mechanisms with which the Spanish solved problems like docking and access to drinking water in a city that had neither a good natural port nor an appropriate source of fresh water. Castillero’s examination of the foundation of Panamá la Vieja reveals the interplay among ecological conditions, political interests, and economic imperatives that made some cities viable and others not, suggesting new lines of inquiry about the importance the environment played in these decisions.Another section of the book is dedicated to Panama’s participation in the trade between Peru, China, and Europe. The economic history of Panama comes to life in rich detail, unveiling a vibrant local economy based on international trade, pearl fishing, and shipbuilding. Castillero provides an interesting analysis of the pulse of colonial economy and the nature of its booms and crises. He examines, for example, the dramatic impact of the end of the Portuguese slave monopoly on Panama’s fortunes and economic activities. Finally, he studies the nature of regional and local trade that was crucial to the daily subsistence of city dwellers.One of the major contributions of Castillero’s book is its analysis of the material culture of Panamá la Vieja. Through a careful excavation of maps and traveler’s descriptions, Castillero uncovers the architectural model of elite housing and reflects on the possible relationship between housing design and the social values of Panama’s colonial society. Through a detailed investigation of wills and embargos, he reveals local tastes in furniture and decoration and the cultural ideals behind choices that made the bed, for example, the central and most expensive piece of furniture of colonial houses. He examines the uses of clothing and jewelry and their relationship to wealth and status. We also learn about the objects produced by Panamanian artisans and the objects imported from Europe, China, and Quito. Finally, he studies the literary preferences and production of Panama la Vieja’s society.This is a very important contribution to the urban history of colonial Latin Amer-ica. Readers will enjoy its beautiful and engaging prose and the vividness with which it portrays the everyday life of urban dwellers. Few books on Latin American colonial urban history cover such a range of subjects with Castillero’s level of detail and analysis. This makes Historia urbana de Panamá la Vieja mandatory reading for any serious student of Latin American urban history

Ancient history · Archaeology · Art · Colonialism · CONQUEST · Economic history · Economy · Ethnology · Geography · Humanities · Panama · Political science · Port (circuit theory) · Historical Studies in Latin America · History · Latin American history and culture

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