Society for the History of Discoveries Virtual Lecture Series: Free of Charge

Lydia Towns Announcement
Announcement Type
Lecture
Location
Texas, United States
Subject Fields
Atlantic History / Studies, Geography, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology, Latin American and Caribbean History / Studies

The Society for the History of Discoveries offers the third lecture in its new occasional virtual lecture series on Thursday, 17 June, 2021, with a presentation by Professor Jordana Dym.

Hiram Bingham in the footsteps of Simón Bolívar, from Caracas to Bogota, 1906-1907

Discovery by historians is often imagined as solitary work in archives and libraries.  An alternate model of field research takes archival research as a starting point. This talk explores the practice of a young professor of Spanish American history, Hiram Bingham, best known for publicizing Incan archaeology, on his first ‘expedition’ to South America, in 1906 and 1907, for a two-part mapping project.  Bingham proposed to map key battles of Venezuelan independence leader Simón Bolívar and to determine whether, as Spanish American historians claimed, following an “impassable” road across Venezuela and Colombia was “as wonderful as the more famous marches of Hannibal and Napoleon [over the Alps].” Between developing his hypothesis and disseminating his conclusions, the Bingham case allows us to consider the intersections between history, travel and cartography at the beginning of the 20th century.

This event is free and open to everyone, but is required at https://discoveryhistory.org/2021-virtual-lecture-series-3/

Jordana Dym is Professor of History and Director of Latin American and Latinx Studies at Skidmore College (Saratoga Springs, NY).  Her research interests include Spanish American independence, Atlantic revolutions, and the histories of cartography and travel. Forthcoming works include Mapping Travel: The Origins and Conventions of Western Journey Maps (Brill 2021) and, with Carla Lois, “Bound images: maps, books and reading in material and digital contexts,” Word & Image (2021). 

Date:  Thursday, 17 June 2021
Time: 12:00 p.m. US/Canada Central (Chicago); 1:00 PM Eastern US Time, 6:00 PM (London), 7:00 PM (rest of Europe)
Contact Information

Lydia Towns

Contact Email
lydia.towns@uta.edu