Wild cannibals in paradise. Initial representations about the conquest of the Río de la Plata

Abstract

This article analyses the foundational discourse of the Río de la Plata region, at the beginning of the sixteenth century, via the formation of two interrelated focal points: the construction of the other as a cannibal and the perception of space as an earthly paradise. The article examines documents related to the expeditions of Juan Díaz de Solís (1516) and Sebastián Gaboto (1526-1528), and, especially, the Carta (1528) by Luis Ramírez. The objective is to observe the way in which previous representations of alterity–in classical, medieval and biblical narratives– influenced the construction-invention of the region and its inhabitants. Descriptions of extraordinary beings, treasures and Edenic spaces, which shaped the cultural baggage of the traveler and conqueror at the end of the Middle Ages–such as those contained in The Book of Marvels by John Mandeville, and texts on America by Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci–serve as the basis from which the indigenous “other” and the landscape of Río de la Plata are described.