Colonial Landscapes

Explore the social and environmental transformations experienced by the Indigenous peoples and landscapes of present-day Colombia in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries through analysis of a landscape painting of the Bogotá savanna from 1614.

This site rebuilds Colonial Landscapes in Telar, a minimal computing framework that weaves IIIF images, audio, video, and text into layered visual narratives. Telar’s narrative format comes from Colonial Landscapes.

Colonial Landscapes: Redrawing Andean Territories in the Seventeenth Century is a project by Santiago Muñoz Arbeláez (research and direction), with Adelaida Ávila Cabrera (design and production) and María Alejandra Orduz Avella (coordination and development of learning resources). English translation by Natalie Cobo and Matías Godoy.

The original site is at colonial-landscapes.com.

Explore the stories

A Painting of the Savanna

Villages for the “indios”

From Terraces to Grasslands

A Divided Landscape

See the objects behind the stories

There are 10 objects featured in the stories. Have a look at 4 of them below.

Featured objects

Recopilación...

Recopilación de Leyes de los Reinos de las Indias. Mandadas imprimir, y publicar por la magestad católica del Rey don Carlos II. Libro II, título XV, ley primera - Que lo descubierto de las Indias se divida en doce Audiencias

Anónimo

Visita judic...

Visita judicial a Choachí

Quejas de in...

Quejas de indígenas por daños de ganado en sus cultivos