The generation of liberators cedes the task of history to that of the consumers and this in turn to that of the builders.
After the independence struggle, with a country project, in parts defined and in parts only outlined, there was a need to specify it and to verify it with reality in many aspects, to build it and give it a full shape. Such was the case of the Mexican territory and the creation of its image.
A generational task
From its inception, the government of independent Mexico saw the need to have a general geographical chart that would include the new nation, but when the federal pact was established in 1824, the construction of the cartography of the new country, with its states and their borders.
The task was not easy, since changes in internal and external politics frequently modified the national reality. Various efforts were made that culminated only when, with the support of various government institutions, the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics was formed in 1833, achieving the first general charter in 1850, that is, 17 years later.
To carry out this task, all the accumulated experience had to be used: the cartography of the conquerors who defined the coastlines and the subjugated lands, that of the colonizers who were consolidating the population foundations in the occupied territories, those of the ecclesiastical jurisdictions, those of the owners of mines and haciendas, those of the missionary and military expeditions that occupied themselves in mapping the northern provinces and those of the cadastral registries. All the efforts of surveyors and enlightened scientists to define the geographical position of the country were also considered and of course, all regional maps were collected in it.
However, after this initial achievement, a whole effort had to be carried out to specify and perfect this first letter and it is, at this moment, that the figure of Antonio García Cubas stands out. Graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of San Carlos, he was commissioned to copy the General Charter of the Mexican Republic, to which he made some corrections and concluded in 1856, the year in which he also became a member of the Mexican Geography Society. and Statistics. Afterwards, he studied engineering at the College of Mining, thereby affirming his vocation as a geographer.
Knowledge of the country and its description
The tragic scene is part of García Cubas's anecdote, in which he describes the surprise that he caused Santa Anna, when he saw for the first time - when he was shown the letter that he had copied - the extension of the territory he had lost, a fact of which the general had not had the slightest awareness, until then.
Emanated from the tradition initiated by the enlightened intellectuals of New Spain, the description of the country, the evaluation of its wealth and its potential for development were promoted in the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics. Its members explored a very broad theme that covered both the physiography of the territory, its natural resources and its production. The study of its population in its demographic, ethnic and linguistic aspects was also important. The crystallization of all this knowledge occurred when García Cubas published his General Letter of the Mexican Republic. México, Imprenta de Andrade y Escalante, 1861. This work was later enriched with the investigations that García Cubas developed between 1870-1874 and that culminated in the Mexican Geographic and Statistical Atlas. Mexico, Debray and successors, 1885, which was his most important work. Composed of a magnificent general letter with an indication of the railway and telegraph lines and 30 letters from the states, D. F., Mexico City and the territories of Baja California and Tepic, it was published with texts in Spanish, English and French.
The country's teaching
The effort made by the country's builders would not be consolidated if it was not complemented by educational work that would instill in citizens a nationalist feeling. García Cubas paid special attention to the teaching of geography and has published since 1861, the Compendium of Geography of the Mexican Republic, arranged in 55 lessons for use by the Public Instruction establishments. Mexico, Imprenta de M. Castro. With the same didactic sense, he publishes a work with a more specific topic, the Geography and history of the Federal District. Mexico, Former Printing House of E. Murguía, 1894.
García Cubas himself presents the book and in the prologue he explains that the first part, dedicated to the first teaching, includes the elementary news of the geography of the Federal District expanded with historical and traditional reviews that, in addition to enlivening the study, favors instruction of the child and that, the second, essentially historical, is intended for higher education, being able to serve as a simple reading book for those who were not able to undertake their study.
The restitution of the country's image abroad
As on other occasions, García Cubas explains in a prologue the reasons that led him to offer his book The Republic of Mexico in 1876 to the public. George H. Henderson (Trad.). México, La Enseñanza, 1876. He refers that it has been written with the aim of “changing the erroneous impressions that could have been left in the minds of readers by those works that, with malicious intent or with the desire to acquire notoriety as novelists, have been composed and published by different foreigners, judging the nation of Mexico, by impressions received in a quick excursion without further examination or careful study ”.
To do this, he describes Mexico, giving it a vindictive and optimistic image, as a country with a low population for its extensive territory, located between two oceans; highlights the topographic advantages of its lands, its fertility, its climate, mining production and its water resources. Accompany all this information with a general letter and additional information divided into three sections: a political part where it deals with the situation of the Republic, its extension and its borders; its government, political division and population; agriculture and mines, arts and manufactures, commerce and public instruction. A historical part in which he talks about the pilgrimage, the Toltecs, the Chichimecas, the seven tribes and the Aztecs. Finally, an ethnographic and descriptive part in which it refers to the different families: Mexican, Opata, Pima, Comanche, Tejano and Coahuilteca, Keres Zuñi, Mutzun, Guaicura, Cochimi, Seri, Tarasca, Zoque, Totonaca, Mixteco-Zapotec , Pirinda Matlaltzinca, Mayan, Chontal, of Nicaraguan origin, Apache, Otomí. Indicates the numerical distribution of indigenous families, makes a report of the races and refers to the causes of their decline. The most important thing in this area is that it is accompanied by an ethnographic letter from Mexico.
The official presentation of the country
García Cubas was a convinced of the liberal politics regarding the ideas about the development and the progress of the nation.
The consolidation of the liberal project in the second half of the nineteenth century opens a stage in government policy, which tries to present a new image of Mexico, as a rich and civilized country that can be attractive to investors in many ways.
Within this idea, in 1885 García Cubas published his Picturesque and Historical Atlas of the United Mexican States. Mexico, Debray and Successors. It is a series of letters that present the country with the data available in that year, with an emphasis on historical-cultural aspects. The explanation of each letter was published in the Descriptive and Historical Geographical Statistical Table of the United Mexican States, a work that serves as a text for the Picturesque Atlas. México, Oficina Tipográfica de la Secretaria de Fomento, 1885. From then on he prepares, to be published directly by government agencies, mainly the Ministry of Development, his most important works, such as the Geographical, Historical and Biographical Dictionary of the States. United Mexicans. México, Imprenta del Ministerio de Fomento, 1898-99, or the books made directly for English-speaking investors: Mexico, Its Trade, Industries and Resources. William Thompson (Trad.). México, Typographical Office of the Department of Fomento y Colonización and Industry, 1893. They provide data on the administrative government agencies, the characteristics of the inhabitants, the financial facilities, as well as the infrastructure installed to support companies. With this information he presented, at a stroke, a synthesis of the country's conditions and its history, useful for visitors and investors.
The capital as the center of federal powers
The delimitation of the Federal District in 1824 and Mexico City as the seat of federal powers deserved, given their importance, a special treatment by García Cubas. In the aforementioned Mexican Geographical and Statistical Atlas, he specially dedicates a map to the city in 1885, surrounded by boxes with various images. These represent some artificial stones (recently discovered fractions of the pavement of the old cathedral), some heads decoatepantlidel Templo Mayor, the plan of the old cathedral, a plan of the Federal District, another plan of Mexico City indicating the Spanish layout, another one of the city at the end of the 18th century, the plan and a section of the National Theater, the plan of the School of Engineers, the plan of the National Palace and an engraving of Mexico with the title "Mexico regia et Celebris Hispaniae Novae Civitas" that represents to Tenochtitlan.
The accompanying text narrates the origin and foundation of the Mexica city since the pilgrimage; Tenochtitlan is described with the great Teocalli and then the Cathedral. It also refers to the contemporary city with its temples, the botanical garden and the meteorological observatory; the National Astronomical Observatory in Tacubaya; the schools of Medicine, Engineering, Mining, Fine Arts, Jurisprudence, Commerce, Arts and Crafts; the High School and schools for girls and young women, for the blind and deaf, as well as the Conciliar Seminary. It emphasizes literary and scientific establishments such as the Mexican Society of Geography and Statistics, the Natural History Society and the Language Society; it also refers to public libraries and museums. It features squares, promenades, markets, hotels, theaters, plant and recreational gardens, as well as pantheons. Then list the surroundings as Santa Anita, Ixtacalco, Mexicalcingo, and Ixtapalapa.
Later, in 1894, he made a special book on Geography and history of the Federal District. Murguía, 1894.
This book is presented as a manual, intended for a wide audience in which basic information about the Federal District is offered. It explains its origins and its political division, since its inclusion in the Constitution of 57 and its definition as a residence of the general government or of the federation. It describes how the governor is appointed, his functions, how the City Council is constituted and its powers.
In the first part, it refers to the origins of the Federal District, the organizations that comprise it and which are the government officials. It has letters on several aspects: one on political division and population, in which they indicate the prefectures that make up the municipality of Mexico, and the municipalities into which they are divided and whose headwaters stand out as the main towns. Other charts describe its configuration and physical appearance, pointing to mountains, rivers and lakes; the climate and natural products; the main populations; the municipality of Mexico with the extension of the city, its plan and its divisions: barracks, blocks, streets and squares, the lighting and the nomenclature of the streets.
In a second part he makes a historical review from the pilgrimage of the Aztecs, to the founding of Tenochtitlan, of which he makes a description according to the historical archaeological investigations of his time; He then talks about what the colonial city was like, to later refer to the city of his time in which he mentions the temples, the palaces of institutions, buildings for public instruction, theaters, walks, monuments, tivolis, casinos, hotels and markets. Finally, he makes a list of the Mexican voices contained in the work.
Of great importance is the cartographic work of Antonio García Cubas, who advocated, throughout his life, to endow the nation with an image. This work will be justly dimensioned if it refers to the proportional contribution that their participation in the enormous effort to build the country carried out by the generations immediately following Independence meant. It stands out, above all, its unitary conception of the nation, in which it tried to integrate its territory, its population and its history.
Source: Mexico in Time # 22 January-February 1998
