The exhibition The World Factory, which can be visited from 9 May to 24 June, will offer an overview of how the representation and image of the planet advanced following the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World

The Provincial Council and SEAP offer a new exhibition and a series of conferences to mark the 5th centenary of the first round-the-world voyage

photo_camera Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga

The Malaga Provincial Council, together with the General Archive of the Indies and the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga, has organised new cultural activities for the coming months, such as the exhibition 'The Factory of the World' and the series of conferences 'Science, Navigation in the Age of Discoveries', to mark the 5th centenary of the first voyage around the world in collaboration with the General Archive of the Indies. In addition, together with the Association of European Journalists, a forum for reflection on journalism will be held in October.

This was announced by the deputy for Culture, Víctor González, accompanied by the president of the SEAP, José María Ruiz Povedano. 

The exhibition 'The World Factory', which can be visited from 9 May to 24 June 2022, offers an overview of how the representation and image of the planet developed following the arrival of the Spaniards in the New World and the first round-the-world voyage. To this end, documents and books, atlases, theatres of the world and travel reports, written and graphic testimonies preserved in the General Archive of the Indies in Seville, the largest container of information of modern times, have been selected. 

The exhibition includes nearly fifty documents from this archive, such as the bull 'Dudum Siquidem' of Alexander VI, the first ordinances of the Casa de la Contratación of 1503, the appointment of Américo Vespucio as the first Chief Pilot, the opinions of the astrologers, navigators and cosmographers of the Junta de Badajoz Elvas, the first known map that draws the Gulf of Mexico and points out the name of Florida and names the Mississippi as the river of the Holy Spirit, the diary of the expedition of Esteban José Martínez, and even the maps of the mysterious island where Simón Zacarías left a fabulous treasure buried.

The exhibition has also incorporated some copies of the bibliographic and cartographic collections of the Library of the Economic Society of Friends of the Country of Malaga, such as the Theatrum orbis terrarum by Abraham Ortelio, the Maritime Atlas of Spain by Vicente Tofiño or the Historical account of the voyage to South America by Antonio de Ulloa and Jorge Juan.

Sociedad Económica de Amigos del País de Málaga

Cycle of conferences

Within the framework of the 5th centenary of the first round the world voyage, a series of lectures will also be held from 9 to 26 May, starting at 19:00, which will complement the exhibition by offering an academic overview of the state and progress of science and geography in the Age of Discovery across the oceans and territories on both sides of the Atlantic and the Pacific, as a result of the efforts and work carried out by Spain.

They will begin on 9 May with Manuel Casado, head of the Conservation Department of the General Archive of the Indies and curator of the exhibition with a talk on 'The conservation of the image of the World in the General Archive of the Indies'.

On 12 May it will be the turn of Luisa Martín-Merás Verdejo, former technical director of the Naval Museum, who will talk about the science and art of navigation in the Casa de la Contratación de las Indias in Seville.

On 19 May, Guillermo José Morán Dauchez, deputy director of the General Archive of the Indies, will present ' Serenity and Mechanism. An intellectual context of the 1st Circumnavigation' and on 26th May Miguel Molina Martínez, Professor of American History at the University of Granada, will give a talk entitled 'From the Mediterranean to the first globalisation. The Age of Discoveries and the new image of the World'.

Forum for reflection on journalism, social networks and freedoms

The activities programmed by the Provincial Council and SEAP will continue in October with the reflection forum 'Journalism, Social Networks and Freedoms: threats and challenges in the 21st century'. The inaugural conference on 3 October will be given by Juan Oñate, on the 50th anniversary of the closure of Diario Madrid.

On Monday 10 October there will be a round table moderated by the journalist Teodoro León Gross on journalism, networks and freedom of expression in the 21st century; on Monday 17 October a colloquium on cartoon journalism and on 24 October Miguel Ángel Aguilar will close the series.

Submitted by José Antonio Sierra, Hispanismo advisor.

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