Of Cannibals and Kings

Neil L. Whitehead is Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin–Madison.

• ContentsList of IllustrationsPrefaceAcknowledgmentsIntroduction: Of Cannibals and KingsDocuments 1a and 1bThe Letter, and Extracts from the Journal of Columbus’s First Voyage to America (1492)Document 2The Report of Diego Chanca on Columbus’s Second Voyage to America (1494)Document 3Writings of Friar Roman on the Antiquities of the Indians, Which He Collected on Request of the Admiral with Diligence, as a Man Who Knows Their Language (ca. 1498)Document 4The Deposition of Rodrigo Figueroa on the Islands of the Barbarous Caribes (1520)Document 5An Account of the Provinces of the Aruacas by Rodrigo de Navarrete (ca. 1550)ReferencesIndex

“As the primal text of Europe’s encounter with America, Ramón Pané’s Antiquities of the Indies is of unparalleled importance for understanding both the native culture of the Caribbean at the time of contact and the ways in which Europeans tried to make sense of it. This authoritative edition finally gives us a satisfactory English translation and contextualizes Pané by placing his text alongside other key documents of the time, several of them previously untranslated. Most significantly, the collection is introduced by Neil Whitehead’s magisterial survey of the politics of this founding moment of anthropological discourse. Of Cannibals and Kings is now an essential text for understanding America.”—Peter Hulme, University of Essex