A Nationalist Metaphysics: State Fixations, National Maps, and the Geo-Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Mexico

In 1847 Mariano Otero, attempting to account for the ease with which “ten or twelve thousand men . . . penetrated from Veracruz to the very capital of the republic,” offered a stinging explanation: Mexico did not constitute, nor could it properly call itself, a nation.1 Locating the absence of nationhood in the persisting legacies of colonial rule, Otero questioned the degree to which Mexico had moved from colony to modern nation. Such an assertion must have proved disturbing to many, coming as it did a quarter-century after the proclamation of independence from Spanish rule. Certainly the Mexican elite that inherited the mantle of independence in 1821 imagined themselves to be members of a distinctly Mexican nation and state.2 Yet acts of imagination were not, in and of themselves, powerful enough to sustain Mexico, regardless of how hard or heartfelt “its” leaders imagined, as the turbulent years leading up to and including the Mexican-American War had amply demonstrated.3 In the wake of the war, the questions that had confronted the republic in 1821 persisted: How would an extensive and complex landscape and its inhabitants cohere as an intelligible, material unit? How would a new political territory be seen as externally and internally legitimate? And what would be the best way to demonstrate that a nation, a state, a government were something more than mere conjecture? These were, to borrow a term from philosophy, metaphysical questions and the methods devised to answer them were part of a broader nationalist metaphysics.4Routines of mapping and naming figured as fundamental components of this nationalist metaphysics and in the symbolic creation of the Mexican nation-state. To demonstrate that Mexico was indeed something more than a concept, to legitimate Mexico’s spatial and temporal existence, and to make visual arguments about its historical and geographical coherence, intellectuals from the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística [SMGE], with the backing of state officials, increasingly devoted their attention to the construction of general maps (cartas generales) of the republic. On the purportedly objective surfaces of national maps, they blended history and geography to connect a conceptual space to a narrated place, endowing Mexico with both a textual tangibility and a palpable past. Mexico thus materialized on the cartographer’s table, a plotted surface upon which the nation-state’s past and future could simultaneously unfold.The following essay is divided into four sections: the first explains why Mexican officials pursued the construction of a national map; the second section analyzes Antonio García Cubas’s 1857 carta general of Mexico to show how cartographic science visually naturalized the nation-state; the third section shows how artistic images that appeared on that same map served to connect the plotted territory to an ideologically saturated portrait of a supposedly quintessential Mexican landscape; and the final section focuses on the importance of place names on the map, specifically, how the arbitrary changing of place names by municipal authorities complicated metropolitan elites’ desires to spatially (and cartographically) ground a foundational narrative.“[A]ll nations have begun as we have, on the road of science,” averred Manuel Orozco y Berra in 1881.5 It is no surprise that such a statement—revealing as it does the very constructedness of the nation-state—would come from one of Mexico’s preeminent geographers. Geography proved a key science in the formation of nineteenth-century nation-states, and had a close association with the technical, regulatory needs of those in power. The professionalization of geography and its incorporation as a discipline in the halls of higher learning as well as the founding of national geographic societies were direct consequences of rising military and economic nationalism.6 Mexico’s first geographic society—the Instituto Nacional de Geografía y Estadística (later to become the Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística)—had been created in 1833 by Valentín Gómez Farías, a president who believed that the accumulation and production of geographic and statistical knowledge of the nation’s territory were critical for national development.7 The growing concern with the importance of knowledge to governance ensured that, once established, the Instituto persisted in its activities relatively uninterrupted by the constant shifts in political power except for changes in its name.8 While statistical knowledge referred to the general of a of on such as production and the geographic was the creation of a general geographic map of the the upon a national Certainly were very to in the years of the republic. a national map the government could to political of the would to be a constant of concern in the of the by and of had their national map could in the and in that a of and statistical as well as what were to be state maps, could be and into a a national map of geographic and could the military a of both and for the for national in the the government created a new of in geographic to the territory and and a geographic and a national map from the of the Spanish of images created for the of an for the of a carta general not a as the years The that national maps of such that they have military to a or a the would of in a map of the republic. The of and of the maps by military upon their the not the political and geographic of a carta general from a of such as the of that would and to a and maps of such as the of the Instituto Nacional de Geografía and of the devoted the of their to a carta one which would be a of the it national map had as as it did power. It served the very of a space which a elite could to their their and legitimate their to in a national map offered a symbolic of the political of an very was the increasingly into a and Mexican nation-state. in the of and the and of a national space and the of national national map such by visually what supposedly after a map were a of an objective a national map by the of the nation The and of an Mexico appeared as and of a which the of by objective to map thus from the as a than what it purportedly Mexico and nations could be a and were increasingly as of the modern the powerful of as the for modern and ensured that geographic science and its the map, would a place of in the nationalist was the by the The increasingly of Mexico’s with its in or for what one In a their and of the power of the geographic imagination the officials upon a of cartographic to their in had geographical with historical that that and were to the to once the in of such geographic to an by to Mexican officials that the of Mexico would the by its and could that a the map of could that was from the to which it had for the and national importance of the carta general on with the Mexican-American While such as the and a degree of Mexico’s to and as a in the of and Antonio García it in of the of members of the the in the following the they one to the nation’s or its the formation of a general map and one of state and than the new carta general appeared in in the of the and the of the It a of statistical of including a those of Mexico and the of of the of the republic in to and of the It a visual of the of territory in the of and the of the new Mexico and the of the of the visual in the the purportedly an of from Antonio de for the first could the of territory Mexico had The map was of a and in a that is no map of the territory which be for a and national map more in Mexico of its as a of a of the of that de de be in the of the the in the with to the of and the of the in the of the and in the of the Mexican intellectuals were that Mexico an and and national map of its was it enough to the nation’s Otero, in that it was to that the Mexican republic an territory of more than Mexico a the war, a new carta by Antonio García in would both an of the new and that territory with the of the an of a national after the Mexican-American Antonio García a for as one of Mexico’s leading and in the of the de y simultaneously the de to the of than to in In the on cartographic and geographic and in the of the and in the of a of the of the Sociedad and the of its García to a of and increasingly such as and geography as and components to by a of the and intellectuals who that such as the Manuel Orozco y Berra and García and was in the of as an of the the of the García would be one of Mexico’s and on a with Orozco y In the coming maps and would the and images of the Mexican to the of the maps of the in the of the in the halls of power in Mexico and on the of they the of national such as the a de and were to they were as for of In to national maps and to Mexico as a place for both and economic and a of geography for Mexican that García to government and the and which to into that was carta general of In García a of the members in the Sociedad a national map had upon of maps and The members of the Sociedad were and García the carta general the following to carta general the national map of Mexico well into the and served as the for Orozco y cartographic of the political landscape the in García it in de a to the of an and the of and to in a of García Cubas’s map was something of a García Cubas’s the carta is an of a new nationalist from the Mexican-American for the first a carta general to not a of Mexico’s its of “its” On the surface of the map, history and geography to Mexico as a historical and geographical that as a legitimate nation-state. In one the in García Cubas’s of which as a how the maps and were of the a of in which the historical of the was as a and a history of “its” territory was in the of a political which Mexico’s to the and the of the And thus of in y de to the Mexican-American War in a and of the did to a history and geography in on carta in a of and artistic with García Cubas’s cartographic did it to be a in Mexico in the of a the from the of would be of the García did very or to than historical map of the of de for which to and the of maps to have been in in Mexico The of Mexico to have up on this very the in or for a second the by a the of by those who of the from the of metropolitan have been by their On one it was was not a To be a in Mexico was to images and them a a to an than the García and that maps were not upon upon the and from state and municipal The the maps and It was a than upon and not and Such a in not a of and to and a in (and of knowledge construction the Orozco y Berra de y in that was one of and not of The first carta general of a of that in the formation of the map the had close to maps of the García carta general as more than the of of the of the or of maps map from a and the maps had been and what did one have that the map they to would not were by Orozco y Berra of García Cubas’s carta general that is . . . of it is not and shows the García Cubas’s from of the into a of symbolic it its not as a of a of and nor from maps from the of maps into a The visual and an as the nation-state. The of the and its from the that García not a of maps as Orozco y the images by a of and to the and which geographic this Mexico for the first in to the than the on the in the of Mexico the for Mexican thus Mexico into cartographic with what were to be the of it a spatial García Cubas’s of the the mere of were While the a into a the is in of what it it is the a of a supposedly a of the of the more In it is something not created as to of Mexico’s this a and it was a nation not by the the appeared as an objective in of its by that was to its and a by a in In García naturalized the Mexican the visual of the naturalized territory did not make While the and a it did not a To make Mexico a the surface to be to a visual the as not to nor with the artistic images that a historical and spatial to the plotted of the These images visually the that and a cartographic the an and historical a modern with foundational and the nineteenth-century nationalist and the of the García a of images of four from to de and The images of an upon the past to Mexico’s national Certainly this was not the of Mexico, state officials of such as on Mexico de and devoted an of a de the of Mexico’s to the of was in the and It would be after the of García Cubas’s map the very were from or and an for the y de de would be was this the Mexico of the by a general to Mexico’s in which the on in elite was their in the of the intellectuals from the upon the of and de to a past for historical and in the of the Instituto Nacional de Geografía y Estadística as as that not did an of Mexico by upon its history they the of direct who were be as the the in the the that the had of the and of the by their of how a place maps in the of Orozco y Berra would a of in years to in of to show that the had geographic maps and as well as modern of to the images in García Cubas’s to this While the would on the a of had the Mexican national were in the of Mexican In such as the and from their were of the Orozco y Berra and García the of the as the and from the of and The were than with no or to one in and no to the for they were as no history to nationalist of the of could by a in Mexico to a of it as a of historical with a endowing the with historical of such as the in the thus of historical to geographical images Mexico’s capital in an increasingly attention from the of the a for both and up images of and colonial legacies and were as a to which and offered the of their political incorporation as national or the of and the of that Mexico is no and is state of In Mexico nations on the same and nations that to a that were not as they their by and the Mexican must have a and for and historical is the of the the from a temporal as of history and for The the and the the past than the attention to the its The in the of what to be the and the in or with their to the as in the In the in the of the in the and with in as in a they as and of a of what we would as and that the had been as an of historical than a with political In history and had been as with the of this landscape with a one in the on the map In to a and with in its to a of the of the Mexican to de de de and the de it be a It was a a way of and an such that landscape on both its and In it was an in which García from spatially into one and them for the images to the and as the to the of the the and of is in which the the of and and from The and and of have been the the is its Mexico as a of one could the of a García and inherited from of Mexico and the of to the landscape In the Mexico as a for and The Mexico to the and as an of with for and of for In an of for to in of the that would in the coming in the of men such as and García the visual and of the Mexico as of the in the for does the up a and it on a more While as a of the Mexican the from a part of the the that the of Veracruz to Mexico to or military Mexico this the the of to Mexico These were, the with which of the and would be that had a in the of what Mexico in the artistic and military of the the of and the of were for Mexico the were more than mere were to in the geography of a and space and to of the and this and an The Spanish the way new and their their it as to was with the of the a in of which a that have come from with with in an Spanish with of it was historical that on the of and it was to in in the of The of Mexico, which they with that the the of they imagined themselves to the of the the of . . . and the of the and themselves to their and The space of Veracruz thus as a for who the of into the of their In García Cubas’s served to a historical the of a of the saturated geographical in the nation’s and a a of that as the for both and García Cubas’s map, and its of the as a Mexican landscape of and the not the could in a symbolic of Mexico, the in with the from the of an we in the intellectuals the were to on the map, with more than of the years after the of García Cubas’s of the de Sociedad Mexicana de Geografía y Estadística a essay by one of its de de de in to the of and geographic that appeared in the and an an essay for the of the president of the republic. essay would have and the of the as members of the Sociedad and state officials referred to it as a founding on the of place from an by with the best to the and to and the science of geography in by the changing of the of and in the the of naming as an for Mexico’s political geographical into for political to the and by such The nation would the changing of geographic been very with to the changing of The of and of political had to the names of and and and geographic names that had those that in the of the had the of one place, the capital of the of and this had to that the national government have to and that this of those that the geographical names of the The offered a that the than the or municipal would have the power to geographic place an of and were in the the of to municipal and state leaders was critical in the of a and in the of a to the state the of that the government of the by the changes of it did not it to state authorities to such it would be enough to them of the to the of the what to make such an for something as as in the first was And what were and that to the one were the arbitrary changing of and would be into and the of which maps, statistical and government would While to the that from an It was to in the them Antonio García to state a that the constant and arbitrary changing of by municipal and authorities the of and the of concern the changing of was an historical In the first place, that history by the with a In an for its to state geographic to the names by the state to “its” that names had been as . . . as the of and that in the of an be to their and of a new on to their one than how could Mexico’s be were not thus were that they their names and the by which a history of and could be that by their and be as of concern with was part of a and a of the more general by as the for the colonial in which naming more as a for in which a new was on to the to a space upon which could the nationalist or names which to a history to the colonial did a Mexican confronted with a that the names of and be by their of and as one colonial be in The names themselves were of that history critical to geographic and historical García in that an a historical or the of a in the of the is in the of the and the Mexican the to an and as an historical place that the in their in this place for García such names were a critical to begun in 1857 and in to the historical by the from the to the with history as to Mexico’s to of the had in and had a second The the formation of the that from the of the of the to from Veracruz to Mexico in the first general map of the The map, as a symbolic of the after the of the national territory in the with the was to a visual of Mexico’s to the who the map had been to and historical foundational in Mexico’s to from to Mexico the Spanish and from on the to in and of the that of proved more second to the of served as the for the In the narrated from on the to the capital of were by those in de de history of the of who for the first in which we to a place with a in to in of the by indeed for an historical Yet this proved to be the of the was the that the place names in the had from the the the Spanish in one could not what the names of that to the had did not state which were nor did as to the of the It that in general were by those of Mexican of and which García to that the of was a a or a would as such an as had one could have simultaneously an and of which were and not and the a new state would have as one of its the and of such names in to did not The what was to be and the was from the final It was this that a the members of the and the power of foundational as a to and and and Manuel Orozco y Mexico’s with and with the and were acts of national how could they be and the nation’s were to be in how could it be than a the of the have their founding and that an to the nation-state’s and to to rule. Such for they power the of and foundational a of historical a way of the they the of history itself, a of a temporal the and of what come in to a power a space upon which to of the with and the national map, the that it could those upon which a history could be upon which one could the of the and of and the of history geographical of Sociedad intellectuals such as and Antonio García were thus simultaneously historical the that would make Mexico’s historical the of the and with the of history a to the arbitrary changing of historical as well as geographical would be a of spatial and cartographic could a be and a in the the of of the a to Antonio García to the members of the Sociedad in de averred that and were a and than and of the nation they not for its the which from the of its of and and Geography were more than they were national of a complex that a its historical and history a territory upon which to they a which modern Mexico would for García is not 1857 carta general served in as a in Mexican in the of history and geography on the surface of national map a of and Mexico as both The of the nation’s the visual production of a Mexican and and the of its on map to the as a and geographical this García Cubas’s carta general more in with the of and colonial Mexico than first In of the cartographic images as part of the for the Spanish in the how a and history was into the of the Spanish While the surface and a map such as García Cubas’s is one both of images to history and geography into in to or legitimate the of those in power in to those they to rule. have to demonstrate by both the and of the map as well as the historical that its the objective and that to themselves powerful about the past and the with their of a history into the map to in of the cartographic creation of by as a the of the the that it was in the of and the of a of thus and to a nationalist that a in to legitimate spatial to of nineteenth-century Mexico a no as or in the of a Mexico, the of the have the of nationalist who the years of independence as a of to an space and thus the history of Mexico to a nationalist of and historical and spatial Mexico was and to in the It was and narrated and national maps a foundational in that not be as that García Cubas’s was an that or a more the was no landscape or Mexico the of the to and from the It in the very for such that proved critical to the nation-state. In this García Cubas’s carta general was the of a of what could be with the as to the and of government and to and the to to to a to and in space and of political of and as Mariano which this with the of a the of in of was the the with a very material the carta the the for and the and of and of history and space into of the past. The of history and geography offered an ideologically saturated and of a in in which a appeared as and a of were to the of a Such one to be that of the state to and for their and on of this to the for their have from the of members and on which of this essay were The on Geography and the on and the for this was by from the of the with by the and the of the of