Bible and empire: Miguel Cabello Valboa’s Miscelánea Antártica (1586) and the Ophirian theory of Indian origins

Abstract

During the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, Spanish clergymen, jurists, and officials hadan intense debate about Indian origins. In order to explain the existence of this group, they turned to the Old Testament, using diverse strategies to interpret its passages. Among the questions they posed to themselves were: Who were the Amerindians? How did they get to the Americas? What rights did the Spaniards have to incorporate their lands and people into their empire? This article analyzes Miscelánea Antártica’s peculiar position in this debate. Written by Spanish clergyman Miguel Cabello Valboa in 1586, the extensive manuscript was one of the earliest books devoted entirely to the subject, and its originality consisted in offering a positive view of the Indians. In his very particular reading of the Bible, Cabello Valboa defined a highly positive genealogy for the Indians, going back to Ophir and, by extension, Shem, son of Noah. His favorable view of Andean cultures did not neglect the violence of the conquest, but emphasized mestizaje as a way of conciliation.

Keywords:
Hebrew Bible; Miscelánea Antártica; Indian origins; Miguel Cabello Valboa; Spanish conquest