A Story To Tell: Seeing Through the Minds of Two Admirals
- Eda Ozyesilpinar -
The Individual and Bodily (Human) Experiences
Reis does not tell his story only with a focus on the elements identifying the characteristics of the heterotopic space of his map, he also brings the individual and bodily (human) experiences into his story to strengthen the sense of reality he created. Through these individual, bodily experiences, the audiences do not only see the Americas as a heterotopic space filled with wildlife, they also understand Americas as consisting of places that are assigned meaning through the individual and bodily (human experiences); through these individual, bodily experiences, the audience can connect to the history and social and cultural contexts of the area better because of the significant human interaction within the process of the development of history, culture, and society.
In addition to depicting the geographical and natural elements of the Americas, Reis also provides a good understanding about the natives of the land: their culture and lifestyle. He emphasizes their uncivilized social and cultural structure (in comparison to his) by repeating that they always go naked and they are wild (See Appendix A, entry II). Even though, this information gives an idea about the natives of this area and the meaning they assigned to the Americas through their experiences, entry V in which Reis describes Columbus’s experiences with the natives of the Americas – such as communicating, trading, introducing a new culture and learning a new culture -- provides a deeper and better understanding about the socio-cultural texture of the land.
Columbus and his individual, bodily experiences have a significant impact on how the bodily experiences of the natives are implemented into the different places within the Reis map and how the experiences of natives shaped the meaning of the Reis map. The socio-cultural context of the different places in the Americas is presented through the perception of Columbus, and Columbus’s ways of seeing and understanding things (his Western socio-cultural context) shaped the meaning of the places described in the Reis map. However, since Columbus’s own map is lost, it is problematic to assume that this description presented within the map both visually and verbally is purely from Columbus’s perception; as the creator of the map, it can be assumed that Reis also reflected his own understanding and perception (Oriental context) into the way he described Columbus’s journeys, and Columbus’s experiences in this new land. In addition, his own experiences in relation to how he decided to include the Americas in his maps play a significant part in the structure of the map.
Throughout his map, Reis tells the story of Columbus’s journey and how he discovered America by using both textual and visual image elements. Columbus’s map, and what the seaman Reis and his uncle captured told about Columbus and his discoveries, made a significant impact on Reis, which is why he included the shores of the Americas in his map. Reis had never been to the Americas which is why his reflection is mainly about what he hoped was there. Even though he had Columbus’s sketches and notes as sources for his study, his imagination probably played an important role in his representation of the shores of the Americas. He had a different experience with the places Columbus depicted in his lost map. Reis saw a great discovery, an unknown space connected with places filled with new meanings he was not familiar with. Reis imagined the world Columbus described and experienced it in his own way; he created an imagined memory to reflect in his map and to support the story he tells: as a great discoverer, Columbus experienced and found great things in this land. As a result, Reis connected with and experienced this new land through Columbus and his experiences, and he used his imagined memory to visualize what he thought was there.
