Feral Empire : Horse and Human in the Early Modern Iberian World

By tracing the dramatic spread of horses throughout the Americas, Feral Empire explores how horses shaped society and politics during the first century of Spanish conquest and colonization. It defines a culture of the horse in medieval and early modern Spain which, when introduced to the New World, left its imprint in colonial hierarchies and power structures. Horse populations, growing rapidly through intentional and uncontrolled breeding, served as engines of both social exclusion and mobility across the Iberian World. This growth undermined colonial ideals of domestication, purity, and breed in Spain's expanding empire. Drawing on extensive research across Latin America and Spain, Kathryn Renton offers an intimate look at animals and their role in the formation of empires. Iberian colonialism in the Americas cannot be explained without understanding human-equine relationships and the centrality of colonialism to human-equine relationships in the early modern world. This title is part of the Flip it Open Program and may also be available Open Access. Check our website Cambridge Core for details. Cover 1 Half-title 3 Title page 5 Imprints page 6 Dedication 7 Table of Contents 9 List of Illustrations 11 Acknowledgments 13 Introduction: Horse and Human in the Early Modern World 15 Iberian Horse Culture, from ‘‘Reconquest’’ to ‘‘New World Conquest’’ 21 A Political Ecology of the Horse in the Americas 23 Breeding the Horse: Limits of Domestication and Race 24 Feral Empire: Horse and Human in the Early Modern Iberian World 26 1 The Equine Imprint in Iberian History, Tenth to Fifteenth Centuries 28 1.1 Deconstructing the Equine Ideal: Knights on the Medieval Iberian Frontier 35 1.1.1 Knights and Horses: Negotiating Status in Frontier Municipalities 37 1.1.2 Nobles Riding Mules 43 1.1.3 Changing Fortunes of Horses in War 46 1.2 Horses for the Kingdom: Scarcity and Breeding Regulations 52 1.3 Framing an Iberian Horse Culture 56 2 A Politics of Horses: Scarcity and Colonization in the New World 59 2.1 Horses in Conquest Narratives 60 2.2 Horses as a Measure of Colonization 70 2.3 An Equine Imprint in the ‘‘New World’’ 86 3 The Paradox of Abundance and Illusion of Control: An Equine Political Ecology 88 3.1 The Paradox of Abundance 90 3.1.1 Environmental Concerns for Supplying Horses in the Americas 94 3.1.2 ‘‘Domesticating’’ Colonial Landscapes 97 3.1.3 Protecting the Commons 105 3.2 The Illusion of Control 109 3.2.1 New Spain, from High Plains to Borderlands 110 3.2.2 Peru, from Coastal to Mountain Valleys 114 3.3 An Equine Political Ecology 119 4 Indigenous Equestrianism: A ‘‘New World’’ Frontier Model 121 4.1 A ‘‘New World’’ Frontier Model 125 4.1.1 License to Ride in New Spain 129 4.1.2 Indios Conquistadores 133 4.2 Expanding Uses of the Horse 139 4.2.1 Growing Tensions 141 4.2.2 Sharpening Divisions 145 4.2.3 Status and Lineage Mediated by Horses 148 4.3 Becoming Equestrian 155 5 Ferality and Breed in ‘‘New World’’ Horses 157 5.1 Naming the Cimarrón 161 5.2 Breeding Criollo Horses 167 5.3 Brands and Branding Practices 173 5.4 Regional Types: Castas and Razas 177 5.5 Issues of Decline 186 5.6 Domestication and Ferality in Spanish Colonization 189 6 Defining Casta and Raza: Horse Breeding and the Language of Race 191 6.1 Regulating Horses and Horse Breeding: Law and Language 197 6.2 Relaciones de la Cría Caballar (Reports on Horse Breeding) 201 6.3 Creating and Debating the King’s Race 210 6.4 Constructing Race 217 Conclusion: Feral Empire 222 Works Cited 225 Index 247