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2 - A Politics of Horses

Scarcity and Colonization in the New World

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2024

Kathryn Renton
Affiliation:
University of California, Los Angeles
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Summary

Horses represented an expensive and logistically challenging aspect of early expeditions, as they had to be brought by boat and then bred in colonial settlements to aid in expansion. This scarcity only elevated the cultural and political significance of horses, evident in the narratives of early Spanish or Indigenous chroniclers and also in strategic efforts to breed horses in colonial settlements, despite the challenging and varied new environments. Beyond the military lore of conquest, horses literally and materially served as the measure for establishing social status, access to political office, and territorial control by colonial representatives, shaping the structure and strategy of colonial expansion in powerful ways.

Type
Chapter
Information
Feral Empire
Horse and Human in the Early Modern Iberian World
, pp. 45 - 73
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

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  • A Politics of Horses
  • Kathryn Renton, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Feral Empire
  • Online publication: 30 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091015.003
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  • A Politics of Horses
  • Kathryn Renton, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Feral Empire
  • Online publication: 30 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091015.003
Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

  • A Politics of Horses
  • Kathryn Renton, University of California, Los Angeles
  • Book: Feral Empire
  • Online publication: 30 May 2024
  • Chapter DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/9781009091015.003
Available formats
×