Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia

Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia PDF Author: Jeffrey Quilter
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884022947
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 448

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Book Description
The lands between Mesoamerica and the Central Andes are famed for the rich diversity of ancient cultures that inhabited them. Throughout this vast region, from about AD 700 until the sixteenth-century Spanish invasion, a rich and varied tradition of goldworking was practiced. The amount of gold produced and worn by native inhabitants was so great that Columbus dubbed the last New World shores he sailed as Costa Rica—the "Rich Coast." Despite the long-recognized importance of the region in its contribution to Pre-Columbian culture, very few books are readily available, especially in English, on these lands of gold. Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia now fills that gap with eleven articles by leading scholars in the field. Issues of culture change, the nature of chiefdom societies, long-distance trade and transport, ideologies of value, and the technologies of goldworking are covered in these essays as are the role of metals as expressions and materializations of spiritual, political, and economic power. These topics are accompanied by new information on the role of stone statuary and lapidary work, craft and trade specialization, and many more topics, including a reevaluation of the concept of the "Intermediate Area." Collectively, the volume provides a new perspective on the prehistory of these lands and includes articles by Latin American scholars whose writings have rarely been published in English.

Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia

Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia PDF Author: Jeffrey Quilter
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884022947
Category : Antiques & Collectibles
Languages : en
Pages : 448

Get Book Here

Book Description
The lands between Mesoamerica and the Central Andes are famed for the rich diversity of ancient cultures that inhabited them. Throughout this vast region, from about AD 700 until the sixteenth-century Spanish invasion, a rich and varied tradition of goldworking was practiced. The amount of gold produced and worn by native inhabitants was so great that Columbus dubbed the last New World shores he sailed as Costa Rica—the "Rich Coast." Despite the long-recognized importance of the region in its contribution to Pre-Columbian culture, very few books are readily available, especially in English, on these lands of gold. Gold and Power in Ancient Costa Rica, Panama, and Colombia now fills that gap with eleven articles by leading scholars in the field. Issues of culture change, the nature of chiefdom societies, long-distance trade and transport, ideologies of value, and the technologies of goldworking are covered in these essays as are the role of metals as expressions and materializations of spiritual, political, and economic power. These topics are accompanied by new information on the role of stone statuary and lapidary work, craft and trade specialization, and many more topics, including a reevaluation of the concept of the "Intermediate Area." Collectively, the volume provides a new perspective on the prehistory of these lands and includes articles by Latin American scholars whose writings have rarely been published in English.

Ancient Panama

Ancient Panama PDF Author: Mary W. Helms
Publisher: University of Texas Press
ISBN: 0292766742
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 342

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Book Description
Ancient Panama adds depth to our understanding of the political and religious elite ruling in Panama at the time of the European conquest. Mary W. Helms's research greatly expands knowledge of the distribution, extent, and structural nature of these pre-Columbian chiefdoms. In addition, Helms delves more deeply into select aspects of ancient Panamanian political systems, including the relationship between elite competition and chiefly status, the use of sumptuary goods in the expression of elite power, and the role of elites in regional and long-distance exchange networks. In a significant departure from traditional thinking, she proposes that the search for esoteric knowledge was more important than economic trade in developing long-distance contact among chiefdoms. The primary data for the study are derived from sixteenth-century Spanish records by Oviedo y Valdés, Andagoya, Balboa, and others. The author also turns to ethnographic data from contemporary native people of Panama, Colombia, tropical America, and Polynesia for analogy and comparison. The result is a highly innovative study which illuminates not only pre-Columbian Panamanian elites but also the nature of chiefdoms as a distinctive cultural type.

Ecology and the Arts in Ancient Panama

Ecology and the Arts in Ancient Panama PDF Author: Olga F. Linares
Publisher: Dumbarton Oaks
ISBN: 9780884020691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 92

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Book Description
Linares reinterprets the Classic rank-societies of the central Panamanian provinces using archaeological, ecological, iconographic, ethnohistoric, and ethnographic evidence, and concludes that the art of this area used animal motifs as a metaphor for the qualities of aggression and hostility characteristic of local social and political life.

To Capture the Sun

To Capture the Sun PDF Author: Richard G. Cooke
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780981979915
Category : Coclé (Panama : Province)
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Written to accompany an upcoming exhibition, To Capture the Sun: Gold of Ancient Panama explores the Gilcrease Museum's collection of Pre-Columbian gold for the first time since its acquisition in the 1940s. More than a beautifully illustrated exhibit catalogue, this volume includes essays by leading scholars who use the Gilcrease collection to discuss the rise of metallurgy in the Western Hemisphere, the symbolic significance of gold in Gran Coclé culture, and the influence of Pre-Columbian gold on world economies.

Creations of the Rainbow Serpent

Creations of the Rainbow Serpent PDF Author: Mary W. Helms
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Art
Languages : en
Pages : 160

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Book Description
This volume explores the multicolored Cocle ceramic wares excavated at the Sitio Conte in central Panama during the 1930s. Many of which were unearthed in caches and burials of elite figures.

The Big Ditch

The Big Ditch PDF Author: Noel Maurer
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 0691248079
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
An incisive economic and political history of the Panama Canal On August 15, 1914, the Panama Canal officially opened for business, forever changing the face of global trade and military power, as well as the role of the United States on the world stage. The Canal's creation is often seen as an example of U.S. triumphalism, but Noel Maurer and Carlos Yu reveal a more complex story. Examining the Canal's influence on Panama, the United States, and the world, The Big Ditch deftly chronicles the economic and political history of the Canal, from Spain's earliest proposals in 1529 through the final handover of the Canal to Panama on December 31, 1999, to the present day. The authors show that the Canal produced great economic dividends for the first quarter-century following its opening, despite massive cost overruns and delays. Relying on geographical advantage and military might, the United States captured most of these benefits. By the 1970s, however, when the Carter administration negotiated the eventual turnover of the Canal back to Panama, the strategic and economic value of the Canal had disappeared. And yet, contrary to skeptics who believed it was impossible for a fledgling nation plagued by corruption to manage the Canal, when the Panamanians finally had control, they switched the Canal from a public utility to a for-profit corporation, ultimately running it better than their northern patrons. A remarkable tale, The Big Ditch offers vital lessons about the impact of large-scale infrastructure projects, American overseas interventions on institutional development, and the ability of governments to run companies effectively.

The Panama Canal

The Panama Canal PDF Author: Charles River Charles River Editors
Publisher: CreateSpace
ISBN: 9781505342482
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 44

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Book Description
*Includes pictures *Includes accounts of the construction written by workers and their family members *Includes a bibliography for further reading *Includes a table of contents "It is not the critic who counts, not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena; whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood..." - Theodore Roosevelt Most people have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, but while not as many have heard of the Seven Wonders of the Modern World, those who have are aware that the Panama Canal is considered one of them. In a world where few natural rivers carved out over eons of time have reached a length of more than 50 miles, the idea that a group of men could carve a canal of that length seemed impossible. In fact, many thought it could not be done. On the other hand, there was a tremendous motivation to try, because if a canal could be successfully cut across Central America to connect the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans, it would cut weeks off the time necessary to carry goods by sea from the well-established East Coast of the United States to the burgeoning West Coast. Moreover, traveling around the tip of South America was fraught with danger, and European explorers and settlers had proposed building a canal in Panama or Nicaragua several centuries before the Panama Canal was actually built. By the late 19th century, the French actually tried to build such a canal, only to fail after a great deal of resources were put into construction and after workers died of malaria and other illnesses. At the turn of the 20th century, not only was the need for a canal still there, but the right man was in the White House. Indeed, President Theodore Roosevelt, a celebrated outdoorsman, might have been the only president who could have foreseen and accomplished such an audacious feat, and even he considered it one of his crowning achievements. He wrote in his memoirs, "There are plenty of other things I started merely because the time had come that whoever was in power would have started them. But the Panama Canal would not have started if I had not taken hold of it, because if I had followed the traditional or conservative method I should have submitted an admirable state paper to Congress...the debate would be proceeding at this moment...and the beginning of work on the canal would be fifty years in the future. Fortunately [the opportunity] came at a period when I could act unhampered. Accordingly I took the Isthmus, started the canal and then left Congress not to debate the canal, but to debate me." Building the Panama Canal was a herculean task in every sense. Taking about 10 years to build, workers had to excavate millions of cubic yards of earth and fight off hordes of insects to make Roosevelt's vision a reality. Roosevelt also had to tie up the U.S. Navy in a revolt in Colombia to ensure Panama could become independent and thus ensure America had control of the canal. By 1914, ships were finally traversing through the Panama Canal, just as World War I was about to start, and a century later, the Panama Canal remains one of the world's most vital waterways. The Panama Canal looks at the origins and history of the important trade link between the Atlantic and Pacific. Along with pictures of important people, places, and events, you will learn about the Panama Canal like never before, in no time at all.

Trees of Panama and Costa Rica

Trees of Panama and Costa Rica PDF Author: Richard Condit
Publisher: Princeton University Press
ISBN: 1400836174
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 495

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Book Description
This is the first field guide dedicated to the diverse tree species of Panama and Costa Rica. Featuring close to 500 tropical tree species, Trees of Panama and Costa Rica includes superb color photos, abundant color distribution maps, and concise descriptions of key characteristics, making this guide readily accessible to botanists, biologists, and casual nature lovers alike. The invaluable introductory chapters discuss tree diversity in Central America and the basics of tree identification. Family and species accounts are treated alphabetically and describe family size, number of genera and species, floral characteristics, and relative abundance. Color distribution maps supplement the useful species descriptions, and facing-page photographic plates detail bark, leaf, flower, or fruit of the species featured. Helpful appendices contain a full glossary, a comprehensive guide to leaf forms, and a list of families not covered. The only tree guide to cover both Panama and Costa Rica together Covers almost 500 species 438 high-resolution color photos 480 color distribution maps and two general maps Concise and jargon-free descriptions of key characteristics for every species Full glossary and guide to leaf forms included

Hands of the Rain Forest

Hands of the Rain Forest PDF Author: Rachel Crandell
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 0805079904
Category : Juvenile Nonfiction
Languages : en
Pages : 45

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Book Description
An introduction to the lifestyle and traditions of the Emberá culture of Panama.

Historical Dictionary of Panama

Historical Dictionary of Panama PDF Author: Thomas M. Leonard
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 0810878356
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 378

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Book Description
This Historical Dictionary of Panama covers Panama’s unique history from the time of its Spanish colonization, through its connection to Colombia in the nineteenth century, and its long period of U.S. presence. Throughout these periods, Panama drew the outside world’s attention as a transit route that first connected the west coasts of Latin America and the United States to Western Europe. Thus, in the long history of the isthmus, its transit route has served to move cargo, people, and culture throughout the world. The rich history of Panama is covered through a chronology, an introductory essay, appendixes, and an extensive bibliography. The dictionary section has over 500 cross-referenced entries on important personalities, politics, economy, foreign relations, religion, and culture. This book is an excellent access point for students, researchers, and anyone wanting to know more about the Panama.