Imágenes de la esclavitud y la exploración: representaciones visuales en América colonial y África decimonónica

Abstract

This article examines the role of visual representations in shaping colonial discourses on slavery in America and the exploration of Africa during the nineteenth century. Using an interdisciplinary approach that combines cultural history and iconographic analysis, it explores engravings, illustrations, and maps that documented the lives of enslaved people in the Spanish colonies and European expeditions across the African continent. In the Americas, these images depicted not only the daily lives of enslaved populations but also their cultural expressions, often filtered through racial stereotypes promoted by the colonial metropolis. In Africa, illustrations and maps produced by European explorers helped construct and reinforce the idea of a «primitive» and uncivilized continent in need of Western intervention and enlightenment. Far from being mere visual supplements to colonial texts, these representations functioned as active instruments of power, legitimizing domination and normalizing structural inequalities. Iconographic analysis reveals the deep cultural and social impact of colonialism in both contexts, highlighting the persistence of these visual imaginaries in historical memory and their enduring influence on the construction of Afro-descendant identities today.