The Manuscript Map of the Dagua River Region, created in 1764, depicts a remote gold mining frontier in today’s Colombia. Art historian Juliet Wiersema and preservation scientist Meghan Hill share results from their collaborative analysis which unearthed stories about African resilience, adaptation, entrepreneurship, and survival within the Spanish empire. An examination of this map further draws back the curtain on how this large watercolor map was assembled using pigments and paper from across the empire.

For transcript and more information, visit https://www.loc.gov/item/webcast-11248