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1. Hawa’i the Elephant and Abada the Rhinoceros

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Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain
This chapter is in the book Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain
1.Hawa’i the Elephant and Abada the RhinocerosAbstractChapter 1 provides a biogeography of Hawa’i the elephant and Abada the rhinoceros, beginning with their births in India. When Philip II came into the possession of both animals, he took advantage of the f inancial and structural relationship between hospitals and theaters and placed each animal in a hospital in Madrid, where the public was charged a fee to see them. The spectacle of Abada and Hawa’i functioned like a proto-zoo, ref lecting the emerging public sphere and Philip II’s desire to enhance the image of the capital city. Chapter 1 also examines a silver-gilt ewer (1583) designed by Juan de Arfe that uses an image of Abada and Hawa’i to show of f Philip II’s planetary power.Keywords: zoo history, public sphere, Philip II of Spain (1527–98), Hawa’i the elephant (ca. 1580–ca. 1593), Abada the rhinoceros (1573–91), Juan de Arfe y Villafañe (1535–1603)The zoo is a microcosm of the Anthropocene because it is a space where humans determine animal reproduction and choose who belongs. Madrid constructed a zoo in the Casa de Campo in 1972 and, before that, in the eighteenth century, the public went to see lions in cages in the Buen Retiro Park. Even before the creation of the Casa de Campo zoo and Buen Retiro Park, people had already visited a proto-zoo, where they paid a fee to see an elephant and a rhinoceros in Madrid.1The following chapter follows the material conditions of the lives of the elephant Hawa’i and the rhinoceros Abada, especially focusing on their 1For more on zoo history, see McDonald and Vandersommers 2019; Bruce 2017; Rothfels 2002; Malamud 1998 and 2017; Miller 2013; Anderson 1998; and Grigson 2016. For early modern Habsburg menagerie collections, see Jordan Gschwend 2010 and 2016, and Pérez de Tudela and Jordan Gschwend 2001 and 2007.Beusterien, J., Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020doi 10.5117/9789463720441_ch01
© 2020 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

1.Hawa’i the Elephant and Abada the RhinocerosAbstractChapter 1 provides a biogeography of Hawa’i the elephant and Abada the rhinoceros, beginning with their births in India. When Philip II came into the possession of both animals, he took advantage of the f inancial and structural relationship between hospitals and theaters and placed each animal in a hospital in Madrid, where the public was charged a fee to see them. The spectacle of Abada and Hawa’i functioned like a proto-zoo, ref lecting the emerging public sphere and Philip II’s desire to enhance the image of the capital city. Chapter 1 also examines a silver-gilt ewer (1583) designed by Juan de Arfe that uses an image of Abada and Hawa’i to show of f Philip II’s planetary power.Keywords: zoo history, public sphere, Philip II of Spain (1527–98), Hawa’i the elephant (ca. 1580–ca. 1593), Abada the rhinoceros (1573–91), Juan de Arfe y Villafañe (1535–1603)The zoo is a microcosm of the Anthropocene because it is a space where humans determine animal reproduction and choose who belongs. Madrid constructed a zoo in the Casa de Campo in 1972 and, before that, in the eighteenth century, the public went to see lions in cages in the Buen Retiro Park. Even before the creation of the Casa de Campo zoo and Buen Retiro Park, people had already visited a proto-zoo, where they paid a fee to see an elephant and a rhinoceros in Madrid.1The following chapter follows the material conditions of the lives of the elephant Hawa’i and the rhinoceros Abada, especially focusing on their 1For more on zoo history, see McDonald and Vandersommers 2019; Bruce 2017; Rothfels 2002; Malamud 1998 and 2017; Miller 2013; Anderson 1998; and Grigson 2016. For early modern Habsburg menagerie collections, see Jordan Gschwend 2010 and 2016, and Pérez de Tudela and Jordan Gschwend 2001 and 2007.Beusterien, J., Transoceanic Animals as Spectacle in Early Modern Spain. Amsterdam: Amsterdam University Press, 2020doi 10.5117/9789463720441_ch01
© 2020 Amsterdam University Press, Amsterdam

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter 1
  2. Table of Contents 7
  3. List of Illustrations 9
  4. Prologue 13
  5. Introduction: Armored Beasts and the Elephant in the Room 15
  6. 1. Hawa’i the Elephant and Abada the Rhinoceros 35
  7. 2. Fuleco the Armadillo 115
  8. 3. Jarama the Bull and Maghreb the Lion 173
  9. Conclusion: Biogeography as a Teaching Tool 223
  10. Appendix 1 237
  11. Appendix 2 239
  12. Index 241
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https://doi.org/10.1515/9789048552252-004

Chapters in this book

  1. Frontmatter 1
  2. Table of Contents 7
  3. List of Illustrations 9
  4. Prologue 13
  5. Introduction: Armored Beasts and the Elephant in the Room 15
  6. 1. Hawa’i the Elephant and Abada the Rhinoceros 35
  7. 2. Fuleco the Armadillo 115
  8. 3. Jarama the Bull and Maghreb the Lion 173
  9. Conclusion: Biogeography as a Teaching Tool 223
  10. Appendix 1 237
  11. Appendix 2 239
  12. Index 241
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