Mobility in Early Colonial Tabasco: a “vernacular” application of Geographic Information Systems (GIS)

Abstract

 This paper explores some of the possibilities and challenges in the use of Geographic Information Systems in history. Through a case study focused on the early colonial province of Tabasco, the text addresses the use of historical maps, textual sources and digital cartography for the implementation of a digital platform aimed at understanding and reconstructing the territorial organization and mobility in this territory of the New Spain. At the same time, the methodological benefits of a “vernacular” application of this tool are discussed to tackle the georeferencing process and geographic “inaccuracy” that emerge when dealing with maps of the early modern age.