Americae Pars Sexta

            Theodor de Bry’s book, Americae Pars Sexta, contains an extensive collection of maps. Just as Barker does in his collection of voyages, Theodor de Bry offers an account of the explorations of European voyagers and their discoveries of new lands. Similar to the previous text, the native peoples featured in the text’s illustrations are depicted as loving and respecting of the animals around them. In fact, in some of the images, men can be seen amicably interacting and holding these animals such as unusual birds and reptiles. Interestingly, in one image in particular, one of the Moorish men can be seen wearing a cloak that looks to have been made from feathers. If taking nothing more than a quick glance, it appears as if the man is not wearing a cloak but actually has wings like those of a bird.

            The images in this text, in addition to Barker’s descriptions, seem to say that moor is synonymous with beast. However, these images lead the reader or viewer to understand this similarity to be almost entirely negative. Not only are the men pictured with and as animals, they are pictured with what seems to be the devil. Interestingly, in addition to being compared to animals such as rams and dogs, frequent comparison is made between Othello and the devil. Thus, not only did the Europeans believe that Moors were below them and more similar to animals, they believed that these foreign individuals were evil as well.