Sincronía planetaria: las conexiones discursivas entre la relación del viaje de Sebastián Vizcaíno (1614) a Japón y las crónicas sobre América

Abstract

This essay analyzes a little-known account of the trip that Sebastián Vizcaíno made between 1611 and 1614 from Mexico to Japan as the leader of a Spanish embassy, before returning to Acapulco in the Keichō Mission that reached Rome. The narration of this voyage is extremely significant if it is considered as part of the complex network of contacts that have been established since the early modern era between Europe, America, and Asia. Therefore, recurring to the concept of “planetary synchrony” that Serge Gruzinski develops in L’aigle et le dragon (2012) to refer to the first wave of globalization, I am interested in exploring the discursive links that exist between this account (mainly written by Alonso Gascón de Cardona, but finished by another scribe, Francisco Gordillo, in 1614) and the Spanish chronicles of the same period about America.