What Maps Can Teach.                                     The main consequence of the discovery of America was the achievement of a vision of the planet as a whole, clearly reflected in a series of maps starting with an edition of Ptolemy's Mapa Mundi (republished in 1472), and culminating in the first view of America as a separate continent (dating from 1540).

  The expeditions of Cortés and Pizarro are those that have received most attention on the Spanish side. They are remembered here for their scope and consequences. Attention is paid to the evolution of the different societies following their attachment to the Spanish Crown. For example, the panel devoted to the Mexican Baroque shows how a style that was European in origin, can find a legitimate interpretation in the Meso-American context.