Girolamo Benzoni, a merchant from Milan, spent fifteen years in the Americas in the mid-16th century. In 1565 he published an account of his travels, Historia del Mondo Nuovo. His book, which included vivid descriptions of the cruel and violent ways that Spanish explorers abused Indigenous people, was reprinted many times. In 1594, Theodor de Bry included this image in his reprinted account of the Benzoni’s travels. De Bry was an engraver from Belgium who published hundreds of images depicting European voyages to the Americas. Yet de Bry never traveled to the Americas himself; instead he relied on his imagination and the accounts and drawings produced by other Europeans. Even though not based on firsthand observation, de Bry’s illustrations played an important role in shaping Europeans’ views of America’s Indigenous people, the landscape, and the presence of Europeans in the Americas. De Bry titled this image “Balboa throws a number of Indians, who committed the sin of sodomy, to the hounds.” It was meant to depict the reactions of Vasco Núñez de Balboa and other Spanish explorers to nonbinary Indigenous people.
Source: Original translation of the title for this illustration: "Valboa throws some Indians, who had committed the terrible sin of sodomy, to the dogs to be torn apart." Copper engraving illustration from Collected Travels in the East Indies and West Indies (Collectiones peregrinationum in Indiam occidentalem), vol. 4: Girolamo Benzoni, Americae pars quarta. Sive, Insignis & admiranda historia de primera occidentali India à Christophoro Columbo (Frankfurt am Main: T. de Bry, 1594). Translated book title: "America, Part Four. Distinguished and admirable history of Western India, Discovered for the first time by Christopher Columbus in the year 1492. Written by Jerome Benzoni from Milan, Who having lived there for fourteen years, Diligently observed everything. Additions to almost every chapter, not including comments, Also treat the idolatry of those populations. Also added is a map of those regions. All illustrated with elegant images copper engraved by Theodor de Bry from Liege, Citizen of Frankfurt."
