Being a Pilot in American Waters during the 16th Century

Abstract Navigation undertaken by the Iberian kingdoms and the process of creating a modern art of navigation, as well as the issue of pilot training, have been extensively studied, since they constituted a concern for all early modern Western European states. Tis article focuses on the first pilots involved in the period of Spanish expansion in the Americas who, in contact with New World waters, had to learn, adapt, and innovate. Although forgotten or barely mentioned in classical historiography, they were the essential actors of the first globalization. The central aim is to outline the technical and social profile of this nebula of seamen who, as such, did not manage throughout the century to gain social prestige on a par with their professional importance. However, we intend to demonstrate that pilots constituted an emerging social group of greater relevance in America and that we can define them as “experts” or “cursados” or “diestros” men of unequal “scientific” culture. Within the framework of what is defined as the “empirical turn” in the history of knowledge, they were actors of Iberian modernity, by taking charge of the “mobility” of men and goods.