THE COSMOPOLITAN LEGACY OF THE SPANISH GLOBAL HEGEMONY: PLACE OF BIG CHALLENGES AND DISAPPOINTMENTS (THE CASE OF ADRIAN BOOT)
Abstract
After the Conquest, the Spaniards in the Viceroyalty of New Spain had to face numerous inundations, although the Aztecs didn't suffer them in such a measure thanks to a complicated draining system. In 1604, they decided therefore to build the Desagüe de Huehuetoca, which would solve their fight against the nature.
Nevertheless, the draining works never reached the pre-Columbine level, and to find a better solution, the Spanish King searched for a specialist also out of the Spanish territory, and found him in the person of Dutch hydraulic engineer Adrian Boot. This paper shows the international relations between two inimical empires - Spain and the United Provinces of the Netherlands, in the most complicated period of their coexistence: fights for naval and colonial supremacy, Dutch independence, religious discords, anti-Dutch climate, wars and truces, and one man between them, who at the beginning basked in the Spanish royal grace, but ended up denounced to the Inquisition of New Spain.