File:Cannibalism in the New World, from Vespucci.jpg

Summary

The first known depiction of cannibalism in the New World. Engraving by Johann Froschauer for an edition of Amerigo Vespucci's Mundus Novus, published in Augsburg in 1505. Mundus Novus is Vespucci's account of his third voyage (1501-02) to the New World, specifically to the eastern coast of Brazil. The original caption (in German), reads:

"This figure represents to us the people and island which have been discovered by the Christian King of Portugal or by his subjets. The people are thus naked, handsome, brown, well shaped in body, their heads, necks, arms, private parts, feet of men and women are a little covered in feathers. The men also have many precious stones in their faces and breasts. No one also has anything, but all things are in common. And the men have as wives those who please them, be they mothers, sisters, or friends, therein they make no distinction. They also fight with each other. They also eat each other, even those who are slain, and hang the flesh of them in the smoke. They become one hundred and thirty years old. And have no government."

Licensing

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