REPORT OF ASSISTANT SECRETARY. 87 



Madrid simnltaiieonsly and in adjacent buildinji-s — one the Exposicion 

 Histoiico-Anierieaiia, the other the Exposicion Ilistorico-Eiiropea.* 

 This idea of two expositions, liehl siimiltaneonsly in the same hnildinji^. 

 and each illustrative of the other, w as a novel one, and i)roved in the 

 end a success. The plan is discussed in the report of his excellency 

 Don Antonio Cdnovas del Castillo to the Queen IJe^ent, and the clas- 

 sitication of the two expositions indicates fully the intention of the expo- 

 sition authorities.* 



The Historic; American Exposition was intended to illustrate the 

 civilization of the New Continent in the Pre-Columbian, Columljian, and 

 Post-Columbian periods, while in the Historic-Euroi)ean Exposition 

 were shown the civilization of Europe, and particularly of the Iberian 

 l*eninsula, at the time when the New World was discovered and colo- 

 nized. It was intended that, by the aid of these exhibitions, students 

 and visitors might be enabled to understand the state of artistic and 

 industrial civilization in Europe and America in this important epoch, 

 and to realize the influence which the one may have exercised upon the 

 other. 



The period which the authorities iu charge of the Historic-European 

 Exposition desired especially to illustrate was that during which 

 American history was most closely identified with that of Europe. 

 This extends from 1402, when the Spanish caravels first reached the 

 Antilles, to 1020, when the Mayfioirer, setting forth from a Dutch sea- 

 port, brought the English Puritans to New Englaml. 



"The Columbian epoch," extending from the end of the fifteenth 

 century through the first third of the seventeenth, includes most of the 

 principal initial eftorts for the exploration and colonization of the new 

 continent by Europeans. By bringing together, in a retrospective 

 exhibition, what remains to illustrate the arts and industries of Europe 

 at this time, it was the desire of the Spanish authorities " to teach the 

 people of to-day what were the elements of civilization with which, on 

 the side of the arts, Europe was then equipped for the task of educa- 

 ting a daughter, courageous and untamed, but beautiful and \-igorous, 

 who had risen from the bosom of the seas, and who, in the course of a 

 very few centuries, was to be transformed from a daughter into a 

 sister — a sister j)roud in aspiration and mighty in power." 



The exhibits in this Historic-American Exposition were divided into 

 three great series: One to include American prehistoric remains, the 

 first indication of the existence of man in caves, neolithic monuments, 

 lacustrine dwellings, and the arms and utensils of this primitive age; 

 the second to illustrate the characteristics of the Ainerican aborigines 

 just prior to the discovery, and the third, the period of discovery, of 

 conquest, and of European influence, up to the middle of the seven- 

 teenth century. 



It was arranged to have also a special group of objects illustrating 



See Apptudix x. 



