Indígenas cristianos en el teatro del Siglo de Oro: «El nuevo mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón» y su lectura novohispana

El Nuevo Mundo descubierto por Cristóbal Colón is a key work to understand Lope de Vega’s connection with America. On the one hand, its possible date of composition (between 1598 and 1603) places it in a period in which the Fénix began to spread his dramatic production in the viceroyalties. On the other hand, it is one of his three known comedies with an American theme; in this case, centered on the Christopher Columbus’ feat as an imperial project of evangelization of the new continent. The copy of a brief monologue of this comedy by the anonymous author of Coloquio de los cuatro reyes de Tlaxcala (1619) invites us to reflect on the way in which Lope captured in his work the conversion of the indigenous to the Christian faith, and also on the nuances that the Spanish playwright’s verses could have acquired in the Novo-Hispanic context.