Taming and Domestication. Animals and Humans after the Discovery of the New World

An exciting new perspective on the colonization of America in a comprehensive study of our complex relationships with animals — and the key role they played in shaping the modern world «Tame and Subdue: Animals and Humans After the Discovery of the New World» by historian Marcy Norton.


In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered the New World, and this forever changed the course of world history. The clash of European and Indigenous views of the animal world influenced the formation of two cultures and led to transformations — both destructive and creative — on both sides of the Atlantic.

How did the discovery of the New World change the nature of the relationships between humans and animals? What reflection did these relationships find in art and world culture? How did the practices of domestication influence the transformation of European culture and pave the way for zoological science? And what lies behind our deep attachment to our beloved pets?

This amazing story, sometimes full of tragic events and, at the same time, hope, is about how humans and animals learned to understand each other anew across the vast expanses of the New World and the European continent.


• An engaging journey through the mysterious and dangerous lands of the New World: the reader will get acquainted with the unique cultures of the Caribbean, the Amazon, and Mexico, meet unique exotic animals for the first time, and learn about the practices of their domestication and transformation into «companion animals».
• Ecological aspects of animal husbandry: the book questions the sustainable and insidious myth of its necessity and inevitability on the path to progress.
• Stylish design with a tactile «velvet» binding, adorned with embossing and varnish, black-and-white illustrations inside.