| Summary: | The dispute over the nature of the New World that took place in Europe towards the end of the 18th century not only confronted the defenders of what was considered the privileged nature of the New World and its inhabitants to those who proposed a degenerate image of America, but also encouraged the reevaluation of the criteria that had been used so far to assess the reliability of the sources. The loss of credibility experienced by Spanish chroniclers, whose first impressions on the newly discovered lands were now judged as implausible and unreal, enabled the development of new ways of perceiving the nature of America, as can be observed in the works of former Capuchin Antoine-Joseph Pernety. In open opposition to the harshest criticisms on the nature of America made by Cornelius De Pauw, Pernety used his own experience in America and that of fellow travelers to praise its fauna, flora and its inhabitants. In light of the above, this article analyzes the historical context and the mechanisms by which Pernety argues against De Pauw and, in so doing, deconstructs the postulates defended by the latter. Special emphasis will be made on a fragment of his Dissertation on America and Americans, published in 1770 and translated into Spanish for the first time in this article.
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