History

THE INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS OF AMERICANISTS, 1875-2023

The International Congress of Americanists is a scientific activity of a long tradition. The first Congress was held in the city of Nancy in France, on August 25, 1875, called by the Société Américaine de France and they have met without interruption since then. Its immediate goal: “contribuer au progrès des études ethnographiques, linguistiques et historiques relatives aux deux Amériques, spécialement pour les temps antérieurs à Christophe Colomb, et de mettre en rapport les personnes qui s’intéressent à ces études”.

During the first ten versions of the International Congress of Americanists, the seat was in Europe. The first Congress in America was held in Mexico in 1895. Since then, it has been tried to alternate the seat between the old and new world.

Over time, the Congresses have expanded the range of subjects studied.Nowadays,  they gather specialists in Anthropology, Archaeology, Art, Law, Economics, Education, Philosophy, Geography, History, Linguistics, Sociology, Urban Studies, Human Rights and other technological areas.

Today, the International Congress of Americanists (ICA) meets every three years. It is attended by a large number of participants engaging in a wide variety of scientific activities: symposia, conferences, meetings of international associations and organizations related to American studies, etc.

INTERNATIONAL CONGRESSES OF AMERICANISTS HELD SINCE 1875

1o – 1875, Nancy. President: Baron Guerrier de Dumast; General Secretary: Alfred Rambaud

2o – 1877, Luxembourg. President: Francois-Xavier Wurth-Paquet; General Secretary: Dr. Henrion

3o – 1879, Brussels.President: Baron A.C.A.L. Goethels; General Secretary: Anatole Bamps

4o – 1881, Madrid.President: José Luis Albreda; General Secretary: Cesáreo Fernández Duro

5o – 1883, Copenhagen. President: Johan Jakob A. Worsaae; General Secretary: W.A. Carteasen

6o – 1886, Turin.President: AriodanteFabretti; General Secretary: Guido Cora

7o – 1888, Berlin.President: WilhelmReiss; General Secretaries: Gustav Hellmann, Otto Olshausen

8o – 1890, Paris. President: Armand de Quatrefages de Brea; General Secretary: Desiré Pector

9o – 1892, Huelva.President: Antonio MaríaFabié; General Secretary: Justo Zaragoza

10o – 1894, Stockholm. Presidents: Gustav A. Tamm, Rudolf Virchow, Adolf E. Nordenskiold; General Secretary: Carl Bovallius

11o – 1895, Mexico City.President: JoaquínBaranda; General Secretary: Trinidad Sánchez Santos

12o – 1900, Paris. President: Ernest T. Hamy; General Secretary: Henri Froidevaux

13o – 1902, NewYork. President: Morris K. Jesup; General Secretary: Marshall H. Saville

14o – 1904, Stuttgart. President: Karl Von de Steinen; General Secretary: Kurt Lampert

15o – 1906, Quebec.President: Robert Bell; General Secretary: Narcisse E. Dione

16o – 1908, Vienna. President: WilhelmFreiherrVonWeckbecker; General Secretary: Franz Heder

17o – 1910 (FirtsPart), Buenos Aires.President: José NicolásMatienzo; General Secretary: Robert Lehmann-Nitsche

17o – 1910 (Second Part), Mexico City.President: Eduard Seler; General Secretary: Genaro García

18o– 1912, London.President: Clements Robert Markham; General Secretaries: F.C.A. Sarg, Adela A. Breton

19o – 1915, Washington. President: John W. Fisher; General Secretary: Alex Hrdlicka

20o – 1922, Rio de Janeiro. President: Antonio CarlosSimoens da Silva; General Secretary: Adolpho Morales de los Ríos

21o – 1924 (FirstPart), TheHague. President: TheodoreFélix Albert Delprat; General Secretary: D. Alberts

21o – 1924 (SecondPart), Göteborg.President: OscarVonSydow; General Secretary: Erland H. Nordenskiold

22o – 1926, Rome.President: AmedoGiannini; General Secretary: Guido Valeriano Callegari

23o – 1928, NewYork.President: FranzBoas; General Secretaries: P.E. Goddart, Nels C. Nelson

24o – 1930, Hamburg.President: Georg ChristianThilenius; General Secretary: Rudolf Grossmann

25o – 1932, La Plata.President: RicardoLevene; General Secretary: Fernando Márquez Miranda

26o – 1935, Seville.President: GregorioMarañónPosadillo; General Secretary: José María Torroja Miret

27o – 1939 (FirstPart), MexicoCity.President: AlfonsoCaro; General Secretary: Pablo Martínez del Río

27o – 1939 (SecondPart), Lima. President: AlfredoSolf y Muro; General Secretary: Jorge Basadre

28o – 1947, Paris.President: Paul Rivet; General Secretary: André Leroi-Gourhan

29o – 1949, New York. President: Alfred L. Kroeber; General Secretary: Alfred V. Kidder

30o – 1952, Cambridge. President: J. Eric S. Thompson; General Secretary: Hermann J. Braunholtz

31o – 1954, Sao Paulo.President: Paul Rivet; General Secretary: Herbert Baldus

32o – 1956, Copenhagen.President: Kaj Birket-Smith; General Secretary: Jens Yde

33o – 1958, San Jose de CostaRica.President: Doris Stone; General Secretaries: Carlos Meléndez, Alvar Antillón

34o – 1960, Vienna.President: Robert Heine-Geldern; General Secretary: Anna Hohenwart-Gerlachstein

35o – 1962, MexicoCity.President: IgnacioBernal; General Secretary: Miguel León Portilla

36o – 1964, Madrid-Barcelona-Seville.President: Luis PericotGarcía; General Secretary: José Alcina Franch

37o – 1966, Mar del Plata.President: Alberto RexGonzález; General Secretary: Víctor A. Nuñez

38o – 1968, Stuttgart-Munich. President: Hermann Trimborn; General Secretary: Otto Zerries

39o – 1970, Lima.President: José Matos Mar; General Secretary: Fernando Fuenzalida Vollmar

40o – 1972, Rome-Geneve.President: Ernesta Cerulli; General Secretary: Italo Signorini

41o – 1974, Mexico City.President: GuillermoBonfilBatalla; General Secretary: Enrique Florescano Mayet

42o – 1976, Paris.President: Claude Lévi-Strauss; General Secretary: Jacques Lafaye

43o – 1979, Vancouver.President: CyrilBelshaw; General Secretary: Alfred Siemens

44o – 1982, Manchester.President: Harold Blakemore; General Secretaries: John Fisher, David Fox, David Preston

45o – 1985, Bogota.President: Rafael Rivas Posada; General Secretaries: Nohra Rey de Marulanda, Jorge Orlando Melo, Marco Palacios, Manuel Rodríguez Becerra

46o – 1988, Amsterdam.President: HarryHoetink; General Secretaries: Kees den Boer, Jan Kleipenning, Jan Lechner, Hans de Wit

47o – 1991, New Orleans. President: Richard E. Greenleaf; General Secretary: Munro S. Edmonson

48o – 1994, Stockholm-Uppsala.President: Magnus Mörner; General Secretary: Jan-Ake Alvarsson

49o – 1997, Quito. President: Hernán A. Andrade; General Secretary: Segundo E. Moreno Yáñez

50o – 2000, Warsaw.President: AndrzejDembicz; General Secretary: Mariusz Ziólkowski

51o – 2003, Santiago de Chile. President: Luis A. RiverosCornejo; General Secretary: Milka Castro Lucic

52o – 2006, Seville.President: MiguelFlorencioLora; General Secretaries: Antonio Acosta Rodríguez, María Luisa Laviana Cuetos

53o – 2009, Mexico.President: ElioMasferrer Kan; General Secretaries: Elizabeth Díaz Brenis, Jorge René González Marmolejo

54o – 2012, Viena.President: Martina Kaller-Dietrich; General Secretariess: Claudia Augustat, Josefina Echavarría, Georg Grünberg, David Mayer, Berthold Molden, Stefanie Reinberg

55o – 2015, San Salvador. Presidente: Walter Raudales, General Secretaries: Ramón Rivas (UTEC),CatalinaMachuca (UPES)

56o2018, Salamanca.President: Manuel AlcántaraSáez; General Secretary: Francisco Sánchez López

57o – 2023, Foz de Iguazu, Brasil.President:  Aldo Nelson Bona;General Secretary: Marcio Fernandes

ICA Regulations

Art. 01. The International Congress of Americanists (ICA) has as its object the historical and scientific study of the two Americas and their inhabitants, mainly from the social sciences and humanities.

Art. 02. The Congress will take place every two to three years; as far as possible, it shall alternate its sessions between Europe and the Americas without excluding other continents. It cannot meet consecutively in the same country.

Art. 03. ICA is made up of a Permanent Committee and people who actively participate in the Congress through the presentation of a paper.

Art. 04. The Permanent Committee is made up of two people designated by the Organizing Committee of each Congress, who will preferably be those who have held the Presidency or General Secretariat. It is responsible for maintaining the tradition of the ICA, designating the venue, ensuring the correct execution of the regulations, and dealing with unforeseen difficulties that may arise in the interval between two Congresses. Those who have not participated in three consecutive Congresses will lose their status as members of the Permanent Committee unless there is force majeure.

Art. 05. The Permanent Committee will receive the candidatures for the ICA headquarters, evaluate them, and designate the new headquarters. If two or more candidates have similar evaluations, the designation will be submitted to Congress for consideration in a plenary session.

Art. 06. Each headquarters will have an Organizing Committee that will designate a Presidency, a General Secretary, and the number of members they consider appropriate.

Art. 07. The Organizing Committee will set the date of the Congress, the registration fee, and its development format. In addition, it will establish the necessary communication and information mechanisms both with the Permanent Committee and with the people who participate in the Congress. You are not required to publish the papers presented.

Art. 08. The official languages of the Congress are Spanish, English, French, German, Portuguese, and Italian, with the addition of the language of the country in which the Congress takes place in each case.

Art. 09. The Organizing Committee of each Congress may award honorable mentions to outstanding individuals for their contributions to American studies.

Art. 10. Among its members, the Permanent Committee will designate a Liaison Subcommittee, consisting of the person who holds its Chairmanship, its Secretary, and a third member from the continent where the Congress is held. Its function will be to advise and cooperate with the Organizing Committee on all matters related to the upcoming Congress.

Art. 11.Any modification of these statutes must be proposed and approved in a Plenary Session.

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