The updated and enhanced third edition of A History of Latin America to 1825 presents a comprehensive narrative survey of Latin American history from the region's first human presence until the majority of Iberian colonies in America emerged as sovereign states c. 1825. This edition features new content on the history of women, gender, Africans in the Iberian colonies, and pre-Columbian peoples Includes more illustrations to aid learning: over 50 figures and photographs, several accompanied by short essays Concentrates on the colonial period and earlier, expanding coverage of the period and incorporating more social and cultural history with the political narrative Part of The Blackwell History of the World Series The goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

The updated and enhanced third edition of A History of Latin America to 1825 presents a comprehensive narrative survey of Latin American history from the region's first human presence until the majority of Iberian colonies in America emerged as sovereign states c. 1825.* This edition features new content on the history of women, gender, Africans in the Iberian colonies, and pre-Columbian peoples* Includes more illustrations to aid learning: over 50 figures and photographs, several accompanied by short essays* Concentrates on the colonial period and earlier, expanding coverage of the period and incorporating more social and cultural history with the political narrativePart of The Blackwell History of the World SeriesThe goal of this ambitious series is to provide an accessible source of knowledge about the entire human past, for every curious person in every part of the world. It will comprise some two dozen volumes, of which some provide synoptic views of the history of particular regions while others consider the world as a whole during a particular period of time. The volumes are narrative in form, giving balanced attention to social and cultural history (in the broadest sense) as well as to institutional development and political change. Each provides a systematic account of a very large subject, but they are also both imaginative and interpretative. The Series is intended to be accessible to the widest possible readership, and the accessibility of its volumes is matched by the style of presentation and production.

List of Illustrations xList of Maps xiiiPhoto Essay xivSeries Editor's Preface xvPreface to the Third Edition xviiiConventions Used in the Text xixMaps xxPART I BASES 11 Lands and Climates 52 American Peoples 22Ancient Peoples 26Formative Peoples 30Classic Peoples 35Aztecs and Incas 47Less Known Cultures 613 Iberia and Africa 68PART II APPROACHES 934 Columbus and Others 975 Experiment in the Caribbean 1096 Military Conquest 126PART III DOMINATION 1417 Administration: The Power of Paper 1458 Church: Friars, Bishops, and the State 1719 Society: Old Orders Changed 19510 Economy: Ships and Silver 225Photo Essay 259PART IV MATURE COLONIES 27511 The Seventeenth Century: A Slacker Grip 281Challenges to Spain 281Production, Taxes, and Trade in America 297Indians in the Heartlands: Making their own Space 307Indians on the Peripheries 316Africans 322Women 328Arts, Formal and Popular 338Varieties of Mestizaje 34612 Eighteenth-Century Spanish America: Reformed or Deformed? 349People, Production, and Commerce 351Bourbon Revisions of Rules and Principles 364Society: Change and Protest 374Creole Self-Awareness: Rejection and Reception of Europe 386The Eighteenth-Century Balance 395PART V PORTUGAL IN AMERICA 39713 Colonial Brazil: Slaves, Sugar, and Gold 401Explorers, Interlopers, and Settlers 401Indians and Jesuits 406Sugar 410People and Government 415Outsiders: The Dutch, and Others, in Brazil 419Movement Inland: Slavers, Prospectors, and Stockmen 424Seventeenth-Century Society 430The Indians and Father Vieira 433Government and Economy in the Seventeenth Century 436The Age of Gold 444Pombal and Reform 451Products of Mind and Sensibility 455PART VI INDEPENDENCE AND BEYOND 46314 Independence 46515 Epilogue 495Glossary 505Notes 510Bibliography 536Index 563Chronologies for each part appear after the part-title page.