Native Resistance and the Pax Colonial in New Spain

This volume brings together a distinguished group of colonial historians to examine revolts by indigenous people against the Spanish empire in New Spain. The chapters by Susan Deeds and Ronald Spores catalog dozens of rebellions and riots during the colonial period in Nueva Vizcaya and Oaxaca, respectively. For anyone interested in these areas and topics, these will be important bibliographic references. The other substantive chapters focus on specific revolts. Kevin Gosner discusses the well-known Tzeltal revolt of 1712 and Robert Patch the equally famous Canek Rebellion of 1761; Christopher Archer examines the Lake Chapala region during the Mexican War for Independence. The storytelling abilities of each of these authors are superb, so they make for good reads, in particular the piece by Archer on the remarkable resistance of a mostly indigenous force on the island of Mezcala from 1811 to 1816. While the substantive chapters differ from one another in...