Mestizaje, comercio y resistencia is a welcome contribution to the study of frontier colonization in eighteenth-century New Granada. Focusing particularly on the Wayúu—the Spaniards’ “Guajiros” and the largest native group inhabiting the Guajira Peninsula—this study sets out to throw light on the succession of rebellions and uprisings that took place there in the second half of the eighteenth century (p. 35). Although the reader must wait until the final chapter to discover the precise nature of the conflicts that form one of the principal themes of the book (mostly isolated cases involving small groups or individuals), the preceding three chapters offer a thorough and extremely useful examination of native economy and society before and after European contact. Here the author indicates some of the many causes of conflict between Indians and Spaniards in this region: access to land and water, control over the pearl fisheries, resistance to Capuchin missionization, and...

You do not currently have access to this content.