This book is divided into three main parts. Chapter One is a general introduction to the geography and history of Guatemala. As such introductions go it is adequate, although marred by several errors of fact and nomenclature, and by sweeping generalizations. (See especially pp. 24-27.) Chapter Two is a demographic study of the Indian population of Guatemala from 1500 to 1800. After examining the contending schools of Amerindian demography, Solano comes down firmly on the side of Angel Rosenblat. Rosenblat’s most recent study is called “definitivo” (p. 60), something that Rosenblat himself might well be reluctant to claim. Solano then goes on to find the opposing school, especially the Berkeley group, full of exaggerations and errors. In fact he suspects that Rosenblat’s opponents are possessed by a “secret passion,” which is “to blame Spanish actions as a direct cause of the massive fall in the indigenous population in the 16th and 17th centuries” (p. 61). It seems that the Black Legend is always with us. Solano finds himself offended by the totals for the pre-Columbian Indian population presented by Pierre Chaunu. He argues that American agriculture was technologically too primitive to support such totals, and he either discards, or is unaware of, the most recent studies on such subjects as chinampas, yields in terraced fields, or, for the tropical lowlands of America, the impressive evidence on ridge and platform agriculture presented by William Denevan and others.
The author then turns his attention to Guatemala. In general he tends to discount the early estimates made by the conquistadors. He also ignores some of the statistics mentioned by chroniclers for individual villages and subregions, except perhaps Verapaz. Nor is there much mention of local tribute revisions, some of which showed drops of 10 percent or more in fairly short periods. Like Rodolfo Barón Castro, whose study of Salvadorean population Solano much admires, he makes heavy use of the tribute count of 1548, which he analyzes superbly. The ecclesiastical counts of 1570, 1572, and 1604 are then examined. Other seventeenth- and eighteenth-century counts are also used. Obviously their precision and detail increase as they approach 1800.
Summing up, Solano estimates that the Indian population of Guatemala was about 300,000 in 1524. It sank to a low of 148,000 in 1572 and had recovered to 310,000 by 1750. After another smaller drop in the late eighteenth century it again grew around 1800.
Such findings should be compared with those so far published for Mexico, Yucatan, Honduras, and Nicaragua. They are hard to reconcile. One possibility is that Guatemala, El Salvador, and perhaps Chiapas, were exceptions and did not suffer the massive catastrophes found elsewhere (although a drop of over 50 percent in less than 50 years is bad enough). Perhaps, if Solano’s conclusions are correct, which is by no means sure, his findings can be compared with those presented by some for highland Ecuador. There, too, losses seem to have been less after the conquest. But these figures and the Central American demographic crisis need much more debate and study than can be provided here.
In the third section of the book, which covers Chapters Three through Seven, the author turns to the eighteenth century. One wishes that this stage had been reached earlier because much of the material is new and interesting.
Linguistics and acculturation are the first subjects treated. After a careful listing and examination of the various indigenous languages of colonial Guatemala, the author turns to the factors, such as missionary activity, education, and geography, which influenced the spread of Castillian, a spread limited to the south and east of Guatemala.
Chapter Five deals with the agrarian sector. The crops of Guatemala, both domestic and commercial, are discussed in their contexts. While much of the chapter is limited to a discussion of the years 1768-1772, nevertheless a clear panorama emerges.
Chapter Six is perhaps the best in the book. It deals with the material and social life of the Indian. The life cycle of the Indian family from birth to death, social classes, municipal government, ceremonies and festivals, diet, clothing, travel, trade, and work all receive brief but skilled commentary. Throughout this and other chapters the author is convinced that Habsburg and Bourbon protective legislation was effective, and was, in fact, a principal factor in Indian life and its preservation.
The last chapter, on spiritual life, discusses the Maya, the expagan, as a Christian. His Christianity, Solano finds, is a “conjugation” of old and new.
This book is hard to sum up. There is much that is contentious, over-assertive, and much too general given the evidence. One is surprised, on the whole, at the paucity of documentary sources. But there is also a great deal of material that adds to our store of knowledge and to our interpretation of it. Those interested in the eighteenth century in Latin America will find that this is an important work.
