The present work auspiciously initiates a new monograph series, the Dellplain Latin American Studies, by Syracuse University. The volume includes the editor’s introduction and eleven articles and chronologically focuses on the eighteenth century. The regional dimension stresses Mexico and Brazil, with three and two studies respectively. Colombia, Ecuador, Bolivia, Argentina, Peru, and Venezuela each merit a single article.
The theme which binds the volume into a coherent whole is, as Robinson states: “spatial dimensions of social organization and change” (p. 1). Juan and Judith Villamarin study the Spanish attempt to force the Chibcha of Colombia into the spatial pattern of the European nucleated village and the Indians resistance from 1537 to 1810. Rosemary Bromley examines population structure and migration in the central highland region of Ecuador from 1778 to 1825. Keys to change, especially pronounced, are deurbanization, epidemics, earthquakes, economic depression, and the war for independence. Michael Swann analyzes miscegenation and spatial exogamy in the Durango area of Mexico. Spatial mobility in the end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century was high, especially in rural sectors. Also, racial exogamy increased in areas with fewer Indians. Elizabeth Anne Kuznesof examines the transformation of mobile bandeirante groups into residentially stable paulistas, via the militia and its clan leaders. Of note is Kuznesof’s use of census and military records and genealogies to study kinship and residence. The spatial dimensions of the credit market of Nueva Galicia are outlined by Linda Greenow. Seasonal variations as well as long-term changes are examined for three periods. Roberta Marx Delson studies the Portuguese organization and propagation of planned settlements in eighteenth-century Brazil by examining urban development of several cities. Herbert S. Klein documents the relationship of mining cycles in Bolivia to regional economic development in the coca-producing Yungas from 1786 to 1838. Klein concludes, “our traditional perceptions of relatively stable and nonmarket responsive peasantries, at least for Bolivia, must be seriously revised” (p. 336).
The rapid urban growth of eighteenth-century Buenos Aires is examined by Lyman Johnson and Susan Migden Socolow by concentrating on demographic and spatial patterns. Providing contrast, the urban development of a regional center—Trujillo, Peru—in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries has been delineated by Katharine Coleman. A smaller community, Santiago Tejupan of the Mixteca Alta, is studied by Woodrow Borah and Sherburne F. Cook. As with the Chibcha, the Spanish policy of congregation was resisted, but here the Europeans were more successful. In a final article, John V. Lombardi traces the evolution of Caracas as a primate city within a developmental sequence. The “Mature Colonial” period (1750-1850) is stressed because it is during this time that Caracas becomes the most important city of the region.
The volume is dedicated to the memory of Sherburne F. Cook. It is a fitting dedication. The essays demonstrate the interdisciplinary contributions to be made in colonial research. In the book we have a balanced combination of historical demography, including the relationship of economic and ecological factors influencing change, and the process of urban growth and decay. Throughout is woven the impact of societal and geographical constraints. Further, in most cases, the methods and insights provide ample challenge for future research.
