Colonial Latin America

(4 Credits)

Introduces students to the colonial origins of the Latin American region and the ways they have shaped the present. It follows the unfolding and demise of a new social order under European rule, over a period spanning from the 16th-century conquest through the early 19th-century wars of independence. Specific topics include Inca and Aztec worlds; Indian-European confrontations; the Catholic Church and popular religiosity; patriarchy and honor codes; racial dynamics and slavery; the development of capitalism; anticolonial struggles; imperial rivalry; reform; decline; and colonial legacies.