History of Colonial Latin America

Survey of Latin American history from pre-colonial times through the coming of independence. Indigenous civilizations, the age of European explorations, the settlement phase, the mature period of fully developed Iberian social and political institutions, and the impulses behind the independence movements of the early 19th century will all be examined. While focused primarily on Spanish and Portuguese America, this course also investigates the role of non-Iberian settlement and intervention in the Western hemisphere.