Acclaimed by readers and reviewers alike, the first volume of The Presidio and Militia on the Northern Frontier of New Spain was a landmark in the documentary study of seventeenth-century Spanish Colonial Mexico. Here, Charles W. Polzer and Thomas E. Sheridan bring the same incisive scholarship and careful editing to long-awaited Volume Two, covering the years 1700-1765. The two-part second volume looks at the Spanish expansion as occurring in four north-south corridors that carried the main components of social and political activity. Divided geographically, materials in this book (part 1) relate to the two westernmost corridors, while those in the projected book (part 2) will cover the corridors north to New Mexico and northeast into Texas. Documents in both books demonstrate the importance of regional hostilities rather than exterior threats in the establishment of presidios. Materials in this book relate to events and episodes in the Californias (the peninsula of Baja California) where the situation of the presidial forces was unique in New Spain. By bringing into focus the ways that civil-religious relations affected the military garrison there, these documents contribute immeasurably to a greater understanding of how California itself emerged in history. Also covering Sinaloa and Sonora, the mainland of the west coast of New Spain, records in the book reveal how the Sinaloa coastal forces differed from those in the interior and how they were depended upon for protection in the northern expansion, both civil and missionary. Because documents on the presidios in northern New Spain are vast in number and varied in content, these selections are meant to provide for the reader or researcher a framework around which more elaborate studies might be constructed. All of the records have been translated from the Spanish language into readable, modern English and are accompanied by transcribed versions of the originals. Valuable to both non-specialists and specialists, here is an unparalleled resource important not only for the careful selection, preparation, and presentation of documents, but also for the excellent background information that puts them into context and makes them come alive.

Joining an acclaimed multivolume work funded by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission is a new volume of The Presidio and Militia on the Northern Frontier of New Spain. As the work of the Documentary Relations of the Southwest project, under the general editorship of Charles W. Polzer, S.J., the volumes stand alone in their translation and publication of a wide variety of documents that describe the Spanish exploration and conquest of what is now the southwestern United States and northern Mexico. The presidial system of northern New Spain's Central and Texas Corridor was an evolving institution used for exploration, military presence and defense against foreign powers, local militia duty, mission support, personal service, and penal obligations. The new volume, which covers parts of what is now Texas, New Mexico, and Mexico, includes letters, diaries, judicial papers, military reports, and interrogations. Difficult for researchers to access and sometimes to decipher, the records are presented in Spanish and in English translation, annotated and introduced by the volume editors.

The most current thought on Native Americans of the colonial South

This collection of essays brings together diverse approaches to the analysis of Native American culture in the protohistoric period For most Native American peoples of the Southeast, almost two centuries passed between first contact with European explorers in the 16th century and colonization by whites in the 18th century—a temporal span commonly referred to as the Protohistoric period. A recent flurry of interest in this period by archaeologists armed with an improved understanding of the complexity of culture contact situations and important new theoretical paradigms has illuminated a formerly dark time frame. This volume pulls together the current work of archaeologists, historians, and anthropologists to demonstrate a diversity of approaches to studying protohistory. Contributors address different aspects of political economy, cultural warfare, architecture, sedentism, subsistence, foods, prestige goods, disease, and trade. From examination of early documents by René Laudonnière and William Bartram to a study of burial goods distribution patterns; and from an analysis of Caddoan research in Arkansas and Louisiana to an interesting comparison of Apalachee and Powhatan elites, this volume ranges broadly in subject matter. What emerges is a tantalizingly clear view of the protohistoric period in North America.

Santa Fe, as a tourist destination and an international art market with its attraction of devotees to opera, flamenco, good food and romanticized cultures, is also a city of deep historical drama. Like its seemingly "adobe style-only" architecture, all one has to do is turn the corner and discover a miniature Alhambra, a Romanesque Cathedral, or a French-inspired chapel next to one of the oldest adobe chapels in the United States to realize its long historical diversity. This fusion of architectural styles is a mirror of its people, cultures and history. From its early origins, Native American presence in the area through the archaeological record is undeniable and has proved to be a force to be reckoned with as well as reconciled. It was, however, the desire of European arrivals, Spaniards, already mixed in Spain and Mexico, to create a new life, a new environment, different architecture, different government, culture and spiritual life that set the foundations for the creation of "La Villa de Santa Fe." Indeed, Santa Fe remained Spanish from its earliest Spanish presence of 1607 until 1821. But history is not just the time between dates but the human drama that creates the "City Different." The Mexican Period of 1821-1848, American occupation and the following Territorial Period into Statehood are no less defining and, in fact, are as traumatic for some citizens as the first European contact. This tapestry was all held together by the common belief that Santa Fe was different and after centuries of coexistence a city with its cultures, tolerance and beauty was worth preserving. Indeed, the existence and awareness of this oldest of North American capitals was to attract the famous as well as infamous: poets, writers, painters, philosophers, scientists and the sickly whose prayers were answered in the thin dry air of the city situated at the base of the Sangre de Cristos at 7,000 foot elevation. We hope readers will enjoy "All Trails Lead to Santa Fe" and in its pages discover facts not revealed before, or, in the sense of true adventure, enlighten and encourage the reader to continue the search for the evolution of "La Villa de Santa Fe."

This volume considers the responses to the social and institutional norms of the Spanish colonial system along Spain's northern frontier provinces.