Brbaros

A majestic exploration of Bourbon Spains efforts to come to terms with the native peoples of the Americas, from Argentina to Alaska Two centuries after Corts and Pizarro seized the Aztec and Inca empires, Spains conquest of America remained unfinished. Indians retained control over most of the lands in Spains American empire. Mounted on horseback, savvy about European ways, and often possessing firearms, independent Indians continued to find new ways to resist subjugation by Spanish soldiers and conversion by Spanish missionaries. In this panoramic study, David J. Weber explains how late eighteenthcentury Spanish administrators tried to fashion a more enlightened policy toward the people they called brbaros, or savages. Even Spains most powerful monarchs failed, however, to enforce a consistent, well-reasoned policy toward Indians. At one extreme, powerful independent Indians forced Spaniards to seek peace, acknowledge autonomous tribal governments, and recognize the existence of tribal lands, fulfilling the Crowns oft-stated wish to use gentle means in dealing with Indians. At the other extreme the Crown abandoned its principles, authorizing bloody wars on Indians when Spanish officers believed they could defeat them. Power, says Weber, more than the power of ideas, determined how Spaniards treated savages in the Age of Enlightenment.