Allan Greer is a professor in the Department of History and Classical Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. He holds the Canada Research Chair in Colonial North America at McGill University, Montréal. He has published seven books, including Mohawk Saint: Catherine Tekakwitha and the Jesuits (2005) and La Nouvelle-France et le monde (2009).

• 1. Introduction: property and colonization; Part I. Three Zones Of Colonization: 2. Indigenous forms of property; 3. Early contacts; 4. New Spain; 5. New France; 6. New England; Part II. Aspects of Property Formation: 7. The colonial commons; 8. Spaces of property; 9. A survey of surveying; 10. Empires and colonies; Part III. Conclusion and Epilogue: 11. Property and dispossession in an age of revolution.

'This fascinating book complicates the processes that led to the formation of colonial property. It suggests that the regimes we witness today were the result of dynamic and fluid developments that involved actors of all shapes and sizes. In this story, communal lands were as important as private property, art was an essential component of map-making, and a sense of places was more crucial than abstract territorial claims.' Tamar Herzog, Harvard University, Massachusetts