Mexico: Volume 1, From the Beginning to the Spanish Conquest

The first in a three-volume history, covering the period 25,000 BC to the sixteenth century.

Alan Knight (Author)

9780521891950, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 23 September 2002

276 pages, 7 maps
22.9 x 15.2 x 1.6 cm, 0.389 kg

'… a history of Mexico which promises to become a major addition to the historiography of Latin America.' The English Historical Review

This book is the first in a three-volume history of Mexico, a major work that conveys the full sweep of Mexican history in all its social, economic, and political diversity. Volume 1 charts the development of Mesoamerica from roughly 25,000 BC down to the Spanish Conquest in 1519–21. Analysing the principal periods and ethnic groups - Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, Teotihuacano, and Aztec - Alan Knight seeks to explain the basic processes of pre-conquest history: the formation of states and social hierarchies, the rise and fall of empires, the role of religion, 'markets', migration and ecology, patterns of settlement and consequent regional differentiation. Clear, comprehensive, and gracefully written, Knight's analysis illustrates the rich diversity of Mesoamerican history, while locating that history within a broader, comparative framework of historical change. The book concludes with the trauma of the conquest, the destruction of the Aztec empire, and the birth of colonial New Spain.

Preface
Series introduction
Part I. Mesoamerican Origins: 1. The first Mesoamericans
2. Dates and places
3. The Olmecs
Part II. Classic Mesoamerica: 4. Teotihuacan
5. Zapotec and Maya
6. The classic collapse
Part III. The Postclassic Era: 7. The Toltecs
8. The coming of the Aztecs
9. The Aztec revolution in government
10. The Aztec empire
11. Aztec political economy
Part IV. Spain and the Conquest: 12. Spain
13. The conquest of Mexico
Select bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG], Regional studies [GTB]