Pre-Revolutionary Caracas
Politics, Economy, and Society 1777–1811

A portrait of a colony which grew, prospered and matured within the confines of Empire.

P. Michael McKinley (Author)

9780521527040, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 18 July 2002

264 pages
21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm, 0.34 kg

Almost invariably, late-colonial Caracas has been described as a society full of tensions and a colony at odds with the imperial order. This study, in contrast, portrays a colony, which grew, prospered and matured within the confines of Empire. It depicts the late 1700s as the golden age of caraqueño colonial society and suggests that it was no accident that this late renaissance created an environment which bred the self-confident men who led much of Spanish America to independence. The causes of the independence struggle, and the violence, which accompanied it, are considered in the context of the imperial crisis provoked by Napoleon's invasion of Spain. The findings of this study are based on an exceptionally varied array of new data on the economy and society of late eighteenth-century Caracas, of which a collection of 800 wills is the most impressive.

List of maps
List of tables
Acknowledgements
Measures and money
Glossary
Introduction
Part I. Society: 1. The Caste society
Part II. Economy: 2. The export economy 1777–1809
3. Agriculture
4. Commerce
Part III. Politics: 5. Elites
6. Politics 1777–1808
7. The balance overturned 1808–1810
Epilogue
Appendices
Notes
Bibliography
Bibliographical appendix
Index.

Subject Areas: General & world history [HBG]