Present State of the Spanish Colonies
Including a Particular Report of Hispañola, or the Spanish Part of Santo Domingo

This study of Spanish colonies in the Caribbean and South America was first published in 1810.

William Walton (Author)

9781108024600, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 6 January 2011

400 pages, 1 b/w illus.
21.6 x 2.3 x 14 cm, 0.51 kg

William Walton (?1783–1857) was British agent at Santo Domingo (Haiti), one of the two states on the island of Hispaniola, over which the British had briefly fought with the French before it proclaimed its independence in 1804. Returning to England in 1809 he began to write on Spanish and South American affairs. This work was published in two volumes in 1810. Volume 2 examines the Spanish settlements on the American mainland, in California, Texas, Mexico and particularly in South America. Walton first considers the administration of these colonies. He discusses the origins of the native peoples, and the impact on them of colonization; having studied their culture, he believed that in some respects they were more advanced than Europeans. He then discusses the Spanish and Creole inhabitants of South America, and its climate and resources. Walton's object was to encourage the growth of trade between Britain and the region.

15. Division of territory
16. How South America was first peopled
17. Civilized Indians
18. Characteristic sketches of the American Spaniards
19. Climate of Spanish America
20. Administration of justice
21. Negro slaves
22. Trade of Spanish America
23. Population
24. Considerations on the relative situation of the Spanish colonies to the mother country
Appendix.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH]