The First America
The Spanish Monarchy, Creole Patriots and the Liberal State 1492–1866

This book, designed and written on a grand scale, is about the quest over three centuries of Spaniards born in the New World to define their 'American' identity.

D. A. Brading (Author)

9780521447966, Cambridge University Press

Paperback, published 24 September 1993

780 pages, 36 b/w illus.
22.8 x 14.9 x 3.6 cm, 0.977 kg

'Brading offers a study of impressive scope, rich content and suggestive argument, … it is a major addition to the historiography of the Hispanic world and will undoubtedly become a standard work of reference.' The Times Higher Education Supplement

The Spanish conquest of America generated a profusion of chronicles, tracts and poetry, among which are figured several classics of the Renaissance. It also provoked a fierce debate between Bartolome de las Casas, who defended the Indians, and the humanist historians who glorified the conquerors. Thereafter, imperial jurists and churchmen acclaimed the Spanish monarchy as chosen by Divine Providence to establish a Catholic empire in the New World. Within the bounds of this universal monarchy, American Spaniards sought to define their social identity by installing Aztec and Inca civilisation as the historical foundations of their countries and by accepting Our Lady of Guadalupe and St Rosa of Lima as their patrons. When the voice of the Enlightenment re-stated the imperial critique of the New World's inhabitants, Creole patriots vigorously responded; and if in South America Simon Bolivar cited classical republicanism to justify independence, in Mexico Creole patriotism was transmuted into an insurgent nationalism that did not succumb to liberal ideas until the incursion of the reform movement led by Benito Juarez. This book is about the quest of Spaniards born in the New World to define their American identity. It demonstrates that across the three centuries of colonial rule, Creole patriots succeeded in creating an intellectual and political tradition that by reason of its engagement with native history and American reality was idiosyncratic, regionally diverse, and distinct from any European model.

List of illustrations
Preface
Prologue
Part I. Conquest and Empire: 1. A new world
2. Conquerors and chroniclers
3. The unarmed prophet
4. The great debate
5. Franciscan millenium
6. The proconsul
7. Andean pilgrim
8. Jesuit triumphs
9. History and myth
10. The Catholic monarchy
11. Tridentine prelate
Part II. Strangers in Their Own Land: 12. Inca humanist
13. The Two Cities
14. Creole patriots
15. Annals of Ophir
16. Mexican phoenix
17. Western paradise
18. Peruvian eclipse
19. History and philosophy
20. Jesuit patriots
Part III. Reconquest and Revolution: 21. The new state
22. Erastian church
23. Scientific traveller
24. The great rebellion
25. Liberals and patriots
26. Insurgent creole
27. Republican hero
28. Civilisation and barbarism
29. Mexican Leviathan
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

Subject Areas: Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700 [HBLH], History of the Americas [HBJK]