The Fragmented Nation: A Political History of Latin American Societies

The myth of the "Black Legend"--a persistent representation of Spaniards as little more than looters and rapists--looms large in histories of Latin America. To rectify this misconception, this book argues that Latin America was in the vanguard of progress and modernity. It examines antagonisms between Spain and Portugal and each country's expansion in the 1700s, relations between the Spanish and Portuguese Indians, rivalry with other foreign empires, the Encomienda, the runaway slave commu...