A history of Latin America : c. 1450 to the present / Peter Bakewell.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 583-604) and index.

Lands and climates -- American peoples -- Iberia -- Columbus and others -- Experiment in the Caribbean -- Military conquest -- Administration : the power of paper -- Church : friars, bishops and the state -- Society : old orders changed -- Economy : ships and silver -- The seventeenth century : a slacker grip -- Eighteenth-century Spanish America : reformed or deformed? -- Colonial Brazil : slaves, sugar and gold -- Independence -- Adrift in storms : caudillos and penury -- Calmer waters and a new course : oligarchs and exports -- People, politics, and economies since 1930.

"This is the second edition of Peter Bakewell's highly successful complete history of South and Central America, which now offers fuller coverage of twentieth-century developments." "The book provides a vivid, analytical narrative and is clearly and extensively illustrated with maps and photographs. It describes the environment and peoples of the region before 1500, and the Iberian society which produced the conquerors; presents the story of Columbus's voyages and their aftermath in conquest by the Spanish and Portuguese; and examines the means of European domination, the mature colonial societies of Spain and Portugal and their patterns of development in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries." "For the second edition the author has revised and greatly expanded the book's coverage of the twentieth century, and has included additional illustrations covering the twentieth century and updates to the bibliography to include publications since 1997." "This second edition now provides a complete history of the region suitable for all students of Latin America."--BOOK JACKET.