Central America was the only part of the far-reaching Spanish Empire in continental America not to experience destructive independence wars in the period between 1810 and 1824. The essays in this volume draw on new historical research to explain why, and to delve into what did happen during the independence period in Central America and Chiapas. The contributors, distinguished scholars from Central America, North America, and Europe, consider themes of power, rebellion, sovereignty, and resistance throughout the Kingdom of Guatemala beginning in the late eighteenth century and ending with independence from Spain and the debate surrounding the decision to join the Mexican Empire. Their work reveals that a "conflict-free" separation from Spain was more complex than is usually understood, and shows how such a separation was crucial to later nineteenth-century developments.

These essays tell us how different groups seized on the political instabilities of Spain to maximize their interests; how Latin American elites prepared elaborate rituals to legitimize power dynamics; why the Spanish military governor Bustamante's role in Central America should be reconsidered; how Indian and popular uprisings had more to do with tax burdens than with independence rhetoric; how the scholastic thought of Thomas Aquinas played a role in political thinking during the independence period; and why Mexico's Plan de Iguala, the independence program promoted by Agustín de Iturbide, finally broke Central American elites' ties to Spain. Focusing on regional and small-town dynamics as well as urban elites, these essays combine to offer an unusually broad and varied perspective on and a new understanding of Central America in the period of independence.

Formato	Tapa suave
Número de Páginas	282
Lenguaje	Inglés
Editorial	University of Oklahoma Press
Fecha de Publicación	2019-04-02
Dimensiones	9.0" x 6.0" x 0.64" pulgadas
Letra Grande	No
Con Ilustraciones	Si
Temas	Siglo 18, Siglo 19, América Latina, Mexicano

Hancock, Nancy T.

Nancy Hancock is the director of Language Company Translations.

Pollack, Aaron

Aaron Pollack is professor-researcher at the Centro de Investigaciones y Estudios Superiores en Antropología Social (CIESAS) Sureste in Mexico. He is the author of Levantamiento K'iche' en Totonicapán, 1820: Los lugares de la política subalterna.