Climate and Society in Colonial Mexico A Study in Vulnerability

by Endfield, Georgina H.

• ISBN13: 9780470712795
• ISBN10: 0470712791
• Edition: 1st
• Format: eBook
• Copyright: 2008-05-09
• Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell

Summary

By considering three case study regions in Mexico during the Colonial era, Climate and Society in Colonial Mexico: A Study in Vulnerability examines the complex interrelationship between climate and society and its contemporary implications.

• Provides unique insights on climate and society by capitalizing on Mexico’s rich colonial archives
• Offers a unique approach by combining geographical and historic perspectives in order to comprehend contemporary concerns over climate change
• Considers three case study regions in Mexico with very different cultural, economic, and environmental characteristics

Author Biography

Georgina H. Endfield is a Reader in Environmental History in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham. She has published papers in a wide variety of journals, including the Annals of the Association of American Geographers and the Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, and is winner of a Philip Leverhulme Prize. She is editor of the journal Environment and History.

Table of Contents

List of Tables and Figures.

Series Editors' Preface.

Acknowledgements.

1 A Vulnerable Society.

Introduction.

Changing Vulnerabilities.

Climate Change and the 'Double-Sided' Structure of Vulnerability 5

Exploring Climate and Society in Mexico.

Climate History and Vulnerability in Mexico.

Case Studies and Approach.

2 Climate, Culture and Conquest: North, South and Central Mexico in the Pre-European and Contact Period.

Environmental Marginality and Society in the Conchos Basin, Chihuahua.

Guanajuato and the Chichimec Territory.

Power and Political Growth in the Central Valley of Oaxaca.

3 Exploring the Anatomy of Vulnerability in Colonial Mexico.

Introduction.

The Tools of Conquest and Colonization.

The Emergence of Regional Colonial Political Economies.

Climatic Variability and Vulnerability in Colonial Mexico: A Preview.

4 Responding to Crisis: Vulnerability and Adaptive Capacity in Colonial Mexico.

Introduction.

Moral Economic and Institutional Responses to Climate and Crisis in Colonial Mexico.

Speculation and Scarcity: Capitalizing on Climate Knowledge.

Trade in Grains: Providing for the 'Engines' of the Colonial Political Economy.

Tribute, Food Aid and the Supernatural: Appealing to a Common Sense of Loss.

'Compadrazgo', Community Engagement and Public Works.

'Most sensitive and saddening events': Flood Risk and Social Capital Response in Colonial Guanajuato.

'Great floods' and 'Strong winds': Damaging Events, Adaptation and 'Non-Adaptation' in Colonial Oaxaca.

Responding Strategically: Climate, Consciousness and Experimentation.

5 Dearth, Deluge and Disputes: Negotiating and Litigating Water and Climate in Colonial Mexico.

Introduction.

Water and Local 'Everyday Conflicts' in the Country and City.

Regional Resistance: Drought, Disease and Rebellion in Northern Mexico.

Vulnerability, Riots and Rebellions: Rare Events or 'Tipping Points'?

6 Illusory Prosperity: Economic Growth and Subsistence Crisis in the Disastrous Eighteenth Century.

Introduction.

Decline and Depression in Seventeenth-Century Mexico.

Economic Boom and Bust: Absolutism and Globalization in Late Colonial Mexico.

'A time of calamity': A Synthesis of Climate and Crises in Late Colonial Mexico.

From Crisis to Insurrection: Vulnerability and Popular Unrest in the Early Nineteenth Century.

7 Regional, National and Global Dimensions of Vulnerability and Crisis in Colonial Mexico.

Introduction.

Prolonged Drought and the Conditions of Crisis in Late Colonial Chihuahua.

Drought, Risk and the Social Construction of Flooding in the Bajío.

Resilience and the Rare Event: Climate, Society and Human Choice in the Indigenous South.

Crises in Context and Historical 'Double Exposure'.

Closing Comments.

Notes.

Bibliography.

Index.