Colombia before Independence: Economy, Society, and Politics under Bourbon Rule

by Anthony McFarlane

• ISBN13: 9780521894494
• ISBN10: 0521894492
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2002-05-16
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This book describes and analyses economic and political developments in Colombia during the final century of Spanish rule. Its purpose is threefold: first, to provide a general portrait of Colombian society during the late colonial period, showing the character of economic, social, and political life in the territory's principal regions; second, to assess the impact on the region of European imperialist expansion during the eighteenth century; and third, to provide a context for understanding the causes of independence. The book offers the only available survey of Colombian history and historiography for this period.

Table of Contents

Tables and illustrations	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
List of money and measures	xiii
List of abbreviations	xiv
Introduction	1	(6)
Foundations	7	(24)
PART I ECONOMY AND SOCIETY IN EIGHTEENTH-CENTURY NEW GRANADA
Resources and regions	31	(40)
Mining frontiers and the gold economy	71	(28)
PART II THE ECONOMICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: NEW GRANADA AND THE ATLANTIC ECONOMY
New Granada and the Spanish mercantile system, 1700--1778	99	(27)
Commerce and economy in the age of imperial free trade, 1778--1796	126	(38)
Merchants and monopoly	164	(23)
PART III THE POLITICS OF BOURBON COLONIALISM: RECONSTRUCTING THE COLONIAL STATE
Renovation: The establishment of the viceroyalty	187	(21)
Innovation: The visita general and its impact	208	(23)
PART IV GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS
Power, politics, and protest	231	(41)
Science and sedition	272	(25)
PART V CRISIS IN THE COLONIAL ORDER
War and the weakening of the colonial order	297	(27)
The fall of royal government	324	(23)
Epilogue	347	(6)
Appendix A: The population of New Granada	353	(11)
Appendix B: Gold production	364	(4)
Appendix C: Shipping and commerce	368	(7)
Bibliography	375	(12)
Index	387