A Plague of Sheep: Environmental Consequences of the Conquest of Mexico

by Elinor G. K. Melville

• ISBN13: 9780521420617
• ISBN10: 052142061X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-03-24
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This is a book about the biological conquest of the New World. Taking as a case study the sixteenth-century history of a region of highland central Mexico, it shows how the environmental and social changes brought about by the introduction of Old World species aided European expansion. The book spells out in detail the environmental changes associated with the introduction of Old World grazing animals into New World ecosystems, demonstrates how these changes enabled the Spanish takeover of land, and explains how environmental changes shaped the colonial societies.

Table of Contents

Preface

1. Introduction

2. Alien landscapes

3. The Australian experience

4. The Mexican case

5. The conquest process

6. The colonial regime

Appendix 1. Sub-areas

Appendix 2. Sources for population estimates

Appendix 3. Sources for land holding and land use

Abbreviations

Glossary

Bibliography.