Blacks in Colonial Veracruz: Race, Ethnicity, and Regional Development

by Patrick J. Carroll

Overview

Beginning with the Spanish conquest, Mexico has become a racially complex society intermixing Indian, Spanish, and African populations. Questions of race and ethnicity have fueled much political and scholarly debate, sometimes obscuring the experiences of particular groups, especially blacks. Blacks in Colonial Veracruz seeks to remedy this omission by studying the black experience in central Veracruz during virtually the entire colonial period.

The book probes the conditions that shaped the lives of inhabitants in Veracruz from the first European contact through the early formative period, colonial years, independence era, and the postindependence decade. While the primary focus is on blacks, Carroll relates their experience to that of Indians, Spaniards, and castas (racially hybrid people) to present a full picture of the interplay between local populations, the physical setting, and technological advances in the development of this important but little-studied region.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780292789937
Publisher:	University of Texas Press
Publication date:	06/28/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	262
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Patrick J. Carroll is Joe B. Frantz Professor of History at Texas A&M University–Corpus Christi.

Table of Contents

• Acknowledgments
• Introduction
• 1. The Human and Material Consequences of Indian and European Contact
• 2. The Hows, Whens, Whos, and Whys of the Afro-Veracruz Slave Trade
• 3. Regional Production, Market, and Capital Development
• 4. Afro-Veracruzanos and Changing Colonial Labor Patterns
• 5. Slaves and Social Change, 1570-1720
• 6. Two Routes to Freedom: Cordoba and Jalapa
• 7. Free Afro-Veracruzanos and the Late Colonial Socioeconomic Order
• 8. Adjustment, Independence, Politics, and Race
• Conclusions
• Appendixes
  • 1. Materials Relating to the Afro-Mexican and Afro-Veracruz Slave Trade
  • 2. Materials Relating to Demographic and Economic Change
  • 3. Materials Relating to Afro-Veracruzanos and Socioeconomic Change
• Notes
• Sources Cited
• Index

Editorial Reviews

Carroll's book is a solid, welcome addition to the scholarly literature on slavery and society during the colonial period and the Wars of Independence in Mexico and Latin America in general. . . . With its high level of ambitions and wide perspectives, the book is clearly a most valuable one.

Hispanic American Historical Review

Carroll makes an important contribution to better understanding of the colonial experience and the reality of the past and present racial discrimination in Mexico. . . . His writing is most inspired when he describes and interprets the lives of colonial Afro-Veracruzanos and their role in Mexican society.

Geographical Reviews

Carroll (history, Corpus Christi State U.) traces the history of blacks in the Vera Cruz region of Mexico from the first European contact in the 16th century to the post-independence decade ending in 1830. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Booknews

Carroll makes an important contribution to better understanding of the colonial experience and the reality of the past and present racial discrimination in Mexico. . . . His writing is most inspired when he describes and interprets the lives of colonial Afro-Veracruzanos and their role in Mexican society.-- "Geographical Reviews"

Carroll's book is a solid, welcome addition to the scholarly literature on slavery and society during the colonial period and the Wars of Independence in Mexico and Latin America in general. . . . With its high level of ambitions and wide perspectives, the book is clearly a most valuable one.-- "Hispanic American Historical Review"

From the Publisher