Mexico : From the beginning to the Spanish Conquest
Alan Knight (Author)
"This book is the first in a three-volume history of Mexico, a major work that conveys the full sweep of Mexican history in all its social, economic, and political diversity, from the first human settlement of Mesoamerica down to the post-PRI politics of our day. Beginning with the first entry of men and women into the Americas, Volume I charts the development of Mesoamerica from roughly 25,000 B.C. down to the Spanish Conquest in 1519-21. Analysing the principal periods and ethnic groups -- Olmec, Zapotec, Maya, Toltec, Teotihuacano, and Aztec -- Alan Knight seeks to explain the basic processes of preconquest history: the formation of states and social hierarchies, the rise and fall of empires, the role of religion, 'markets,' migration and ecology, patterns of settlement and consequent regional differentiation. Clear, comprehensive, and gracefully written, Knight's analysis illustrates the rich diversity of Mesoamerican history, while locating that history within a broader comparative framework of historical change. The book concludes with the trauma of the conquest, the destruction of the Aztec empire, and the birth of colonial New Spain."--from the back cover
Print Book, English, 2002
Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, England, United Kingdom, 2002