|
|
|
Reviews of Books
Tales of Two Cities: Race and Economic Culture in Early Republican North and South America. By Camilla Townsend. (Austin: University of Texas Press, 2000. Pp. xvi, 320. $45.00 cloth, $19.95 paper.)
|
In Tales of Two CitiesGuayaquil,
Ecuador, and Baltimore, MarylandCamilla Townsend makes an
important contribution to the current revival of interest in one
of the long-standing questions regarding the history of the Americas.
Spanish America, settled more than one century before British America,
was by far the richer territory, both for the native inhabitants
in the pre-settlement period and subsequently in the initial centuries
of European settlement and dominance. With the predominantly Native
American population engaged in agricultural production and gold
and silver mining, the shipment of specie to Spain yielded great
riches for both the colonies and the Spanish metropolis. Yet, by
1750 or thereabouts the thirteen British colonies of mainland North
America had surpassed the Spanish colonies in wealth. The thirteen
colonies possessed a largely white population, albeit with a large
minority of African slaves in the staple-producing settlements in
the South. The economic supremacy of North America waxed over time,
as did that of Britain over Spain within Europe. |
. . . |
There are about 588 more words in this article.
Please log in (or, if you are not yet an
authorized user, please go to the
User Setup page) to gain full access rights. Or if you're already logged in register your subscription.
|