Colonial encounters in a Native American landscape

by Nan A. Rothschild

"Nan A. Rothschild examines the process of colonialism in two separate areas of seventeenth-century North America, concentrating on the Spanish in New Mexico, and the Dutch in New York, seeking to answer several key questions: Where does each group live vis-a-vis the other? How entangled are their respective material cultures? How do these situations change over time? What was the nature and extent of their economic relationships? She points out that colonialism has been greatly understudied, is highly variable, and that the comparison of different case studies can bring new understanding to the details of each case and to understanding variation in colonial processes at large. The comparisons she makes underscore the differences in the causes and consequences of colonial activities by the Spanish and the Dutch in the southwest and northeast, respectively. The book transcends simple comparisons because of its strong grounding in the theoretical literature of colonialism."--Jacket.