The Guaran Under Spanish Rule In The R O De La Plata

This ethnographic study is a revisionist view of the most significant and widely known mission system in Latin America—that of the Jesuit missions to the Guaraní Indians, who inhabited the border regions of Paraguay, Argentina, and Brazil. It traces in detail the process of Indian adaptation to Spanish colonialism from the sixteenth through the early nineteenth centuries. The book demonstrates conclusively that the Guaraní were as instrumental in determining their destinies as were the Catholic Church and Spanish bureaucrats. They were neither passive victims of Spanish colonialism nor innocent “children” of the jungle, but important actors who shaped fundamentally the history of the Río de la Plata region. The Guaraní responded to European contact according to the dynamics of their own culture, their individual interests and experiences, and the changing political, economic, and social realities of the late Bourbon period.

In this age of hustle and bustle, Texans cannot afford to flounder about unawares of where to turn for information most urgent and necessary as their own history. What you want--nay, what you need--is the encyclopedia herein. The patriot will find stories of heroism and warning, the student will discover annals of valuable learning and the curious will discover purpose renewed in historical origin. With educational and entertaining illustrations, the reader will at once be transported back to historic times and doubtless become the "go-to" guy or gal for Texas trivia. From the arrival of Aguayo to the zeal of Zavala, each page contains a morsel of valuable history of the great state of Texas. Texan and scholar Stephen Biles has collected an invaluable source of information so exciting and excellent that it has been sized to fit within your pocket or purse--after all, one never knows when history might call.

Includes "Bibliographical section".