Description
This book is about the biological conquest of the New World. It explores the idea that the transformation of the biological regime associated with the introduction of Old World species into New World ecosystems enabled the conquest of indigenous populations and the domination of vast areas of rural space. It uses the sixteenth-century history of a region of highland central Mexico as a case study and focuses on the changes associated with the introduction of Old World grazing animals. The study spells out in detail the processes that enabled the Spanish takeover of land, and clarifies the role of environmental change in the evolution of colonial society; it is suggested that the formation of a stable colonial regime constituted the conquest process.
