Resilient Cultures: America's Native Peoples Confront European Colonialization 1500-1800. This item is unavailable.Resilient Cultures: America's Native Peoples Confront European Colonialization 1500-1800

Provides a comparative perspective on the impact of early European colonization on the native peoples of the Americas.

Resilient Cultures examines the character of the indigenous cultures of the Americas before European contact and then considers the impact of colonization by the Spanish, Portuguese, French, Dutch, and English as well as the creative ways in which indigenous cultures adapted to colonization.

The text explores such issues as environmental change, the nature of military conflicts, the cultural and material contributions of each side to the other, the importance of economic exchanges, and demographic transformations.

Learning Goals

Upon completing this book readers will be able to:

• Understand the impact of European colonization on the native societies of the Americas
• Explain how native cultures were transformed by the unprecedented pressures placed on them by the European settlements
• Discuss the ways local indigenous people influenced the course of colonial history, affecting the economies, cultures, and social patterns of the European settlers

John E. Kicza is the former department of history co-chair at Washington State University. He was as an associate dean of the college of liberal arts at WSU from 2001–2005 and served on the graduate faculty of the American studies program. He is also a former Edward R. Meyer distinguished professor. Kicza received his Ph.D. from UCLA in 1979. His fields of expertise are Latin American history and early European overseas culture contacts. His books include The Indian in Latin American History: Resistance, Resilience, and Acculturation (Scholarly Resources, 2000) and The Social History of Spanish America in the National Period (Academia

Nacional de la Historia de Venezuela, 1998). His articles, chapters and entries have appeared in such journals as the William and Mary Quarterly, Hispanic American Historical Review, Renaissance Quarterly and the Latin American Research Review. He retired in June 2009.