Hispanic Languages and Literatures

The Encyclopedia examines urgent contemporary issues like economic and population growth, trade and international debt, tourism and the environment, as well as the long-term factors that have moulded Latin America as we find it today: the native flora and fauna, the emergence of early civilisations in Mexico and Peru, imperial domination over three centuries by Spain and Portugal, the struggle for independence in the nineteenth century, and the political turbulence of the twentieth. Coverage is provided also of music and literature, architecture, painting, and intellectual life, vividly reminding us that beyond today's headlines lies the culture of the tango and the samba, Borges and Neruda, Garcia Márquez and Diego Rivera, Villa Lobos and Bob Marley.

Presenting the most up-to-date coverage on our knowledge of this society, The Oxford Encyclopedia of Mesoamerican Cultures is the first comprehensive and comparative reference source to chronicle Pre-Hispanic, Colonial, and modern Mesoamerica. Written for a wide audience, it is an invaluable reference for interested lay persons, students, teachers, and scholars in such fields as art, archaeology, religious studies, anthropology, Latin American culture, and the history of the region. Organized alphabetically, the articles range from 500-word biographies to 7,000-word entries on geography and history to the legacy of the arts, writings, architecture, and religious rituals. An extensive network of cross-references, blind entries, and annotated bibliographies guide the reader to related entries within the Encyclopedia and provide the groundwork for further research.

Unparalleled in its sweep, the Encyclopedia covers a region and a time span never before attempted in English. Its 5,300 entries over four volumes, organised in A-Z dictionary format, treat the entire territory of Spanish and Portuguese conquest and exploration in the New World from the windswept plains of Patagonia to the Alaskan harbour of Valdez to the island nations of the Caribbean. Each country is the subject of a narrative historical survey and a series of entries on its history and geography, its politics, constitutions, political parties, labour unions, and educational institutions. Cross-cultural essays elaborate the broad themes of Pan-American civilisation, the roles of women and the family, the history of African and native slavery, conquest, revolution, immigration, and political stability, the rise of industry and commerce, relations with the United States, and the exploration and protection of natural resources on two continents. The Encyclopedia is completely up-to-date and includes such controversies as the North American Free Trade Agreement and the changes in Haiti."

(2 volumes)