Adventuring Through Spanish Colonies
Subtitle: Simon Bolivar, Foreign Mercenaries and the Birth of New Nations (Liverpool University Press - Liverpool Latin American Studies)
Publisher: Liverpool University Press
Published: March 1, 2007
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 256
ISBN-13: 9781846310447
Subjects: American history: c 1800 to c 1900; Latin America - General; History; History - General History; History: World; Latin America; History / Latin America
Description: "Between 1810 and 1825, nearly 7,000 British and Irish mercenaries sailed to Gran Colombia to fight against Spanish colonial rule under the rebel forces of Simon Bolivar. Their motives were mixed. Some travelled for money, others travelled for honour. Adventuring through Spanish Colonics explores the lives of these men - their encounters with other soldiers, indigenous people, local women and slaves - as recounted in documents that fall outside the usual remit of military, political and economic history. Matthew Brown considers the social and cultural aspects of the presence of these 'foreigners', and shows how they were an essential part of the revolution which eventually gave South America its freedom. Using archival research from England, Scotland, Ireland, Spain, Ecuador, Venezuela, and Colombia, Adventuring through Spanish Colonies clearly shows the active role that these mercenaries, informal outriders of the British Empire, played in the creation of Latin America as we know it today."--book jacket.