A topical approach to the years 1492 to 1821 during which distinctively Latin American nations were forged from the clash of American, European, and African societies. Most of the course investigates the Spanish conquest of the great American civilizations of the Inca and the Aztecs. Special attention to the pre-conquest societies and the adaptations made by those societies to resist the Spanish colonial state and to maintain political, social, and economic autonomy. (Group I) (Diversity)