In New Spain, the professionalization of medicine followed the same pattern as in Europe and was prompted by similar intellectual and political factors. As with their European colleagues, the local medical elite of the late eighteenth century was greatly influenced by the Enlightenment, working tirelessly to advance medical science and improve the quality of treatment available to the public. Scientific developments in Europe influenced practitioners in New Spain through local and imported publications as well as through the arrival of a large number of European practitioners. While the Enlightenment played an important role from the scientific and medical points of view, international politics proved crucial to the development of surgery and its rapid rise to a professional level. The intense rivalry among nations prompted Spain to reorganize its armies and consequently, to turn its attention to military surgery. In Mexico, the establishment of formal surgical education and the reorganization of the armies resulted in the arrival of foreign practitioners and the creation of a two tiered system based on nationality. Of equal importance for the initial stages of professionalization was the rapid erosion of traditional social values in the late colonial period. As reflected by the increasing laxity in the enforcement of the limpieza de sangre requirements, race and ancestry as a measure of status were beginning to give way to personal merit. The medical professional gives a unique opportunity to analyze the fascinating world of late colonial Mexico. The hierarchical organization of the profession reflects contemporary society and offers a glance at daily life from the point of view of various socio-economic levels while the relations among its members mirror the complicated relations among the different segments of society. The growing criollo nationalism becomes patent in the attitude of some practitioners, an echo of future and more profound antagonism. From an intellectual point of view, the medical profession illustrates the achievements of local practitioners and pharmacists which have been largely ignored by scholars. Finally, it reflects the last efforts of Spain to reassert control over its colony and its powerlessness to stop the tide of history.

Historical investigation of culture contact between raiding aboriginal Indian groups and Spanish colonists. Significant insights concerning conflicting concepts of ownership and property.

Not available / text

Joaquín de Arredondo was the most powerful and influential person in northeastern New Spain from 1811 to 1821. His rise to prominence began in 1811 when the Spanish military officer and a small royalist army suppressed Miguel Hidalgo’s revolution in the province of Nuevo Santander. This prompted the Spanish government to promote Arredondo to Commandant General of the Eastern Internal Provinces, making him the foremost civil and military authority in northeastern New Spain. Arredondo’s tenure as commandant general proved difficult, as he had to deal with insurgents, invaders from the United States, hostile Indians, pirates, and smugglers. Because warfare in Europe siphoned much needed military and financial support, and disagreements with New Spain’s leadership resulted in reductions of the commandant general’s authority, Arredondo confronted these threats with little assistance from the Spanish government. In spite of these obstacles, he maintained royalist control of New Spain from 1811 to 1821, and, in doing so, changed the course of Texas, Mexican, and United States history. In 1813, he defeated insurgents and American invaders at the Battle of Medina, and from 1817 to 1820, his forces stopped Xavier Mina’s attempt to bring independence to New Spain, prevented French exiles from establishing a colony in Texas, and defeated James Long’s filibustering expedition from the United States. Although unable to sustain Spanish rule in 1821, Arredondo’s approval of Moses Austin’s petition to settle families from the United States in Texas in 1820 and his role in the development of Antonio López de Santa Anna, meant the officer continued to influence Mexico. Perhaps Arredondo’s greatest importance is that the study of his life provides a means to learn about an internationally contested region during one of the most turbulent eras in North American history.

Throughout the colonial period, the Spanish attempted to Hispanicize the Indians along the northern frontier of New Spain. The conquistador, the missionary, the civilian settler, and the presidial soldier all took part in this effort. At La Junta de los Rios, a fertile area inhabited by both sedentary and semi-sedentary Indians, each of these institutions played a part in fundamentally changing the region and its occupants. This research, relying primarily on published Spanish source documents, sets the effort to Hispanicize La Junta in the broader sphere of Spain's frontier policy.