On the Fringes of New Spain: The Northern Borderlands and the Pacific

Abstract

Preparing a synopsis of the history and historical archaeology of New Spain’s northwest frontier, not to mention its Pacific holdings, is not simply daunting, it is a Herculean task. At least hundreds of thousands of pages in thousands of books and articles have been published or are hidden in the gray literature on countless subjects relating to the broad historical sweep of this vast region. As a result I will limit my comments more toward generalization, and attempt to direct the reader to other, more-comprehensive sources. Omission, therefore, is not a critique.