From Library Journal
This encyclopedic A-Z volume for all level readers is an excellent source of documentation on the glory and plummeting fate of the Spanish empire. There are over 1300 entries, many of which would be found only in a much more specialized work. Articles average in length about a quarter of a page, with country articles running up to three pages. Among the subjects included are colonies, persons, government institutions, laws, treaties, groups, conferences, wars and battles, and revolutions. Coverage of an area ends with independence, incorporation into Spain, or transfer to another power. Articles are signed (there are 38 academic contributors, including a number of Hispanics) and contain sources. Examples of entries are Nheengatu, a Tupi language variation introduced by Jesuits as a lingua franca for Amazonia; Francis Drake, the Englishman who sailed around the world and raided Spanish possessions; and the epic poet Alonso Ercilla y Zuniga. The volume also contains a chronology of the empire from 1402 to 1975, a list of colonial viceroys of the four viceroyalties, and a selected bibliography of some 250 works both recent and established. Highly recommended for college and large public libraries. (Index not seen.)-- Rene Perez- Lopez, Virginia Wesleyan Coll. Lib., Norfolk
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Review
"This is the first historical dictionary of the Spanish Empire (although Scribner's multivolume Encyclopedia of Latin American History is scheduled for publication in late 1992). Unlike many reference works on Spanish colonial history, the editors provide coverage from 1402, when Castile expanded into the Canary Islands, to the surrender of the Spanish Sahara in 1975. The dictionary offers brief descriptive essays for more than 1,200 topics ranging from colonies, individuals, and institutions to revolutions, technologies, and military battles. . . .[It] will make a useful addition to academic and many large public libraries." Booklist "The armada of books greeting the quincentenary of Columbus's transatlantic voyage of discovery will almost certainly raise many questions about the globe-girdling empire that Spain acquired in Columbus's wake, questions that Olsen's dictionary is ideally suited to answer. Its brief articles focus on "the people, institutions, and colonies of the Spanish empire, from Castile's expansion to the Canary Islands in 1402 to the surrender of Spanish Sahara in 1975." Articles on political events, treaties, and wars in Europe that affected the empire are integrated alphabetically with articles on the colonies themselves, noted individuals, events, industries, institutions, cities, commodities, native peoples, and political offices of the imperial possessions in the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Articles on former colonies cover the period from conquest or acquisition to the time of independence or transfer to another nation. Index, bibliography, and end-of-article references add value to the articles. Given the five-century span of coverage, articles on majortopics tend to be a rapid-fire series of factual statements summarizing major events in a single sentence. Abundant internal cross-references allow readers to supply needed context to comprehend such articles. This fine dictionary will continue to answer questions long after this year's Columbus hoopla subsides."-Wilson Library Bulletin
?This encyclopedic A-Z volume for all level readers is an excellent source of documentation on the glory and plummeting fate of the Spanish empire. There are over 1300 entries, many of which would be found only in a much more specialized work. Articles average in length a quarter of a page, with country articles running up to three pages. Among the subjects included are colonies, persons, government institutions, laws, treaties, groups, conferences, wars and battles, and revolutions. Coverage of an area ends with independence, incorporation into Spain, or transfer to another power. Articles are signed (there are 38 academic contributors, including a number of Hispanics) and contain sources. . . . The volume contains a chronology of the empire from 1402 to 1975, a list of colonial viceroys of the four viceroyalties, and a selected bibliography of some 250 works both recent and established. Highly recommended for college and large public libraries.?-Library Journal
?This is the first historical dictionary of the Spanish Empire (although Scribner's multivolume Encyclopedia of Latin American History is scheduled for publication in late 1992). Unlike many reference works on Spanish colonial history, the editors provide coverage from 1402, when Castile expanded into the Canary Islands, to the surrender of the Spanish Sahara in 1975. The dictionary offers brief descriptive essays for more than 1,200 topics ranging from colonies, individuals, and institutions to revolutions, technologies, and military battles. . . .[It] will make a useful addition to academic and many large public libraries." Booklist "The armada of books greeting the quincentenary of Columbus's transatlantic voyage of discovery will almost certainly raise many questions about the globe-girdling empire that Spain acquired in Columbus's wake, questions that Olsen's dictionary is ideally suited to answer. Its brief articles focus on "the people, institutions, and colonies of the Spanish empire, from Castile's expansion to the Canary Islands in 1402 to the surrender of Spanish Sahara in 1975." Articles on political events, treaties, and wars in Europe that affected the empire are integrated alphabetically with articles on the colonies themselves, noted individuals, events, industries, institutions, cities, commodities, native peoples, and political offices of the imperial possessions in the Americas, Africa, and the Pacific. Articles on former colonies cover the period from conquest or acquisition to the time of independence or transfer to another nation. Index, bibliography, and end-of-article references add value to the articles. Given the five-century span of coverage, articles on majortopics tend to be a rapid-fire series of factual statements summarizing major events in a single sentence. Abundant internal cross-references allow readers to supply needed context to comprehend such articles. This fine dictionary will continue to answer questions long after this year's Columbus hoopla subsides.?-Wilson Library Bulletin
?This volume attempts to do what no other does: cover Spain's entire empire, from start to finish, in its political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. Brief entries are equipped with brief bibliographic references, supplemented by a bibliography. A chronological table and a list of Spanish viceroys are included. So is an alphabetical index.... The breadth of coverage is notable.... No single volume offers the advantage of this overview..... Recommended.?-Choice
"This encyclopedic A-Z volume for all level readers is an excellent source of documentation on the glory and plummeting fate of the Spanish empire. There are over 1300 entries, many of which would be found only in a much more specialized work. Articles average in length a quarter of a page, with country articles running up to three pages. Among the subjects included are colonies, persons, government institutions, laws, treaties, groups, conferences, wars and battles, and revolutions. Coverage of an area ends with independence, incorporation into Spain, or transfer to another power. Articles are signed (there are 38 academic contributors, including a number of Hispanics) and contain sources. . . . The volume contains a chronology of the empire from 1402 to 1975, a list of colonial viceroys of the four viceroyalties, and a selected bibliography of some 250 works both recent and established. Highly recommended for college and large public libraries."-Library Journal
"This volume attempts to do what no other does: cover Spain's entire empire, from start to finish, in its political, social, economic, and cultural dimensions. Brief entries are equipped with brief bibliographic references, supplemented by a bibliography. A chronological table and a list of Spanish viceroys are included. So is an alphabetical index.... The breadth of coverage is notable.... No single volume offers the advantage of this overview..... Recommended."-Choice
About the Author
JAMES S. OLSON is Professor of History at Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, Texas. He has edited several historical dictionaries for Greenwood Press, including the Dictionary of the Vietnam War (1988), Historical Dictionary of European Imperialism (1991), and The Indians of Central and South America (1991). He co-authored Where the Domino Fell, Winning is the Only Thing, and Native Americans in the Twentieth Century, and has written numerous articles.
