Atlas ilustrado de los pueblos de indios. Nueva España, 1800 (review)
There are coffee table books, and then there are COFFEE TABLE BOOKS ! Dorothy Tanck de Estrada has produced one of the latter. Not only is it heavy and filled with gorgeous full-color pictures, plans and maps, but it is also a positive contribution to scholarship in the tradition of Peter Gerhard's works on geography. She and her collaborators have culled statistical and visual information created between 1766 and 1800 regarding 4,468 officially recognized Indian communities within the sixteen intendencies of New Spain encompassed within the boundaries of the modern Mexican republic. These communities and their elected officials along with those of 20 Hispanic cities and 50 villas constituted the administrative foundation of viceregal government.