The Encyclopedia of Precolonial Latin America (Prehistory to 1550s) covers the history and culture of Central America, South America, and the Caribbean from prehistory through the achievements of the Incas in the 16th century.

Table of Contents

• Editors and Contributors
• Preface to Latin American History and Culture
• Acknowledgments
• Introduction to Encyclopedia of Pre-Colonial Latin America (Prehistory to 1550s)
• Latin America Before 1492: A Brief Overview
• The Atlantic World in the Age of Conquest, 1492-1560: A Brief Overview
• The Spanish Atlantic in the Age of Conquest
• The Portuguese Seaborne Empire
• Time Line (Prehistory to 1560)
• A
• acllas
• agriculture in Latin America
• Aguilar, Gerónimo de
• Aguirre, Lope de
• alcabala
• alcohol in Latin America
• Almagro, Diego de
• altepetl
• Alvarado, Pedro de
• amauta
• Amazon
• Amazon women
• architecture in Latin America
• Argentina
• Arias de Ávila, Pedro
• art in Latin America
• asiento
• Atahualpa
• audiencia
• ayllu
• Aztec
• B
• Balboa, Vasco Núñez de
• Bastidas, Rodrigo de
• batab
• Battle of Las Salinas
• Belize
• Benavente, Toribio de
• Bobadilla, Francisco de
• Bogotá
• Bolivia
• Brazil
• Buenos Aires
• C
• Cabeza de Vaca, Álvar Núñez
• cabildo
• Cabral, Pedro Álvares
• cacao
• cacique
• cah
• Calakmul
• calpulli (districts)
• cannibalism
• Capitulations of Santa Fe
• Caracol
• Carib
• Casa de Contratación
• Catholic Church in Latin America
• ceramics in Latin America
• Chan Chan
• Chanca wars
• chasqui
• Chavín
• chicha
• Chichén Itzá
• Chile
• Chimú
• chinampas
• chroniclers
• Cieza de León, Pedro de
• cities in Latin America
• civil wars in Peru
• clothing in Latin America
• Clovis culture
• coca in Latin America
• codices, Mesoamerican
• Colombia
• Columbian Exchange
• Columbus, Christopher
• congregación
• conquest in Latin America
• Copán
• Coronado, Francisco Vásquez de
• corregidor/corregimiento
• Cortés, Hernán
• Costa Rica
• cotton in Latin America
• Council of the Indies
• Council of Trent
• coya
• crime and punishment in Latin America
• Cuauhtémoc
• Cuba
• Cuzco
• D
• de Soto, Hernando
• defensor de los indios
• diabolism in the New World
• Díaz del Castillo, Bernal
• disease in Latin America
• donatary captaincies
• dyes and dyewoods in Latin America
• E
• economy in Latin America
• Ecuador
• education in Latin America
• El Dorado
• El Mirador
• El Salvador
• emeralds in Latin America
• encomienda
• F
• family in Latin America
• Federmann, Nikolaus
• fleets/fleet system
• Florentine Codex
• Florida
• flower wars
• food in Latin America
• forastero
• Franciscan millennial kingdom
• G
• Gasca, Pedro de la
• gold in Latin America
• González Dávila, Gil
• Grijalva de Cuéllar, Juan de
• Guaraní
• Guatemala
• guinea pigs
• Guyana
• Guzmán, Nuño de
• H
• Habsburgs
• Hernández de Córdoba, Francisco
• Hispaniola
• Honduras
• huaca
• Huáscar
• Huayna Cápac
• human sacrifice in Latin America
• I
• Inca civilization
• Iximché
• J
• Jiménez de Quesada, Gonzalo
• K
• Kaminaljuyú
• kuraka
• L
• La Navidad
• labor in Latin America
• ladino
• Landa, Diego de
• Las Casas, Bartolomé de
• Laws of Burgos
• Lima
• literature in Latin America
• M
• macehual
• Machu Picchu
• Magellan, Ferdinand
• maize
• Malinche
• Manco Inca
• manioc in Latin America
• maps of Latin America
• Maya civilization
• Mayapán
• medicine in Latin America
• Mendoza, Antonio de
• Mendoza, Pedro de
• mestizaje/mestizo
• metate
• Mexico
• Mexico City
• migration patterns of the Americas
• milpa
• mining in Latin America
• mita
• mitmaqkuna
• Mixtec civilization
• Mixtón War
• Mochica civilization
• monarchs of Portugal
• monarchs of Spain
• Monte Albán
• Monte Verde
• Montejo, Francisco de
• Montesinos, Antonio de
• Montezuma II
• Morisco
• Muisca
• mulato
• music in Latin America
• N
• Nahuatl
• Narváez, Pánfilo de
• Native Americans
• Nazca Lines
• New Laws of 1542
• Nicaragua
• Nicuesa, Diego de
• O
• obsidian use in Mesoamerica
• Ojeda, Alonso de
• Olmec civilization
• Orellana, Francisco de
• P
• Pachacuti Inca Yupanqui
• pajé
• Panama
• panaqa
• Paraguay
• Peru
• pipiltin
• pirates and piracy in Latin America
• Pizarro, Francisco
• Pizarro, Gonzalo
• Pizarro, Hernando
• Pizarro, Juan
• pochteca
• Ponce de León, Juan
• Popol Vuh
• potato
• Potosí
• probanza de mérito
• Puerto Rico
• pulque
• Q
• Quechua
• Quetzalcóatl
• quipu
• R
• regidor
• religion in Latin America
• religious orders
• república de indios
• requerimiento
• S
• Sahagún, Bernardino de
• saints in Latin America
• School of Salamanca
• secular clergy in Latin America
• Sepúlveda, Juan Ginés de
• silver in Latin America
• slavery in Latin America
• sugar in Latin America
• syncretism in Latin America
• T
• Taino
• Taki Onqoy
• Tenochtitlán
• Teotihuacán
• textiles in Latin America
• Tiahuanaco
• Tikal
• Timucua
• tlatoani
• Tlaxcala
• tobacco in Latin America
• Toltec
• Totonac
• trade in Latin America
• transportation in Latin America
• Treaty of Alcaçovas
• Treaty of Tordesillas
• Triple Alliance
• Tula
• Tulum
• Tupinambá
• U
• Uruguay
• V
• Valdivia, Pedro de
• Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego
• Venezuela
• Vespucci, Amerigo
• viceroy/viceroyalty in Latin America
• Virgin of Guadalupe
• Vitoria, Francisco de
• W
• warfare in Latin America
• Wari
• wheat in Latin America
• wine and winemaking in Latin America
• witchcraft in Latin America
• women in Latin America
• X
• Xerez, Francisco de
• Xibalbá
• Y
• yana
• Z
• Zapotec
• zeque system
• Documents
• “The Primordial World,” Popol Vuh (excerpt)
• “Chalcacihuacuicatl” (“Chalca Woman's Song”)
• Capitulations of Santa Fe
• Capitulations of Granada
• Requerimiento
• Third Letter to King Charles I (excerpt)
• Contract between Pedro Fernández de Lugo and the Spanish Crown
• Nahua Account of the Tóxcatl Massacre, Florentine Codex (excerpt)
• Nahua Account of the Noche Triste, Florentine Codex (excerpt)
• Nahua Account of the Smallpox Epidemic, Florentine Codex (excerpt)
• Istoria de la conquista de México (excerpt)
• Crónica del Perú (excerpt)
• Letter to King Philip II of Spain
• The True History of the Conquest of Mexico (excerpt)
• History of How the Spaniards Arrived in Peru (excerpt)
• History of a Voyage to the Land of Brazil (excerpt)
• Glossary
• Suggested Readings