The Oxford Handbook of Central American History

Central America is a region defined primarily by its geographical configuration as a canal-friendly isthmus, and its three-century history as the Spanish Kingdom of Guatemala. Having gained independence in 1821, the Kingdom broke up into the nations of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador,
Nicaragua, and Costa Rica after two turbulent decades as a federated republic. Political instability and violence, poverty and inequality, ethnic strife, military rule, and a historic economic dependence on the export of coffee and bananas marked the region's history. Owing to its isthmian geography
and political strife, Central America became a frequent target of US government intervention. Intense US political, economic, and military action both preceded and accompanied the revolutionary civil wars of the 1970s and 1980s. With British Honduras's independence from Great Britain in 1981 as
Belize, and the acquisition by Panama of full sovereignty over its territory in 1999, Central America increasingly defined itself as a region of seven countries.

The Oxford Handbook of Central American History analyzes major themes in the historiography of this seven-nation region of Latin America. Individual chapters interpret the histories of each of the seven countries. Most concentrate on themes that cut across national boundaries, beginning with the
history of the region's diverse natural environment, and continuing with the Indigenous peoples, the Spanish conquest and colonial rule, and the independence process. Nine chapters focus on region-wide problems that emerged with great salience after independence, including the economy, US relations,
the armed forces, the Cold War, religion, and literature, among others. Together, the book's twenty-five chapters illuminate Central America's coherence as a region of Latin America while emphasizing its diversity within and across national boundaries.

Robert H. Holden is a professor of Latin American history at Old Dominion University. He is the author of Armies Without Nations: Public Violence and State Formation in Central America, 1821-1960; the co-author, with Rina Villars, of Contemporary Latin America: 1970 to the Present; and he
contributed the essay on modern Latin America to volume four of The Cambridge World History of Violence.

OXFORD HANDBOOK OF CENTRAL AMERICAN HISTORY

Introduction: Interpreting the History of a Region in Crisis
Robert H. Holden

Part I: Human and Territorial Contexts

1 Land and Climate: Natural Constraints and Socio-Environmental Transformations
Anthony Goebel McDermott

2 Regaining Ground: Indigenous Populations and Territories
Peter H. Herlihy, Matthew L. Fahrenbruch, Taylor A. Tappan

3 The Ancient Civilizations
William R. Fowler

4 Marginalization, Assimilation, and Resurgence: The Indigenous Peoples since Independence
Wolfgang Gabbert

Part II: Conquest, Colonialization, and the Path to Self Rule

5 The Spanish Conquest?
Laura E. Matthew

6 Spanish Colonial Rule
Stephen Webre

7 The Kingdom of Guatemala as a Cultural Crossroads
Brianna Leavitt-Alcántara

8 From Kingdom to Republics, 1808-1840
Aaron Pollack

Part III: Challenges of Modernity since c. 1840 (Regional Frame)

9 The Political Economy
Robert G. Williams

10 State Making and Nation Building
David Díaz Arias

11 Central America and the United States
Michel Gobat

12 The Cold War: Authoritarianism, Empire, and Social Revolution
Joaquín M. Chávez

13 Central America since the 1990s: Crime, Violence, and the Pursuit of Democracy
Christine J. Wade

14 The Rise and Retreat of the Armed Forces
Orlando J. Pérez and Randy Pestana

15 Religion, Politics, and the State
Bonar L. Hernández Sandoval

16 Women and Citizenship: Feminist and Suffragist Movements, 1880-1957
Eugenia Rodriguez Sáenz

17 Literature, Society, and Politics
Werner Mackenbach

Part IV: Challenges of Modernity since c. 1840 (National Frame)

18 Guatemala
David Carey Jr.

19 Honduras
Dario A. Euraque

20 El Salvador
Erik Ching

21 Nicaragua
Julie A. Charlip

22 Costa Rica
Iván Molina

23 Panama
Michael E. Donoghue

24 Belize
Mark Moberg

Contributors
Index