Table of Contents

Worlds apart; first encounters; foundations of empire - Florida and New Mexico; "Conquistadores of the Spirit"; exploitation, contention and rebellion; imperial rivalry, stagnation and the fortunes of war; Indian raiders and the reorganization of frontier defenses; forging a transcontinental empire - New California to the Floridas; improvisations and retreats - the empire lost; frontiers and frontier peoples transformed; the Spanish legacy and the historical imagination.