The Reducción General de Indios on Peru's North Coast

Abstract

Parker Van Valkenburgh’s book is an essential contribution to Peruvian colonial history, as it addresses a historiographical gap. Even though the literature that studies the process of reducciones de indios is becomingmore extensive, what is not growing steadily are studies of local situations. In this sense, the book’s most important contribution is to show the local conditions before, during, and after the reducción on the northern coast of Peru, particularly in Zaña. It is an example of how a process whose scope was intended to be global was localized.