ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the varied means by which Amerindian peoples came into contact with Iberians and how indigenous societies negotiated their interactions with imperial actors like bureaucrats, churchmen, and colonists. The focus is on showing Amerindians as historical agents who shaped the development of colonial society, rather than mere objects of European policies. The Portuguese and Spanish Crowns wielded varying degrees of political sovereignty over the territories they claimed in the Americas. In vast swaths of land, indigenous people remained relatively untouched by colonial structures and instead continued to determine their own existence. This chapter thus focuses on Amerindians who lived in regions where Iberians exercised considerable political and economic power, which was usually around urban centres, mining regions, and agricultural districts.
