Colonial Cities

WILDE, GUILLERMO

The Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Urban and Regional Studies

JohnWiley & Sons Ltd.

Año: 2019; p. 1 - 7

The colonial city is essentially a Hispano‐American creation. Although it may seem provocative, this claim is well founded. It was from the expansion of the Spanish empire in the Americas, beginning in the late fifteenth century that the city as a permanent settlement with specific urban, social, economic, demographic, and legal traits became important for a proper colonial administration. Until then, European colonial expansion had not developed this kind of colonizing strategy. The implementation of colonial cities was not only a political and economic enterprise, but also a social, cultural, and religious endeavor, which strongly affected the conquered territories and societies. New cities responded to metropolitan planning but also adapted to preexisting ecological, social, and cultural conditions. In this process, the native populations appropriated the basic elements of the colonial regime, gaining an important degree of autonomy that they kept even after the end of colonial rule.