Within these pages students will meet Bartolomé de Las Casas, the stout defender of the indigenous Americans in 16th-century Spanish America, and Antonio Vieira, his 17th-century counterpart in Brazil. They will critically examine Columbus's role in the Iberian conquest of America, and encounter Isabel Moctezuma, a "pioneer of mestizaje"; Juan Garrido, a black conquistador; Sor Juana de la Cruz, "supreme poet" of the 17th-century Spanish world; Tupac Amaru, the leader of the last Inca rebellion; and the German savant Alexander von Humboldt. Finally, they will read about the nameless men and women -- Spanish, Portuguese, indigenous American, and African -- whose collective stories make the history of 300 years ago more comprehensible to our contemporary mentalities.