"McFarlane's masterful synthesis is acheived by a thorough and careful reading of the available historiography and by extensive research in Spanish and Colombian archives." American Historical Review

• Introduction; 1. Foundations; Part I. Economy and Society In Eighteenth-Century New Granada: 2. Regions and resources; 3. Mining frontiers and the gold economy; Part II. The Economics of Bourbon Colonialism: New Granada and Atlantic Economy: 4. New Granada and the Spanish mercantile system, 1700–78; 5. Commerce and economy in the age of imperial free trade, 1778–96; 6. Merchants and monopoly; Part III. The Politics of Bourbon Colonialism: Reconstructing the Colonial State: 7. Renovation: the establishment of the Viceroyalty; 8. Innovation: the Visita General and its impact; Part IV. Government and Politics: 9. Power, politics, and protest; 10. Science and sedition; Part V. Crisis in the Colonial Order: 11. War and the weakening of the colonial order; 12. The fall of royal government; Epilogue; Appendices; Bibliography.