In 1804 when W. B. Stevenson (fl. 1803-25) arrived on the small island of Mocha, just off the coast of South America, he stepped onto a continent on the brink of mass revolution. Over the next twenty years, he had an extraordinary range of experiences: as a traveller, a Spanish government official, a prisoner, and as secretary to an ex-Royal Navy admiral turned revolutionary. In this three-volume work, published in 1825, Stevenson gives a dramatic, fascinating account of life and society in South America as it began to break free from Spanish colonial rule. Volume 3 focuses on the revolutions and uprisings Stevenson witnessed in Colombia, Peru and Chile, as well as his time as secretary to Lord Cochrane, the former admiral who fought on the side of the rebels.
