Historical biography in americanist historiography in the late twenty fi ve years

Abstract

After decades of neglect, historic biography has strongly re-emerged as a historiography genre in the past twenty five years. The reasons of this revival in americanist circles come from two circumstances mainly: first, the vicinity of the Fifth centennial of the Discovery of America, and, second, regional history, which has aroused some interest over historical figures from different regions and towns in the Peninsula. This paper offers a review of the historic biography of several actors in Colonial Hispanic America along their various stages up to independence, and points out their relevant successes and some of their limitations.