Mercado, Juan Carlos

Juan Carlos Mercado is Professor of Latin American Studies at the City College of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center as well as the Dean of the City College Division of Interdisciplinary Studies.

Menéndez de Avilés and La Florida. Chronicles of His Expeditions

2010 0-7734-3705-0
This edition of the chronicles written about Menéndez de Avilés, his explorations, settlement and governorship of La Florida is the first annotated publication of the expeditions' chronicles available to an English audience. These documents offer both primary source data as well as contextual information concerning Spanish colonial history and culture. Many of the documents underscore differences between the conquest of La Florida and of Mexico and Peru while stressing imperial power struggles and the important role of fashioning the image of a conquistador.

MenÉndez De AvilÉs Y La Florida

2006 0-7734-5760-7
In 1565, Menéndez sailed to Florida and fulfilled his duty to Phillip II by recapturing France’s primary settlement, Fort Caroline, and executing the Fort’s commander, Jean Ribault, along with his men. Menéndez continued his duties by establishing two Spanish colonies, one of which, St. Augustine, would become the oldest permanent city of European origin in the United States. Following France’s example, the colonies were instrumental to Spain’s claim and military defense of the territory. This work has been based on the study of the key chroniclers and their writings (primarily Menéndez’ brother-in-law, Gonzalo Solís de Merás, who was with him on the expedition, and Bartolomé Barrientos, Professor at the University of Salamanca, who several years later wrote a second-hand chronicle of the expedition based on eyewitness accounts). This is the first annotated edition of the expeditions’ chronicles and will serve as a sister work to the already-published book by Professor Mercado on the letters.