94 REVIEWS

societies. Nonetheless, the book may illuminate, refresh and inspire. and remind us of our rich inheritance.

Universit?> of’ Wutcrloo PETER H. NASH

PETER WILSON COLDHAM, Bon&d Passengers to America (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1983. 3 ~01s. Pp. 1,426. $75.00) MICHAEL H. TEPPER (Ed.), Passenger Arrivals at the Port qf’ Baltimore, /82&1834 (Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1982. Pp. xxiii + 768. $38.50)

Bonded Passengers is a useful collection of historical information, most of it published for the first time. It is really nine volumes printed in three: two of those nine were previously published as English Convicts in Colonial America (1974 and 1976). Mr Coldham has added six more lists (each a separate volume) and a prefatory essay entitled ‘History of Transportation, 161551775, published as volume 1. Altogether, this series is the largest collection of names of immigrants to the American colonies up to the time of the American Revolution; about 50,000 men, women, and children. It is extremely easy to use. Each list or volume covers an English judicial district, or circuit. The names of everyone sentenced to transportation from that district is then arranged alphabetically. Beside the name, we have the date of sentencing, the name of the ship of transport, sometimes a description of the crime for which the sentence was pronounced, and sometimes the place of arrival in the colonies. Volume 5. Western Circuit: 1664-1775 includes the political rebels of 1685.

The lists are valuable for both demographers and genealogists, and Coldham’s opening essay on the history of transportation is a mine of information, with superb reference materials. Records from the Assize Courts, and State Papers, as well as uncalendared transportation bonds, landing certificates, and many other lesser-known documents form the basis of the lists. The record grew more voluminous after 1718, when the Assize Courts were empowered to sentence the guilty to transportation for all but the most serious and slight offences. Taken as a whole, these volumes should remain a standard reference source for future scholarship.

Passenger Arrivals is similar to Bonded Passengers, and equally important. It is the first of a series of lists condensed from the Federal Government’s Customs Passenger Lists. The series will concentrate on the five major ports through which European immigrants poured into the United States during the nineteenth century: Baltimore, Boston. New Orleans, New York, and Philadelphia. The list is arranged alphabetically by last name of the passenger; then follows their age, sex, occupation, and country of citizenship, the country that they intend to inhabit, the name of the ship that brought them, and the date of their arrival. While families are thus not always listed together it is fairly easy to reconstruct family units.

The series promises to open up a major source of American history during the nineteenth century. About 50,000 immigrants into Baltimore from 1820 to 1834 are contained in this one volume alone. Passenger arrival records have been little used because they have been only partially indexed. These volumes will make accessible one of the largest and continuous group of records of nineteenth-century America, and one which is absolutely vital to any study of immigration to America during that period.

Uiniversit>* qf’ Mq’land, Baltirrme Country GARY L. BROWNE

J. P. DICKENSON, Brazil (Longman: London and New York, 1982. Pp. xii + 219. f6.95)

The author starts with a brief description of the main elements of the natural environment and then turns to the pre-colonial Indian population. The second part of the book describes the main activities of the colonial period such as the cultivation of sugar, the exploration of Brazil’s interior, the work of missionaries. the mining of gold and the

REVIEWS 95

raising of cattle. This is followed by an overview of developments in the post-colonial period: the expansion of the coffee frontier, the collection of rubber, the arrival of a great number of European immigrants and foreign investments in infra-structure. Part IV is entirely devoted to twentieth-century Brazil and concentrates mainly on the role of the modern state, the growth of Brazilian cities, the further expansion of agriculture, the colonization of the Amazon region, and the countryside behind the frontier.

The author, being well familiar with the geography of Brazil, gives an excellent impression of the country’s changing face, and the book is an indispensable source of information for all those who are interested in the historical development of the country. This, however, is not a conventional introduction to the geography of Brazil. The author did not set out to describe the different stages of the Brazilian development process as such, but rather to review the factors behind the making of Brazilian landscape. So the book is an account of the way in which the natural landscape has been modified by various groups from pre-colonial times to the present. Thus there are chapters or paragraphs on topics which are normally not dealt with in books on regional geography: foreign views ot Brazilian landscapes; the role of the mass media, tourism and the state in influencing landscape and landscape taste; and Brazilian landscapes as portrayed in literature.

Dickenson sticks closely, then, to the theme of The World’s Landscapes series. Yet reading the book it was the loose and all too frequent use of the term landscape that caused me disquiet. Why is it necessary, for instance, to use the term “immigrant landscapes” when this refers to nothing more than some data on the number and origins of European immigrants arriving in Brazil in the nineteenth century? And why is the heading “Landscapes of conversion” used to cover a brief description of the activities ot religious missions? Such usage erodes the concept of landscape.

I also became more and more aware of the lack of a classical regional or thematic introduction to the human geography of Brazil. There is no comprehensive picture of the identity of Brazil’s macro-regions. or of the economic activities and urban functions of modern Brazil; the emphasis is squarely on past and present rural and urban landscapes. and how they were shaped and perceived. Several other themes are paid little detailed attention: past and present social and political structure; Brazil as an underdeveloped country; the impact of colonialism and neo-colonialism: the role of ilites and the state in the process of economic and social development.

All this means that Dickenson’s book is far from being a complete regional geography and should be read in combination with other books. But since in many of the other geographies of Brazil the evolving landscape is a rather neglected topic. Dickenson’s book is an excellent and original supplement to the existing literature. It is well illustrated with photographsand maps. Tables are absent, few figures are presented, the style is very good. and the language is non-technical. Because ofthesc literary qualities the book gives a very lively impression of how Brazil looked and looks.

PETER GERHARD, The North Frontier qf’Ne\~, Spain (Princeton: Princeton University Press. 1982. Pp. xiv +454. $60.00)

This handsome volume is the third in a trilogy designed to assist scholars interested in colonial Mexico and its outlying provinces. Gerhard gives attention to what he defines as the north frontier of New Spain, from the early sixteenth century to 1821. For the very diverse regions of the frontier he generally presents material (including excellent maps) for each gohierno, the division that prevailed during the late eighteenth century, but for certain more complex gobiernos (Nueva Galacia, Nueva Vizcaya, Sinaloa y Sonora) the alcaldiu ttza_vor territorial unit is used. For each unit descriptions and other contemporary