Introduction: Worlds overseas.

Intrusion and empire. Hernán Cortés and Christopher Newton ; Motives and methods.

Occupying American space. Symbolic occupation ; Physical occupation ; Peopling the land.

Confronting American peoples. A mosaic of peoples ; Christianity and civility ; Coexistence and segregation.

Exploring American resources. Plunder and 'improvement' ; Labor supply ; Transatlantic economies.

Crown and colonists. The framework of empire ; Authority and resistance.

The ordering of society. Hierarchy and control ; Social antagonism and emerging elites.

America as sacred space. God's providential design ; The church and society ; A plurality of creeds.

Empire and identity. Transatlantic communities ; Creole communities ; Cultural communities.

Societies on the move. Expanding populations ; Moving frontiers ; Slave and free.

War and reform. The Seven Years War and imperial defence ; The drive for reform ; Redefining imperial relationships.

Empires in crisis. Ideas in ferment ; A community divided ; A crisis contained.

A new world in the making. The search for legitimacy ; The end of empire ; The emancipation of America ; Contrasting experiences.