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PREFACE.
During the year 1875 I published under title of [The Native Races of the Pacific States] what purports to be an exhaustive research into the character and customs of the aboriginal inhabitants of the western portion of North America at the time they were first seen by their subduers. The present work is a history of the same territory from the coming of the Europeans.
The plan is extensive and can be here but briefly explained. The territory covered embraces the whole of Central America and Mexico, and all Anglo-American domains west of the Rocky Mountains. First given is a glance at European society, particularly Spanish civilization at about the close of the fifteenth century. This is followed by a summary of maritime exploration from the fourth century to the year 1540, with some notices of the earliest American books. Then, beginning with the discoveries of Columbus, the men from Europe are closely followed as one after another they find and take possession of the country in its several parts, and the doings of their successors are chronicled. The result is a History of the Pacific States of North America, under the following general divisions:—History of Central America; History of Mexico; History of the North Mexican States; History of New Mexico and Arizona; History of California; History of Nevada; History of Utah; History of the Northwest Coast; History of Oregon; History of Washington, Idaho, and Montana; History of British Columbia, and History of Alaska.
Broadly stated, my plan as to order of publication proceeds geographically from south to north, as indicated in the list above given, which for the most part is likewise the chronological order of conquest and occupation. In respect of detail, to some extent I reverse this order, proceeding from the more general to the more minute as I advance northward. The difference, though considerable, is however less in reality than in appearance. And the reason I hold sufficient. To give to each of the Spanish-American provinces, and later to each of the federal and independent states, covering as they do with dead monotony centuries of unchanging action and ideas, time and space equal to that which may be well employed in narrating north-western occupation and empire-building would be no less impracticable than profitless. It is my aim to present complete and accurate histories of all the countries whose events I attempt to chronicle, but the annals of the several Central American and Mexican provinces and states, both before and after the Revolution, run in grooves too nearly parallel long to command the attention of the general reader.
In all the territorial subdivisions, southern as well as northern, I treat the beginnings and earliest development more exhaustively than later events. After the Conquest, the histories of Central America and Mexico are presented on a scale sufficiently comprehensive, but national rather than local. The northern Mexican states, having had a more varied experience, arising from nearer contact with progressional events, receive somewhat more attention in regard to detail than other parts of the republic. To the Pacific United States is devoted more space comparatively than to southern regions, California being regarded as the centre and culminating point of this historical field.
For the History of Central America, to which this must serve as special as well as general introduction, I would say that, besides the standard chroniclers and the many documents of late printed in Spain and elsewhere, I have been able to secure a number of valuable manuscripts nowhere else existing; some from the Maximilian, Ramirez, and other collections, and all of Mr E. G. Squier's manuscripts relating to the subject fell into my hands. Much of the material used by me in writing of this very interesting part of the world has been drawn from obscure sources, from local and unknown Spanish works, and from the somewhat confused archives of Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Salvador, and Guatemala.
Material for the history of western North America has greatly increased of late. Ancient manuscripts of whose existence historians have never known, or which were supposed to be forever lost, have been brought to light and printed by patriotic men and intelligent governments. These fragments supply many missing links in the chain of early events, and illuminate a multitude of otherwise obscure parts.
My efforts in gathering material have been continued, and since the publication of [The Native Races] fifteen thousand volumes have been added to my collection. Among these additions are bound volumes of original documents, copies from public and private archives, and about eight hundred manuscript dictations by men who played their part in creating the history. Most of those who thus gave me their testimony in person are now dead; and the narratives of their observations and experiences, as they stand recorded in these manuscript volumes, constitute no unimportant element in the foundation upon which the structure of this western history in its several parts must forever rest.