Shows how the General Resettlement in the Andes added another layer to a complex web of settlement rather than displacing or destroying it

In 1569 the Spanish viceroy Francisco de Toledo ordered more than one million native people of the central Andes to move to newly founded Spanish-style towns called reducciones. This campaign, known as the General Resettlement of Indians, represented a turning point in the history of European colonialism: a state forcing an entire conquered society to change its way of life overnight. But while this radical restructuring destroyed certain aspects of indigenous society, Jeremy Ravi Mumford's Vertical Empire reveals the ways that it preserved others. The campaign drew on colonial ethnographic inquiries into indigenous culture and strengthened the place of native lords in colonial society. In the end, rather than destroying the web of Andean communities, the General Resettlement added another layer to indigenous culture, a culture that the Spaniards glimpsed and that Andeans defended fiercely.

"Vertical Empire is a fine, much-needed study…. Jeremy Ravi Mumford makes clear the resettlement’s importance, both to Andean society and as an early move toward the practice of governmentality charted by Michel Foucault.” - American Historical Review

"“Mumford’s crisscrossing through critical political events in the sixteenth-century Andes is much appreciated as he draws together innovative conclusions regarding the process of colonial policy that included ecclesiastical and Crown officials, local colonizers, and Andean elites.”" - A Contracorriente

"“Considering the quality and innovation of both its historical narrative and its methodology, as well as its clear and synthetic style Vertical Empire should interest specialists and general readers alike. Andeanists will be especially interested in Munford’s comparisons between Peru, Spain, Mexico, and New Granada, in his ideas about imperial thinking and empire building, and in his creative combination of micro and macro analyses.” " - Itinerario

"Mumford's approach persuasively guides readers from a general analysis to a local, archival-based perspective. He uses such a strategy to portray the complexities of a major turning point in Andean history. In short, this is a well-planned, skillfully crafted study that should further shape our understanding of colonialism in the Americas." - Colonial Latin American Historical Review

"Mumford offers comparisons between remote and recent times that freshen perception without pushing too much toward presentism...His sleek translations from Spanish also bring the reader—and especially the novice, whom Mumford bears very much in mind—close to the action." - Ethnohistory

"“Vertical Empire offers stimulating insights and comparisons, and don Francisco de Toledo has yet to exhaust our curiosity.”" - Comparative Studies in Society and History