The History of the two Indies and the colonizers of America

Abstract

The article analyses how the “philosophical history” of the XVIII century represented the Iberian colonists who arrived in America from the XVI century onwards. It aims to identify the character which was attributed to them, as well as how the illustrated historiography evaluated their role in the New World. The Enlightenment conceived a “universal history” in which the Iberian expansion took part and, from the assumption that the progress of the “human spirit” was under way, considered and judged the colonization promoted by the Portuguese and Spanish empires. The result of this reflection is the object of this text. Special attention is given to Historie des deux Indes by Raynal, the abbot, one of the main illustrated works regarding the overseas expansion.