The Coming of the Kingdom explores the experiences of the Indigenous Muisca peoples of the New Kingdom of Granada (Colombia) during the first century of Spanish colonial rule. Focusing on colonialism, religious reform, law, language, and historical writing, Juan F. Cobo Betancourt examines the introduction and development of Christianity among the Muisca, who from the 1530s found themselves at the center of the invaders' efforts to transform them into tribute-paying Catholic subjects of the Spanish crown. The book illustrates how successive generations of missionaries and administrators approached the task of drawing the Muisca peoples to Catholicism at a time when it was undergoing profound changes, and how successive generations of the Muisca interacted with the practices and ideas that the invaders attempted to impose, variously rejecting or adopting them, transforming and translating them, and ultimately making them their own. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

‘This book effectively explodes many of the preconceptions we have held regarding the administration of Indigenous people and their souls in the first century of Spanish rule in the New Kingdom of Granada. Taking a deep and critical dive into the archive, Juan Cobo Betancourt persuasively demonstrates the shortcomings of applying Peruvian and Mexican models for making sense of the vast and heterogeneous expanses of the Spanish empire.’

Joanne Rappaport - Georgetown University

‘Juan Cobo Betancourt unearths a fascinating story long buried in scattered archives. Exhaustively researched and beautifully written, this landmark work highlights how Indigenous peoples negotiated the terms of their Christianity at the margins of empire during the tumultuous first century of Spanish rule.’

Yanna Yannakakis - Emory University