These books, under the General Editorship of two of Britain's most distinguished scholars, John Morrill and David Cannadine, are intended primarily for students and academics. They tackle a wide range of significant historical issues in modern British, European and international history in concise volumes which combine a broad approach (setting out the current state of our knowledge in the area) with the author's own original research and judgements. This is the first full-length survey of Britain's role in Latin America as a whole from the early 1800's, the era of independence, to the 1950's, when the United States inherited Britain's economic hegemony in the region. The main body of the text gives a detailed analysis of Britain's relationship, politically and economically, with the newly independent states. It surveys the entire continent, but gives most attention throughout to the particular cases of Argentina, Brazil and Chile. It examines the aims and attitudes of British officials, merchants and investors through to the first World War, and explores the gradual decline in the British role thereafter.