Heroic endeavour or diaster of hemispheric proportions? What is certain is that Columbus's discovery of the New World resulted in biological and cultural exchanges unprecedented in the history of human populations.This volume brings together 11 scholars - from both sides of the Atantic and from the disciplines of history, archaeology, anthropology, geography and biology - to discuss the nature of the European conquest and its consequences.A major them is the complex process by which Europeans and Amerindians adapted to create new criollo cultures which are distinctively American: the successess and failures of this process are evident in Latin America today.The multidisciplinary scope of this volume makes a major contribution to our understanding of the enormous changes that followed Columbus' expedition.