author
William R. (William Robert) Shepherd
1871–1934
A pioneering historian of Latin America and European expansion, he helped bring global history to a wider audience through his teaching and his widely used historical atlas. His work combined scholarship, cartography, and a strong interest in how nations and empires developed over time.
1 Audiobook
The Hispanic Nations of the New World: A Chronicle of Our Southern Neighbors
by William R. (William Robert) Shepherd
About the author
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, in 1871, William Robert Shepherd became an American historian and cartographer best known for his work on Latin America and European overseas expansion. He earned his Ph.D. at Columbia University in 1896, later studied in Berlin, and went on to teach history at Columbia.
Shepherd is especially remembered for his Historical Atlas, which appeared in several editions and introduced generations of readers to history through maps as well as narrative. He was also considered an early and important scholar of Latin American history at a time when that field was still taking shape in the United States.
He died in Berlin in 1934. Today, his reputation rests on both his scholarship and his gift for making large historical movements easier to see and understand.