Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to MagellanRandom House Publishing Group, 20þ/11þ/2013 - 720 ãä ÇáÕÝÍÇÊ From one of the greatest historians of the Spanish world, here is a fresh and fascinating account of Spain’s early conquests in the Americas. Hugh Thomas’s magisterial narrative of Spain in the New World has all the characteristics of great historical literature: amazing discoveries, ambition, greed, religious fanaticism, court intrigue, and a battle for the soul of humankind. Hugh Thomas shows Spain at the dawn of the sixteenth century as a world power on the brink of greatness. Her monarchs, Fernando and Isabel, had retaken Granada from Islam, thereby completing restoration of the entire Iberian peninsula to Catholic rule. Flush with success, they agreed to sponsor an obscure Genoese sailor’s plan to sail west to the Indies, where, legend purported, gold and spices flowed as if they were rivers. For Spain and for the world, this decision to send Christopher Columbus west was epochal—the dividing line between the medieval and the modern. Spain’s colonial adventures began inauspiciously: Columbus’s meagerly funded expedition cost less than a Spanish princess’s recent wedding. In spite of its small scale, it was a mission of astounding scope: to claim for Spain all the wealth of the Indies. The gold alone, thought Columbus, would fund a grand Crusade to reunite Christendom with its holy city, Jerusalem. The lofty aspirations of the first explorers died hard, as the pursuit of wealth and glory competed with the pursuit of pious impulses. The adventurers from Spain were also, of course, curious about geographical mysteries, and they had a remarkable loyalty to their country. But rather than bridging earth and heaven, Spain’s many conquests bore a bitter fruit. In their search for gold, Spaniards enslaved “Indians” from the Bahamas and the South American mainland. The eloquent protests of Bartolomé de las Casas, here much discussed, began almost immediately. Columbus and other Spanish explorers—Cortés, Ponce de León, and Magellan among them—created an empire for Spain of unsurpassed size and scope. But the door was soon open for other powers, enemies of Spain, to stake their claims. Great men and women dominate these pages: cardinals and bishops, priors and sailors, landowners and warriors, princes and priests, noblemen and their determined wives. Rivers of Gold is a great story brilliantly told. More significant, it is an engrossing history with many profound—often disturbing—echoes in the present. |
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ÇáÕÝÍÉ 15
... Crown. But what about the promising heir to the throne of Aragon, Isabel's second cousin, Fernando, who himself had a good claim to the throne of Castile and with whom a marriage might mean a union of Spanish crowns? In the meantime ...
... Crown. But what about the promising heir to the throne of Aragon, Isabel's second cousin, Fernando, who himself had a good claim to the throne of Castile and with whom a marriage might mean a union of Spanish crowns? In the meantime ...
ÇáÕÝÍÉ 18
... Crown depended less on it, for it had alternative sources of money. That Cortes was inadequate as a legislative power,'1 yet despite that Castile was growing richer. The King, hearing of the marriage plans of his half-sister Isabel ...
... Crown depended less on it, for it had alternative sources of money. That Cortes was inadequate as a legislative power,'1 yet despite that Castile was growing richer. The King, hearing of the marriage plans of his half-sister Isabel ...
ÇáÕÝÍÉ 20
... Crown, the Count of Benavente. In 1470, it seemed that they held only Medina del Campo and Avila, and even there they seemed insecure. Enrique disinherited Isabel and again declared his daughter, Juana, his heir. He tore up the ...
... Crown, the Count of Benavente. In 1470, it seemed that they held only Medina del Campo and Avila, and even there they seemed insecure. Enrique disinherited Isabel and again declared his daughter, Juana, his heir. He tore up the ...
ÇáÕÝÍÉ 21
... Crown of Castile was vested in the Queen. But it was agreed that Fernando and Isabel could jointly issue decrees, and approve coins and sign papers. Fernando's name was to precede that of the Queen in state documents, but her coat of ...
... Crown of Castile was vested in the Queen. But it was agreed that Fernando and Isabel could jointly issue decrees, and approve coins and sign papers. Fernando's name was to precede that of the Queen in state documents, but her coat of ...
ÇáÕÝÍÉ 23
... crown of glory . . . for, through these works and considerations, you will preserve, like the eagle [ the symbol of St. John the Evangelist, whom Isabel had adopted as an inspiratioii|, the strength and vigor ol your youth. Renew your ...
... crown of glory . . . for, through these works and considerations, you will preserve, like the eagle [ the symbol of St. John the Evangelist, whom Isabel had adopted as an inspiratioii|, the strength and vigor ol your youth. Renew your ...
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11 | |
27 | |
45 | |
70 | |
A white stretch of land | 85 |
7 Tears in the royal eyes | 99 |
They love their neighbors as themselves | 108 |
9 We concede the islands and lands discovered by you | 116 |
Book Six CISNEROS | 354 |
King Fernando He is dead | 357 |
Go back and see what is happening | 375 |
Book Seven CHARLES KING AND EMPEROR | 394 |
The best place in the world for blacks | 397 |
It is clear as day | 414 |
I was moved to act by a natural compassion | 424 |
For empire conies from God alone | 435 |
As if in their own country | 126 |
4 To course oer better waters 183 | 182 |
15 The greatest good that we can wish for | 201 |
Teach them and indoctrinate them with good customs | 218 |
17 Children must constantly obey their parents | 239 |
You ought to send one hundred black slaves | 251 |
And they leapt onto the land | 260 |
Call this other place Amerige | 269 |
Book Four DIEGO COLON | 285 |
A voice trying in the wilderness | 287 |
Infidels may justly defend themselves | 296 |
Without partiality love or hatred | 311 |
Book Five BALBOA AND PEDRAR1AS | 324 |
They took possession of all that sea 327 | 325 |
A man very advanced in excess | 341 |
The new golden land | 444 |
Book Eight NEW SPAIN | 458 |
I am to pass away like a faded flower | 461 |
This land is the richest in the world | 474 |
O our lord thou has suffered | 479 |
Go with good fortune | 495 |
The new emperor 513 | 512 |
From the poplars I come mama | 519 |
Family Trees | 539 |
The Costs of Becoming Emperor 1519 | 545 |
Glossary | 551 |
Notes | 575 |
Index | 661 |
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