A sweeping, authoritative history of 16th-century Spain and its legendary conquistadors, whose ambitious and morally contradictory campaigns propelled a small European kingdom to become one of the formidable empires in the world “The depth of research in this book is astonishing, but even more impressive is the analytical skill Cervantes applies. . . . [He] conveys complex arguments in delightfully simple language, and most importantly knows how to tell a good story.” —The Times (London) Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus's first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers that took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation as men who decimated ancient civilizations and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory. In Conquistadores, acclaimed Mexican historian Fernando Cervantes—himself a descendent of one of the conquistadors—cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to help us better understand the context that gave rise to the conquistadors' actions. Drawing upon previously untapped primary sources that include diaries, letters, chronicles, and polemical treatises, Cervantes immerses us in the late-medieval, imperialist, religious world of 16th-century Spain, a world as unfamiliar to us as the Indigenous peoples of the New World were to the conquistadors themselves. His thought-provoking, illuminating account reframes the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World and the half-century that irrevocably altered the course of history.

Letter Of Christopher Columbus To Rafael Sanchez, Written On Board The Caravel While Returning From His First Voyage has been considered by academicians and scholars of great significance and value to literature. This forms a part of the knowledge base for future generations. So that the book is never forgotten we have represented this book in a print format as the same form as it was originally first published. Hence any marks or annotations seen are left intentionally to preserve its true nature.

In 1492 what had only months before seemed an unlikely event actually took place in Seville. Through the cobbled streets, Christopher Columbus on his triumphant return after his first voyage to the 'Indies', paraded seven exotic-looking Indians who were accompanied by equally strange-looking green and yellow parrots. Imagine the confusion in the minds of these Indians as they walked through the city and the curiosity this spectacle had aroused among the local population for at this time, Europeans knew little about the people of Africa and Asia about whom they were largely informed by the travel literature of the 15th century. We should remember however that these 'Indians' were not from India, the place which Columbus had set out to discover and mistakenly believed he had reached. Fast forward almost five centuries to 1991 when I (the Grandson of an indentured labourer from India who had travelled to the West Indies to work on the sugar plantations) walked the streets of Seville on my way to deliver a Lecture at the University of Seville entitled: 'Towards 1992: Discovery... and Minorities in Europe.' I was born in Trinidad which was 'discovered' by Columbus on his third voyage to the New World, but I could not speak Spanish. Why? Therein lies a tale of the connection between language and Empire. European rivalry for colonial power resulted in Spanish Trinidad giving way to British Trinidad and so my direction of migration was to the 'Mother Country,' as Britain was then known. But as I became more knowledgeable about Queen Isabella, Columbus, Las Casas, Seville and Granada, I realised I was only partially educated for both Britain and Spain were important. My first visit to Spain the year before my Lecture had set in train a growing desire to see and learn more about the country. Thereafter, the idea of writing Isabella's Legacy emerged, took hold and propelled me to travel through Andalusia and later to Catalunya. Isabella's Legacy is a unique book, a rare interweaving of travel, memoir, history, cultures and identities; a journey of surprises - stunning impressions, a meditation on world history and significantly on contemporary Europe. Above all, it is a narrative not only of my discovery of Spain which, in turn, has led to self-discovery, but also a book which will hopefully enlighten and enchant the reader.

U.S. History is designed to meet the scope and sequence requirements of most introductory courses. The text provides a balanced approach to U.S. history, considering the people, events, and ideas that have shaped the United States from both the top down (politics, economics, diplomacy) and bottom up (eyewitness accounts, lived experience). U.S. History covers key forces that form the American experience, with particular attention to issues of race, class, and gender.

This unprecedented survey contains contributions from renowned scholars and illustrates the work of the Spanish masters Velázquez, El Greco, Goya and Picasso, and the British artists David Wilkie, David Roberts, John Phillip, Arthur Melville and David Bomberg This lavishly illustrated book celebrates the impact of Spanish culture on British art and collecting from the 1790s to the 1930s - the Napoleonic period to the Spanish Civil War. Spain is now a familiar and much-loved part of the British view of Europe, but in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was still relatively unknown. This book captures the excitement of this era, a time when Spain's architecture, customs, fashions and painting were 'discovered' and created a sensation in Britain. This unprecedented survey contains contributions from renowned scholars and illustrates the work of the Spanish masters Velázquez, El Greco, Murillo, Goya and Picasso, and the British artists David Wilkie, David Roberts, John Frederick Lewis, John Phillip, Arthur Melville and David Bomberg. AUTHOR: Dr David Howarth is a Reader in History of Art, Edinburgh University. He specialises in Spanish art and culture. and has also written extensively on the material culture of early modern Britain. He is co-guest curator (with Paul Stirton) of the forthcoming National Galleries of Scotland, 2009 International Festival exhibition, The Discovery of Spain. Paul Stirton is a Senior Lecturer in History of Art at the University of Glasgow, and visiting Professor at the Bard Graduate Center, New York. He is author (with Juliet Kinchin) of 'Is Mr Ruskin Living too Long?': Selected Writings of E.W. Godwin, Oxford, 2005. Michael Jacobs is a writer, art histiorian and hispanist. His many books include The Good and Simple Life: Artist colonies in Europe and America, Andalucia. He is a Senior Honorary Research Fellow of the Hispanics Department of the University of Glasgow. Dr Claudia Heide is a Visiting Lecturer in History of Art at Edinburgh University. She specialises in Islamic Spain. She co-edited a series of essays (Edinburgh University Press forthcoming) on Pascual Gayangos, the nineteenth century Spanish antiquarian and Arabist. Dr Nicholas Tromans is a Senior Lecturer in History of Art at Kingston University and a world authority on the Scottish painter Sir David Wilkie about whom he published a monograph entitled: David Wilkie: Painter of Everyday Life (Edinburgh University Press, 2007). He was recently catalogue editor for the Tate Britain exhibition on British Orientalist painting. Dr Hilary Macartney is a Lecturer in the Department of the Institute for Medieval Studies, University of Leeds. She is the world authority on Sir William Stirling Maxwell, the Victorian pioneer British art historian of Spanish painting. She has published extensively in both Britain and Spain on aspects of Spanish art and culture. ILLUSTRATIONS 140 colour & 20 b/w illustrations

Describes points of interest in each region of the country and recommends hotels and restaurants.