Spanish Seaborne Empire

by John H. Parry

The Spanish empire in America was the first of the great seaborne empires of western Europe; it was for long the richest and the most formidable, the focus of envy, fear, and hatred. Its haphazard beginning dates from 1492; it was to last more than three hundred years before breaking up in the early nineteenth century in civil wars between rival generals and "liberators."

Available now for the first time in paperback is J. H. Parry's classic assessment of the impact of Spain on the Americas. Parry presents a broad picture of the conquests of Cortès and Pizarro and of the economic and social consequences in Spain of the effort to maintain control of vast holdings. He probes the complex administration of the empire, its economy, social structure, the influence of the Church, the destruction of the Indian cultures and the effect of their decline on Spanish policy. As we approach the quincentenary of Columbus's arrival in the Americas, Parry provides the historical basis for a new consideration of the former Spanish colonies of Latin America and the transformation of pre-Columbian cultures to colonial states.

Genres: History, Spanish History, Spain, European History, Nonfiction, Latin American History

435 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1966

About the author

John Horace Parry (J. H. Parry), a historian of the seas and the men who sailed them for trade and conquest, died Wednesday of a heart attack at his home in Cambridge, Mass. He was 68 years old.

Professor Parry came to this country from his native Britain in 1965 to join the history department of Harvard University as Gardiner Professor of Oceanic History and Affairs.

He was the author of 10 books chronicling the era of seaborne discoverers and traders from the 15th through 18th centuries. At the time of his death, he was preparing a book on the times of Captain Cook.

He was born April 26, 1914. He spent some student years at Harvard before earning his doctorate at Cambridge University in 1938. His academic career was interrupted by five years of service in the Royal Navy in World War II, and he was awarded the Order of the British Empire. Wrote on Spanish Empire

His first book, ''The Spanish Theory of Empire,'' was published while he was on naval duty in 1940. Among his more recent volumes published in this country was ''The Spanish Seaborne Empire'' in 1966, relating the exploits of Cortes, Pizarro and other conquistadors.

''The barbarous courage and the brutal splendor of the conquest are not scanted by Mr. Parry,'' Charles Poore wrote, reviewing the book in The New York Times. ''But he also gives us much more precise knowledge about what went on from day to day, what people ate, how they established wages for slavery and or peonage, and so on, than we get from the pageantry school of historians.''

Professor Parry's later books included ''The Discovery of the Sea'' (1974) and ''The Discovery of South America'' (1979). After his naval service, he became a tutor and lecturer at Cambridge and then taught at University College of the West Indies. He was a visiting professor of history at Harvard in the mid-1950's before serving for four years as principal of University College in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Before his 1965 return to Harvard, Professor Parry served at University College of Swansea, Wales, and as vice chancellor of the University of Wales.

He is survived by his wife, the former Joyce Carter; a son, Michael, and three daughters, Joanna, Katherine and Elizabeth.

Reviews

[Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is factually comprehensive for its size (but it does have some omissions that are unfortunate) and draws few conclusions. It lets the reader determine how and why Latin America developed the way it did culturally, religiously, militarily, politically, economically, academically and socially (to a lesser extent). It covers from around 1492 to the early 1800's, so it left me with many questions, especially about the individuals involved. The best part of the book is probably The Creole Revolt. The book inevitably "jumps around" from place to place and even century to century, which is dizzying but the author had to; some concepts were broken down topically, opposed to chronologically.

[Kevin · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book, written almost 60 years ago, covers a lot of ground. From Spain uniting after expelling the Moors to sponsoring the Italian Columbus on his journey to India, we know what happened after that. Parry's book goes into great detail about the various conquests, the near wipe out of the indigenous people largely through diseases and this created a manpower use as there wasn't enough people to work the mines, and so slavery began and the slave trade industry around it, involving the British and French. Plus covers the Spanish history as they go though the line of Hasburg kings before the Bourbons come along and the book ends with Napoleon, and the liberation of Latin America via Simon Bolivar and San Martin. I am sure there are more recently written books on this topic, but I have a far greater understanding of Spanish, European and Americas history from reading this book.

[Julio The Fox · Rating 5 out of 5]

The truly remarkable thing about the Spanish empire after 1492 is its longevity. Spain ruled the New World, thousands of miles away from Seville, for over three hundred years without a serious threat of internal insurrection by the indigenous or invasion from without. Spain's enemies, Britain, France, and Portugal, knew better than to wrestle with this leviathan. J.H.Parry masterfully explains the deep roots of Spanish hegemony from New Mexico to Patagonia, in land, law, language and religion, but also how that empire fed a Spanish aristocracy and monarchy that saw no need for change in 300 years, and proved unable to face the crisis of the late eighteenth century when all but Cuba and Puerto Rico were lost to "The Mother Fatherland".

[Michael Romo · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book manages to do great justice to the immensity of the subject. The size and scope of the Spanish seaborne empire was unparalleled as was the complexity involved in keeping it together. Somehow Spain managed to do so for the greater part of 400 years.

[Lauren Albert · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent & complex look at a complex Empire. Parry shows how the Empire came to take the structure(s) it did, how and why it disintegrated and many other things. Its relationship to trade, to the Church and to racial relations are all topics that Parry illuminates.

[David Newell · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastically interesting, floridly written and very informative. This book was a pleasure to read and easy to understand and digest.

This book hardly shows its age either, aside from a few anachronistic names there's very little here that doesn't stand the test of time.

[Kim]

The economic and social ramifications really struck me - maybe there is another empire that is going the way of the Spanish one on which the sun never set.