Conquistador Voices (Vol II): The Spanish Conquest of the Americas as Recounted Largely by the Participants

by Kevin H. Siepel

The Spanish Conquest: What Really Happened?

If your knowledge of the so-called Spanish Conquest is limited to the shallow, neatly packaged narrative you found in your schoolbooks, be assured that you can get a real grip on these events now, because this two-volume series tells the tale from the viewpoint of the people who were actually there--including, in some cases, native peoples. It reads like the written version of a modern film documentary, with newly translated 500-year-old "sound bites" stitched together by the author-narrator in such a way as to create a seamless and compelling story.
In these two volumes you will find neither a defense of the conquistadors nor a politically correct polemic against them. The author has made every effort to avoid moralizing on these events, but simply to recount them, with minimal commentary, using the best sources available. Moral judgments are left to the reader.
Volume I opens with the four voyages of Christopher Columbus, offering new insights into this man's complex character. It then explores in lavish detail (some of which is supplied by the Aztecs) the conquest of Mexico by Hernán Cortés. In Volume II the reader is taken into the high Andes with the brazen Pizarro brothers, into the wilds of the Texas and Mexican desert with Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, and along a trail of successive misfortunes with the expedition of Hernando de Soto--through today's Florida, Georgia, South and North Carolina, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, and Texas.
Conquistador Voices is a one-stop layman's summary of this epic period, delving into persons and events we still talk about today. Order a copy for yourself or other history reader now.
Maps, index, informational footnotes, and a brief bibliography are found in each volume.

Genres: History

430 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 12, 2015

About the author

Kevin H. Siepel writes on personal, historical, and environmental themes. His most recent work is the two-volume Conquistador Voices, a fresh look at the Spanish Conquest of the Americas that makes extensive use of eyewitness and first-person accounts by conquistadors or others to whom the account may have been dictated. The five personages covered in these two volumes are Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortes, Francisco Pizarro, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, and Hernando de Soto.
The author’s benchmark Rebel: The Life and Times of John Singleton Mosby (St. Martin’s, DaCapo, University of Nebraska Press) has proven durable, as has his biography of a western New York state pioneer, which also broke new ground.
Siepel’s essays and articles have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, Foreign Service Journal, Civil War, Wild West, two Chicken Soup for the Soul volumes, at www.wordworth.com, and elsewhere. One of his Monitor essays was translated into several languages and published worldwide by Readers Digest.
Siepel speaks and teaches Spanish.

Reviews

[Forrest · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really liked this book. The author digs into a lot of detailed history that most people never hear about—everything from the brutal conquest of the Inca to the insane survival story of Cabeza de Vaca. It doesn’t sugarcoat anything, and you get a raw, honest look at how things really played out. The depth and firsthand accounts make it worth reading.

Acts of cruelty and barbarism were inflicted by all parties involved. That said, there were also moments of mercy—some native peoples showed kindness to the invading conquistadors, even though it wasn’t always returned. A few Spaniards openly lamented the cruelty their fellow countrymen inflicted on the Inca.

After the bloody civil war between the Pizarro brothers and their rivals, some Spanish officials appointed by the Crown did try to bring an end to the chaos. They aimed to dismantle the Pizarro grip on power, improve the treatment of native Peruvians, and even restrict or abolish slavery. Still, based on the conquistadors’ own accounts, it’s clear that the brutality of the Spanish far exceeded anything done by the Inca. Unlike in Mexico—where Cortez’s men were horrified by the widespread human sacrifice among the Aztecs—the Inca didn’t engage in such rituals. However, their treatment of rival tribes and internal enemies was still harsh and often brutal.

Many Inca ended up siding with different Spanish factions, either out of fear or a misguided hope for reward. Most weren’t compensated at all. Many were enslaved or faced more cruelty despite their loyalty.

Alvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca stands out as an exception. During his survival trek across the coastal regions of Texas and northern Mexico, he lived for years as a naked slave among nomadic tribes. Despite the abuse he endured, he treated the natives he met with respect and dignity. He became legendary among them as a healer—performing what they saw as miracles through Christian prayers and the sign of the Cross. One story even claims he brought a dead man back to life.

On a later royal expedition aimed at reinforcing the colonial mission between Asunción and Buenos Aires, Cabeza de Vaca—by then a governor—refused to let his men exploit native women. That decision enraged many in his ranks. His own men turned on him, dragged him back to Spain in chains, and got him convicted on trumped-up charges. He lost everything: his titles, his possessions, and his reputation.

[TRE · Rating 4 out of 5]

This volume still has the problems of the first one - liberal author that claims to let conquistadors speak for themselves, won't shut up about his own bias - but it does feel like he committed this error less. However, the two examples where he does it are more glaring; i.e. he does it less in this volume, but to a greater effect.

The one of the two I really recall was when he claimed a certain tribe of Indians in Texas were doing the Christian thing for the Cabeza De Vaca expedition - in a kind of "epic ownage !!1 christians are FAKE, pagans are BETTER christians !!1" shoehorned lib/Nu Atheist narrative - because of how they saw their small band of survivors and took them in...while on the next page the "good deed" was actually just keeping the surviving members of the expedition as live-in slaves lmao yeah, epic wholesome "good samaritan" chungus you got there, you freaking idiot

Other than that, this volume goes into greater detail about expeditions and characters you really don't know much about aside from their names, like Cabeza De Vaca and De Soto (who Siepel mysteriously calls Soto for some reason throughout the book).

Both volumes are a great introduction to these complex, dynamic and flawed men who did truly great and awesome things (in the truest definition of those words), and how it's such a shame that this material is going unused when it comes to TV and movies. Literally every single one mentioned from Cortes and Pizarro (& Co.) to Cabeza De Vaca and De Soto - and even ones not mentioned like Coronado and Balboa - would be worthy of a fully fleshed out mini-series, if not movie with sequels.

Really great content despite the compiler.

[Private Account · Rating 5 out of 5]

My eight year old loved this book and volume 1. I did as well. I wish all history books were done in this way. Also, I had no idea how much I didn't know about the Spanish experience exploring and conquering the Americas.

[David Shaw · Rating 5 out of 5]

Volume two was just as interesting and epic as the first. Filled with, mostly, first hand accounts of brutal and heroic adventures with limited commentary. The narration was also good.