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El águila y el dragón. Desmesura europea y mundialización en el siglo XVI (Historia)
The eagle and the dragon. European disproportion and globalization in the sixteenth century is a historical comparison of the conquest of Mexico and China by the Spanish and Portuguese respectively. Through the analysis of forms of government, infrastructure, geography and society, Gruzinski confronts the two civilizations that had contact with the expansionist machinery of the Iberian Peninsula and through this comparison shows the reaction of each civilization against it. The author analyses how the Aztec eagle got knelt and how the Chinese dragon resisted before the Europeans and the implications that these reactions had for a global history of the XVI century.
- GenresHistoryNonfiction
368 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1994
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
June 14, 2021
De los mejores libros que he leído de historia hasta el momento.
La lectura es muy amena y sencilla, nada compleja, los capítulos son cortos y concisos rara vez se siente que el autor se extienda de más.
Sobre los capítulos, se pueden leer, inclusive, de manera independiente, aborda temas muy interesante que aveces no son tratados en los textos sobre la conquista de América como la situación previa del Mesoamérica antes de la llegada de los Castellanos.
Las temáticas de los capítulos son atractivas, dado que se habla de temas como la forma en que los mexicas y Chinos veían a los intrusos, la importancia de los cañones en este conflicto, como eran descritas las ciudades, que sabía nativos de los conquistadores.
Obviamente, el fuerte de este libro, es la perspectivas comparada, Gruzinski, aporta algo muy interesante y es analizar el porqué los aztecas si cayeron ante los españoles, y como no, lo hicieron los Chinos ante los portugueses.
La relevancia que se le da china permite apreciar otra óptica, en la que esté bastó y desarrollado imperio moldeo en gran parte aquello que llamamos "modernidad". El sueño de conquistar o comerciar con china nunca se apaga, siempre estará latente.
En fin, un libro recomendado para todos aquellos que quieren una mirada renovada de la mundialización ibérica, claro, desde una perspectiva global. Además de alentar a investigar otros fenómenos desde una perspectiva comparada, como por ejemplo la conquista de las Filipinas. Brasil, América del Norte o África.
La lectura es muy amena y sencilla, nada compleja, los capítulos son cortos y concisos rara vez se siente que el autor se extienda de más.
Sobre los capítulos, se pueden leer, inclusive, de manera independiente, aborda temas muy interesante que aveces no son tratados en los textos sobre la conquista de América como la situación previa del Mesoamérica antes de la llegada de los Castellanos.
Las temáticas de los capítulos son atractivas, dado que se habla de temas como la forma en que los mexicas y Chinos veían a los intrusos, la importancia de los cañones en este conflicto, como eran descritas las ciudades, que sabía nativos de los conquistadores.
Obviamente, el fuerte de este libro, es la perspectivas comparada, Gruzinski, aporta algo muy interesante y es analizar el porqué los aztecas si cayeron ante los españoles, y como no, lo hicieron los Chinos ante los portugueses.
La relevancia que se le da china permite apreciar otra óptica, en la que esté bastó y desarrollado imperio moldeo en gran parte aquello que llamamos "modernidad". El sueño de conquistar o comerciar con china nunca se apaga, siempre estará latente.
En fin, un libro recomendado para todos aquellos que quieren una mirada renovada de la mundialización ibérica, claro, desde una perspectiva global. Además de alentar a investigar otros fenómenos desde una perspectiva comparada, como por ejemplo la conquista de las Filipinas. Brasil, América del Norte o África.
March 22, 2016
Mostrar um paralelo entre a descoberta da China e do Novo Mundo pelos portugueses e pelos espanhóis so pode seduzir o leitor, especialmente quando essa ideia é desenvolvida com talentos de escritor e conhecimentos de historiador. O encontro dos ibéricos com os impérios que eles querem conquistar é descrito seguindo a lenta progressão de Cortes para Tenochtitlan e de Tomé Pires para Pequim, cada um analisando as forcas e as fraquezas de terras que eles já imaginam submissas a seus soberanos. A grande expectativa criada pelo autor fica porem sem resposta na segunda parte do livro que não consegue explicar porque Cortes transformou os astecas em súditos do Carlos Quinto, enquanto os portugueses fracassaram. A China já era demais extensa e povoada? O Portugal era muito pequeno ? Faltou ao Tomé Pires a coragem e o gênio de Cortés? O desenvolvimento cultural e econômico da China deixava ilusória qualquer tentativa de colonização? Gruzinski não se atreve a tentar uma explicação a separação dos destinos da Águia e do Dragão, uma explicação que ajudaria não somente a entender melhor a nossa Historia, mas também o presente e o futuro comparados da America Latina e da Asia!
April 19, 2016
Um interessante esforço de compreender os elementos mercantis, religiosos, colonialistas, bélicos e culturais da expansão européia no início do século XVI nos quadros de uma globalização incipiente. Como o próprio Gruzinski nos adverte, a grande dificuldade que esse tipo de empreitada oferece ao historiador é controlar nosso próprio conhecimento do devir das coisas e das interpretações a posteriori que abarrotam nossas memórias. Nesse sentido, não se trata simplesmente de assumir um dos lados das dicotomias históricas maniqueístas entre visão dos vencedores e dos vencidos, mas sim perspectivar, de forma quase etnográfica, os pontos de vista de castelhanos, portugueses, mexicas, chineses, tlaxcaltecas, jesuítas e as divisões internas a esses diferentes atores sociohistóricos analisados nesse interessante livro.
August 24, 2017
This book is a very interesting comparison of the simultaneous Iberian encounters with Mexico and China during the age of European exploration. Gruzinski seeks to explore why the Iberians were able to conquer the Mexicans but failed to even make headway in China, and he does this by exploring the perspective from both sides of the coin, though there is a bit more information on the Chinese than the Mexican, most likely because of a scarcity of sources. This is a great book on which to base a world history class that, while shaped in pat by European actions, equally presents the viewpoint of non-Western actors. Can't wait to bring the arguments and information in this book before my students and see how they react.
February 2, 2021
Escribí una reseña de este libro que se puede leer aquí: https://www.academia.edu/43492968/Res...
August 11, 2019
To those who are interested in understand the globalization process, this book is a must!
July 12, 2025
An interesting book that covers, side by side, the simultaneous history of the Spanish in the New World and of the Portuguese in China (and later, Spanish). The New World, of course, was thought to be China/Asia initially, so it makes sense to cover that history - and the reasons why Europeans would want to find better navigation routes to China - alongside the history of the Portuguese in China in the same time period. Whereas the Spanish conquered the New World, however, similar dreams of commercial dominance and conquest were futile in China.
The author draws several parallels and contrasts between the two stories: whereas the Spanish saw the indigenous peoples of the America as barbarians who practiced cannibalism, the Chinese viewed the Portuguese as barbarians who practiced cannibalism. Tenochtitlan and Beijing were some of the greatest cities of the world at the time. In Mexico, the indigenous peoples as a whole were formidable military adversaries who knew how to fight, with their downfall being the lack of more advanced military technology alongside the spread of epidemics they had no immunity to. The Chinese people as a whole, on the other hand, were not fighters, as ordinary people had no weapons; however, they were also not vulnerable to European conquest in the same way that the indigenous peoples of the New World were.
The Portuguese made contact with the Chinese around 1511 in Malacca, and then in 1513 and 1517 in China proper, in the latter instance sending out the first European diplomatic mission to China. The Portuguese effort was much more state-driven than the Spanish, with King Manuel I looking to eliminate competition in the Chinese market by gaining a foothold port in China. Tomé Pires led the diplomatic mission to Beijing, where he eventually (after a long wait) was able to travel to the imperial court. The Chinese ban on foreign shipping, however, resulted in skirmishes with the Portuguese and with the imprisonment and execution of the diplomatic mission. Gruzinski makes much of some of the Portuguese visions of conquering China, but there appears to have been no real plan for doing so, though there most definitely was later in the century.
As the Spanish conquered the Philippines, some of them saw the next natural point of conquest as just across the sea in China. (Supposedly locating the capital of the Philippines in Manila rather than Cebu was in part motivated by the desire to expand into China.) In 1569, both the Spanish official and overseer of the Philippines treasury Andrés de Mirandaola and the Augustinian order called for the conquest of China. The Council of the Indies, however, found that laughable, and Madrid shut down any further discussion.
The author draws several parallels and contrasts between the two stories: whereas the Spanish saw the indigenous peoples of the America as barbarians who practiced cannibalism, the Chinese viewed the Portuguese as barbarians who practiced cannibalism. Tenochtitlan and Beijing were some of the greatest cities of the world at the time. In Mexico, the indigenous peoples as a whole were formidable military adversaries who knew how to fight, with their downfall being the lack of more advanced military technology alongside the spread of epidemics they had no immunity to. The Chinese people as a whole, on the other hand, were not fighters, as ordinary people had no weapons; however, they were also not vulnerable to European conquest in the same way that the indigenous peoples of the New World were.
The Portuguese made contact with the Chinese around 1511 in Malacca, and then in 1513 and 1517 in China proper, in the latter instance sending out the first European diplomatic mission to China. The Portuguese effort was much more state-driven than the Spanish, with King Manuel I looking to eliminate competition in the Chinese market by gaining a foothold port in China. Tomé Pires led the diplomatic mission to Beijing, where he eventually (after a long wait) was able to travel to the imperial court. The Chinese ban on foreign shipping, however, resulted in skirmishes with the Portuguese and with the imprisonment and execution of the diplomatic mission. Gruzinski makes much of some of the Portuguese visions of conquering China, but there appears to have been no real plan for doing so, though there most definitely was later in the century.
As the Spanish conquered the Philippines, some of them saw the next natural point of conquest as just across the sea in China. (Supposedly locating the capital of the Philippines in Manila rather than Cebu was in part motivated by the desire to expand into China.) In 1569, both the Spanish official and overseer of the Philippines treasury Andrés de Mirandaola and the Augustinian order called for the conquest of China. The Council of the Indies, however, found that laughable, and Madrid shut down any further discussion.
September 12, 2025
The subject of this book is extremely interesting: while the europeans (or Iberians, more precisely) arrived both in America and China at around the same time, the results of those expeditions couldn't have been more different.
Like I said, the topic is interesting but I found the book repetitive at times and, at others felt that I was getting too much information (and not all of it necessary). While I enjoyed most of it, at times I found it hard to keep up with names and terms and this made it difficult to finish some chapters.
I'd recommend it for history buffs and people who are extremely into the topic of European expansion in the 16th Century. Otherwise, I'd probably go for something lighter.
Like I said, the topic is interesting but I found the book repetitive at times and, at others felt that I was getting too much information (and not all of it necessary). While I enjoyed most of it, at times I found it hard to keep up with names and terms and this made it difficult to finish some chapters.
I'd recommend it for history buffs and people who are extremely into the topic of European expansion in the 16th Century. Otherwise, I'd probably go for something lighter.
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June 8, 2015Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews