Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire from Columbus to Magellan

Spanish Empire #1

by Hugh Thomas

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 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 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 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 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.

Genres: History, Spain, Nonfiction, European History, World History, Spanish History, Politics

720 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, was a British historian and Hispanist.

Thomas was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before taking a BA in 1953 at Queens' College, Cambridge. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. His 1961 book The Spanish Civil War won the Somerset Maugham Award for 1962. A significantly revised and enlarged third edition was published in 1977. Cuba, or the Pursuit of Freedom (1971) is a book of over 1,500 pages tracing the history of Cuba from Spanish colonial rule until the Cuban Revolution. Thomas spent 10 years researching the contents of this book.

Thomas was married to the former Vanessa Jebb, daughter of the first Acting United Nations Secretary-General Gladwyn Jebb.

From 1966 to 1975 Thomas was Professor of History at the University of Reading. He was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in London from 1979 to 1991, as an ally of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He became a life peer as Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, of Notting Hill in Greater London in letters patent dated 16 June 1981. He has written pro-European political works, as well as histories. He is also the author of three novels.

Thomas's The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870 "begins with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, before Columbus's voyage to the New World, and ends with the last gasp of the slave trade, long since made illegal elsewhere, in Cuba and Brazil, twenty-five years after the American Emancipation Proclamation," according to the summary on the book jacket.

Thomas should not be confused with two other historical writers: W. Hugh Thomas writes about Nazi Germany and Hugh M. Thomas is an American who writes on English history.

Reviews

[Charlie Parker · Rating 4 out of 5]

El imperio español

Completísima obra de Hugh Thomas sobre un período de unos treinta años en el que se gestó lo que sería el imperio español.

Desde la toma de Granada poniendo fin a la ocupación musulmana hasta poco después de la conquista de la Nueva España.

La obra sirve para poner en orden los impresionantes acontecimientos que tuvieron lugar en esa época. Los preparativos del primer viaje de Colón, el primer contacto y los sucesivos. Así como los primeros pasos de la colonización en las islas y luego en el continente.

Una crónica completa de los sucesos, tanto en las indias como en Europa con los Reyes católicos y luego con Carlos I.

No se le escapa nada a Thomas, bastante escrupuloso con los datos y personajes que intervinieron o tuvieron más o menos protagonismo en la época. Eso hace que a veces la lectura sea farragosa con tantas fechas y nombres.

Obra de pura historia para refrescar y poner en orden el descubrimiento y posterior colonización de América. Se completa con documentos originales, así como imágenes y árboles genealógicos.

[Charles Haywood · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Rivers Of Gold” is not for the faint of heart. If you are looking for a compact treatment of the early Spanish empire in the New World, this isn’t it. If you are looking for a book that bewails the fate of the indigenous inhabitants of the New World at the hands of the evil Spanish monsters, this isn’t it either. But if you are looking for a voluminous and detailed study of the Spanish conquest of the Americas, that treats the Spanish as they were, a combination of varying proportions within each man of hero and ruthless killer, this is the book for you.

Thomas starts at the beginning, describing the final stages of the Reconquista of Spain from the Muslim invaders who had occupied it for hundreds of years, and takes the reader through Magellan’s voyage around the world (not that Magellan himself completed it). The book covers roughly a thirty-year period. Throughout the book, Thomas gives the reader a real flavor of medieval Spain, its colonies, and the way its people thought.

Four themes run through the book: the Spanish obsession with both riches and spreading the Gospel; the courage of the explorers; the outsized role of former Jews; and the key role of powerful women. (Fortunately, the Spanish Inquisition is NOT a theme. The book only lightly touches on the Inquisition and does not obsess about it—while the Inquisition is frequently (and ignorantly) brought up today, originally due to anti-Catholic sentiment of 19th Century Protestant historians and today due to generalized anti-Christian bigotry, it was actually relatively trivial and unimportant in the overall sweep of Spanish history, not to mention world history.)

As to the theme of riches, the title “Rivers of Gold” refers to one of the many over-optimistic assessments of the New World sent back to Spain’s monarchs by explorers. Thomas notes that “the physical attraction of gold exercised men’s minds in those days in a way impossible now to recapture.” This is evident from Spanish behavior in the book—sure, explorers wanted to get rich, just like people today, but the totalizing obsession seems odd by our standards. Gold simply had a talismanic pull for men of those times, in a way it does not now.

Equally strange to most people of modern mind is the obsession with bringing Christianity to the pagans, which all the Spanish explorers regarded as a holy and critical goal, much more important than preserving the lives, property or freedom of indigenous people. The Spaniards believed strongly they were giving eternal life to those otherwise damned. Failure to understand this makes much Spanish colonial behavior incomprehensible. It all seems like a lot of cognitive dissonance to us—Spanish explorers raped, killed, enslaved and stole, all the while regularly going to Mass and Confession, and congratulating themselves on their behavior because they were bringing God and civilization to the pagans. As Thomas says, “They made their conquests with a clear conscience, certain that they were taking with them civilization, believing that they would in the end permit these new people to leave behind their backward conditions. Who can doubt now that they were right to denounce the idea of religion based on human sacrifice or the simple worship of the sun or the rain?” (Of course, many today actually do doubt exactly that.)

That’s also not to say that many Spaniards didn’t grasp the cognitive dissonance of such behavior. Very early in the conquests Spanish religious, led by the famous Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas, aggressively attacked their own people for their mistreatment of the indigenous people and demanded, with intermittent success, that the Spanish monarchs put a stop to it. As one priest in Hispaniola castigated his parishioners, “[The voice of Christ crying in the wilderness] says that you are in mortal sin, that you are living and may die in it, because of the cruelty and tyranny which you use in dealing with these innocent people. . . . Are these not men? Have they not rational souls? Are you not bound to love them as you love yourselves?” The result was a set of very public royal inquiries, which alleviated bad behavior to a certain extent, though royal decrees to treat the indigenous inhabitants better were widely ignored. Thomas notes “We should recognize that this debate was unique in the history of empires. Did Rome, Athens or Macedon inspire such a debate in respect of their conquests?” But ultimately this did little for the indigenous peoples, and as Thomas also notes, one unintended response was to import more black slaves, about whom (oddly, given that racism in the modern sense didn’t exist) there were fewer such concerns, thus beginning the Atlantic slave trade.

The second theme is Spanish heroism. I am surprised “Rivers Of Gold” has not come in for more criticism, given that it for the most part treats the Spaniards as courageous heroes, in this day of the uneducated trying to change Columbus Day to World Genocide Day or some such drivel. In a typical aside, Thomas refers to Francisco Pizarro, conqueror of the Incas (in a later period than this book—here he was a minor player in Balboa’s expedition to the Pacific), as “a lawyer, and a great leader of the future.” And Thomas notes of the many small expeditions exploring Central and South America, many of which did not return, “These long forgotten journeys by unremembered conquistadors into remote jungles constituted an extraordinary mixture of courage and cruelty.” Such characterizations occur throughout the book.

The Spanish were courageous, of course. That’s something impossible to deny. But it’s no longer fashionable to state that truth—rather, it’s fashionable to lionize the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas as some kind of beatific exemplars, without inquiring into their actual behaviors. But there was nothing particularly virtuous about those inhabitants (and in many cases much evil, as with the Aztecs, who aside from mass human sacrifice only occupied the land they did because they had exterminated the prior inhabitants a hundred years before). The indigenous people ended up on the wrong side of history when confronted with Westerners with superior technology, superior political and other organization, and courageous Spanish ambition.

The third theme is the role of converted Jews in the creation of the Spanish empire. As is well known, Ferdinand and Isabella supposedly expelled Spain’s Jews in 1492. But contrary to popular modern understanding, the monarchs’ decree wasn’t intended to be an expulsion at all. It was intended to force the conversion of Spain’s Jews to Christianity, on pain of expulsion, due to a fear that Jews who had already converted were being “corrupted” by those who continued as Jews. Up to that time, Jewish practice, like Muslim practice, was largely tolerated (though, as in Muslim lands, to a greater or lesser extent at different times and different places). Ferdinand and Isabella ended that toleration.

To the monarchs’ surprise, many Jews chose to leave instead of convert. But most Jews chose to convert, including several famous rabbis and other very prominent Jews. This resulted in an amazing number of very powerful men in Spain being “conversos,” that is, converted Jews. Thomas identifies such men, and they are everywhere. They are priests, bishops, explorers, financiers, writers, and merchants, including some of the most powerful men in the land. So while the conversion decree is often compared to modern ethnic cleansing, it wasn’t that at all—the medieval, and the ancient, mind cared about creed, not color or background. A former Jew wasn’t a Jew at all (unless accused, correctly or not, of still being a secret Jew and executed, as happened to thousands of Jews over the years), and while he sometimes was under a cloud of suspicion (conversos were not supposed to be settlers in the New World, a rule honored in the breach, like so many royal rules), he was otherwise regarded as no different than any other member of society.

The fourth theme of the book is the critical role played by powerful women. The most important, of course, was Isabel of Castile, co-monarch with Ferdinand of Aragon, the monarchs who ultimately sponsored Columbus. She is justly famous and covered extensively in this book. But another woman, lesser known but nearly as important, was Margaret of Austria, Princess of Asturia and Duchess of Savory, who seems to crop up everywhere, perhaps most importantly as the aunt and formative influence on the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V, grandson of Ferdinand and Isabella. She also governed the Netherlands (a Hapsburg province) and played a key role in the growth of Hapsburg power. And other women crop up as important players throughout the book, from noble Spaniards to Malinche/Doña Marina, the Mayan woman who served as translator to Cortes in his conquest of the Aztecs (translating Spanish to Maya, which was then translated by Azetcs into Nahuatl, the Aztec language).

Thomas pretty obviously knows everything there is to know about this period of Spanish history. The endless names, dates and places can become daunting. This book is only one of a trilogy, and Thomas also wrote a separate fantastic history of Cortes (“Conquest”). But honestly, sometimes reading “Rivers Of Gold” is a bit of a slog. I plan to read the other two volumes of the trilogy, but I think I need a pretty long recovery period first. It’s a great book, nonetheless, and I highly recommend it to expand the reader’s knowledge.

[Richard · Rating 4 out of 5]

There is an anthropological theory that one of the key genetic mutations which distinguish humans from other creatures, including those human-like Neanderthals which shared the earth with us many thousands of years ago, is the one behind the desire to travel to unknown places for the purpose of finding out what is there, even if the journey requires the suspension of the fear of immediate death. This restlessness, combined with potential payoffs of wealth, power and glory can be a powerful motivating factor. By the fifteenth century, this quest took the form of daring sea captains and crews providing feedback on improvement of the state of the art in ship building, enhanced with the backing of the first European countries which saw the benefit of finding a way to travel to Asia to deal directly with the suppliers of spices and other goods coveted in Europe since ancient times. The Portuguese became the early practitioners of this sea trade.

There was speculation among some cartographers and experienced sailors that sailing Westward from Europe would be a much more direct path to the Spice Islands than following the Portuguese trade routes around Africa. The primary booster of this route was Christopher Columbus, a highly experienced and ambitious Italian sailor who wanted to get backing to try out this theory. He becomes the first significant character in this book by a history professor from the University of Reading, in England. Hugh S. Thomas has planned this book to cover the first thirty years of Spanish exploration in the New World, to be followed by two more volumes on the subject.

So, although Columbus was not the only key figure involved in this exploration and conquest, his story is the most compelling because it initiated the European conquest of the Americas. He had spent six years knocking about Spain, following Ferdinando and Isabell from court to court, trying to convince the Spanish bureaucracy delegated to review his claims, to give the Royals the green light to authorize funding for his project. He had to operate in an atmosphere of national priorities consisting of a desire to make the Spanish state the most Christian of nations. The Royal couple's desire to purge the kingdom of infidels, leading ultimately to the expulsion of Jews, followed by the Muslims, would not have been anathema to Columbus; next to finding a western trade route, he was a strong believer in the liberation of Jerusalem.

The Spanish Royals were in enough need to find an Asian sea route outside the Portuguese-dominated sea lanes to give Columbus the three small ships and eighty sailors he needed to make his exploration. It was easy to promise him rewards, including the position of Admiral of the Seas, if he succeeded. This would suit his ego and not cost Spain much, since there was no Spanish navy west of the Canary Islands. He returned to Spain with evidence of his discovery of a far-off land, including seven or eight living of the two-dozen Taino natives he had kidnapped. It was said that the Royal couple wept when he was presented to them in Barcelona in 1493. He would make three more voyages to the Americas. He was given the governership of all Spanish possessions in the New World. He led a remarkable life in this position, spending much of his time sailing throughout the Caribbean, the first European to see many of its islands, and naming all that he discovered. He was assisted in his administrative duties by his brothers Bartholeme and Diego. Many colonists were arriving all the time to the main island of Hispaniola (Haiti and the Dominican Republic today) and the Columbus brothers accumulated many enemies. Columbus was accused of tyrannical rule and incompetence; how much of this was based on jealousy, or on facts, is open to dispute. The astonishing result, however, was that this heroic explorer was trundled back to Spain in chains eight years after his celebrated first trip. The Spanish rulers released him and allowed him to sail back across the ocean on his fourth voyage, in 1502, but he would remain replaced as governor by Francisco de Bobadilla. Continuing his pattern of sailing and exploring, he and his crew would be grounded on Jamaica after their ship was damaged by a storm, and would remain stranded there for a year.

The most colorful group to travel to the New World after 1492 was the Conquistadores. These soldiers of fortune were motivated by the ever-present rumors of gold and silver to be obtained from deposits in the ground or to be looted from the natives. The one who would gain the most fame was Hernan Cortes, who arrived as a colonist in Hispaniola at age eighteen, in 1504. He would become involved in the conquest, from the natives, of Hispaniola and Cuba and would rise in social status, being granted an "encomienda", or Crown Charter, to control or own native laborers. He was named captain of the third Spanish expedition to the mainland, in 1519. He exceeded the ruthlessness he had earlier shown in Cuba by enlisting thousands of natives as allies against their feared and despised Aztec overlords and conquered Mexico. He operated in open mutiny to the Governor of Cuba, who had ordered his expedition recalled, and was rewarded by the Spanish government with the title of Viceroy.

Not all Spaniards remained impassive to the brutalities against the natives. The missionary Bartholeme de las Casas and the Dominican monk Fray Montesino voiced their abhorrence of this treatment. Ferdinando and Isabell had expressed their desire from the outset that natives should be treated humanely, while being led to education in Christianity; their benevolence included even the encouragement of intermarriage with Spanish colonists. Their sentiments were echoed by their grandson and successor, Charles I, after he heard from de las Casas of the cruelties being meted out against the Indians. This benevolence didn't survive intact across the distance of the ocean. The colonists on the ground needed a captive population to perform the dangerous and back-breaking labor in the mines and fields. Even Columbus had resisted religious conversion of the natives, since it was illegal to enslave anyone who had been baptized into Christianity.

A figure who would be remembered for his name if not for his contributions was Columbus' Italian contemporary, Amerigo Vespucci. The Florentine was not a sailor. He did, however, serve as an official observer on the voyage captained by Pedro Cabral which discovered Brazil for Portugal in 1500. He became famous after he served on a subsequent Portuguese expedition, in which he ultimately became the leader, which traveled much further South than Cabral, proving that South America was a continent and not an island. On such incremental discoveries was the knowledge of the New World's geography revealed during these first decades after 1492. Two published accounts of his voyages, purported to be written by Vespucci, were widely circulated. His reputation was honored by the cartographer Martin Waldseemuller, whose 1507 world map named the new continent "America." Vespucci would eventually settle in Seville, and, in 1508, would become the Chief Navigator of Spain.

As the book ends, Ferdinand Magellan begins his famous journey in 1519. A Portuguese, he sailed for Charles I of Spain in an effort to complete what Columbus started, to sail to the Spice Islands (Indonesia) via sailing westward across the Atlantic Ocean. He would find the passage into the ocean that bore the name "Pacific" by the end of the year/early 1520.

The subject of this book goes beyond biographical details of the early explorers of the Americas to lay out how Europe became a world power. The primary European emerging power at this time was Spain, which would grow from a collection of poor provinces under the control of often belligerent nobles to a united exploiter of the people and resources of a continent, under the self-proclaimed mantle of divine approval. In addition to being very well written, the book contains several sections of excellent illustrations and photographs, in color. The strong academic background and experienced prior publishing history of the author is reflected in the highly impressive listing of original Spanish and Latin American research materials used. Thomas' scholarship is continued with the 2011 release of his next chronicle of imperial conquest, native civil war and lusting for gold, "The Golden Empire." I'll be looking forward to reading it sometime in the future.

[Ed · Rating 3 out of 5]

For many citizens of the United States the history of the New World begins in 1620when the first permanent settlements from England finally arrived on the inhospitable shores of Massachusetts Bay. The encounters between the Spanish and Portuguese, particularly the former, and the people already inhabiting the lands that Christopher Colon stumbled across have never been part of the equation. “Rivers of Gold” goes a long way in addressing that. It is a sweeping work yet finely detailed; a social, political and economic history of and extraordinary thirty years that changed the world forever. It is an account of patriots and pirates, pious laymen and greedy bishops, men who were intent on enslaving the indigenous people and those who worked to free them. It is told almost completely from the Spanish point of view; the Indians were almost completely wiped out a in concentrated demographic disaster due to disease, slavery in mines, large scale relocation and the invaders technological superiority—the guns, armor and horses of the Spanish. Thomas makes it clear that the Spanish actions in the New World were conquest, enslavement and forced conversion.

Hugh Thomas is a scrupulous historian, a master of historical prose and has spent his life studying and writing about Spain and Spanish America. While a story of discovery and conquest it is about the internal politics of Spain, including the expulsion of the Muslims as well as the legal terror inflicted upon its Jewish citizens through the Inquisition. We often think of the rulers of Spain, Ferdinand and Isabella, as concentrating on the voyages of Columbus and the great wealth that might come from them to the exclusion of almost everything else—it is certainly a staple of popular history, especially in America, where Columbus himself is honored as much as the founding fathers of the nation. However getting the voyages on their way was only one of many issues confronting the monarchy at the end of the 15th century: the reconquest of Granada and the systematic looting of their wealth; the establishment of the Inquisition (Holy Office) led by Tomas de Torquemada to persecute and seize the wealth of “conversos”, Jews who had been converted to Catholicism and who were suspected of remaining loyal to their old faith—something that they might naturally do since so many were forcibly converted, not unlike the inhabitants of Hispaniola and Cuba were to be. The Muslims were simply expelled—at least those not put to the sword while the Jews were allowed to remain in Spain but with extreme restrictions on their ability to be part of Spanish life.

Around the Infanta died which was a personal and political blow to the monarchy. He was the only male heir to the combined thrones of Aragon and Castile, a fragile alliance only created by the marriage of Ferdinand and Isabella. This lead to jockeying for position and currying of favor among some of the great nobles of the realm, a situation made much worse when France invaded Italy and occupied Spanish possessions on the peninsula. The Spanish responded ferociously, defeating the French on land an at sea and securing their hold on southern Italy and Sicily. Given all this it is a wonder that Columbus was able to get the attention of the Queen, even more so that succeeded in getting his three ship flotilla financed and outfitted.

The sweep of western history during the period covered in “Rivers of Gold” is amazing. At start of the narrative much of southern Spain was still under Islamic rule and the war against the Emirate of Grenada was being planned; when the book closes Charles V is on his way from Spain to Germany to be crowned Holy Roman Emperor with Spain as only a part of the Habsburg possessions. Even with the wealth of detail that can pile up in such a telling Thomas never loses the multiple threads of his story.

Thomas writes in the introduction that since he had already written a book on the conquest of Mexico that he was summarizing that text in the chapters that covered the Mexican campaign of the conquistadors. Having to read the author’s “Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico” in order to understand part of this one is an odd situation and makes this part of the book seem abbreviated and rushed.

Those who were affected the most by the coming of the Spanish to the Caribbean and Central America, of course, were those already present. With the deadly combination of sword and cross—the servants of the Crown wanting to use the natives as slaves while the priests were interested in converting them to Catholicism—the occupiers managed to do neither but to kill off a large percentage of those they encountered. Disease, overwork, collapse of traditional agriculture and forced relocation of entire villages led to a demographic catastrophe, a sudden and calamitous drop in the native population that happened only due to the coming of Spain. Thomas describes some of the opposition to the genocide in the New World that developed among conscience stricken Spaniards, particularly those who had seen the barbarous treatment themselves but their protests were swept aside at the time.

[Monica · Rating 5 out of 5]

Having never expected to visit South America, a fantastic opportunity came my way in Nov. '08 when a Peruvian friend invited me to visit Lima and Cusco. I don't read Spanish and had only a sketchy knowledge of Spanish Colonial history. I was compelled to read as much about it as possible before traveling there. I immediately starting web-searching for guidebooks and gathering as much information as possible. Since he knows a lot about Latin America, I asked Ned Sublette if he knew any good books about Peru. Not having a specific book about Peru, Ned suggested Hugh Thomas's Rivers of Gold as "a hell of a book with great information."

The following notes contain travel destinations, art historical objects and personal points of interest for me. I don't consider any of these to be spoilers. Anyone interested in this subject will find a treasure trove in Rivers of Gold.

p. 19
Aragon, Valencia, Catalina and Castile were united by Isabel’s marriage to Fernando of Arragon.
He was “graceful, everyone wanted to serve him”.

The high Pyrenees offered good air. Many summer palaces remain in the valley.

Fernando’s portraits are in the Real Monasterio de las Huelgas in Burgos;
At the Prato he is seen praying in “Our Lady of the Catholic Monarchs” and at the Colegiata de Santa Maria Daroca with his son Infante Juan.

p. 23
Archbishop Mendoza of Seville was the “Cardinal of Spain”.
He was the right hand man of Queen Isabel.

54 surrendered Moorish cities are carved in the choir of the Toledo Cathedral

At the high altar of Granada is a carved depiction of a determined warrior bishop

There is a portrait at the College of San Gregorio in Valladolid

p. 39
“Conversos” - false Christians, accused of secret heresy

The Inquisition was set up for financial reasons
. Authority for monarchs
. Extirpation of heresy; they really did threaten Christianity
. Jewish idea devised by conversos to protect themselves

Two Dominicans were appointed in Seville in 1480 to head the Inquisition at the Castle of San Jorge across the Guadalquivivr in Triana

Punishments : “reconciliado” fines
wearing “sambenito”

p. 41
Other contemplative orders: Benedictines, Jeronymites, and Franciscans.
The Jeronymites’ headquarters in Guadelupe was special to Isabel.

Don Juan 13 yr old heir’s brilliant combination of people from his court:
Nicholas de Ovando
Cristobal de Cuellar
Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo
All gained significant posts in the Spanish Empire

1420-1453 Spain was ruled by Alvaro de Lima, chief minister to Juan II at Santa Fe

Spanish nobility wore silver or gold spurs and shining breast plates

p. 112
“Hamaca” hammock - is a South American word
“Caciques” chiefs - Indian leaders
“Tianos – good woodworkers tribe

Peter Martyr regional monarch in La Maguana (Spanish)+ Cibao (Indian) a hilly country in middle of the island of Hispaniola

Anacaona known as ‘Golden Flower’ ruled in the fertile northern part of Hispaniola (now Haiti).

Shamans and medicine men held annual celebrations. Old Queen Cayaca ruled in the fertile northern part of Hispaniola (now Haiti)

p. 113
Their two gods were salt water and fresh water.

Leaders were either male or female. Unlike other ancient primitive people, women’s role was strong in the ancient Caribbean.

“Bohias” survive in Cuba
“Duho” are carved wooden stools

Ball games were played in beautiful courts

1496 “Travels of Marco Polo” Albertus Magnus “Philosophia Naturalis”
A Venetian John Cabot crossed the North Atlantic to Newfoundland from Bristol

Emperor Maximillian’s daughter Margaret (age 17) married the Infante Juan
Fernando and Isabel’s daughter Juana married Emperor Maximillian’s son Philip von Hapsburg.

Dominican Convent of St Thomas at Avila

Cristobal Colon’s Voyages
1) 1492-3
2) 1493
3) 1498
4) 1502

1498 Fernando + Isabel’s oldest daughter Isabel (Queen of Portugal) died
1500 Her infant son Miguel died

Cardinal Francisco Cisneros (1436–1517) – chief minister to the crown of Fernando and Isabel, personally directed the evangelization of the Moors of Granada, provoking riots, but the insurrection was controlled and all were required to convert or forced to emigrate. He promoted Franciscan missionary expeditions 1n 1500, 1502 and 1508. In 1516 he sent three Jeronimites to reorganize the economendias in the new territories. When Isabel died he supported Fernando and resisted tensions with the nobility.

Genoese provided backing for Colon’s voyages

Brazil was found by Cabral, a Portuguese looking for India.

Canary Islands were Spanish
Cape Verde Islands were Portuguese

Ovando slaughtered 100s of Anacona’s caciques and she was hanged for her “rebellion”.

1493 -1498 Fonseca caused delays for Colon.
Colon’s son confirmed this

Colon was convinced he had reached Asia. He did not calculate the correct circumference of the earth at the equator (25,000 miles).

Cristobal Colon
brothers: Bartolomeo and Diego
children: Diego and Francesco

Hostal Nicola de Ovando
Santo Domingo governors' palace in Museo de las Casa Reales
Fortaleza de Santo Domingo

Bernardo and Jeronimo Grimaldi - the most powerful entrepreneurs in the Indies

When Queen Isabel died she freed all her personal slaves
Domenico Fancelli carved her likeness for a magnificent tomb.
During her reign peace had been established at home and ecclesiastical reforms evidenced her intelligence. Under the body of a woman she had a manly spirit. Her institutions lasted.

1492-1504 Cisneros criticized intolerance
expulsion of Jews and Muslims, Inquisition
Sauabria
Galicia
Betanzos
Santiago
Orense – sacred hot water
Ribadauida “Juderia” Jewish quarter

Juana’s sister was Catalina of Aragon
After the death of her husband she chose solitude and alienation

p. 254
Amadis de Gaula from late 13th Century was rewritten by Garci Rodriguez de Montalvo at the end of the 15th Century. It was the supreme literary success of the 16th C Century

Amadis, the love child of the king of Gaul, fell in love with Oriana who was the daughter of Lisuarte, King of Great Britain. Their son was Esplandian. Amadis exemplified virtue, was a commander and knight. He fought duels, rescued those in danger, faced monsters and captured enchanting islands.

Juan Bermudez discovered Bermuda.

Olinda - city founded by Portuguese in Brazil
California - ‘the realm of Queen Califa” relates to Amazons written about in a sequel to Amadis
Patagonia comes from another novel
The Amazon was named by an Extremno named Orellana who identified it as a place where Amazons lived.

p. 255
“The reading public was entranced by these chivalrous stories. These readers constituted the first generation of men and women able to read books as a source of entertainment.”

p. 261
Juan Ponce de Leon cousin of Rodrigo Ponce de Leon count of Arcos had traveled with Columbus and was a friend of Conseca’s and persuaded Ovando to let him conquer Puerto Rico. His son was Juan Gonzalez Ponce de Leon who wrote about the Guarabo River in Puerto Rico. He disguised himself as a native after an attack and traveled the archipelago of the Virgin Islands where he heard of the Indians’ intentions to kill the Spanish.

p. 282
Columbus circumnavigated Jamaica in 1494
In 1503-04 at St. Ann’s Bay he encountered poisoned arrows of man-eating Caribs.

The Indies and West Indies are named so because Columbus was searching for India.

After being dismissed as governor of Puerto Rico, Juan Ponce de Leon lead an expedition to Florida in 1513. The natives were hunters who raised maize and corn and also used poisoned arrows. He landed on Palm Beach Easter Sunday March 27, 1513. He found no gold, nor the fountain of youth, but he did find the Gulf Stream. He traveled back through the Yucatan and Bahamas (Lucays).

p. 311
Cuba was once called Juana, occasionally “Fernanda”. It was circumnavigated by Sebastian Ocampa in 1508, proving it was an island about the length of Britain.

The tombs of the Alburquerques are in the Hispanic Society of America in northern Manhattan.

Columbus was known as “pharaoh” because he was tough and didn’t speak the same language of his crew.

Diego Vasquez b 1464 in Cuellar fought for the conquest of Granada. He went with Columbus on his second voyage. He survived unlike most of Columbus’ colleagues. He became good friends with Colombus’ brother Diego and probably witnessed the brutal betrayal and execution of Anacoana in 1503.

p. 328
Peter Martyr reported about pineapples, and roots the natives called “batatas” (sweet potatoes). He described them as earth colored, the inside quite white”… the first description of any potato among Europeans.

Powerful Genoese bankers, the Centurones and Grimaldis, financed the heart of every expedition to the new world. Pedarias took 2,000 men (actually 800)

Sebastian de Benalcazar – Peru
Pascual de Andagoya
Hernando de Luque, lay brother – Peru
Hernando de Soto – Peru and Florida
Cortez – Mexico Vasquez de Tapia

p. 337
Oviedo from Austrias 1485 gentleman in waiting to bastard of King Juan II of Aragon and court of Infante Juan married Margaret de Veranga, the “most beautiful woman of Toledo”.

Balboa and Pedrarias arrested about slaves. Gaspar de Morales went to the Pacific with Pizzaro capturing the island of Terarequi where Pizzaro first heard about the riches of Peru. They found a pearl that weighed three carats – “La Peregrita”.

Morales went through new territories Tutibra, Chicharna, Garchina and Biru (Peru) very cruelly capturing slaves.

Balboa went to the foothills of the Andes. Charles V majordomo wanted to colonize the Yucatan with Flemings, but it never happened.

Archduchess Margaret inspired the gothic church at Bourg in the flamboyant style comparable to many Flemish churches with a Burgundian roof.

The Gorrevod 15th C family mansion at Bourgenbrese
Augustinian monastery at Bourg
Konrad Meit – sculpted Charles V and beautiful marble and alabaster tombs for herself, her husband and mother-in-law.
Stained glass window of St. Thomas and his two wives.

p.400
Gorrevod’s description of the noblemen at Charles V’s proclamation at Valladolid would delight any fashionistas.

to be continued

[Eromsted · Rating 2 out of 5]

In an age when the historical trend has been to focus on the suffering of the Indians rather than the adventures of the Spanish, Hugh Thomas has written a massive tome detailing the lives and accomplishments of the people who created the Spanish empire in the Americas.

Although Thomas recognizes the frequent brutality of the Spanish in their persistent exploitation of the Indians, he is simply not that interested. The following typical quote describes the conquest of Cuba, "As elsewhere in the Americas, bows and arrows and stones flung by slings were no match for Spanish weapons, including ... those long steel swords that even now cause a shiver of anxiety when we see them in military museums. How curious to imagine all these knights from Cuéllar, and other cities of Old Castile, riding across the beautiful tropical island. Unfortunately, the only real source for the feelings of the conquistadors is the history of Las Casas, who had his own priorities when he came to write his book." Apparently Thomas would have preferred Las Casas to have reveled in the imagined chivalry of the Spanish instead of protesting their abuse of the Indians.

But in the end, Thomas doesn't produce a very good adventure story either. In hewing close to the (extremely well researched) documents, Thomas primarily gives us endless lists of the Spanish and other travelers to the New World, with frequent mini-biographies of even the most minor characters. This wealth of personal background is a poor substitute for historical context. As an example, Thomas seems to be at pains to note each and every Spaniard with Jewish heritage (conversos) and yet he never tells us why he thinks this is important (barring a rather disconnected summary of the inquisition early in the book).

But perhaps my greatest disappointment was the lack of institutional history. Thomas offers us very little understanding of how the Spanish managed their precarious empire. An encomienda in theory is different from one in practice, especially in these new colonies. This was a crucial time when the Spanish developed the institutions of power that would mold the Americas for centuries, but Thomas tells us little of this.

Also missing is an analysis of the impact of the new empire on the home country. The fantastic flow of wealth and power into Europe begun in the Spanish Empire arguably initiated the transformations that would propel Europe to dominate the world for centuries to come.
I had hoped that these were the "Rivers of Gold" of the title. But for Thomas the most important "Rivers of Gold" were those found in Balboa's 1513 letter to the crown describing the Darien (the modern border between Panama and Colombia). There was little gold in the Darien, but fabrications or no, Balboa's "Rivers of Gold" inspired the Spanish to daring deeds across a vast ocean.

Perhaps Thomas would have been better off writing a novel; for a history of the Spanish Empire, look elsewhere.

[Harvey Smith · Rating 3 out of 5]

The description and name of this book do not prepare you for what you find inside it. What you actually get is a LOT of minutia about who was related to who in 155's Spain, Portugal, Germany, France, England, and almost every other nation state in that whole area. It was so over detailed in this manner that you almost have to skim some sections to keep your mental processes from being hopelessly confused.

The idea of the Spanish seeking gold was a good starting place, but early on in this long book, Columbus discovers there is not that much gold to be had. He then switches to value by way of capturing native indians, and shipping them back to the mother country as slaves.

All that said, the book has value.

You learn about the very complicated governance of the nations of origin, and the lands discovered. Needless to say, this was not taught to me in school. Things were very, very complicated in how things happened and got done.

You learn that slavery was always part of the old world picture, with Portugal being the prime slave capturing (blacks mainly, from Africa) and selling nation state. Slaves were commonly held in households throughout all the nations. Black slaves were only shipped to the newly discovered lands after the native population either declined to be enslaved, died of newly introduced diseases, or both.

You learn that primarily the explorers were in it for gaining money, power, and fame.

You learn that most of the fleets involved were not warships, but rather whatever semi ocean going worthy craft that the sponsors could scrape together, staffed with sailors from multiple nations. The crews often rebelled, and didn't want to continues on such long voyages.

You learn that the Catholic church was instrumental in justifying these voyages of exploration in that they could gain new converts.

Glad I read it, but again, WAY too much detail about who was what to who, and why. It muddied the information.

[Brett C · Rating 3 out of 5]

Richly detailed and researched book on the Spanish exploitation of gold from the Americas.

[Patricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is the tome I took into a two-week quarantine in Singapore during the Covid epidemic of 2010-2???. It was a good choice. Although not a consistent page turner, it filled 14 days of my involuntary incarceration plunging me into details of the early days of Spanish exploration in the New World. If it were abridged by about 90%, it would make the perfect history text for American students who are usually taught the history of North America through the deeds of Columbus, Balboa, Pizarro, Ponce de León, America Vespucci ... and others. I say this because it's time we also teach them about the misdeeds of these early explorers. Yes, Columbus was an explorer but he was also a lousy manager and a #1 sycophant who at one point was sent back home in chains. Many of these 'heroes' of exploration were in truth more interested in gold, glory and slaves than expanding geographers' knowledge of the world. I grew up with the story of the good Queen Isabella selling her jewels to pay for Columbus' explorations; sell her jewels she did, but that was to finance her wars against Spain's non-Catholic communities, only after which she had time for Columbus, but she can be in part forgiven for she was one of the few voices against the mistreatment and enslavement of 'her subjects' (the indigenous peoples of the New World). The story stops in most American histories with a picture of the hearty explorer, hands on hips, surveying his new-found territory, but in reality it continues with the near destruction of its local settlements, decimating the native population to the point that "by the summer of 1518 all responsible people in the Indies as in Spain had become convinced that the only viable solution to the problem of labor in the new empire was the provision of African slaves". Thus began, as author Thomas concludes Chapter 28, "the Atlantic slave trade, leading to the sale of millions of Africans, [which] continued for another three and a half centuries."

If you want to read the real history of the rise of the Spanish empire, and can learn the art of skimming over the long passages describing every player's family background, deeds and life story, I cannot recommend the volume highly enough (but be warned, I love long history books and this one may dash some of your childhood beliefs). I had read the history of the Holy Roman Empire's Charles V previously (Geoffrey Parker's Emperor, which I strongly recommend), which was a tremendous aid to understanding some of the politics and history of the post-Ferdinand & Isabella years. If Rivers of God hasn't dampened your enthusiasm for long histories by the time you finish it, I would definitely recommend the Parker history as your next read.

[Jarrod · Rating 5 out of 5]

Covering the background and what lead to the expedition of Columbus to the trade and globalization that kicked off with Magellan's voyage, this book encompasses a vital era in history. Anyone interested in exploration or the founding of the new world colonies should read this. Thomas' research and explanation of what happened and how it is quite fulfilling. He works to flow the thoughts from the monarchs in Spain to how they happen in the new world. While there isn't a lot of great detail in the voyages or in explaining the dynamics of the politics in the new world there is an overwhelming amount of knowledge in the book. What caused Columbus to sail under the Spanish flag, Magellan? King (Emperor) Charles the V was Spanish.. What type of power and influence did he have? What was Ferdinand and Isabel's role in the conquest of the new world? All these answers are expounded upon in this tale.

I thoroughly enjoyed the book and it highlights several points of interest in the discovery, exploration and conquering of the new world. This book is also more of a starting point of additional research and study. For further in-depth knowledge, I would suggest diving into each section with more detail. Read a book about Columbus' four voyages. Read about Diego Colon, Isabel, Ferdinand, Magellan, Las Casas, the beginnings of the slave trade in the new world, Cortes and the conquering of the Mexica, etc. Each of these on their own could fill a volume of knowledge that was told in this book.

Spain had a crucial role in world history because of it's Naval power in the late 15th and early 16th century. This is a must read for supplementing knowledge of that time period. This book ties together the loose ends of that era.

[Raymond · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are plenty of books covering Columbus' first voyage to America and Cortés' conquest of Mexico. This however is one of the few if not the only popular account of everything that happened in between.

You get into the nitty gritty of the very first Spanish colonies in Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba and Jamaica, as well as the earliest penetrations of the mainland in Yucatan and what is now Colombia and Venezuela, and the first expedition to Florida and the Mississippi. You'll be hearing less about the Aztecs and Incas and more about the Tainos and Caribs.

It also covers controversial topics such as the impact on the native population, the contemporary debate over the correct treatment of the Indians and the earliest beginnings of the transantlantic slave trade - to begin with, bringing slaves from Africa to the New World was forbidden.

On the negative side the author has a strange obsession with listing the names of those involved in a particular event, as well as their profession, family background and other trivia, often regardless of how significant it is to the narrative. It's not a major issue, but an unnecessary one.

The book also comes to a rather strange end with a short chapter on Magellan and then a lot of information about Seville at the time before abruptly concluding its 500 page narrative with a tiny paragraph. It's interesting enough, but it seems strange to end the book with what feels like an aside, rather than having a proper summary and conclusion.

[Jerome Otte · Rating 4 out of 5]

A detailed and well-researched history of Spain’s conquests in the New World from 1492 to 1522. Thomas does a great job bringing the atmosphere of Spain, its people, and its colonies to life, the narrative is clear, and his style is usually very engaging.

Thomas begins with the Reconquista and ends with Magellan’s voyage. He ably covers the Spaniards’ obsession with gold, their zealous missionary work, and the boldness of the explorers. He does a great job making the Spaniards’ interest in converting the natives understandable, describing how genuinely they believed that they were saving people who were otherwise damned forever, and how critical other Spaniards could be of the conquistadors’ atrocities.

Sometimes the number of people, places and dates can get a bit overwhelming. There could have been more analysis at times, and the narrative can feel a little hazy sometimes. Towards the end of the book, Thomas describes European political developments but could have tied them to the story of the Americas better. Some readers may find the coverage of the conquest of Mexico or Magellan’s voyage too brief, or the discussion of the ideas behind Las Casas’ promotion of African slavery as a way to “liberate” Indians. Thomas’ tone can get a bit stuffy and his conclusions can be somewhat banal at other times.

A nuanced and mostly coherent work.

[Nelson · Rating 2 out of 5]

To borrow from Johnson on Milton: none ever wished it longer. This is old school top down history. Thomas's narrative is focused on the leaders and kings and queens, others entering the narrative, if at all, for their collateral relations to the 'makers' of history. This is History Curriculum Association nonsense (Thomas was a founder) and reflects a dogged insistence that history is made by the elites. So the volume is nearly encyclopedic in terms of its delineating microscopic family affiliations among the conquistadores, the priests and the courtiers who attempted to formulate Spanish colonial policy in the first three decades. Unsurprisingly for an HCAisto, the volume everywhere repeats the old bromides about God, gold and glory, as if decades of revisionist history that has taught us to think harder about the colonized as well as lower orders who actually put the colonial project into operation, had never occurred. It's a singularly myopic approach to a massive historical project. What's worse is Thomas's monomaniacal effort to denigrate and outright mock the efforts of reformers like Las Casas and Montesinos, who early called the entire project into question. There is a gleeful sense of celebration around every failed attempt by Las Casas to get the Spanish monarchs to reconsider their dehumanizing approach to the indigenous population. Thomas has a weird affection, as well, for romance narratives (Amadis de Gaul and Tirant Lo Blanc recur frequently). When discussed as the reading material of the conquistadores, these books are benevolent sources of inspiration for heroic deeds done under conditions of severe deprivation. When the same texts are discussed in conjunction with Las Casas, they provide the romantic fodder that led him to idealistically and foolishly oppose the exploitation of the natives. Thomas discusses the colonial project as one that ultimately brought more benefits than losses to the peoples of the so-called new world, an approach that simply doesn't fly today. It's as if his brief is to anticipate and reject all the bases for critiquing Spanish colonialism from the black legend perspective. This renders Thomas's top-down story an extended apology, often tendentious, for colonialism. If you want the equivalent of a biographical dictionary for the Spanish colonizers, this is your volume. If you want a nuanced evaluation of the good and bad of the early years of Spanish colonization, look elsewhere.

[Sergio Armisén · Rating 4 out of 5]

Curioso que hoy, (12 de Octubre) me terminase este libro, ya que se trata de una historia del descubrimiento y posterior colonización (y conquista cuando se requirió) de América por parte de los españoles (y aquí viene el primero de esos interminables debates que suscita la historiografía del periodo ya que Thomas emplea el gentilicio castellano / español de manera intercambiable).

El libro se podría calificar de "Historia para todos los públicos" ya que Thomas, como en todos sus otros ensayos, presenta los hechos de manera accesible y amena, cubriendo la época que va desde el descubrimiento por parte de Colón hasta la conquista de la Nueva España (México) por parte de Hernán Cortes. Y cuando digo "accesible", no quiero decir que esta no sea prolija ni meticulosa: a lo largo de sus 620 hojas no solo aparecen valientes conquistadores, intrépidos marineros o nobles caciques, no. También aparecen obispos, escribientes, mercaderes, cartógrafos, funcionarios. El material con el que se construyó uno de los más grandes imperios de la historia de la humanidad.

Para otros volúmenes queda el tema que ahora parece estar más de moda al respecto (de hecho ya hace más de un siglo que es así) y es la "apreciación crítica" de dicho imperio: ¿fue uno de los momentos estelares de la humanidad como afirman unos o un genocidio de proporciones inauditas, la obliteración de pueblos y culturas enteras, como afirman otros? Yo no sabría decirlo, pero obras como estas son necesarias porque ¿como se pueden emitir juicios de valor desconociendo los hechos?

[XemaMB · Rating 5 out of 5]

Tras casi dos meses de lectura, El imperio español de Hugh Thomas se impone como un ensayo colosal, no solo por su ambición historiográfica, sino por su capacidad para ofrecer una visión matizada y profunda de uno de los procesos más determinantes de la historia moderna.

Thomas no cae en simplificaciones. Explora con detalle el impulso evangelizador, los debates sobre la dignidad y el trato a los pueblos indígenas, las tensiones entre los propios colonizadores, y los desafíos de supervivencia en territorios radicalmente distintos a Europa. Todo ello atravesado por el retrato de figuras tenaces, complejas, muchas veces contradictorias, que encarnan la épica y la ambigüedad moral del periodo.

El cierre del ensayo no busca una conclusión definitiva, sino que invita a la reflexión sobre el propio acto de juzgar la historia. La cita final del autor —“Todos nosotros somos, nos guste o no, juguetes de grandes corrientes de ideas”— es una advertencia lúcida: nuestros valores, como los de entonces, están condicionados por el tiempo que habitamos.

En definitiva, El imperio español es una obra imprescindible para quien busque comprender no solo lo que ocurrió, sino cómo las ideas, las creencias y las pasiones moldean los grandes relatos del pasado.

[Nothing's Written · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sensaciones encontradas. Historiador consagrado, editorial poderosísima, edición especial para el 15 aniversario del libro... y el castillo se desmorona en lo más básico: el texto.

Sospecho que la culpa no es de Thomas, sino de los trabajos de traducción y edición. El apartado estrictamente histórico cumple con las expectativas, destacando quizás la narración de los primeros y últimos capítulos. El estilo narrativo en español, no obstante, es gris y enmarañado; por momentos cuesta seguir el hilo argumentativo.

El desaguisado lo completa un número sorprendente de gazapos, fallos de traducción y errores de puntuación básicos que sorprende encontrar en una edición especial de este tipo. Faltan puntos, paréntesis, tildes y comillas. Cabe hacer una mención de honor especial al uso –a todas luces aleatorio– de la coma, que llega a ser sonrojarte.

En conclusión, no me extrañaría que la edición especial perpetrada por Planeta palidezca ante cualquier primera edición de la obra publicada en el inglés original sin necesidad de más alarde que una presentación impecable del texto.

[JZ Temple · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a history of Spain, but focused in on the government and how it established colonies and ruled them in the New World. It is also a history of the colonies, but only from the point of view of governing them. It is not an easy read at all, especially if you have any difficulties keeping straight multitudes of names, some of which crop up over and over, but represent different people at different dates. It is a rather dry, tedious book and unless you really have a deep desire to wade through it , Rivers of Gold shouldn't be on your "must read" list.

[Rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thomas covers from about 1491 to about 1519, which is when Magellan, or at least his crew, circumnavigated the world and Cortes had just arrived in America. If you are looking for a book about the conquistadors, Aztecs, Mayans, Itzas, Olmecs, missions, and major settlements and trade, don't read this. It is mainly about explorers.

I liked this book because of the detail it provided about Spain and its explorers. I especially liked the parts covering the financing of the expeditions. However, I agree with some of the reviews in that it was difficult to get through.

[Eduardo Garcia-Gaspar · Rating 4 out of 5]

La historia del inicio del Imperio Español. Una obra llena de información detallada acerca de los cientos de personajes que en ella participaron comenzando con la conquista de Granada, terminando con el viaje de Magallanes y usando como ejes grandes sucesos como la conquista de los mexica, la colonización del caribe y otros más.
En fin, una gran obra para quien quiere saber más del tema con un estilo sencillo que en ocasiones abruma dada la cantidad de personajes y los datos que sobre ellos da. Muy recomendable. Este es el primero de los tres volúmenes que el autor dedica a ese imperio.

[Mark Davidson · Rating 2 out of 5]

Somewhat late in life I've "discovered" Latin America and so have been looking for good general histories of the Spanish Conquest period.

While I found much in this (and its companion books) of great interest, in the end the entire series was thoroughly unsatisfying. Clearly the author is an expert in this field but these books would have benefited from an entirely more critical editing process. Finding the narrative and larger story in the midst of excessive pedantic details just becomes a hard slog.

[Veronica · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was reading this for genealogy purposes. I know my ancestors were in Mexico very early. They are not mentioned in this book and that's okay. What I did mind was the repetition of how great the conquistadors were without much investigation into the impacts they had to Native American (north, central, and south) populations. He barely touched the surface of these impacts.

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

Much more scholarly than I am interested in reading, and I really wanted to love this book since I am fascinated by this topic. It was pretty unreadable.

[Steve Groves · Rating 2 out of 5]

Early chapters pre Columbus were interesting, but then seemed to bog down in excessive detail.

[Jordan · Rating 1 out of 5]

Overly pedantic minutiae riddled with an overuse of commas. Surprised to hear people saying how readable this book was for them — I could not agree less. DNF.

[Reza Amiri Praramadhan · Rating 5 out of 5]

In this exciting, but rather gargantuan of a book, we entered Iberian peninsula of sixteenth century, which was divided into Kingdoms of Castille and Aragon, and the remaining Muslim emirates, that soon to fall. Beginning with The Most Catholic Duo King Fernando of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castille zealous effort to drive the muslims out of Iberian peninsula, the subsequent victory (and waves of muslims and jewish forced conversion and deportation) left them with nothing to do.
While lollygagging, the monarchs were visited by Christopher Columbus, a genoese explorer, who promised to find sea route to Asia by sailing to the west, and found out America instead (he believed that he reached Indies and more closer to China). By Gold, Glory and Gospel as the main driver, numerous explorers, such as Hernan Cortes, conqueror of Aztecs, Ferdinand de Magellan, that angry Portuguese who almost circumvented the globe, and also other important figures such as Bartolome de las Casas, who was enlightened enough to stop indians being enslaved by bringing black slaves from Africa, put foundation into Spanish overseas Empire, which fell quite conveniently into laps of Charles V, Holy Roman Emperor (and I of Spain), probably the only proper emperor that Spain ever have.
Flipping through the numerous pages, I cannot help but being amazed by how quick the empire was being established, from Colombus’ departure up to the remaining of Magellan’s crew arrival back in Spain (which was united after the death of both Ferdinand and Isabella). A very interesting read over all and I cannot wait to read the next book.

[Iván Braga · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesante relato sobre los tiempos que marcaron el inicio del descubrimiento y conquista de América. Hugh Thomas se enfoca en explicar el proceso que va desde el primer viaje de Colon y has 1520 aproximadamente. Con mucho detalle, explica el intenso proceso que se gatillo a partir del descubrimiento y que gatillo el mayor encuentro de culturas de la historia. Es interesante entender el rol que los cambios de la sociedad española jugaron en generar las condiciones que permitieron el complejo y doloroso proceso que siguió al descubrimiento.

El autor inicia con una detallada explicación de la situación de España y Europa a fines del siglo XV, incluyendo el fin de la reconquista en 1492 y la conquista de las Islas Canarias. Para luego describir en detalle el primer viaje de Colón y los tres posteriores. Explica la formación de las colonias iniciales en la Española, Cuba y Puerto Rico, además de la primera colonia en el continente en la zona de la actual Darien. Muestra también el inicio de la conquista de México y el encuentro de Cortés con Moztezuma. Termina mostrando la situación de España alrededor de 1520 con Carlos V emperador y Sevilla transformada en la capital de facto del nuevo imperio.

[Kyle Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mostly exceptional.

The scholarship at work here is impressive especially considering that this is the first of a trilogy. Mr. Thomas paints a living picture of the leadership of Spain and that brand new nation-state's tentative, savage thrust into the Americas. You'll learn very well the personalities of the day, both heroes, and villains (mostly villains).

While this is exceptional work, it must be noted that Mr. Thomas is a historian of the older European order. He still refers to Native Americans as "savages" with all the trappings and tropes of the old European-based colonial systems. Inherent in the language here is that Europe is a center of cultural goings-on and that the American sphere is somehow lesser-than. It cannot be helped, I suppose. Mr. Thomas also spends a lot of time with the leadership of Spain instead of with the people of Spain, a gap I wish he would have spent more time filling.

But DO read this book, even with those caveats in mind. It is still an incredible story of ambition and of cultures of all sorts slamming into each other at a high rate of lethal speed. The deeds done by the Conquistadors are startling and still cause one to gasp for air.

[Summer Meyers · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was an exhaustive overview of the Spanish Empire's interest in the Americas from its beginning with Columbus and ending with Magellan's exploration. I listened to the audiobook which was wonderful, but I missed out on the pictures and illustrations that are in the book. I think that would have helped contextualize a lot of what I was listening to, but the audiobook has the benefit of keeping me company while I'm cleaning house.

I did feel like this was an objective overview of people who are currently demonized in our modern society. It was very well researched and after the first few chapters I felt comfortable that Thomas didn't have an ulterior objective. There was a lot of minute biographies of minor nobles/characters, but gave necessary context to what was happening without flat out excuses for behavior.

The chapters about slavery in Spain and Italy I found fascinating. I particularly liked his overview of Spanish law regarding Natives of Hispaniola and the contrast with how they treated African slaves being transported there. Human nature is so bizarre with its efforts to bend and twist to justify many evils and how we are blind to our own hypocrisies.

[Des · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful and immersive journey into fifteenth century Spain, and the New World discovered by Columbus, under the patronage of ‘Los Reyes Católicos’, Fernando y Isabel. This monumental tome (764 pages including notes) took me the best part of 10 years (!) to read in its entirety, during which time I restarted several times (meaning that I have probably read the first half of the book at least three times). I picked it up only recently to double-check an historical fact whilst reading about Toledo, and found myself engrossed once again, ending up reading the final 200 pages in little over a week. Hugh Thomas is the preeminent historian of this time and Paul Johnson of the ‘Literary Review’ said it best: “A splendid volume, bold and strong in its outlines, rich in fascinating details, punctuated by well-chosen quotations from contemporaries and eyewitnesses.” Bravo Señor Thomas! I will journey again with you, Columbus, Pinzón, Núñez de Balbao, Las Casas and co, very soon.