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Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan Hardcover – 1 Jun. 2004
- Print length696 pages
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House Inc
- Publication date1 Jun. 2004
- Dimensions15.95 x 4.39 x 23.75 cm
- ISBN-100375502041
- ISBN-13978-0375502040
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Product description
From the Inside Flap
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 inauspiciously: 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 scope: 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 pages: 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.
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Product details
- Publisher : Random House Inc (1 Jun. 2004)
- Language : English
- Hardcover : 696 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0375502041
- ISBN-13 : 978-0375502040
- Dimensions : 15.95 x 4.39 x 23.75 cm
- Best Sellers Rank: 3,518,496 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 4,485 in History of Discovery & Exploration
- Customer reviews:
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Customers find the book erudite, rich in detail, and compelling. They also describe the narrative as monumental.
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Customers find the book erudite, full of information, and rich in detail.
"Excellent. I found it to be a very erudite study of the early stage of Spain's overseas empire starting with Christopher Columbus and ending with..." Read more
"I agree with the other reviews and in particular that this is a work rich in detail...." Read more
"Full of info that was unknown to me. Still deep in it Can only take serious non fiction in small doses but good book.will plough on to the end" Read more
Customers find the story compelling and authoritative. They also say the author has a monumental account of the lives of the explorers, conquistadors, and native people of the Americas.
"...Authoritative account of the lives of the explorers , conquistadors and the native people of the new world...." Read more
"...This is a pity, as the story is a compelling one and the author has a monumental knowledge of the subject; too bad, then, that all the important..." Read more
"Good Solid Story..." Read more
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