Conquistadores
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Conquistadores
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Narrated by:
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Luis Soto
About this listen
Brought to you by Penguin.
The conquistadores, the early explorers and settlers of Spanish America, have become the stuff of legends and nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation as men who decimated the ancient civilisations of the Aztecs and the Incas and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory.
In Conquistadores, Mexican Historian Fernando Cervantes cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to immerse the listener in the world of the late medieval imperialist. It is a world as unfamiliar to us as the Indigenous peoples of the New World were to the conquistadores themselves. Drawing upon a wide range of sources including diaries, letters, chronicles and treatises, Cervantes reframes the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World, set against the political and intellectual landscape from which its main actors emerged. At the heart of the story are the conquistadores, whose epic ambitions and moral contradictions defined an era.
From Columbus to Cortés, Pizarro and beyond, the explorers we think we know come alive in this thought-provoking and illuminating account of a period that irrevocably altered the course of world history.
©2020 Fernando Cervantes (P)2020 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
Critic reviews
"With reason, evidence, common sense, uncompromising candour and disciplined imagination Fernando Cervantes makes the conquistadores believable." (Felipe Fernández-Armesto)
What listeners say about Conquistadores
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story4 out of 5 stars
- Anonymous User
- 12-02-21
Entertaining
Well told story, only criticism is it spent too much time on the Franciscan evangelisation of the new world and didn't explain where all the wealth went to. I still recommend it though 😀
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story3 out of 5 stars
- Barbara Z.
- 20-08-23
Very informative
The book shows early explorations of Americas in a bit different light. No doubt there was a lot of killing and plundering, but many contemporary people opposed it, including Spanish kings and Christian monks. A lot of killing was done by local rivalling tribes allying with Spaniards.
Sometimes I found the descriptions of political background in Europe a bit too long, but on the other hand it helps to understand how situation in Europe (like need to fund crusades) shaped the exploration.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- paul mcnamaa
- 30-01-22
Nonjudgmental survey of the Conquistadors
Very engaging. Destroys many of the myths about the Conquistadors (past and present) and that you can't blame today's S.American woes on their shoulders. Refreshing. Narration excellent.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Amazon Customer
- 14-06-21
Excellent
A thoroughly enjoyable listen. Engaging as well as balanced in its discussion. I would definitely recommend.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- LexGill
- 16-09-21
Beautifully read history.
Really captures the exploits of the Conquistadors and the context of the time. It discusses the major events in the Americas and Europe during this period, and provides a great overview of the major expeditions, conflicts and consequences of the arrival of Europeans.
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