Very good stuff Steve. It's funny how much more complicated the story is than what you learn in school. So much personal and political intrigue.
One thing that always amazed me was the time line. From the landing on San Salvador in Oct. 1492 to the conquest by Cortés was a little over twenty years. This to me seems like a very short time considering the lines of communication and supply. And again a lot of intrigue and personal ambition to stir the pot. Rather than a conquest by Spain, it was a group of very ambitious individuals looking for fame and fortune. And there was a lot of competition as to who would lead this adventure.
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Originally Posted by Sailor Steve
Sure Cortez and others killed the kings and chiefs, and wiped out major civilizations, but mostly the Spaniards weren't so much interested in killing the natives as enslaving them. After all, free labor was needed to mine all that silver so "good" Englishmen like Drake and Hawkins could steal it from them on the way home. On the other hand I'm not sure if the colonists at Jamestown did anything to deserve being slaughtered by locals in 1607. Details are sketchy at best, and the Europeans never had a monopoly on killing people to get their goods and land.
It's a cruel world.
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Yes and it's not at all strange that it was about money and religion.
A book I read a few years ago that I found interesting.
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/1...t_of_New_Spain
A first hand account of Hernán Cortés' conquest by one of his conquistadors, Bernal Díaz del Castillo. Amazing and controversial story. And yes, it is a cruel world.