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Conquistadores: A New History Hardcover – October 1, 2020

by Fernando Cervantes (Author)
4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 230 ratings
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NAMED A BOOK OF THE YEAR 2020 BY THE SUNDAY TIMES, TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT, THE TABLET AND THE LADY

'This book is a terrific read ... I could not put it down' Matthew Restall, Literary Review

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 civilizations 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 reader 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.

'Enlightening ... Conquistadores makes for fascinating reading' Jude Webber, Financial Times

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Previous page
  1. Print length
    400 pages
  2. Language
    English
  3. Publisher
    Allen Lane
  4. Publication date
    October 1, 2020
  5. Dimensions
    6.38 x 1.77 x 9.45 inches
  6. ISBN-10
    0241242142
  7. ISBN-13
    978-0241242148
  8. See all details
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Product details

  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ Allen Lane; 1st edition (October 1, 2020)
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 400 pages
  • ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0241242142
  • ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0241242148
  • Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 1.76 pounds
  • Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 6.38 x 1.77 x 9.45 inches
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.5 4.5 out of 5 stars 230 ratings

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Fernando Cervantes

Fernando Cervantes

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Customer reviews

4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5 out of 5
230 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

E. Garcia
5.0 out of 5 stars A well-documented most interesting book about the conquest of the Americas.
Reviewed in the United States on August 7, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book is a bit long but written with great care and clarity, documenting in a novel like manner, the information that it presents. Reading this book would enrich the understanding of that period in history that has relevance even in our present day. It presents the subject in ways that are rarely found anywhere else.
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Amazon Customer
1.0 out of 5 stars The book was too small.
Reviewed in the United States on April 23, 2022
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The book was very small and the types were tiny. I could not read it.
One person found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

DK
5.0 out of 5 stars A rewarding read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 18, 2021
Verified Purchase
An excellent book. Gives not only a detailed account of the nature of the physical conflict in which the conquistadores were involved but also the moral and religious conflicts that characterized their cultural world and help to explain their behaviour. Also clearly narrated is the character and conflicts of the indigenous peoples whose often fitful cooperation enabled the conquistadors to triumph. The story is well researched and well told. Informative and authoritative.

However……a caveat, if not note of caution, is perhaps in order. This is a book that is not afraid to engage in theological depth with the religious complexities that underlay and characterized the world of the conquistadors, created as it was from a unique amalgam of the search for God, Gold and Glory. It is precisely the attempt to describe the spiritual world, that arose from the confluence of Roman Catholicism and native beliefs, that provides the author with the justification for this ‘new history’. Indeed the final chapter, ‘Reassessment’, reads almost like an apologia for a ‘Baroque’ world that has been misrepresented and misunderstood by a secularized and sceptical Western historiography.

But is this the whole story? The conjunction of military might and religious traditionalism lives on, in Latin America, in the so called Security State of fascist military juntas in cahoots with the Roman Catholic Church, epitomised by General Pinochet’s Chile, ruthlessly oppressive of an impoverished underclass of dissent. It was from this ‘third’ world that, in the 1970’s, the voice of Liberation Theology emerged as a threatening and destabilizing force revealing the schizophrenic nature of the Baroque tradition. The bi-polar nature of this unstable world was captured in the famous aphorism of Bishop Helder Camara: “I gave bread to the hungry and they called me a saint, I asked why they were hungry and they called me a communist.” Whilst he was sanctioned by the Vatican (which completely failed to understand this movement, perceived mainly as a threat to its power), as were so many of his ilk, numerous other ordinary people simply ‘disappeared’, in vast numbers, whilst papal envoys played tennis with generals and Opus Dei chaplains salved the consciences of the elite. A baroque charade indeed!

That this world is problematic, unstable, and, like the volcanoes that characterize the physical landscape, liable to erupt with devastating effect, is also part of the legacy of the conquistadors, as Britain itself found out in the clash over the Falklands. What was often missed in this imbroglio was that it was really a continuation of the wars of the conquistadores. The irony was that here was a country, Argentina, colonized by Europeans, that was still engaged in the military extermination of its native population within living memory, taking umbrage with another colonial power, Britain, at its presence in the region, just as once the outraged Spanish took umbrage at the chutzpa of outrageous attacks in the Spanish Main by English ‘pirates’ challenging their own outrageous behaviour and determined that 'the Don' would not get all the spoils whatever a pope may have decreed.

In the hermeneutical scope of this book there is no mention of the liberationist view that contends with the oppressive legacy of the conquistadors, so perhaps it is appropriate to conclude with such a view, the words of Ignacio Ellacuria, whose voice has been amplified by the even more famous Jesuit, Jon Sobrino (who himself was the fortunate survivor of a US backed contra massacre of his fellow Jesuits in El Salvadore in 1989): “Thus five centuries ago, with the discovery of the so-called ‘New World’ what was really discovered was the true Spain herself, the reality of Western culture, and the church as they were then.” In this perspective it was the conquistador that laid himself open to discovery, the Third World discovered the true nature of the First World in all its hubris, greed, oppression and plunderous destruction. This is not a new story, it is a very old story that continues, and its contentious history is by no means settled. Which is why this ‘New History’ will not be the last.
17 people found this helpful
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Andres Castillo Arce
5.0 out of 5 stars A great book!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 17, 2020
Verified Purchase
Highly readable and full of detail

Also, a much needed reflection on the balance on the moral contradictions of the conquistadors that will probably cause some (very welcome as I see it) heated discussions.

Which ever position one might hold regarding these hot topics, I think people will find this to be a fascinating read
4 people found this helpful
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Pippa Marris
5.0 out of 5 stars a very good read
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 11, 2021
Verified Purchase
I was gripped by the story from beginning to end. This narrative not only brings alive the thinking of the medieval knights but also gives agency to the characters and people of the conquered. The telling is interwoven with the history of ideas, and leaves you reeling as a whole continent is changed in fifty years.
3 people found this helpful
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J. T. Cooper
3.0 out of 5 stars Important history was made during this period beyond our preoccupation with the tudors
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2021
Verified Purchase
Fernando Cervantes is an academic historian with a special interest in Spanish America. He has an excellent, detailed knowledge of the period covered by this book (1492 -1542) during which Spanish settlers arrived in the New World. His book provides an action-packed adventure story of their heroic endeavours and the impact of these on the indigenous local populations told in a colourful storytelling style.

Cervantes also has an in depth understanding of the concurrent political and religious environment in the Old World. He presents these as the backdrop to the book setting events in the New World in the context of the power structures (monarchy, church and medicant orders) and motivations of the controlling influences back in Europe. In so doing he provides a helpful reminder that important history was made during this period beyond our preoccupation with the Tudors!

What emerges is a long (512 pages) and “busy” book in which not only events but also underpinning motives and philosophies are explored and in which sources are meticulously examined. The book is further complicated by an array of Spanish and native names that the English reader finds difficult to track. It is not a book for a popular audience, and we found it took real perseverance to complete.

Nevertheless, the book addresses an important area of history in which understanding is sadly lacking and it provides many insights. Far from being innocents, exploited and desecrated by conflict and imported disease, the native populations emerge as sophisticated cultures capable of adaptation and resistance. Motivations, assumed to be entirely those of greed and avarice are tempered with an appreciation of the religious context in which the Europeans saw it their duty to unite all people under the “one true religion”, Christianity, on behalf of a loving God. The bravery of the explorers also stands out as Cervantes details how, expedition after expedition, they sailed blind into the unknown motivated by a chivalric spirit, “For the glory of God and Spain”. The book also gives glimpses of the world views of the great native civilisations, the Maya and the Incas and highlights the relative success of the resulting Spanish system of decentralised government which integrated these native cultures and survived for 300 years without police force or army.

For the average reader however, there is too much detail (and too few illustrations) and for this reason, many will probably never reach the last chapters in which Cervantes reflects on the Conquistadores and their legacy. These final pages offer some very valuable lessons of direct relevance to the modern day e.g., for the current public dialogue about slavery and statues. It is a shame that the depth and intensity of the book detracts from the imparting of this distilled wisdom.
Customer image
J. T. Cooper
3.0 out of 5 stars Important history was made during this period beyond our preoccupation with the tudors
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 19, 2021
Fernando Cervantes is an academic historian with a special interest in Spanish America. He has an excellent, detailed knowledge of the period covered by this book (1492 -1542) during which Spanish settlers arrived in the New World. His book provides an action-packed adventure story of their heroic endeavours and the impact of these on the indigenous local populations told in a colourful storytelling style.

Cervantes also has an in depth understanding of the concurrent political and religious environment in the Old World. He presents these as the backdrop to the book setting events in the New World in the context of the power structures (monarchy, church and medicant orders) and motivations of the controlling influences back in Europe. In so doing he provides a helpful reminder that important history was made during this period beyond our preoccupation with the Tudors!

What emerges is a long (512 pages) and “busy” book in which not only events but also underpinning motives and philosophies are explored and in which sources are meticulously examined. The book is further complicated by an array of Spanish and native names that the English reader finds difficult to track. It is not a book for a popular audience, and we found it took real perseverance to complete.

Nevertheless, the book addresses an important area of history in which understanding is sadly lacking and it provides many insights. Far from being innocents, exploited and desecrated by conflict and imported disease, the native populations emerge as sophisticated cultures capable of adaptation and resistance. Motivations, assumed to be entirely those of greed and avarice are tempered with an appreciation of the religious context in which the Europeans saw it their duty to unite all people under the “one true religion”, Christianity, on behalf of a loving God. The bravery of the explorers also stands out as Cervantes details how, expedition after expedition, they sailed blind into the unknown motivated by a chivalric spirit, “For the glory of God and Spain”. The book also gives glimpses of the world views of the great native civilisations, the Maya and the Incas and highlights the relative success of the resulting Spanish system of decentralised government which integrated these native cultures and survived for 300 years without police force or army.

For the average reader however, there is too much detail (and too few illustrations) and for this reason, many will probably never reach the last chapters in which Cervantes reflects on the Conquistadores and their legacy. These final pages offer some very valuable lessons of direct relevance to the modern day e.g., for the current public dialogue about slavery and statues. It is a shame that the depth and intensity of the book detracts from the imparting of this distilled wisdom.
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Ricky S
5.0 out of 5 stars Gives texture to the protagonists
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on November 1, 2020
Verified Purchase
Anyone wanting to understand the time these men as it was mostly men who crossed the ocean to the unknown, this is the best book out. With great detail, nuance and well written, this is a must for anyone wanting to understand how South America was changed by the arrival of Europeans
One person found this helpful
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