Rivers of Gold: The Rise of the Spanish Empire 1490-1522 - Couverture souple

Thomas, Hugh

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0753817934 ISBN 13 : 9780753817933

Editeur : Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd ), 2004

Synopsis

When, in 1492, Christopher Columbus finally stood ready to set sail across the 'Ocean Sea' for what he thought was India, he crossed himself and devoted his expedition to the Holy Trinity and to the King and Queen of Spain. With the gold and spices (and slaves) he would find, Columbus planned to fund a new Crusade to win back Jerusalem. At the time Columbus's voyage was insignificant, but it became one of the most important events in history. The colonisation he started was followed by the Dutch, French and British. Pioneers like Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and the hundreds of Spaniards they inspired looked for riches, glory and to serve God in the New World. While they didn't believe the earth was flat, they thought an Earthly Paradise existed on the far side of the Indies, and that the rivers flowed with gold. Later the Conquistadores brought slavery, their irresistible weapons and European diseases to the ancient civilisations, and made Spain the richest nation in the world. 'A splendid volume, bold and strong in its outlines, rich in fascinating details, punctuated by well-chosen quotations from contemporaries and eyewitnesses, and accompanied by many maps and excellent illustrations' Paul Johnson, Literary Review

A propos du livre

À propos de l?auteur

Hugh Thomas has written numerous histories on the Spanish-speaking world, including The Spanish Civil War, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Prize in 1962, Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom, The Conquest of Mexico and The Slave Trade. His book The Unfinished History of the World won the first National Book Award for History in 1980. Hugh Thomas was chairman of the Centre for Policy Studies 1979-89 and was awarded a peerage as Lord Thomas of Swynnerton in 1981.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Phoenix (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
• Date d'édition: 2004
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0753817934
• ISBN 13: 9780753817933
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 688
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Label emmaus; 766798695; librairie.solidaire@label-emmaus.co; ; labelemmaus; 74 rue paul vaillant couturier; noisy le sec; 93130; France