Download Discovering and Conquering the New World: The Lives and Legacies of Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortes, and Francisco Pizarro AudioBook Free
Probably the most seminal event of the previous millennium might also be its most controversial. As schoolchildren have been educated for over 500 years, "In 1492 Columbus sailed the sea blue." In October of that year, the Italian Christopher Columbus immortalized himself by landing in the New World and starting the process of European settlement in the Americas for Spain, taking the Age of Exploration to a fresh hemisphere with him. Ironically, the Italian had led a Spanish expedition, in part because the Portugese turned down his offers in the belief that sailing western to Asia would take too much time. Everyone agrees that Columbus's finding of the New World was one of the turning things ever sold, but contracts over his legacy end there. Although his other three voyages to the New World were much less successful and basically overlooked in the narrative of his life, Columbus has turned into a towering number in the history of history. During the Time of Exploration, some of the most famous and infamous individuals were Spain's best known conquistadors. Obviously, as the best known conquistador, Hernán Cortés (1485-1547) is also the most controversial. Like Christopher Columbus before him, Cortés was lionized for his successes for centuries without questioning his tactics or motives, while indigenous views of the man have been overwhelmingly negative for the consequences his conquests had on the Aztecs and other natives in the region. Just about the only thing everyone agrees after is that Cortés had a profound impact on the annals of North America. If Columbus and Cortés were the pioneers of Spain's new global empire, Pizarro consolidated its enormous electricity and riches, and his successes influenced a further generation to grow Spain's dominions to unheard of sizes. Furthermore, he participated in the forging of a fresh culture: like Cortés, he needed an indigenous mistress with whom he previously two mixed-race children, and yet the woman has none of the lasting popularity of Cortés's Doña Marina. With all this, it is again exceptional that Pizarro remains one of the less well-known explorers of his get older. Discovering and Conquering the New World looks at the lives of the three famous explorers and their enduring legacies.
