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Conquistadors by Michael Wood
Conquistadors by Michael Wood
Here’s a book that takes a fairly in depth look at the actions of four conquistadors—invaders Cortez, Pizzaro and another Pizzaro, and shipwrecked De Vaca. The accounts are all fascinating, drawing on both Spanish and native sources. The aspect that impressed me the most was Wood’s attempts to show how each group was viewed by the other—a clash of cultures in addition to the military conflicts.
The most interesting account if of De Vaca who, together with three companions, was shipwrecked on what was probably Galveston Island off the coast of Texas. After a period of enslavement, he and his companions journeyed for years across what would eventually become the American Southwest. His writings about the peoples he met and the clear respect he held for them makes him a highly valuable source for modern historians—even if the Spaniards of his time were not interested in what he had to tell them other than as a guide for new people to conquer.
