The Height of the Spanish Empire, v. 2 - Height of the Spanish Empire (Hardcover)

The story of this golden age begins with King Charles I (the emperor Charles V) in 1522 and how he ruled not only Spain, but Naples, what we now know as the Netherlands, and overseas how he conquered the Caribbean, Mexico, parts of central America and the north coast of south America. Thomas takes a chonological approach following expeditions up the Orionoco, how the Germans came to be in Venezuela, the tentative exploration south and along the Pacific coast. The key figure here is Pizarro and his followers and their conquest of the Incas. Thomas shows how in Spain the king endeavoured to make his empire work for him. Later chapters deal with the opening up of the Amazon, the bringing of 'the true religion' to south America, the conquest of Argentina, the importation of slaves to work the sugar plantations of the depopulated Carribean, the conquest of the Philippines. The second Part concerns the abdication of Charles and the accession of Philip II and how he was sidetracked into lanching an invasion of Britain (the Spanish Armada). Thomas, as befits the author of the most authoritative historical account of the slave trade, writes enthrallingly about how the empire was administered. Thomas ends of the empire that might have been - the project to conquer China - but Philip II, prudent for once, said no. What might have been!