How the Spanish Empire Was Built: A 400-Year History (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781836391135)

"A richly researched account of the clever, industrious and deeply practical men who followed in the footsteps, often literally, of Columbus, Cortés, Pizarro, Núñez de Balboa and others."--Wall Street Journal

The untold story of the engineering behind the empire, showing how imperial Spain built upon existing infrastructure and hierarchies of the Inca, Aztec, and more, to further its growth.

Sixteenth-century Spain was small, poor, disunited, and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had ever seen. How did they achieve this? Felipe Fernández-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo argue that Spain's engineers were critical to this venture. The Spanish invested in infrastructure to the advantage of local power brokers, enhancing the abilities of incumbent elites to grow wealthy on trade, and widening the arc of Spanish influence. Bringing to life stories of engineers, prospectors, soldiers, and priests, the authors paint a vivid portrait of Spanish America in the age of conquest. This is a dazzling new history of the Spanish Empire, and a new understanding of empire itself, as a venture marked as much by collaboration as oppression.

Author: Felipe Fernández-Armesto, Manuel Lucena Giraldo
ISBN-10: 1836391137
ISBN-13: 9781836391135
Publisher: Reaktion Books
Language: English
Published: 11/12/2025
Pages: 352
Format: Paperback
Size: 7.80h x 5.08w x 1.34d