Rivers of Gold Audiobook By Hugh Thomas cover art

Rivers of Gold

The Rise of the Spanish Empire, from Columbus to Magellan

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Rivers of Gold

By: Hugh Thomas
Narrated by: James Cameron Stewart
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From one of the greatest historians of the Spanish world, here is a fresh and fascinating account of Spain's early conquests in the Americas.

Hugh Thomas shows Spain at the dawn of the sixteenth century as a world power on the brink of greatness. For Spain and for the world, the decision to send Christopher Columbus west was epochal—the dividing line between the medieval and the modern.

Spain's colonial adventures began inauspiciously. In spite of its small scale, it was a mission of astounding scope: to claim for Spain all the wealth of the Indies.

The lofty aspirations of the first explorers died hard, as the pursuit of wealth and glory competed with the pursuit of pious impulses. In their search for gold, Spaniards enslaved "Indians" from the Bahamas and the South American mainland. Columbus and other Spanish explorers—Cortes, Ponce de Leon, and Magellan among them—created an empire for Spain of unsurpassed size and scope. But the door was soon open for other powers, enemies of Spain, to stake their claims.

Rivers of Gold is a great story brilliantly told. More significant, it is an engrossing history with many profound—often disturbing—echoes in the present.

©2003 Hugh Thomas (P)2023 Tantor Europe Expeditions & Discoveries World Middle Ages Latin America Caribbean
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I like how the chapters were organized around major figures of the time. Also appreciated the contextual buildup from the catholic kings to show where Spain was when their project to America began. Thought the last chapters deep dive on Sevilla felt misplaced, but it’s a great city so I was happy to learn more. Came away with a greater understanding of the transitional time between Ferdinand and Charles V. Overall it’s now probably one of my favorites on Spanish history.

Great sweep of history from Spain to America

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This fact-full book was a very comprehensive and a well researched work, covering one of the most interesting periods of discovery, exploration and conquest. Spanning between the late medieval and early renaissance. I've read all the other books written by authors of several generations, this one might be my favorite so far because it covers in detail so many of the gaps that the other historians have left out. The author chooses to summarize in great detail all of the events starting from Enrique IV through the Catholic monarchs and all the way to Columbus, Cortez and Magellan. This book is more of a summary of events than the telling of a story. This is a remarkable book about one of the greatest periods in our modern history. It provides a wealth of information related to the focus subject. I loved that it covered so many participants, explorers and conquistadors of whom many are often forgotten. The narration is easy to follow with few if any mistakes. This author has clearly done his homework. What an adventure!

This book fills in all the blanks

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It’s pretty long, but all that detail is necessary. It took quite awhile for me to get into the rhythm of this book.

History I did not know, but now seems essential that I know about Spain’s discovery and conquest of the new world.

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