Establishing Francisco Pizarro firmly as a man of his time, Stuart Stirling shows that there was little difference in moral terms between Elizabeth I's political expediency in ordering Mary Queen of Scots's execution and Pizarro's killing of the Inca Atahualpa - a deed for which his name has been regarded with infamy.

Stuart Stirling tells the history of the Inca princesses and of their conquistador lovers and descendants. The detailed human stories of the princesses bring to life the world of the Incas and their conquerors and shed new light on the darker corners of colonial history.

The Inca civilization of Peru was one of the gratest of the ancient civilizations of the Americas. Famous for their massive temples and fortresses built from huge blocks of stone and decorated with sheets of pure gold, the Incas also developed a system of government, capable of holding a vast area of territory together, and an extensive system of roads, connecting administrative centres, which acted as a means of colonization. Their religion of human sacrifice, worshipping Inti, the Sun Go...

First published in the 1950s, this is a classic account of the discovery in 1911 of the lost city of Machu Picchu.In 1911 Hiram Bingham, a pre-historian with a love of exotic destinations, set out to Peru in search of the legendary city of Vilcabamba, capital city of the last Inca ruler, Manco Inca. With a combination of doggedness and good fortune he stumbled on the perfectly preserved ruins of Machu Picchu perched on a cloud-capped ledge 2000 feet above the torre...

This enthralling study which examines the impact of the Spaniards upon the Aztec and Inca worlds is dominated by the personalities involved, in particular Cortes and Montezuma. Their confrontation in the Aztec lake-city of Tenochtitlan is a moving drama of human conflict revealing the dilemma and the enigma of the Indians. It is a story of battles and voyages, full of strange episodes – Cortes burning his ships, Pizarro drawing a line with his sword, saying "Gentlemen, this line represents...

The Spaniard of the fifteenth century is recognizable by well-defined traits: he was primitive, he was proud, he was devout, and he was romantic. His primitiveness we detect in his relish for blood and suffering; his pride in his austerity and exclusiveness; his devoutness in his mystical exaltation of the Church; and his romanticism in his passion for adventure.After printing had spread in Spain, the romanticism of the Spaniard—to confine our observations for the present to that tr...

Prepare to embark on a journey back in time into the realm of the unknown with the conquistadores and Francisco Pizarro as "Inca Gold" relates the fascinating and engrossing story of an indigenous people, their social structure, culture, religion, military, administration, myths, legends and conquest. With the aid of historical resources gain knowledge of unfathomable and unparalleled events that transpired during this epoch of pillaging, looting, kidnapping, torture, murder, rape, and des...

This fantastic book, filled with amazing facts and photographs, describes what life was like for the Incas. It gives an in-depth account of all aspects of life and people of the time - including sections about emperors, cities, religion, gods, everyday life and many more. The 'All About' series is an educational collection of books from P S Quick, and is targeted to interest 7 to 11 year olds - but will fascinate readers of all ages. At the end of each book there is a quiz section for the ...

This is both a specific study of conversion in a corner of the Spanish Empire, and a work with implications for the understanding of European domination and native resistance throughout the colonial world. Dr Clendinnen explores the intensifying conflict between competing and increasingly divergent Spanish visions of Yucatan and its destructive outcomes. She seeks to penetrate the ways of thinking and feeling of the Mayan Indians in a detailed reconstruction of their assessment of the intr...

A thrilling narrative of the larger-than-life clash between a relentless conqueror and a formidable king that led to the destruction of the Aztec empire, from the award-winning historian and author of River of Darkness“Fascinating . . . [an] almost unbelievable story of missionary zeal, greed, cruelty, and courage.”—The Wall Street Journal“A sweeping and majestic history of a clash of civilizations that reshaped th...

Dazzled by the sight of the vast treasure of gold and silver being unloaded at Seville’s docks in 1537, a teenaged Pedro de Cieza de León vowed to join the Spanish effort in the New World, become an explorer, and write what would become the earliest historical account of the conquest of Peru. Available for the first time in English, this history of Peru is based largely on interviews with Cieza’s conquistador compatriates, as well as with Indian informants knowledgeable of the Incan past.

For hundreds of years, the history of the conquest of Mexico and the defeat of the Aztecs has been told in the words of the Spanish victors. Miguel León-Portilla has long been at the forefront of expanding that history to include the voices of indigenous peoples. In this new and updated edition of his classic The Broken Spears, León-Portilla has included accounts from native Aztec descendants across the centuries. These texts bear witness to the extraordinary vitality of an oral t...