Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest 1st Edition

This is a phenomenal book, and I think everyone who lives in the Western Hemisphere should read this.The author first explains that this is not just a battle of myth vs fact or of conquistador lies vs historian's truth. Rather, this book is about how the Conquest is remembered and has been remembered for 500 years. In a sense, this is a dialogue between three histories - the primary accounts from the historical moment, the subsequent secondary histories, and the most modern histories with the benefit of their own research and evidence. Myths are NOT lies - myths are real to their progenitors, and modern history can be based on myth (including the many modern histories based on some of these myths).With that being said, here are the 7 myths which Restall brilliantly dispels.1. Myth of a few great men - perpetuated by modern pop history.2. Myth of Spanish armies sent by the king - perpetuated by modern pop history.3. Myth of only a handful Spanish conquistadors - originated with conquistadors.4. Myth of a complete conquest - originated with conquistadors.5. Myth of miscommunication - perpetuated by modern academic historians.6. Myth of the destruction of native culture - perpetuated by modern pop and academic history.7. Myth of Spanish superiority - perpetuated by conquistadors, modern academic, and modern pop history.For me, the most important feature of this book is that throughout the text it emphasizes that Native cultures did not simply wither or collapse - they adapted, they accommodated, they collaborated, they resisted, and they demonstrated a vitality and resilience that outlasted the Empire itself. The book also emphasizes that these 7 myths - while they do NOT reflect reality - are not lies. Rather, they are myths which were earnestly believed by many people in the service of particular worldviews or material goals, and perpetuated not only by conquistadors but also perpetuated in academic history and pop history up to the present. I think that is important because it demonstrates how pervasive these myths are and why it is therefore important for people to unlearn them.My one critique is that I disagreed somewhat with the Epilogue, in which Restall attempts to provide his own reasons for the real causes of Conquest. For instance he lists specifically steel swords, which I would argue is not very impactful. A handful of Spanish swordsmen is inconsequential in the face of thousands of enemy soldiers, especially in light of the fact that most of the Spanish themselves were not even proper soldiers, that they depended on Native allies, and that many Spanish entradas failed. I am also not sure if disease is convincing as a causative factor given that 1) chronologically the most severe epidemics occurred during/after the Conquest and cannot be separated from the broader ecology of imperialism, and 2) even with disease, Indians were still overwhelmingly the majority throughout the mainland. Despite that caveat, I still highly recommend this book to everyone.

Most books claiming to refute myths are boring. This one is different because it uses the myth as a starting point to explore associated matters in greater depth than usual.To be honest the first chapter tended to sell me on the book because the author reaches much the same conclusions about Columbus that I had some time earlier. Namely that there were other Iberian adventurers who were on the verge of making landfall in the new world at about that time. Columbus was indeed first but was no greater or lesser an explorer than the others who struct land shortly after. Indeed there has been speculation for decades that Portuguese may have “discovered” Canada ten to twenty years earlier - the documentation is strong enough for plausibility but not strong enough (likely never will be) to confirm. This does not make the event of 1492 any less significant or make any less capable an explorer. Only one person can win the Boston Marathon but that person is only slightly faster than the next five remarkable athletes.One of my biggest surprises is regarding the nature of the letters Cortez send back to the King. In reading them I realized that they were obviously self serving. What I did not realize was that were formalistic, almost legal boiler plate. De Leon, Pizzaro and others wrote similar accounts and sent them back to the King. Generally the King did not read them an no one expected that he would. They were intended for royal bureaucrats and often ended stuffed away unread in the royal archives. Cortez’s are unique only in that they were “leaked”. The author uses this as a starting point to describe the Spanish patronage system of the time which was the structure that underlay the governance of the Spanish Empire. Its root were in medieval law and custom combined with the experience of the Iberian reconquista. To me, some of the machinations read like chapters from The Godfather. — but the origins of the Sicilian mafia date from about the same period!There is much more and this is not a book outline, just a recvomendation.

Good read. Great notes? Really good index. Great research done by the author. It is a little bit slow in some parts.

The book was recommended by a history prof at U of Oregon as a good once-over of current thinking about the early European assaults on the Americas. The Europeans, primarily the Spanish, did not “conquer” Mexico or Peru, the Aztec and Inca empires, on the strength of “great men,” or the power of their weapons. There would have been “discovery” if Columbus had never sailed. Diseases, and exploiting internal divisions, allying with one group of (misnamed) Indians against another, and the assistance of thousands of imported African slaves were important elements to “conquest” (which was never complete). Recommend!

If you have a decent (acquired pre-1990-2000) historical education then this book will not be of much use to you. If you have little historical education then you will learn a great deal though you will be cheated in some areas and rewarded in others.It’s pretty clear that Prof. Restall lacks the military education of those who taught me. He discounts far too much from what the Spaniards and their allies accomplished. I suspect he knows that he does them injustice and is ok with that.However, the professor has put in the work and knows his topic. You will learn and will not feel that you wasted your time. But please balance this reading with others.The conquest of Mexico by the Spaniards and their native allies was an impressive feat of arms and the leadership, tenacity, military skill and courage it required is not something to be lightly dismissed.

It was an ok book. A lot like reading the Bible, you have to keep in mind the likelihood of the tales. I was forced to read this book for a HIST 1301 class and it could have been worse. Trust me, the second book we had to read sucked.

Really useful stuff. Most legends are 'wrong' and this explains where, how and why the Latin American ones are.

If you have read the account of eyewitness Bernal Diaz (Penguin does an abridged version), not much of this will come as a surprise. If your only knowledge of the Spanish conquest comes from 19th or early 20th century popular histories, prepare to be amazed. It rather belittles the grit of the conquistadores - I cannot imagine the author toughing it out in some of the scrapes they got into. If you can bear the PC tone, you will get some arguments worth reading, but I was a little disappointed.