Spain's road to empire : the making of a world power, 1492-1763

From the late-fifteenth to the mid-eighteenth century, Spain was the most extensive empire the world had seen, stretching from Naples and the Netherlands to the Philippines. This provocative work of history attributes Spain's rise to power to the collaboration of international business interests, including Italian financiers, German technicians, and Dutch traders. At the height of its power, the Spanish Empire was a global enterprise in which non-Spaniards — Portuguese, Basque, Aztec, Genoese, Chinese, Flemish, West African, Incan, and Neapolitan — played an essential role. Challenging, persuasive, and unique in its thesis, Henry Kamen's __Empire__ explores Spain's complex impact on world history with admirable clarity and intelligence. How did a barren, thinly populated country, somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe become the world's first superpower? Henry Kamen's tremendous new book takes full advantage of its great theme to recreate the dazzling world of militant Castile from the fall of Moorish Granada and Columbus' first voyage to the imperial collapse over three centuries later. There is no better account in English of this immense, brutal adventure - a ceaseless quest for land, gold and slaves that made Spain, both for its conquered peoples and much of the rest of Europe, into a rapacious nightmare. How did Spain, a barren, thinly populated country, somewhat isolated from the rest of Europe become the world's first superpower? This title presents an account of a brutal adventure - a ceaseless quest for land, gold and slaves that made Spain, both for its conquered people and much of the rest of Europe, into a rapacious nightmare. Henry Kamen re-creates the dazzling world of Imperial Spain, from the capture of Moorish Granada and Columbus's first voyage in 1492, to its expansion into Europe, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean, and the opening up of the frontiers in Texas and California in the 18th century