by Hugh Thomas · Phoenix · tapa blanda · ISBN 9780753817933
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When, in 1492, Christopher Columbus finally stood ready to set sail across the 'Ocean Sea' for what he thought was India, he crossed himself and devoted his expedition to the Holy Trinity and to the King and Queen of Spain. With the gold and spices (and slaves) he would find, Columbus planned to fund a new Crusade to win back Jerusalem. At the time Columbus's voyage was insignificant, but it became one of the most important events in history. The colonisation he started was followed by the Dutch, French and British. Pioneers like Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci and the hundreds of Spaniards they inspired looked for riches, glory and to serve God in the New World. While they didn't believe the earth was flat, they thought an Earthly Paradise existed on the far side of the Indies, and that the rivers flowed with gold. Later the Conquistadores brought slavery, their irresistible weapons and European diseases to the ancient civilisations, and made Spain the richest nation in the world.
Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, was an English historian and writer known best for his book The Spanish Civil War.
