"Sixteenth-century Spain was small, poor, disunited and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had ever seen. How did they achieve this? Felipe Fernandez-Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo argue that Spain's engineers were critical to this venture. The Spanish invested in infrastructure to the advantage of local power brokers, enhancing the abilities of incumbent elites to grow wealthy on trade, and widening the arc of Spanish influence. Bringing to life stories of engineers, prospectors, soldiers and priests, the authors paint a vivid portrait of Spanish America in the age of conquest. This is a dazzling new history of the Spanish Empire, and a new understanding of empire itself, as a venture marked as much by collaboration as oppression."

About the Author
Manuel Lucena Giraldo is a Research Scientist at the Spanish National Research Council and Adjunct Professor at IE University and ESCP Business School Europe. His books include Firsting in the Early Modern Atlantic World (2020). Felipe Fernandez-Armesto is William P. Reynolds Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame and an award-winning scholar and historian. His books include Straits (2021).


Book Information
ISBN 9781789148404
Author Felipe Fernandez-Armesto
Format Hardback
Page Count 480
Imprint Reaktion Books
Publisher Reaktion Books