Contents

In fourteen hundred and ninety two… First contact

…Columbus sailed the ocean blue. He sailed west, into the setting sun, looking for another route to the Indies. Everyone said he was crazy, and they were right. He never found the Indies. He found something else instead.

The verdict of history Christopher Columbus

Columbus might be history's most famous misadventurer, the man who made one of history's greatest mistakes. He's yet to be forgiven for it.

Christening America Martin Waldseemüller's world map

Only one person has ever had a continent named after them. One non-mythological person anyway. And he's got two.

Fortune and glory Searching for the cities of gold

The Spanish have come for souls and gold, not necessarily in that order. And they're ready to raze a continent to get them.

The just and the damned Bartolomé de las Casas

Not content with leaving judgement to the Lord, or to history, las Casas became a celebrated and reviled whistleblower.

New world order The struggle for mastery by Europe

The riches they plunder from the new world will help Spain remake the old one. The old world isn't crazy about that…

Fires over England The Spanish Armada

Philip II of Spain has 30,000 troops poised to invade England and topple its heretical Queen. All he has to do is get them there.

Go west, young man Sir Walter Ralegh

Sixteenth century England had little appetite or ability to build itself an empire, but that didn't stop men like Ralegh from trying.

The curse of Midas The wane in Spain

One of the great tragedies in life is not getting all you want. Then there's the other one.