An epic narrative history of the New World and the people who discovered and conquered it, this book covers the rise of the Spanish Empire from 1490 to 1522.

Beginning with the return of the remnants of Magellan's circumnavigation in 1522 and ending with Charles' death in 1558, the author brings to life the periods of the Renaissance, revealing how the Spaniards were able to conquer Guatemala, Yucatan, Columbia, Venezuela, Peru and Chile and why Cabeza de Vaca walked from Florida to Mexico.

The rise and fall of the business of slave trading - by a bestselling historian

Following Rivers of Gold and The Golden Age, World Without End is the conclusion of a magisterial three-volume history of the Spanish Empire by Hugh Thomas, its foremost worldwide authority World Without End tells the story of life in a conquered territory that stretched from Cuba to Peru, and of the final conquests of the greatest empire that the world had then seen since the fall of Rome 1,000 years before. By the time of Philip II's death - and after his startling decision, made in his final years, not to invade China - the attentions of the colonists, clergymen, sailors, soldiers and...