| Description |
1 online resource (xv, 237 pages) : illustrations, maps |
| Series |
McGill-Queen's Iberian and Latin American cultures series ; 5 |
|
McGill-Queen's Iberian and Latin American cultures series ; 5.
|
| Contents |
Front Matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Maps and illustrations follow page -- Rainbow of Illusions -- Always Wanting More -- The Lure of Peru -- Preparations -- Arrangements in Spain -- Constructing the Fleet -- Opposing Forces -- Realejo -- Manoeuvres before Departure -- The Roll Call -- Arrival -- Landfall at Caráquez -- Ransacking the Coast -- Up, Over, and Down -- Ascending the Andes -- Trail through the Pass -- Hoofprints on the Highway -- Saving Face -- Negotiations with Almagro -- The Price of Peace -- Pizarro Pays Out -- Back to Guatemala -- Coda: The Conquistador Who Never Was -- Appendix -- Chronology -- Glossary -- Notes -- References -- Index |
| Summary |
"Pedro de Alvarado is best known as the right-hand man of Hernán Cortés in the conquest of Mexico (1519-21) and the ruthless conqueror of Guatemala some years later. Far less known is his intent to intrude in the conquest of Peru and lay claim to Quito, a wealthy domain in the far north of the Inca Empire. To this end, Alvarado constructed a massive fleet, which sailed south from Central America to what is now Ecuador, making landfall on 25 February 1534. Engaging both the European and Indigenous contexts in which Alvarado operated, George Lovell illuminates this gap in the record, narrating a dramatic story of greed and hubris. Upon reaching Ecuador, Alvarado's formidable entourage--some five hundred Spanish combatants and two thousand Indigenous conscripts--marched from the Pacific coast to the Andean sierra. Though Quito was his intended destination, he never made it. During a treacherous transit across the mountains, Alvarado's party was engulfed by heavy snowfall and numbing cold, which proved the expedition's undoing. Those who survived the ordeal discovered that other Spaniards--Diego de Almagro and Sebastián de Benalcázar, acting in allegiance with Francisco Pizarro--had reached Quito before them, thereby claiming first right of conquest. Believing he had no option, if strife between rival sides was to be avoided, Alvarado sold his costly machinery of war-- men, horses, weaponry, and ships--to those who had beaten him to the prize. All but ruined, he returned humiliated to Central America. Death in the Snow brings to light the delusions of one headstrong conquistador and mourns the loss of untold Indigenous lives, casualties of Alvarado's lust for fame and fortune."-- Provided by publisher |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index |
| Notes |
Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on December 07, 2022) |
| Subject |
Alvarado, Pedro de, 1485?-1541.
|
| SUBJECT |
Alvarado, Pedro de, 1485?-1541 fast |
| Subject |
Conquerors -- Central America -- Biography
|
|
HISTORY / Latin America / South America.
|
|
Conquerors
|
| SUBJECT |
Peru -- History -- Conquest, 1522-1548.
http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh85100205
|
| Subject |
Central America
|
|
Peru
|
| Genre/Form |
Biographies
|
|
History
|
|
Biographies.
|
|
Biographies.
|
| Form |
Electronic book
|
| ISBN |
0228015464 |
|
9780228015475 |
|
0228015472 |
|
9780228015468 |
|
