Invading Colombia

In early April 1536, Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada led a military expedition from the coastal city of Santa Marta deep into the interior of what is today modern Colombia. With roughly eight hundred Spaniards and numerous native carriers and black slaves, the Jiménez expedition was larger than the combined forces under Hernando Cortés and Francisco Pizarro. Over the course of the one-year campaign, nearly three-quarters of Jiménez’s men perished, most from illness and hunger. Yet, for the 179 survivors, the expedition proved to be one of the most profitable campaigns of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, the history of the Spanish conquest of Colombia remains virtually unknown. Through a series of firsthand primary accounts, translated into English for the first time, Invading Colombia reconstructs the compelling tale of the Jiménez expedition, the early stages of the Spanish conquest of Muisca territory, and the foundation of the city of Santa Fé de Bogotá. We follow the expedition from the Canary Islands to Santa Marta, up the Magdalena River, and finally into Colombia’s eastern highlands. These highly engaging accounts not only challenge many current assumptions about the nature of Spanish conquests in the New World, but they also reveal a richly entertaining, yet tragic, tale that rivals the great conquest narratives of Mexico and Peru.

"In early April 1536, Gonzalo Jimenez de Quesada led a military expedition from the coastal city of Santa Marta deep into the interior of what is today modern Colombia. With roughly eight hundred Spaniards and numerous native carriers and black slaves, the Jimenez expedition was larger than the combined forces under Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizarro. Over the course of the one-year campaign, nearly three-quarters of Jimenez's men perished, most from illness and hunger. Yet, for the 179 survivors, the expedition proved to be one of the most profitable campaigns of the sixteenth century. Unfortunately, the history of the Spanish conquest of Colombia remains virtually unknown." "Through a series of firsthand primary accounts, translated into English for the first time, Invading Colombia reconstructs the compelling tale of the Jimenez expedition, the early stages of the Spanish conquest of Muisca territory, and the foundation of the city of Santa Fe de Bogota. We follow the expedition from the Canary Islands to Santa Marta, up the Magdalena River, and finally into Colombia's eastern highlands. These highly accounts not only challenge many current assumptions about the nature of Spanish conquests in the New World, but they also reveal a richly entertaining, yet tragic, tale that rivals the great conquest narratives of Mexico and Peru."--Jacket.

A sweeping, authoritative history of 16th-century Spain and its legendary conquistadors, whose ambitious and morally contradictory campaigns propelled a small European kingdom to become one of the formidable empires in the world “The depth of research in this book is astonishing, but even more impressive is the analytical skill Cervantes applies. . . . [He] conveys complex arguments in delightfully simple language, and most importantly knows how to tell a good story.” —The Times (London) Over the few short decades that followed Christopher Columbus's first landing in the Caribbean in 1492, Spain conquered the two most powerful civilizations of the Americas: the Aztecs of Mexico and the Incas of Peru. Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, and the other explorers and soldiers that took part in these expeditions dedicated their lives to seeking political and religious glory, helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. But centuries later, these conquistadors have become the stuff of nightmares. In their own time, they were glorified as heroic adventurers, spreading Christian culture and helping to build an empire unlike any the world had ever seen. Today, they stand condemned for their cruelty and exploitation as men who decimated ancient civilizations and carried out horrific atrocities in their pursuit of gold and glory. In Conquistadores, acclaimed Mexican historian Fernando Cervantes—himself a descendent of one of the conquistadors—cuts through the layers of myth and fiction to help us better understand the context that gave rise to the conquistadors' actions. Drawing upon previously untapped primary sources that include diaries, letters, chronicles, and polemical treatises, Cervantes immerses us in the late-medieval, imperialist, religious world of 16th-century Spain, a world as unfamiliar to us as the Indigenous peoples of the New World were to the conquistadors themselves. His thought-provoking, illuminating account reframes the story of the Spanish conquest of the New World and the half-century that irrevocably altered the course of history.

Colombia's recent past has been characterized by what its Nobel laureate Gabriel García Marquez once called "a biblical holocaust" of human savagery. Along with the scourge of drug-related massacres facing the country, politically-motivated assassinations (averaging 30 per day in the 1990s), widespread disappearances, rapes, and kidnappings have run rampant through the country for decades. For many Colombians, the violence oft-invoked in today's immigration debate is a bleak and inescapable reality. And yet, with only eleven years of military rule during its 200 some years of independence, Colombia's democratic tradition is among the richest and longest-standing in the hemisphere. The country's economic growth rate over the last 75 years is among the highest in South America, the overall living satisfaction of its citizens is on par with citizens of France, and it is home to some of the continent's best universities and most dazzling fine and industrial arts. With such contradictions, even to experts, Colombia is one of the most confusing countries in the Americas. In this new addition to the popular What Everyone Needs to Know® series, Richard D. Mahoney links historical legacies, cultural features, and the relentless dynamics of the illegal drug industry to unravel the enigma. He explores the many key issues running through Colombia's history, distinguishing its national experience, and fueling its unquenchable creativity. With concerns surrounding immigration from the US's southern neighbors mounting to new heights, understanding the history and evolution of Colombia has never been more vital.

Pamphlet comprising a case study of squatting and conflict in rural areas of Colombia, illustrating the pressure of peasant movements on the land tenure system in the late 1960's - discusses agricultural policy implications, agrarian reform and land reform problems, etc.

By winning the 2019 Tour de France, Egan Bernal became the race's youngest champion in 110 years, and the first from the South American nation of Colombia. His victory brought decades of national yearning to fruition. Colombia has long been the only developing nation contending at cycling's highest level. Yet its cycling sons are not the products of a rigorous sports system that spots them in childhood and nurtures them through the ranks to the pinnacle of globalised sport. They come from harder backgrounds, that surprise, shock - even, at times, enchant. Colombia Es Pasión! explores the lives and dreams of each of the nation's leading cyclists. Theirs are inspiring stories of overcoming poverty and violence, sickness and corruption, and achieving global sporting glory. 'Takes you into the heart of both a sport and a country. The journey is well worth the effort' Sunday Times 'Wonderful' Observer 'Remarkable, a masterpiece' Never Strays Far podcast

Among the magnificent gems and jewels left behind by the great Islamic empires, emeralds stand out for their size and prominence. For the Mughals, Ottomans, and Safavids green was—as it remains for all Muslims—the color of Paradise, reserved for the Prophet Muhammad and his descendants. Tapping a wide range of sources, Kris Lane traces the complex web of global trading networks that funneled emeralds from backland South America to populous Asian capitals between the sixteenth and the eighteenth centuries. Lane reveals the bloody conquest wars and forced labor regimes that accompanied their production. It is a story of trade, but also of transformations—how members of profoundly different societies at opposite ends of the globe assigned value to a few thousand pounds of imperfectly shiny green rocks.