| Description |
ix, 372 pages : illustrations, maps ; 24 cm. |
| Summary |
""In Searching for Golden Empires, William K. Hartmann tells a true-life adventure story that recounts the shared history of the United States and Mexico, unveiling episodes both tragic and uplifting. Hernan Cortez Montezuma, Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, and Viceroy Antonio Mendoza are just some of the principal eyewitnesses in this vivid history of New World exploration"--Provided by publisher. |
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"This lively book recounts the explorations of the first generations of Spanish conquistadors and their Native allies. Author William K. Hartmann brings readers along as the explorers probe from Cuba to the Aztec capital of Mexico City, and then northward through the borderlands to New Mexico, the Grand Canyon, southern California, and as far as Kansas. Characters include Hernan Cortes, the conqueror; the Aztec ruler Motezuma; Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, a famous expedition leader; fray Marcos de Niza, an explorer-priest doomed to disgrace; and Viceroy Antonio Mendoza, the king's representative who tried to keep the explorers under control. Recounting eyewitness experiences that the Spaniards recorded in letters and memoirs, Hartmann describes ancient lifeways from Mexico to the western United States; Aztec accounts of the conquest; discussions between Aztec priests and Spanish priests about the nature of the universe; Cortes's lifelong relationship with his famous Native mistress, Malinche (not to mention the mysterious fate of his wife); lost explorers who wandered from Florida to Arizona; and Marcos de Niza's controversial reports of the 'Seven Cities of Cibola.' Searching for Golden Empires describes how, even after the conquest of Mexico, Cortes remained a 'wildcat' competitor with Coronado in a race to see who could find the 'next golden empire,' believed to lie in the north. It is an exciting history of the shared story of the United States and Mexico, unveiling episodes both tragic and uplifting"-- Provided by publisher. |
| Bibliography |
Includes bibliographical references and index. |
| Contents |
Prologue: Simple Tales and Lost Truths -- The Beginning : Cortés and the Gold of Mexico -- Cortés Expands the Frontier -- Shipwrecked in Unknown Country : The Epic Journey of Cabeza de Vaca and Friends -- The New Viceroy Ponders the North -- The Case of the "Lying Monk" : Marcos de Niza's Journey to the Seven Cities of Cíbola -- Marcos Races Back to Mexico City -- Cortés vs. the Viceroy : Discovering the Colorado River and "Country Enough for Many Years of Conquest" -- To Cíbola by Land and Sea : The Coronado Entrada of 1540 -- Entering the Seven Cities of Cíbola -- Meanwhile...(On the Colorado River, in Spain, and in Mexico City) -- Coronado Fights a War, Reaches Kansas, and Returns to Mexico -- Aftermath: Impacts on Culture and Understanding. |
| Subject |
Culture conflict -- America -- History.
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| Local Subject |
Indigenous peoples -- Mexico -- History.
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| Subject |
America -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.
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Indians of North America -- West (U.S.) -- History.
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Spaniards -- America -- History.
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| Local Subject |
Indigenous peoples -- West (U.S.) -- History.
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| Subject |
Cibola, Seven Cities of.
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West (U.S.) -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.
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America -- Ethnic relations -- History.
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Indians -- Social life and customs.
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Indians of Mexico -- History.
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HISTORY / Latin America / Mexico.
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Mexico -- Discovery and exploration -- Spanish.
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| Local Subject |
Indigenous people -- Social life and customs.
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| ISBN |
9780816530878 (hardback : alkaline paper) |
|
0816530874 (hardback : alkaline paper) |
| Standard No. |
40024073195 |
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