I have just finished reading Spain's road to empire (I follow Kamen's use of the lower case here). I found the book interesting documenting well Kamen's main thesis, ie: Spain (mainly Castilian) was driven to empire by circumstances outside its control. The empire was, in modern terms, a multinational enterprise benefiting from the expertise and manpower of other european countries. Kamen's views on the history of the conquest of Spanish America have been espoused by other historian and it would not be seriously challenged in Latin America today. However, in my view, the book would have gained weight by giving a broader perspective to the conquest and its consequences from Mexico all the way to Chile.
No mention of the conquest of Brazil by the Portuguese, that took place more or less at the same time is given.
More importantly, no comment is offered of the English conquest of North America, that strictly speaking commenced some six to eight generations after the Spanish conquest. The consequences of the Spanish and English conquests were noted some years ago by A. Toynbee for instance, and can be easily observed. In Latin America, pure-indians exists in large numbers in many countries and more importantly, their genes, in different degrees of mixing, are obvious in the majority of the population. In North America on the other hand, the English and their descendant elites were happy to destroy any remains of the indigenous population. Undoubtly they were very successful, with only the token indian alive today. Any mixed blood?
In Australia, the English conquest occurred even later, perhaps another five generations later. The same North American pattern of stealing land and elimination of native populations took place. No mixing was condoned. No Las Casas, no church trying to protect the indians. In 1912, for instance (less than 100 years ago!), the Federal Government of Australia established an Aboriginal Ordinance which authorised the removal of any mixed-race child into "protection". The objective of the English and their descendants in the North American and Australian cases was to create 'white' countries.
Mr Kamen, in my view, history, to be of value, has to be studied in perspective, otherwise is just a story.
by Aliro Olave on February 19, 2008 at 7:04 AM