How Spain built the first global empire. Wyman traces how the Reconquista, Columbus, and the conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires created a worldwide empire that channeled New World gold into European wars — and ultimately bankrupted Spain.
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Highlights
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Windfall wealth can destroy economies — the Spanish price revolution
New World gold and silver flooded Spain, causing massive inflation that destroyed domestic manufacturing. Spain conquered the richest empire on Earth and went bankrupt.
The Reconquista mindset shaped how Spain colonized the New World
Centuries of religious warfare against Muslims created a Spanish culture of conquest, conversion, and extraction that was transferred wholesale to the Americas.