7 Myths Of The Spanish Conquest Summary

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The book “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest”, was very eye opening for me. The history of the spanish conquest has been miss portrayed for years all across the world. There are many parts of this book which differ from the official history books that you would commonly see in our public schools.This book has most definitely changed my personal views on this subject, and I think that this book can shed light on how poorly written some history books are.
When I learned about the Spanish conquest in high school I didn’t learn many of the actual true facts of the conquest that Restall goes through in his book “Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest”. From the first time I learned of the spanish conquest, I was always told that Christopher Columbus,
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The European conquistadors have for centuries received all the credit in conquering the Americas, but Restall shows in chapter three that the Europeans who conquered the Americas did not do it alone. “Official” history books ignore the fact that the Europeans had help from both Natives and African slaves.Restall says on page fifty-two “Africans were ubiquitous not only to the Conquest of Mexico but also to the entire endeavor of Spanish invasion and colonization of the Americas”. This shows just how important the African slaves were to the Spaniards and what crucial role they played in the Spanish conquest. It is also known by many that the Spaniards were greatly outnumbered in their battles with the indigenous people even though that was not always true. Sure, the number of Spanish conquistadors were lower than the native people they were fighting against during the conquest, but the Spanish had many Natives and African slaves on their side that helped even out the numbers. It wasn’t until long after the conquest of the Americas that historians started to add the numbers of Native allies and African slaves that helped the Spaniards in their accomplishments during the conquest. This proves that the battles weren’t as uneven as the original history has told us when they only counted the number Spanish conquistadors and left out the many Natives and African slaves that helped the Spanish. Also Restall tells us