Quotes About Conquistadors

These doomsday warriors look no more like soldiers than the soldiers of the Second World War looked like conquistadors. The more expert they become the more they look like lab assistants in small colleges.

The conquistadors and their followers were very rough people, and they were fixated on gold and silver. They were oblivious to the astonishing achievements of the Inca civilisation.

Yucatán in Mexico means "What?" or "What are you saying?"—the reply given by the natives to the first Spanish conquistadors to fetch up on their shores. The

In a broad reach of savanna, the Beni's original inhabitants built raised fields—artificial platforms of soil that lift crops above the floodwaters. Like the raised beds in temperate-zone gardens, they promote drainage and increase the amount of topsoil available to plants. The few carbon dates available suggest that the fields date from about three thousand years ago to about five hundred years ago—roughly the time the conquistadors arrived, bringing European diseases.

Among the many reasons for regarding the fabled American exceptionalism with some skepticism is that the doctrine appears to be close to a historical universal, including the worst monsters: Hitler, Stalin, the conquistadors; it is hard to find an exception. Aggression and terror are almost invariably portrayed as self-defense and dedication to inspiring visions.

But one item was left behind in Kansas, to be discovered in 1886: a Spanish sword from Coronado's expedition, inscribed with the name of its owner, Juan Gallegos, and on the blade these words: "Do not draw me without right. Do not sheath me without honor." Here at once is summed up the essential chivalry of the Conquistadors.

Díaz violated people's property rights, facilitating the expropriation of vast amounts of land, and he granted monopolies and favors to his supporters in all lines of business, including banking. There was nothing new about this behavior. This is exactly what Spanish conquistadors had done, and what Santa Ana did in their footsteps. The

For the first three weeks in June, the conquistadors and their Indian allies fought skirmishes on the outskirts of the city.

Another of the great civilizations, the Aztecs, raised a breed of hairless chihuahuas especially for eating. When the Conquistadors arrived and found dog on the menu, they were of the same opinion as Mademoiselle, that this was evidence of the worst form of barbarism. They, the Spaniards, used dogs as befits civilized and Christian men - to hunt down fugitive Indians and tear them to pieces.

What a great language I have, it's a fine language we inherited from the fierce Conquistadors…. They carried everything off and left us everything…. They left us the words.