The Historical Works Of Hubert Howe Bancroft

Author : Hubert Howe Bancroft
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781332825196
Total Pages : 114 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (251 download)

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Download or read book The Historical Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft (Classic Reprint) written by Hubert Howe Bancroft and published by . This book was released on 2016-06-15 with total page 114 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from The Historical Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft This was the first part of the North American continent to be settled by Europeans, and the historical field is new. Except this work, there is nothing extant in any language which might properly be called a history of Central America; and being the first to have worked the field over from original material gathered from Mexico, Central America, England, France, and Spain - material of which there is no other such collee tion in existence - Mr Bancroft's work can justly claim for itself exceptional value. A glance at Europe, the state of society there, is given in the intro ductory chapter, particularly Spanish civilization at the opening of the sixteenth century. It was from Spain that the first expeditions of discovery, conquest, and colonization set forth for the New World; it was.the Spanish monarchs who first undertook the pacification of the Indians that is, their subjugation and conversion to Christianity. It is now nearly 400 years since Columbus turned his face westward, to penetrate the Sea of' Darkness, and find a short route to the other side of India; and for a century or so Spain had it very much her own way. True, Portugal claimed half of the heathen world, and France and England later on got footholds in America; but Spain distanced them all. Even before Columbus had examined the coast of Central America, Rodrigo de Bastidas had been there, exchanging with the natives worthless trinkets for solid gold. Trading-vessels in those days were very small, usually from 60 to 80 tons burden, and navigators suffered incredible hardships, not alone on sea but on land, from malaria, exposure, and lack of food, and often from the savages. The adventures of these Spaniards, who were much more bold and chivalrous than any of their race have ever been Since, are full of thrilling interest. It was truly wonderful, to the half-awake inhabi tants of Europe, the discovery and examination of these new lands and seas to the westward, and all around the world. The strange people the y found puzzled them greatly. Where had they come from, how did they get there, and had they souls? These and other like questions they sought to solve by referring to the sacred scriptures and the writings of the ancients. They did not pause to enquire how the Hebrews and Greeks of years ago could know more of the matter than they. A very scholarly summary of early voyages down to 1540 is given in vol. I, with copies of the first maps attempted to be drawn. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.