Rivers of Gold

About “Rivers of Gold”

Hugh Thomas describes Spain at the dawn of the sixteenth century as a world power on the brink of greatness, following the completion of the Iberian peninsula's restoration to Catholic rule under monarchs Fernando and Isabel. The book examines Spain's colonial adventures beginning with Christopher Columbus's expedition, funded at a cost less than a Spanish princess's wedding, which aimed to claim the wealth of the Indies, including gold believed to flow like rivers, while also exploring the competing motives of wealth, glory, and religious ambition that shaped the early conquests.