Spanish America -- 1601 -- Hernan Cortes, Ferdinand Magellan, Christoval de Olid, Gonzalo de Sandoval

 

 

Description:

Title page with four portrait medallions--Hernán Cortés, Ferdinand Magellan, Christoval de Olid, Gonzalo de Sandoval--and ten vignettes showing on the left scenes from the Spanish conquest of Mexico, including scenes of warfare or execution and Mexican or Aztec kings being carried on litters, and views of Mexico City or Tenochtitlán. 

 

On the right are scenes of the Strait of Magellan, the murder of Magellan, and the triumphant homecoming to Seville, as well as a scene showing the partition of the world on a bridge over a river. 

 

Includes native Americans fighting and boating, canoes, ships, cannons, gallows, dwellings, and navigational instruments such as dividers, globes, and compass. 

 

In the center is the Spanish royal coat of arms (of Castile and Leon).

 

Source creator:

Herrera y Tordesillas, Antonio de, d. 1625 

 

 

Source Title:
Historia general de los hechos de los Castellano en las Islas y tierra firme del mar oceano ... Decada terzera 

Source date:
1601

notes:
In 1494, Spain and Portugal signed a treaty, known as the Treaty of Tordesillas, agreeing to a demarcation line whereby the pope divided the lands of the new world between the two countries. Only when the Spanish discovered the riches of Mexico was the treaty seen to be so advantageous to Spain.