[happy_path]

A note of warning: I'm afraid this topic brings many propagandists. Both in the "Spanish nationalist" side and in the "anti-Spanish" retoric.

The facts are there, search for information, but be aware that for many years the English language narrative of the History of Spain has been dominated by the Black Legend [1].

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Legend_(Spain)

[pvaldes]

All in this topic had a political purpose since the start. Is pretty obvious.

We had heard this shit for years and is always the same thing. They even called us the "PIGS" not so long ago... The science and education and creation are quickly dismissed, appropriated by third parts or hidden and 'rediscovered' later. The bad parts are always stressed, appealing to emotion and throwing the logic by the window. Adult people that should use their brains, really seem to believe that each one in a bunch of Spaniards killed like 30 natives by minute for ten years, without stopping to sleep or dinner, 24 hours a day... and when are told a much more simple and logical explanation, they just dismiss it as false without thinking for a second.

My bet is that nothing in this book will radically change the history, and that the author of the review could expand their mind and benefit to a quick visit to one of the Spanish or American libraries that keep thousands of American manuscripts freely available to researchers about that age.

I'm aware also that suggesting some people to go to a library and open a real history book written by a real hispanist to verify the facts by themselves is losing my time.

[happy_path]

Well, for some of them, it is a form of distraction:

See how the current president of Mexico (López Obrador) is making exagerated remarks about the Spanish conquest of Mexico, calling for reparations and asking for an official apology. Why now?

  - Mexico is suffering poverty and a wave of killings related to "narcos".
  - In Mexico there is a European-descendent oligarchy that controls the country.
  - It is a form of keeping the country united and creating an official narrative.

Funny also how López Obrador is white, and descendent of Spaniards. Mustn't he ask for an official apology to himself?

What about the American conquest of Mexico? And the Mexican Empire where the French conquered the country?

On the other hand, it's also the narrative that British and Americans did nothing wrong, so again, it is a form of distraction. Or as Goebbles said "A lie told once remains a lie but a lie told a thousand times becomes the truth".