CULTURAL READINGS: Colonization & Print in the Americas

Jay I. Kislak Foundation

Francisco López de Gómara, Historia delle nuove Indie Occidentali... Venice: Giovanni Bonadio, 1564.

First published in 1552, López de Gómara's history of the Spanish territories in the New World looks with considerable sympathy on the Conquistadors, especially Pizarro and Cortés. However, Charles V found López too sympathetic to the grandees of the New World, then engaged in battles with the Crown, and proscribed the Historia in the Spanish empire. In spite of its critics, the Historia went through nearly twenty editions in the 16th century. This Italian edition's owner was Thomas Shirley, an English gentleman with material interests in the New World.

Promotion and Possession

• [Return to] New Spain
• The English Colonies
• New France