A special episode featuring Mark Thurner and Juan Pimental. They talk us through their new book and how some of the objects of Latin America had a profound effect on the rest of the world.
More information about the book can be found here: https://www.sas.ac.uk/publications/new-world-objects-knowledge
You can find some general background about the phenomenon of creating cabinets of curiosities here: https://artsandculture.google.com/theme/the-cabinet-of-curiosities/4QKSkqTAGnJ2LQ?hl=en
Today we take a break from the conquest of Peru for an interview with William Taylor - a scholar of colonial Mexican history and before his retirement, a professor at the University of California, Berkeley. His new book Fugitive Freedom tells the stories of two men who lived lives of deception, and examines what they can tell us about the society in which they lived. On the surface these men appear to be daring anti-heros and/or dangerous con-men. They also look like real life examples of the Picaros of Spanish colonial literature. A closer look however, reveals them to be much more three-dimensional characters, responding to the limitations of their social position and their own internal mental struggles. ...
Cortez was determined to meet with emperor Moctezuma - even if Moctezuma had made it more than clear that he wanted nothing to do with him. To do this, he would have to march over land to Tenochtitlan but getting there would not be easy. Between him and the Aztec capital stood the mighty Aztec city of Cholula and the land of the mysterious and ferocious Tlaxcalans. Cortez would have to negotiate his way past both before he reached his goal. ...
Having looked at the general history, this episode we hone in on the events that led up to the discovery of the Americas. We cover the war of Castilian succession and why it was so important for the future of the Americas - despite the fact that they had not been 'discovered' yet. Along the way we will encounter family feuding, incest and scheming which would make Game of Thrones look tame. ...
