How the Spanish Empire Was Built Spring26 and take to the stars

and take to the stars

With original illustrations and meticulously crafted prose

Arabella Smith-James (Ruth / Janet / Mavis)

in conversation with works by contemporary artists

How the Spanish Empire Was Built Spring26 and take to the starsSixteenth century Spain was small, poor, disunited and sparsely populated. Yet the Spaniards and their allies built the largest empire the world had ever seen. How did they achieve this? Felipe Fernndez Armesto and Manuel Lucena Giraldo argue that Spains engineers were critical to this venture. The Spanish invested in infrastructure to the advantage of local power brokers, enhancing the abilities of incumbent elites to grow wealthy on trade and