Conquest of the Americas
Not Just the Tudors
History Hit
4.8 • 3K Ratings
🗓️ 3 April 2025
⏱️ 53 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
You may think you know about the daring exploits of Columbus, the ruthless ambition of Cortés, but beyond the accepted histories lies a world of indigenous voices—stories of fierce resistance, cunning survival, and unexpected alliances.
What really happened when cultures collided? Who fought back and who forged new paths?
Across April Professor Suzannah Lipscomb tells the untold stories and challenge the myths of the conquests of the Americas.
Today she's joined by Professor Matthew Restall, an expert in Colonial Latin American history, to peel back the myths surrounding figures like Christopher Columbus, Hernán Cortés, and Francisco Pizarro. Discover a nuanced history full of diverse peoples, complex alliances, and factors beyond the control of any one conquistador.
Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Alice Smith, audio editors are Amy Haddow and Jo Troy and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.
All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.
Not Just the Tudors is a History Hit podcast.
Further listening:
Magellan: The First Man to Sail the World >
Walter Raleigh's Quest for El Dorado >
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb. |
| 0:02.6 | If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit. |
| 0:10.5 | With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries, |
| 0:16.0 | including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, The Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release every week. |
| 0:25.2 | Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe. |
| 0:32.0 | Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to not just the Tudors from History Hit, the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs, from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise. |
| 0:46.8 | Relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft. Not in other words just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors. |
| 1:08.2 | For five centuries, we've been told heroic tales of brave conquistadors, who ventured into |
| 1:14.1 | unknown lands and toppled mighty empires with just a handful of men. |
| 1:18.8 | Christopher Columbus, the intrepid explorer who discovered the new world, Hanan Cortez, Conqueror |
| 1:24.1 | of the Aztec Empire, and Francisco Pizarro who brought down the Incas. |
| 1:28.2 | They, among others, have been immortalized as larger-than-life heroes who changed the course |
| 1:32.1 | of history through sheer force of will and military genius. |
| 1:36.1 | Columbus Day is celebrated each October in the United States, glossing over the less palatable |
| 1:39.9 | aspects of his voyages. |
| 1:41.7 | Columbus has painted as an exceptional visionary who proved that the world was |
| 1:44.9 | round. Cortes' cunning conquest of Mexico is attributed to his personal courage and innovative strategies |
| 1:50.9 | and is often portrayed as one of the most significant events in world history, achieved by Spanish |
| 1:56.5 | superiority and ingenuity. And Pizarro is remembered for swiftly establishing Spanish dominion over |
| 2:02.7 | Peru. But how much of what we think we know about the conquest of the Americas is myth and how much |
| 2:09.1 | is reality? Throughout this month or not just the Tudors, I'll be peeling back the layers of legend to |
| 2:14.1 | reveal a more complex and nuanced history involving diverse groups of people, |
... |
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