Western European History

In the early 16th century, Spanish adventurers swarmed over the islands of the Caribbean, Mexico, Central America, and South America. Portuguese explorers and merchants pushed into the Indian Ocean and beyond to the Spice Islands of the South Pacific. The names of the leaders of these overseas conquests are well known: Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Soto, Afonso de Albuquerque, and Ferdinand Magellan. This audiobook explores the details of their incredible lives in service of their monarchs and personal wealth.

In AD 843, the three surviving grandsons of the great Emperor Charlemagne met at Verdun. After years of bitter squabbles over who would inherit the family land, they finally decided to divide the territory and go their separate ways. In a moment of staggering significance, one grandson inherited what became France, another Germany and the third Lotharingia: the chunk that initially divided the other two. The dynamic between these three great zones has dictated much of our subsequent fate.