12/14/2022 0 Comments The black legend debate![]() ![]() ![]() They are careful to point out that this eyewitness account provides valuable information about the New World, but they also demonstrate how and why the History is not always to be trusted for its accuracy. Surprisingly direct and accessible, The History of the New World benefits tremendously from Jana Byars’s new translation and from her and Robert Schwaller’s careful editing and introduction, which will help today’s readers navigate Benzoni’s wild tales of lost treasure, shipwreck, jungle warfare, and human sacrifice.” -Kris Lane, author of Pillaging the Empire: Global Piracy on the High Seas, 1500-1750 “Robert Schwaller and Jana Byars provide an engaging translation of Benzoni that contextualizes his work within modern scholarship on the early modern Atlantic world as well as recent historical research on the Americas. Benzoni is indeed recommended reading for all courses and discussions considering the birth and girth of global modernity.” -Sara Castro-Klarén, The Americas “Long sampled by Spain’s enemies in search of ‘Black Legend’ propaganda, Girolamo Benzoni’s gripping 1556 account of his misadventures in early Spanish America has rarely been treated on its own as a tale of personal survival and rare ‘foreign’ witness to conquest and its aftermath. Perfect for classroom use, this is a lively, vivid firsthand account of the adventure and wonder of the New World. The first English-language version published since 1847, this volume includes an informative introduction and annotations that situate Benzoni and his fascinating writings in the larger context of Spanish colonial conquest. This edition follows the three-book structure of the original account but focuses on Benzoni’s own experiences, omitting episodes to which he was not a witness and excising repetition and hyperbolic hearsay. It spanned the years 1541–56, providing detailed descriptions of native flora and fauna, exciting narration of harrowing exploits, and a surprisingly critical perspective on the expanding Spanish Empire’s methods of conquest and governance, in which Benzoni highlighted the struggles of indigenous peoples. The History of the New World is an abridged, unique English translation of sixteenth-century Italian merchant Girolamo Benzoni’s popular account of his adventures in the Americas and the Spanish colonies.įirst published in Venice in 1565, Benzoni’s book was an immediate best seller and available in at least five languages before the end of the century. ![]()
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