Examines the settlement of the area that became the southwestern portion of the United States, detailing how it evolved from land settled by Native Americans, to Spanish territory, to states that were pawns between the North and South prior to the Civil War.

"An epic history of the Spanish empire in North America from 1493 to 1898 by Robert Goodwin, author of Spain: The Centre of the World. At the conclusion of the American Revolution, half the modern United States was part of the vast Spanish Empire. The year after Columbus's great voyage of discovery, in 1492, he claimed Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands for Spain. For the next three hundred years, thousands of proud Spanish conquistadors and their...

Discusses the history of the southwestern region of the United States from the sixteenth century to the Mexican War, examining the interactions between the Spanish, Indians, and American pioneers.

A biography of the army officer and explorer who discovered, among other places in the West and Southwest, the great Rocky Mountain peak in Colorado that bears his name.

Describes mission life during the Spanish colonial period in the southwestern United States, the plight of Native Americans and Roman Catholic missionaries, and Spanish missions today.

Recreates in text and photographs the day-to-day life of a pioneer family living in a newly-formed Spanish settlement in the Southwest during the eighteenth century.

Discusses the sixteenth-century exploration of the American southwest by Spanish adventurers, particularly the expeditions of Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca and Francisco Coronado.