ABSTRACT
The rapid expansion of European power throughout much of the world in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries was a matter of wonder at the time, just as its causes have remained a subject of contention ever since. Hernan Cortes, the conqueror of Mexico, wrote of his ‘just war against the tyrant Aztec emperor and his people addicted to unspeakable practices. Freedom to navigate the Indian Ocean, maintained Joao de Barros, the chronicler of Portuguese triumphs, was properly denied by his compatriots to those ignorant of Christianity and Roman law. This chapter draws attention to the fact that commanders and officials from a society dominated by the aristocratic ethos, and briefly appreciated that the art of conquest and empire building was to find the ally within; the secret of imperial administration and exploitation, to have done by others those things people would not or could not do themselves.
