ABSTRACT
The movements of the Conquistadors, though they were apparently without order, were part of a kind of logic which went beyond them. It can be said that this still shapeless Spanish empire was the fruit of an anonymous improvisation. Darien and the Colombian and Venezuelan coasts were becoming peopled. Panama was the point from which tracks were opening up, southwards towards Peru, northwards towards Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras. The Caribbean Sea had thrown off its exciting mystery. Isolated in a cottony landscape, where the giant forms of the Patagonians could occasionally be seen, Magellan’s men attempted a mutiny. Magellan’s departure for his voyage round the world, the election of Charles of Spain to the Empire, the flight of Cortés towards Mexico all took place in the year 1519. The Captain-General pretended to submit to the wishes of Velasquez, assured him of his entire devotion and protested his loyalty.
