ABSTRACT
The pre-Columbian civilisations came into being and developed in the south-west of North America, in Central America and in the north-west part of South America on its Pacific face. So it was in the heart of the American continent, on a Mexico-Lima axis, that the dawn of this civilisation rose, and that of the Conquest too. It was there, in fact, that the Spanish Conquistadors first set foot, though preceded by several centuries, in the same places, by the Indian conquistadors. A Toltec dynasty had reigned at Tollan, but a power more absolute than the king’s was that exercised by the high priest, the religious leader and earthly representative of Quetzalcoatl—the man become god. Quetzalcoatl looked with satisfaction upon his work. He had given peace to this vast land, which until then had been torn by hatred. The red conquistador was coming back, to punish the evil-doers and reconquer his throne.
