“Anyone who even thinks of abandoning this mission will be cut up into a thousand pieces…I am the wrath of God!”
At the height of the age of exploration, during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, one story in particular gripped the imagination of European colonialists: El Dorado, a legendary city of gold, hidden in the very heart of the South American Rainforests. But no kingdom sought this prize more furiously than the mighty Spanish Empire. Determined to restore their fortunes with El Dorado’s treasures, they sent countless expeditions in search of the golden city, to no avail. Then, in 1559, the authorities in Lima assembled a new expedition, bigger and better than ever before, under the leadership of the knight Pedro de Ursula. The group he mustered to go with him would prove ill chosen indeed. Among them was his famously beautiful mistress, Dona Inez, and more ominously still, a fierce eyed, limp-footed man by the name of Lope de Aguirre. Little did his companions know that they had a devil in their midst. Aguirre would prove to be one of history’s strangest and most unsettling characters, and one of the great villains of the Spanish conquests of the New World. Cruel and psychopathic, he would eventually violently usurp Ursula’s command, and lead his companions not in search of El Dorado, but further and further into the Amazonian interior, enacting a regime of paranoid terror as they went. It would prove to be one of the strangest, most gruesome, and also the most horrific journeys of all time, replete with murder, betrayal, treason, and above all, madness….
Join Tom and Dominic, as they discuss the iniquitous Spanish conquistador Aguirre, and his journey both into the heart of the South American wilderness, but also into human madness. It is a story of mystery and adventure, gold and greed, horror and death.
EXCLUSIVE NordVPN Deal ➼ https://nordvpn.com/restishistory Try it risk-free now with a 30-day money-back guarantee!
_______
Twitter:
@TheRestHistory
@holland_tom
@dcsandbrook
Producer: Theo Young-Smith
Assistant Producer: Tabby Syrett + Aaliyah Akude
Executive Producers: Jack Davenport + Tony Pastor
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Плейлист
The Rest Is History
How was Paul McCartney influenced by life in postwar Liverpool? How did he and the Beatles first learn to make music? And were they influenced by literature as well as other musicians?
Join Tom Ho...
Why did the Battle of Marathon change the world so considerably? How did the battle itself unfold? And, could the Athenians really triumph over the indomitable Persian Empire…?
Join Tom and Domini...
Why did the Persian Empire cross the Aegean to destroy Athens in 490BC? Who was Darius, the King of Kings, and the most powerful man in the world? And, how did this totemic invasion unfold?
Join To...
Is there a secret meaning behind the Mona Lisa’s famously ambiguous smile? What light does the painting shed upon Renaissance Italy, and Leonardo da Vinci himself? And, who is the mysterious man or wo...
What does The Odyssey teach us about the history of wine in the ancient world? How did Julius Caesar use wine to conquer the world? And, why was The Judgement of Paris - when America took on France -...
How did the new British Prime Minister, Jim Callaghan, intend to keep Britain from bankruptcy in 1976? What extreme new step might have seen riots in the streets? And, would labour survive the greates...
With Britain heading towards financial meltdown and paranoia in the air, could its exhausted Prime Minister, Harold Wilson survive? Why were bombs going off in London every few days in the winter of 1...
In the Spring of 1975, why was the Prime Minister, Harold Wilson, so embattled? Why was the left so divided during this period? And, was Britain’s relationship with Europe already fracturing…?
Join...
How did Margaret Thatcher rise to become leader of the Conservative Party in Britain? Why were British politics so tumultuous in the 1970s? And, who was Thatcher up against?
Join Dominic and Tom as...
Who was the greatest female Samurai warrior of all time? What would unfold in the next phase of the terrible civil war between the Minamoto and the Taira dynasties? And, how did the Samurai finally be...
Who was Yoshitsune, one of the greatest generals in all Japanese history? What part did he play in the ferocious Samurai civil war between the Minamoto clan and the Taira? And, who would win the most...
Join The Rest Is History Club: Unlock the full experience of the show – with exclusive bonus episodes, ad-free listening, early access to every series and live show tickets, a members-only newsletter,...
**Unlock the full episode and the complete History in Photos mini series by joining The Rest Is History Club at therestishistory.com**
Why are there only three confirmed photographs of Blues-legend...
When did the Samurai come into being? How did they go from being provincial outsiders to masters of Japan, outstripping their aristocratic overlords? And, were they really the deadly, honour-driven wa...
After resurrecting in 1915, how did the Ku Klux Klan make its move on the next major American election? What was the role of women in the Klan? And, would this violent organisation finally meet its re...
**Unlock the full episode and the complete History in Photos series by joining The Rest Is History Club at therestishistory.com**
In what ways did Abbas’ identity grant him unique access to the...
How did the second incarnation of the clan, born in Georgia in 1915, grow into a seemingly indomitable nation-wide fraternal organisation, numbering millions? Who were its new targets? And, with the K...
How and why did the terrible violence of the Ku Klux Klan escalate? What was the political context in America for their rising popularity? And, how was this first iteration of the Klan finally brought...
How did the three iterations of the Ku Klux Klan come into being in 1866, 1915, and the late 1940s? What was the impact of the American Civil War and the Abolition of slavery in 1863 on the rise of th...
Who did Samuel Johnson fall in love with towards the end of his life, and why did it break his heart? How did it enrage his old friend James Boswell? And, why did he fear imprisonment in an asylum…?...
What adventures occurred during Samuel Johnson and James Boswell’s journey into the heart of Scotland? How was their trip a gateway to the history of Scotland’s union with England in 1707? And, was Dr...
Why was London such a cauldron of sexual scandal and political tumult in the 18th century? What licentious escapades did the infamous Scottish nobleman, James Boswell, get up to there? And, how did hi...
Who was Samuel Johnson, the dominant literary celebrity of 18th century London and the man who wrote the Dictionary? Why did his friendship with James Boswell, a sex and celebrity obsessed, but very t...
With the Incan emperor on the run, and the Spanish divided, what atrocities would unfold in the final phase of this brutal conquest? Who would triumph, Francisco Pizarro or his brutal former partner D...
Three years into the conquest of the Incas, how did the Spaniards respond to the Incan uprising, lead by their puppet emperor Manco? How did the despicable behaviour of Pizarro and his men spark the r...
How did the Spanish conquistadors under Francisco Pizarro take advantage of the Incan civil War? Were they able to discover the glorious city of Cusco, with all of its riches? And, what terrible bruta...
Why was Jean-François Millet’s The Angelus considered highly controversial and politically divisive in pre-industrial 19th-century France? What do we know about his personal background, his ambiguous...
What happened to the emperor of the Incas after he was taken prisoner by the Spanish conquistadors? Did the formidable buccaneer, Francisco Pizarro, and his men succeed in discovering the treasure tro...
Why does Emily Brontë's novel, Wuthering Heights, have such an enduring romantic association? Is Heathcliff a romantic lead, or an abusive antihero? Are the characters aspirational in any way, or irre...
What happened when the Spanish conquistadors lead by Francisco Pizarro came face to face with the ruthless emperor of the Incan Empire, Atahualpa? How did the Incas treat their strange, pale, alien vi...