Discovering Europe

Indigenous and mestizo people in the Old World.

In his new work, Esteban Mira Caballos takes on the old cliché that the presence of indigenous people from the Americas in the Old World was limited to a handful brought over by conquistadors such as Christopher Columbus. In fact, there was a slave trade of Indigenous Americans, who were imported to Europe via the port of Seville until the mid-16th century, and subsequently via Lisbon.

Many others came voluntarily: some were simply eager to see the world –just like a modern-day tourist– while others came to demand their rights, turning
up at the place in person to request an audience with the monarch. They would typically come to claim their ancestral lands, or to ask for privileges, such as a coat of arms, or the right to bear arms or use horses.

Some returned to their homeland, while others remained on European soil, adapting to an altogether different way of life. They were vassals, who had learned Spanish and were practising Catholics, and so they aroused less suspicion than other ethnic minorities. How did they survive? What did they think of European civilization? What did they do for work? How did they behave? These are some of the questions that this book attempts to answer.