History of Central America, Volume 1, 1501-1530

by Hubert Howe Bancroft

The Works of Hubert Howe Bancroft, Volume 6

This first volume of Hubert Howe Bancroft's History of Central America, published in San Francisco in 1882 as part of his multivolume Works, covers the years from the first Spanish voyages to about 1530. After a survey of Spain and of geographical knowledge at the opening of the sixteenth century, Bancroft follows Columbus along the coasts of Honduras, Nicaragua and Costa Rica, the settlement of Darien, the administration of the Indies, Balboa's crossing to the Pacific, the harsh rule of Pedrarias Dávila and the rival expeditions that conquered the isthmus and the lands to the north. Like all of Bancroft's histories, it was compiled with assistants from a vast library of printed and manuscript sources. The full text is available to read online in your browser on Vinteuil, and the first chapter is free.