Rivers of blood, rivers of gold: Europe's conflict with tribal peoples

In a little more than 400 years a handful of small, highly advanced nation states at the western extremity of the Eurasian continent brought within their political orbit most of the diverse peoples of four continents. The story of how they did so is a tale of extraordinary human achievement in adversity, but also a tragedy involving the slaughter of millions and the extinction of numerous distinct peoples. This book focuses in detail on four episodes: the Spanish conquest of Mexico and the Andean empire of the Inca, the British decimation of the Tasmanian Aborigines, the Euro-American dispossession of the Apache, and the German subjugation of the Herero and Nama of south-west Africa. These four narratives describe the process by which native tribal people were defeated and in some cases exterminated, the intellectual and moral rationale of the conquerors, and the often extraordinary heroism of the conquered.