A curated hub for essays, primary sources, and historiographical analysis exploring the myths and realities surrounding the Black Legend of Spain across the world.
History • Memory • Voices
Discover essays, documents, and interpretations that illuminate how the Black Legend of Spain has travelled across centuries. Each feature connects scholarship from the Iberian Peninsula to the wider Hispanophone world, foregrounding voices that challenge myths and restore historical nuance.
Browse pivotal research that dismantles myths, highlights primary sources, and offers comparative perspectives on the Black Legend.
An analysis of the life, actions, and complex legacy of Hernán Cortés, the conqueror of the Mexica Empire, exploring his origins, strategies, and the lasting impact of his expedition.
Historian Juan Miguel Zunzunegui talks to dismantle the 'Black Legend,' arguing that Cortés was a hero, New Spain was prosperous, and the 'victim' narrative has crippled modern Mexico.
A transcript of a presentation arguing that the history of the Hispanic world has been artificially fragmented, which fuels the Black Legend. It reframes Peru's past by debunking myths about the 'Conquest,' the 'Colony,' Túpac Amaru II, and the 'War of Independence' as a Spanish civil war.
A long-lost 1958 interview with Emilio Aguinaldo, where he discusses the 'Yankee betrayal,' blames the U.S. for the assassinations of Bonifacio and Luna, and expresses his profound regret for the revolution against Spain.
An essay exploring the 'miracle' of Spanish language expansion in America, arguing it wasn't the Crown's policy, but the post-independence efforts of jurists like Andrés Bello who unified the language through law.
A long-form interview that dismantles Peru's Black Legend by tracing myths, civil wars, and the politics of memory with historian Rafael Aita.
Tracing the sixteenth-century polemics that crystallized anti-Spanish sentiment across Protestant Europe.