William H. Prescott - History of the Conquest of Mexico

(Note: This project had some missing and duplicate sections. This has been corrected as of July 9, 2010. The affected sections were 12, 13, 27, 28, 33, & 34.)

Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow'd Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet never did I breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold.
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez, when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien. — Keats

Prescott’s classic and beautifully written work describes what Cortez and his men went on to do, and how it was that they came to destroy the empire of the Aztecs — Written by hefyd