The Conquest of the Americas

This is the book’s first case study, on the conquest of the Americas, which re-examines Spanish imperial expansion through the lens of lies and deception. This chapter challenges dominant narratives that attribute the Spanish success to firearms, disease, and geographic advantage, arguing that strategic deception and lies were equally, if not more, decisive. Drawing on historical episodes involving Columbus, Cortés, Pizarro, and others, the chapter identifies patterns of false diplomacy, misrepresentation of intent, false friendliness, and deception by omission. Especially in the first encounters, deception and lies enabled conquistadors to manipulate Indigenous trust, neutralize resistance, and establish dominance despite their limited numbers and weak logistics. This chapter demonstrates that such strategies were not incidental but systematic, forming a recurring logic of conquest. By closely analysing micro-level encounters, this chapter shows how deception operated as both a systematic tool of power, helping to secure control long before or even without violence. In doing so, it provides an alternative reading of colonization and contributes to the book’s broader thesis that domination is often achieved not only through coercion, but through deception and lies.