The Lure of Peru

During the 17th century the legendary wealth of Peru lured Dutch explorers, merchants and would-be settlers, English and French voyages of reconnaissance and commerce, and buccaneers from the West Indies, all greedy for new prey and plunder arising from their longstanding political and religious hostility towards Spain. This book traces the story of their discoveries and their recording of new sea routes and little-known lands, expressed in their own words. Whilst from Spanish manuscript sources it describes how these interlopers appeared to their adversaries, and asseses the consequences of their actions for local populations and the Spanish Crown, in terms of interruptions to trade ( especially shipments of silver to Spain), and the increasingly costly need to provide defences both at sea and onland.

Beyond its central premise, the book can be read through the connected lenses of Nonfiction. Those themes offer useful points of attention as the characters, ideas, or world develop, especially where the book complicates the expectations of its primary category.