A 4-part series directed by David Wallace for BBC2/PBS with the English historian and broadcaster, Michael Wood. The Spanish conquest of the Americas in the sixteenth century was one of the most important and cataclysmic events in history. Spanish expeditions endured incredible hardships in order to open up the lands of the ‘New World’, and few stories in history can match these for drama and endurance.

In Conquistadors, Michael Wood follows in the footsteps of some of the greatest of the Spanish adventurers travelling from the forests of Amazonia to Lake Titicaca, the deserts of North Mexico, the snowpeaks of the Andes and the heights of Machu Picchu. He experiences the epic journeys of Cortes, Pizarro, Orellana and Cabeza de Vaca, and explores the turbulent and terrifying events surrounding the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.

Conquistadores: The Search for El Dorado (49 min) | Click here to watch

Michael Wood tells the story of the ill-dated Spanish expedition of 1541, to find mythical lands of gold. After crossing the Andes, Wood and his team build a raft and sail down the river Napo before following the route of the Conquistadors to the head waters of the river Amazon. Tracing one of the great voyages of exploration Wood tells how the Spaniards were the first outsiders to see Amazonia and the first to discover and travel the length of the river, an achievement which was ‘less of a journey and more of a miracle’.

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