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while Cortés returned to the coast to deal
with a rival force, Alvarado soon provoked
a confrontation with the Aztec and had to
withdraw his small garrison under attack.
Angered by his subordinate's violent and
willful behavior, Cortés could not dispense
with his leadership abilities. Alvarado took
the forefront in recapturing the Aztec capi-
tal and crushing all resistance. In 1523, per-
haps as much to keep Alvarado out of the
way as to reward him for services rendered,
Cortés sent him to undertake the conquest
of what is now G
UATEMALA
and E
L
S
A LVA
-
DOR
. During the next 10 years Alvarado and
his soldiers (led by his many kinsmen)
overthrew the remnants of the Maya civili-
zation and established a dozen towns and
missionary outposts. He was confirmed as
governor of Guatemala but had frequent
disputes with the ever-growing bureaucracy
in Mexico City and was obliged to visit
Spain on two occasions to protect his sta-
tus. Ever more restless than the average
conquistador—all a roving breed—Alvarado
sailed to what is now E
CUADOR
in 1534.
His plan to seize a portion of the Inca
Empire, then about to collapse under
P
IZARRO
's assault, was thwarted within a
year. Back in Guatemala Alvarado con-
ceived a plan to sail across the Pacific and
challenge the Portuguese for control of the
Spice Islands (in present-day Indonesia).
While preparing for this voyage he was
drawn into a local war with Indian tribes
in northwestern Mexico and was killed in
battle in 1541. His widow succeeded him
as governor of Guatemala.
Alvarado deserves to rank among the
most formidable of the conquistadores.
Although he gained neither the fame nor
the power of Cortés, he carved out his own
dominion at the expense of Cortés and
made a serious challenge to Pizarro's Inca
domain. As violent and bloody as any of his
peers, he was shrewder than the average in
matters of organization and administration.
Had he not allowed himself to be distracted
by the campaign that led to his almost
chance death, he might have found the
ultimate fulfillment of his large ambition in
the East Indies.
Amadeo I (Amadeo Ferdínando
Maria di Savoia)
(1845-1890)
king of Spain
Younger son of King Victor Emmanuel II of
Italy, Amadeo had a military education and
served with distinction in his native coun-
try's 1866 war with Austria, sustaining a
severe wound in frontline combat. A year
later he married a noblewoman of high
rank with whom he had several children.
They were transformed into Spain's new
royal family in 1870 when the lengthy
search for a new monarch to replace the
deposed I
SABELLA
II came to an end.
Amadeo arrived in Spain in December
1870, just as General J
UAN
P
RIM
, the man
who had sponsored his choice by the Cortes
event was just a taste of his experience in
his adopted homeland. During the next
several years Amadeo was beset by rebel-
lions all over the country, factional disputes
within the only political grouping that gave
him even nominal support, and conspira-
cies formed by republicans, Carlists, and
partisans of the Bourbon pretender, the tit-
ular A
LFONSO
XII. Despite his proclaimed
devotion to Spain and his obvious good
intentions the young king was unable to
win over any important segment of Spanish
society. The political situation deteriorated
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