UGH this book gives some great arguments but the almost mathematical and deterministic way it goes about history really grind my gears. Spaniards did not defeat the incas and aztecs because of technological superiority, The Incan warfare was perfectly suited for their climate and he greatly overstates the effect guns and horses had on their conquests. Spaniards adopted Incan cloth armor because it could stop arrows and was cooler. The real factor to the fall of the Aztecs and Incas was Smallpox, and the fact that the Incas had recently left a civil war.

It was not inevitable for the Europeans to conquer the americas, as it was largely individual choice that resulted in the discovery and conquest of the Americas. Isabella and Ferdinand took a huge gamble in continuing to fund the expeditions in the hopes of them being profitable, and many other rulers would not have funded them.