Conquistadors by Michael Ward (BBC Worldwide, £12.99)

AS the Spanish invaders drew near to the great city of the Aztecs, the native king knew that the writing was on the wall.

Though few in number, these men with white faces and clad in iron seemed invincible.

With their sticks that shot flame, death and destruction, how could mortal men oppose, let alone stop these strangers?

Little wonder then, that Montezuma, surveying the twilight of his empire said "his heart burned as if it had been washed in chillies".

When Cortes and his band of adventurers left Cuba for the mainland, crossing what is now Yucatan into Mexico, the world changed forever. Although it was not the first clash between Old and New worlds, it was probably the most significant.

Michael Ward is a prolific writer and traveller. In this, his latest work, he traces the downfall of a Bronze Age people at the hands of Spain, Europe's first great colonial power.

Nothing would be the same again. Everything - from the food we eat to the concept of human rights - was destined to change as a result of the upheavals in the Americas during the first half of the 16th Century.

The Spanish used cruelty and deception to achieve their aims. With their superior technology of firearms and cavalry, they decimated the ranks of the native armies - a process that would only come to its awful finale with the fall of the Plains indians at the end of the 19th Century.

What makes this remarkable essay come alive is the sense of pilgrimage that the author brings to the story.

By walking the paths of these long-vanquished peoples and their conquerors, Michael Wood can convey to the reader the sheer enormity of what the Spanish achieved in just four decades. This is undoubtedly a compelling read.

John Phillpott