Idolatry and the construction of the spanish empire, 

Contrasting readings of evangelization plays and chronicles from the Indies and legislation and literature produced in Spain, author Mina Garc a Soormally places theoretical analysis of state formation in Colonial Latin America within the historical context. The conquest of America was presented, in its first instances, as a virtual extension of the Reconquista, which had taken place in Spain since 711, during which Spaniards fought to build an empire based in part on religious discrimination. The fight against the heathens (Moors and Jews) provided the experience and mindset to practice the repression of the other, making Spain a cultural laboratory that was transported across the Atlantic Ocean.