PATRIA: Lost Countries of South America

The Instituto Cervantes is the official Spanish language and culture centre created by the Spanish government in 1991. The Instituto's mission is to spread the knowledge and appreciation of the Spanish universe by enabling people to engage with the language and culture of Spanish-speaking countriesworldwide. The Instituto Cervantes is the official place to learn Spanish in London.

Instituto Cervantes - London

Laurence Blair  will discuss his new book in conversation with Alice Albinia

Instituto Cervantes London

Instituto Cervantes is organising a talk on the book Patria: The Lost Countries of South America with writer Laurence Blair and cultural journalist and writer Alice Albinia.The book reveals an alternative history of South America, spanning thousands of kilometres and five centuries to the present day. Looking beyond modern borders, Laurence Blair takes nine countries that do not appear on the map as his reference point and uncovers vanished realms, half-imagined utopias and dismembered homelands. He travels to each of them—on foot and horseback, by train and river—to trace their rise, fall and unexpected afterlives.Blair goes in search of ancient Amazonian civilisations, a rebel Inca dynasty in the jungle, and the Patagonian power that defeated Imperial Spain. His journey takes him from a seafaring Peruvian kingdom that grew rich from bird droppings to a fearsome nation of fugitives who defied slavery in Brazil and an insurgent desert confederation that went down fighting an Andalusian conman. Meet the landlocked Bolivian navy, the African freedom fighters who crossed the Andes to liberate the hemisphere, and the New World Napoleon who led Paraguay to ruin.Patria incorporates recent cutting-edge studies, surprising archaeological discoveries and vivid eyewitness accounts—including encounters with drug lords, indigenous leaders, refugees bound for the United States and former guerrilla fighters—to weave an epic tale of survival, resistance and revolution. This is the story of South America as it has rarely been told: at the epicentre of global history and the forging of the modern world.Event organised in collaboration with GRULAC (The Group of Latin America and Caribbean Countries).

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PATRIA: Lost Countries of South America

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