Conquistador

This article is about the Spanish and Portuguese explorer-soldiers from the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. For other uses, see Conquistador (disambiguation).

Main articles: Age of Exploration, Colonialism, Imperialism, History of colonialism, and Chronology of colonialism

Francisco Pizarro

Conquistadors ( /kɒn.ˈkistədɔr/; Spanish: [koŋkistaˈðor]; "conqueror") were people at the service of Spanish Empire, or at the service of Portuguese Empire. Soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who explored extensive Earth areas and trade routes and brought much of the world under the control of Portugal and Spain in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

Overview

The term conquistador mostly refers to a Spanish or Portuguese adventurer who was going to conquer lands in America. The leaders of these expeditions were called conquistadores. This name referred to the Reconquista (711-1492), the reconquest of the territories of the Iberian peninsula occupied by Muslims.

Often outnumbered by the empires they attacked, they managed to subdue and eliminate the most powerful rulers, aided certainly by technological superiority, strong determination, favorable political circumstances and, it must be said of some of them, a total lack of scruples. Europeans and Africans spread many diseases, which decimated the inhabitants of the New World, including smallpox, flu and typhus.

Some conquistadors were enslaved, sacrificed or cannibalized. Pedro de Valdivia, Vincente de Valverde, Juan Díaz de Solís, Luís de Añasco, Juan de Valdivia, Mario Romano, Pedro de Alarcón, Francisco Marquina... some tribus even used to take salt to the battles for salting the dead enemies in order to preserve them before distributing the meat among their relatives.

The conquistadores even took many different lifestyles, a religious vocation, others left his religious vows, many others formed harems, others were crowned themselves King or Emperor, the lifestyle of a Native American warrior... Gonzalo Guerrero, was a war Mayan leader for Nachan can, Lord of Chactemal, Gerónimo de Aguilar, who had taken holy orders in his native Spain later was a soldier with Hernán Cortés, they were captured by Mayan lords. Francisco Pizarro had children with more than 40 women. The chronicler Pedro Cieza de León and Fray Pedro Simón related about Americas, Lope de Aguirre was emperor in Amazon...

In the Age of Exploration, The Travels of Marco Polo, other books, beliefs, and circulating rumors of mythical wonderful places incited their minds. Some of them were the half-fabulous Christian Empire of "Prester John", the kingdom of the White Queen in "Western Nile" or Sénégal River in Africa, Fountain of Youth in Everglades, Quivira or Cibola, cities of Gold in North America and in South America, Eldorado and wonderful kingdoms of Ten Lost Tribes and women named amazonas. In 1542, Francisco de Orellana reached the Amazon River, naming it after a tribe of warlike women he claimed having encountered and fought there. Others claimed that the similarity between "Indio" and "Iudio", the word for Jew in Spanish language about 1500, tested the Indian people origen. They reasoned that the only difference was one letter backwards, u-n. The Portuguese traveller Antonio de Montezinos brought back reports that some of the Lost Tribes were living among the Native Americans of the Andes in South America.

Several expeditions went in search of these fabulous places, but returned empty-handed, or brought less gold than they had hoped for. They found other precious metals as the silver which, however, was particularly abundant in Potosi and new routes, Ocean currents, trade winds, crops, spices and other products. In the sail-ship era some of those knowledge were essential. A good example of this is the Agulhas current, which long prevented Portuguese sailors from reaching India.

Its activities were financed and initiated by the kingdom of Portugal, to the point that Christopher Columbus first offered his services to this kingdom. The Conquistadores were more prominent in North America, South America and the region of Caribbean, but they also reached from Americas to Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Asia and they controlled areas in Africa, Asia, India, China, and Atlantic and Pacific Ocean islands, including the islands of Ceilan, Formosa, Maluku, Philippines, Timor, Guam... They brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 15th to 16th centuries, following the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492. Before this year, Spain was got limited to the conquest of the Canary Islands by the Kingdom of Castille that took place between 1402 and 1496. Later 1492 Castilla started on a larger scale the same activities, using even Portuguese navigators. Long before Portugal had already colonized the rest of the Atlantic islands, such as the Madeira Islands, Azores, Cape Verde... and had established a marine route to Japan circling Africa, with numerous coastal enclaves on the route.

Because of a later union for a time of Spain with Portugal, some colonies of these empires changed of side and some Portuguese expeditions were in the service of the Emperor. Due to subjects relationship with Holy Roman Empire, Crown of Aragon, Naples, Sicily, the Seventeen Provinces, and other European and African states, some Germanic expeditions and other people were too in the service of the Emperor.

Conquistadors in the Americas resembled a volunteer militia more than a regular organized military in that they had to supply their own materials, weapons and horses. Some were supported by governments, the king, but also viceroys, and too local governors backed by richmen. The Conquistadors came from a Europe marked by a strict society of classes, where people who did not own property and wealth had little chance to change their social situation.

Afonso V of Portugal established the Afonsine Ordinances in cortes held at Évora (1481) empowering the judges nominated by the Crown of Portugal to administer justice in all his feudal domains. The Portuguese nobles resisted this infringement of their rights; but their leader, Fernando II, Duke of Braganza, was beheaded for high treason in 1483; in 1484 the king stabbed to death his own brother-in-law, Diogo, Duke of Viseu; and eighty other members of the aristocracy were afterwards executed. Thus John "the Perfect," as he was called, assured the supremacy of the Crown. He was succeeded in 1495 by Emanuel (Manuel) I, and during his reign the sea route to India was discovered.

The Laws of Burgos, created in 1512–1513, were the first codified set of laws governing the behavior of settlers in Spanish colonial America, particularly with regards to Native Americans. They forbade the maltreatment of indigenous people, and endorsed their conversion to Catholicism.

Ferdinand II of Aragon, the son of John II of Aragon of castilian origin, whose family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara, was King also of Castilla by to get married his cousin Isabella I of Castile, he was obliged before to fight a civil war in Castilla, supported by his Aragonese crown army against Joan of Castile cause, supported by her husband and uncle the king Afonso V of Portugal and the Portuguese army. So, after his victory the king of Aragon introduced many laws, regulations and institutions such as the Inquisition, typicals of the Crown of Aragon, in Castile, government laws which were later used in the new lands added to Castilla possessions. They created the Kingdom of Spain and tried to incorporate by marriage the kingdom of Portugal.

The Crown of Castile incorporated the new territories into its domains when withdrew the authority granted to governor Christopher Columbus and the first conquistadors, establishing direct royal control with the Council of the Indies, the most important administrative organ of the Spanish Empire, both in the Americas and in Asia. The evolving structure of colonial government was not fully formed until the third quarter of the 16th century; however, los Reyes Católicos designated Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca to study the problems related to the colonization process arising from government of Natives and settlers. Rodríguez de Fonseca effectively became minister for the Indies and laid the foundations for the creation of a colonial bureaucracy, combining legislative, executive and judicial functions. Rodríguez de Fonseca presided over the council, which contained a number of members of the Council of Castile (Consejo de Castilla), and formed a Junta de Indias of about eight counsellors. Emperor Charles V was already using the term "Council of the Indies" in 1519.

In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports. By the late 16th century American silver accounted for one-fifth of Spain's total budget.

History

Northern Spain men and houses from 1898 with characteristic horse, donkey and dog alike to this introduced in America

Detail of Velázquez's Portrait of Juan de Pareja a contemporary morisco Spaniard, slave and afterwards freedman, assistant and trust man of Diego Velazquez.

In 1600, Abd el-Ouahed ben Messaoud went to the court of Queen Elizabeth I of England to promote the establishment of an Anglo-Moroccan alliance against Spain. He was accompanied by an interpreter named Abd el-Dodar, an Andalusian Muslim.

Hernan Cortes and his counselor, the Indian woman La Malinche meet Moctezuma II in Tenochtitlan, November 8, 1519. Facsimile (c. 1890) of Lienzo de Tlaxcala.

The conquistadors were professional warriors, using modern tactics, firearms, combat dogs, and cavalry against unprepared groups. The Companies would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that was not available in the form of a mobilized militia.

Professional and mercenary conquering armies were mostly mounted conquistadors of veteran mercenary soldiers of Iberian or European origin. The native allied troops were largely composed of infantry equipped with armament and armor depending in their tribal origin.

Conquistadors were not all of Castilian origin or Christian. Because Castilla law when King Ferdinand II of Aragon, vetoed America to foreigners and no Catholic, many soldiers hispanicized their name, having European, North African and even Turkish origin people. In March 1492, was issued the Edict of Expulsion of the Jews. a document which ordered all Jews to either be baptized and convert to Christianity or leave the country. In 1502, violating the 1492 peace treaty Ferdinand forced all Muslims in Castile and Aragon to convert to Catholicism, or be expelled too. The Inquisition was responsible for judge all Christians, new forced converteds and the suspected of to be Protestant Christians. For example the poet António Gonçalves de Bandarra was accused by the Inquisition of Judaism. The nominally converted Christian Moriscos expulsion was the (1609). According to a widely publicized recent study (December 2008) published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, 19.8 percent of modern Iberians (Spain + Portugal) have DNA reflecting Near Eastern and 10.6 percent having DNA reflecting North African ancestors. Nikolaus Federmann, hispanicized as Nicolás de Federmán, was born c. 1505 in Ulm and died February 1542 in Valladolid, another one was Georg von Speyer hispanized as Jorge de la Espira. The two most famous conquistadors were Hernán Cortés who conquered the Aztec Empire and Francisco Pizarro who led the conquest of the Incan Empire. They were second cousins and both of them were born in Extremadura, as were many of the conquerors who were from Spain.

This conquest period endurance several centuries. The Treaty of Tordesillas and the Treaty of Zaragoza, divided the newly discovered lands outside Europe between Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire.

There were a wide variation in the way armed groups were looking for supplies and monetarian funds. Mostly economic interest but sometimes political strategy, motivated a campaign. Then financing was requested, which could be due to King, delegates of the Crown, the nobility, rich merchants or own troops. According to what degree the Crown and its resources was involved, the campaign was more professional. It was the case sometimes, of campaigns initiated by governors who had not military experience yet, because in Spanish Colonial America, the offices were bought with money or due to nepotism or influences more than merit. Sometimes, an expedition of conquistadors were a group of influential men who had recruited men, they had fed them and they had financed their dependents by promising a share of the booty that could be generated with the expedition. This group used to consist of young men without military experience, a small group of Catholic clergy trained in various disciplines and a group of soldiers or mercenaries with military training. These expeditions often involved black slaves and native American men or women who were likewise men or trust men with more training than the young troops of adventurers and with greater positions of responsibility: interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, scribes, etc.

Infante Dom Henry the Navigator of Portugal, son of King João I, became the main sponsor of this endeavor. In 1415, Portugal conquered Ceuta, the first of its overseas colonies. In 1434 the first consignment of slaves was brought to Lisbon; and slave trading soon became the most profitable branch of Portuguese commerce, until India was reached. Throughout the 15th century, Portuguese explorers sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for several tradable commodities, as firearms, spices, silver, gold, slaves... in a round route to Japan,crossing Africa, India, China and Korea.

In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India and in 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil and claimed it for Portugal. in 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca. The Portuguese sailors set out to reach Eastern Asia by sailing eastward from Europe landing in such places as Taiwan, Japan, the island of Timor, they were also the first Europeans to discover Australia and even New Zealand.

The largest part of Spaniard Jews being expelled in 1492 was those fled to Portugal. Many, likely more than half went to Portugal, where they eluded persecution for a few years. The Jewish community in Portugal was perhaps then some 10% of that country's population they were then declared Christians by Royal decree unless they left, but since their departure was severely hindered by the King, who needed their expertise artisan training and many working population for Portugal's overseas enterprises and territories. Álvaro Caminha, in Cape Verde islands, who received the land as a grant from the crown, established a colony with Jews forced to stay in Sao Tome. Príncipe island was settled in 1500 under a similar arrangement. Attracting settlers proved difficult, however, the Jewish settlement was a success and their descendants settled many lands in Brazil

In general the conquest was done by private enterprise, that is, through a contract called by Castilla "capitulaciones" established between the king or his representative, and one particular which allowed him to conquer a particular territory within a specified time. Then an army was organized, under a leader or chief, who received from the king one of several possible titles. In Castilla those titles were "Capitán", "gobernador", or "adelantado" depending on the size of the army. In return, the expedition leader agreed to bear the expenses of the campaign and accomplish it within the time limit. The duties of the king, meanwhile, was the exemption from tax, the donation of land and plots in future populations, and the enactment of rights and freedoms in the manner of those in Castilla. The king was only obliged to grant these favors if the expedition of conquest ended successfully, so if the campaign failed the dissent a posteriori caused consequences, but even if victory, some hundreds of conquistadores may were disputing the booty being killed, executed, fled or imprisoned due to internal clashes.

For example, after Mexico fell Hernán Cortés's enemies, Bishop Fonseca, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego Columbus and Francisco Garay were mentioned in the Corté's fourth letter to the King in which he describes himself as the victim of a conspiracy. After Peru fell to the Spanish, Francisco Pizarro dispatched to el adelantado Diego de Almagro before to their enmity, to the Inca Empire's northern city of Quito to claim it as part of their jurisdiction. Their fellow conquistador Sebastián de Belalcázar, who had gone forth without Pizarro's approval, had already reached Quito, the arrival of Pedro de Alvarado from Mexico in search too of Inca gold further complicated the situation for Almagro and Belalcázar. Alvarado's presence, however, did not last long as he left South America in exchange for monetary compensation from Pizarro. Almagro was executed on 1538, under Hernándo Pizarro's orders. In Lima on 1541 supporters of Diego Almagro II assassinated Francisco Pizarro, Belalcázar in 1546 ordered the execution of Jorge Robledo, who governed a neighboring province in yet another land-related vendetta. He was put to trial in absentia in 1550, convicted and condemned to death for the death of Robledo, and other offenses pertaining to his constant involvement in the various wars between armies of conquistadors. Pedro de Ursúa was killed by his subordinate Lope de Aguirre that crowned king himself while looking for El Dorado, but before in 1544, Lope de Aguirre and Melchor Verdugo were at the side of Peru's first viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela, who had arrived from Spain with orders to implement the New Laws and suppress the Encomiendas. Gonzalo Pizarro, another one's brother of Francisco Pizarro, rose in revolt, killed viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela and most of his Spanish army in the battle between the rival factions of conquistadores in 1546, and Gonzalo attempted to have himself crowned king. The Emperor commissioned Pedro de la Gasca to restore the peace, naming him president of the Audiencia and providing him with unlimited authority to punish and pardon the rebels. Gasca repealed the New Laws, the cause around which the rebellion had been organized. Gasca convinced to Pedro de Valdivia explorer of Chile, Alonso de Alvarado another searcher of El dorado, and others that if he were unable to fulfill his offices, a royal fleet of 40 ships and 15,000 men was preparing to sail from Seville in June to restore the peace in Peru by more forceful methods.

Although it may seem that the Crown was relegated and few involved in the conquest, in practice the Crown reserves for itself important tools of intervention. The "capitulacion" clearly states that the conquered territories belong to the Crown, not to the individual. On the other hand, concessions, always flexible, allowing the Crown to guide and direct the actions of conquest to certain territories, depending on their interests. In addition, the leader of the expedition received clear instructions about their duties towards the army, the native population, the type of military action and inclusive mandatorily they must be perform a written report about the results. The army had a royal official, the "veedor". The "veedor" or notary, ensured they complianced and obeyed orders and instructions and the preservation of the part of the booty assigned to the king.

However, thousands of miles away, in practice the Capitán of the army had almost unlimited power, while his own personality and charisma were important in the development of the expedition. Besides the Crown and the conquistador, they were very important the backers and capitalist partners, they were charged with anticipating the money and guarantee payment of obligations.

The conquistador if he could do it, always borrow as little as possible. The conquistador preferred to invest all their belongings. Sometimes, every soldier brought his own equipment and supplies, other times the soldiers received it as an advance from the conquistador.

Before to America's discovery for example, the Pinzón brothers, seamen of the Tinto-Odiel were motivated to participate in Columbus's undertaking. and they also supported the project economically, supplying money from his personal fortune.

The contribution of each individual conditioned the subsequent division of the booty, receiving a portion the pawn and twice a man on horseback. Sometimes part of the booty consisted of women, slaves or not. The dogs, weapons of extraordinary importance, in some cases were rewarded. The division of the booty produced conflicts, such as this one arose between Pizarro and Almagro.

European young men enlisted in the army because it was the only way out of poverty. Mostly the Iberian population of that time, could not read or write. They were Catholic priests who instructed in mathematics and letters to soldiers. King's army officers instructed in the war arts these young military recruits. These uneducated young of low-life recruits turned past few years, in military leaders elected by merit by their fellow professional soldiers. As an example, Hernan Cortes during his childhood was a swinherd boy and fed himself on acorns collected.

During the 1650s, most of troops were mercenaries. However, after the 17th century, most of states invested in better disciplined and more politically reliable permanent troops. For a time mercenaries became important as trainers. This allowed the earliest professional military to serve during wartime. Such mercenaries were typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict. Jared Diamond summarizes the causes of the Pizarro's victory in the Andean region as "military technology based on guns, steel weapons, and horses; infectious diseases endemic of old world; European maritime technology; the centralized political organization of European states, and writing". The significance of writing is the cause of the errors of judgment of Atahualpa and Moctezuma, which led them to be deceived by the Spaniards, who belonged to a literate society. This allowed the conquerors to have at their disposal a huge body of knowledge about human behavior and its history, something that native nations not possessed.

Military

Spanish helmet from s.XVI in the Museo de América, Madrid

Alonso de Ovalle's 1646 engraving of the conquistadors García Hurtado de Mendoza, Pedro de Villagra and Rodrigo de Quiroga

Shrunken head of a white or mestizo man by Jivaro indigenous people. In 1599, the Jivaro destroyed Spanish settlements in eastern Ecuador and killed all the men.

Spaniard arquebusier about 1540

Militarily, conquistadors had serious advantages over the native peoples, most notably belong to a more advanced civilization with better tools, firearms, artillery, steel and a good number of domesticated animals for transport. While the indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent and large numerical superiority. European diseases combined with advanced military technology and divide and conquer tactics ultimately overcame the native populations.

A factor leading to the domination of the Americas was the ability of the conquistadors to manipulate the political situation between local indigenous peoples. For instance, by supporting one side of a civil war, as in the case of the Inca civilization, or allying with natives who had been subjugated by more powerful neighboring tribes and kingdoms, as in the case of the Aztec civilization. These tactics were used since antiquity to recently in Spain for example, in Granada War, conquest of the Canary Islands or conquest of Navarre.

Throughout the conquest, the numbers of people within the indigenous nations greatly exceeded the conquistadors; on average the conquistador troops never exceeded 2% of the native population. The conquistadors commonly allied with natives to bolster their numerically inferior ranks with thousands of indigenous auxiliaries. The army with which Hernán Cortés besieged Tenochtitlan was composed of 200,000 soldiers, of which fewer than 1% were Spaniards.

The war was not very dissimilar to those of other European powers directed within the terms and laws of a just war, different to the indigena regard of warfare. While Spanish soldiers went to the battlefield to kill their enemies, indigenous peoples like the Aztecs and Mayas preferred to capture enemies for use as sacrificial victims to their own gods—a process called "flower war" by later Spanish historians.

In Spain and other European countries, a way to get rich and prosper for centuries was the war. For all the times, mercenary bands of Iberian peninsula origin participated in Iberian, European or African wars looking for booty. They were enrolled in Roman and Carthaginian armies, later in Reconquista and they were also Almogavars or any other paid flag. When the discovery of America, these mercenary groups were too looking for a future, in American and Asian territories and campaigns.

The cultural context of the Kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula was different than that of the rest of Continental Europe from the Middle Age, due to contact with the Moorish culture and the isolation provided by the Pyrenees. These cultural differences implied the use of doctrines, equipment, and tactics markedly different from those found in the rest of Europe during this period.

In the Iberian peninsula, in a situation of constant conflict, warfare and daily life were strongly interlinked. Small, lightly equipped armies reflected how the society had to be on the alert at all times. These forces were capable of moving long distances in short times, allowing a quick return home after sacking a target. Battles which took place were mainly between clans, expelling intruder armies or sacking expeditions. For example, Vasco de Gama In Mombasa, in the vicinity of modern Kenya, resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships, generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons.

In land, these methods of war were organized, combining some European methods with others sitting the original source in Muslim lands of bandits in Al-Andalus. These tactics consisting of small groups engaged in the assault of the people by surprise, through an ambush of coaliated force. Very high discipline and ferocity in combat, and many explorers. They were cavalry and foot-soldiers with little armor and light weapons, to march quickly.

A state of civil war for over centuries, it had the result of turning the iberian society into a very warlike society. When traders from Portugal introduced Arquebuses and Muskets, the Iberian warlords were quick to adapt to this innovative weapons, giving them a large advantage over the enemy armies. In response to the threats, besides the Iberian kingdoms developed powerful navies in both cannon manufacturing and shipbuilding. Aragon's Crown and Portugal were long before maritime powers. They constructed warships equipped with firearms and advanced gunpowder cannons.

The introduction of gunpowder in Europe in the late 14th century led to the increased preference for mostly infantry professional armies and give birth to heavy infantry that would usually be armored like a knight, with mail armor and maybe an iron helmet and gunpowder artillery. Other heavy infantry would probably be armed with little armor and maybe a gunpowder weapon, which were capable of penetrating armor. Many of the troops were mercenaries from Germany (Landsknecht), Italian and Walloon territories of the Spanish Netherlands.

Portuguese and Spanish conquerors made use of the fire weapons, as Vasco da Gama and his sons Cristóvão da Gama and the younger brother Estêvão da Gama. Arquebuses played an important role in the victories of Cristóvão da Gama's small and outnumbered army in his 1541–42 campaign in Ethiopia. Arquebuses were carried by some of the soldiers of Hernán Cortés in his conquest of Mexico in the 1520s.

In their first contacts with native peoples, firearms and arquebuses were formidable weapons. The cannons and artillery were highly effective, as a few effective hits would stop the charging infantry and cause great impression on morale because of the noise. The small weapons carried by native warriors had little advantage. Tactically, the reloading procedure in arquebus was lengthy, with its availability usually in the single digits for most Spanish parties.

Although many American civilizations had developed methods for working soft metals, including gold, silver, bronze, tin and copper, this knowledge was applied mainly to the development of religious and artistic objects, as well as some household utensils for everyday use. Few metals were used by native populations for military applications. One exception was that the Quechuas and P'urhépecha developed weapons of copper and bronze, but these could not match the hardness or durability of iron and steel. Most cultures used weapons of wood, flint and obsidian.

The weapons and armor of steel and iron proved to be effective militarily too. A Spanish sword made of steel was considered the pinnacle of craftsmanship and a well trained man could be a dominant foe. To the Spanish, a sword represented their honor and devotion as Christian Knight. When they took control, the conquistadors usually banned possession of steel swords by the subjugated Indian people. Mostly the mounted conquistadors, the cavalry, used steel breastplates and armor during Cortés' campaign against the Aztecs. The high heat and humidity of Central and South America would be wearing heavy iron armor and steel items mostly impractical.The Spanish, people arrived from a country with very hot summers, usually had an armor more scarce. Commonly mail and leather were worn by the Spaniards. However, many indigenous cultures had used woven grasses and leathers as similar protection for centuries.

In those traditional societies of small human groups with cultures of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and hunter-gatherer societies the warfare has been mostly 'endemic', long duration, low intensity, usually evolving into almost an ritualized form. For most of human history. All of a sudden when a society engages in 'sporadic' war, high intensity low duration, where large numbers of people are killed, and a lot of property destroyed... there are cultural issues where it is considered 'unfair' by one party.

Europe had developed an 'endemic' system of warfare in the middle age and later due largely to their use of mercenary armies, employed by two warring cities or states. It is interesting that when Italy was being ransacked by French and Spanish Armies in the early 1500s, most Italian states were easily defeated by armies practicing sporadic-warfare. Aztec and neighbouring people before the Spanish invasion had developed an endemic system of warfare too. And exactly the same thing was occurred by a Spanish Army in Mexico.

The animals introduced were another important factor for Spanish triumph. On the one hand, the introduction of the horse to the American continents by the Spaniards allowed them greater mobility and the use of horses and other domesticated pack animals unknown to the Indian cultures. However, in the mountains and jungles, the Spaniards were less able to traverse Amerindian roads and bridges made for pedestrian traffic, which were sometimes no wider than a few feet. In places such as Argentina, New Mexico and California, the indigenous people learned horsemanship, cattle raising, and sheep herding. The use of the new techniques by indigenous groups later became a disputed factor in native resistance to the colonial and American governments.

The Spaniards were also skilled at breeding dogs for war, hunting and protection. The introduction of the Mastiff, wolf hound and sheep dog was unexpectedly effective as a psychological weapon against the natives, who, in many cases, had never seen domesticated dogs, though many indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere did, indeed, have domestic dogs; these include, but are not limited to: the current Southwestern US, Aztec and other Central American peoples, the inhabitants of the Arctic/Tundra regions (Inuit, Aleut, Cree), and possibly some South American groups. During the conquest of the Americas, Spanish conquistadors used Spanish Mastiffs and other Molossers in battle against Native Americans, like the Taínos, Aztecs, or Mayans. These specially trained dogs were feared by the Indians because of their strength and ferocity.

The strongest war dogs, broad-mouthed breeds of mastiff specifically trained for battle, were used against almost nude troops. The Spanish conquistadors used armoured dogs that had been trained to kill and disembowel when they invaded the land controlled by South American natives.

From 1580 to 1670 mostly, the Bandeirantes in Brazil focused on slave hunting, then from 1670–1750 they focused on mineral wealth. Through these expeditions and the Dutch–Portuguese War, Portugal expanded Colonial Brazil from the small limits of the Tordesilhas Line to roughly the same territory as current Brazil.

In the conquest of Mexico the expedition of Hernan Cortes had to supply their own materials, weapons and horses. Some were supported by government, and too local governors backed by richmen. After receiving notice from Juan de Grijalva of much gold in the area of what is now Tabasco, the governor of Cuba, Diego de Velasquez, made a decision to send a larger force than had previously sailed, and appointed Cortes as Captain-General of the Armada. Cortes then applied all of his funds, mortgaged his estates and borrowed from merchants and friends to outfit the ships that would sail under his command. Velasquez may have contributed some to the effort, but the government of Spain had no financial input into this undertaking.

Disease

Aztecs dying of smallpox, (“The Florentine Codex” 1540–85)

While technological and cultural factors played an important role in the victories of the conquistadors, this was facilitated by diseases brought from the old world, especially smallpox. The defeat of the American Indian civilizations seems were produced too in several cases, by their population crisis. Some identify genocidal acts by the Europeans as the main cause. Some attribute it to the introduction of new diseases and still others to both factors.

The first foreign diseases contracted by indigenous people were carried to distant tribes and villages. This typical path of disease transmission moved much faster than the advancing Spaniards.

Epidemic disease devastating the native population is commonly cited as the primary reason for the decline in population of the Native Americans because of their lack of immunity to new diseases brought from old world. Often overlooked is that there were few relationships among the vast dispersed indigenous peoples of the Americas. Most peoples lived in isolated communities, with only limited trade contact and no regular communication. Limited trading was the only constant contact between most New World cultures.

Exposure of these previously remote populations to foreign diseases caused more fatalities than the wars themselves, and weakened the natives' social structures. The Europeans brought small pox, chicken pox, and measles to America. Recent genetic studies on the skeletal remains of native peoples found that while many were killed by violence, an even higher number died from disease. Oral stories maintain that the Indians saw this as a sign of a lack of faith in their old customs. The people in the Americas were not previously exposed to the variety of old world diseases that caused their eventual demise.

When Francisco Coronado and the Spaniards first explored the Rio Grande Valley in 1540, in modern New Mexico, some of the chieftains complained of new diseases that affected their tribes. The Spaniards curanderos, folk healers, recognized the symptoms and attempted to relieve some of the ailments.

This happened too with the Inca Empire, defeated by Francisco Pizarro in 1533. When the Spanish conquistadors arrived in the Incan empire, a large portion of the population, had already died in a smallpox epidemic. The first epidemic of smallpox was recorded in 1529 and killed the emperor Huayna Capac, the father of Atahualpa. New epidemics of smallpox broke out in 1533, 1535, 1558 and 1565, as well as typhus in 1546, influenza in 1558, diphtheria in 1614 and measles in 1618.

Recently developed tree-ring evidence shows that the illness which lead to decline of the population in Aztec Mexico was not only a result of foreign diseases, but also a result of a great drought which occurred in the 16th century, and which led up to and continued through to the arrival of the Spanish conquest. This has added to the body of epidemiologic evidence indicating that epidemics of cocoliztli (Nahuatl name for viral hemorrhagic fever) were indigenous fevers transmitted by rodents and aggravated by the extreme drought. The epidemic of cocoliztli from 1545 to 1548 killed an estimated 5 to 15 million people, or up to 80% of the native population. The cocoliztli epidemic from 1576 to 1578 killed an estimated, additional 2 to 2.5 million people, or about 50% of the remaining native population.

In 1492, the combined populations of Spain and Portugal did not exceed 10 million people. The American researcher HF Dobyns believed that 95% of the total population of the Americas died in the first 130 years, and he believed that 90% of the population of the Inca Empire died in epidemics. Cook and Borak of the University of California at Berkeley believe that the population in Mexico declined from 25.2 million in 1518 to 700 thousand people in 1623, less than 3% of the original population.

History of exploration

Main articles: History of Portugal (1415–1578), Portuguese discoveries, Age of exploration, and Spanish colonization of the Americas

Aragonese helmet circa 1470.

Bronze Figure of a Portuguese soldier made by Benin culture in West Africa around 1500

A brass plate depicting a bearded Portuguese soldier before 1500, and natives Benin warriors.

A page (folio 67), depicting natives Mexican warriors in the Codex Mendoza

1630 map of the Portuguese fort and the city of Malacca

As a seafaring people in the south-westernmost region of Europe, the Portuguese became natural leaders of exploration during the Middle Ages. Faced with the options of either accessing other European markets by sea, by exploiting its seafaring prowess, or by land, and facing the task of crossing Castile and Aragon territory, it is not surprising that goods were sent via the sea to England, Flanders, Italy and the Hanseatic league towns.

One important reason was the need to overcome the expensive eastern trade routes, dominated first by the republics Venice and Genoa in the Mediterranean, and then controlled by the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453, barring European access, and going through Saadian North Africa and the historically important combined-land-sea routes via the Red Sea. For a long time the Spanish Netherlands ports produced a revenue to the Spanish crown larger than colonies since all goods brought from Spain, mediterranean possessions, and the colonies were sold directly there to neighboring European countries: wheat, olive oil, wine, silver, spice, wool and silk were big businesses.

The gold brought home from Guinea stimulated the commercial energy of the Portuguese, and its European neighbors, especially Spain. It had become clear that, apart from their religious and scientific aspects, these voyages of discovery were highly profitable.

They had benefited from its connections with neighbouring iberians and north African Muslim states. Due to these connections with Islamic kingdoms, many mathematicians and experts in naval technology appeared in Portugal. The Portuguese government impelled this even further by taking full advantage of this with Portuguese and foreign experts made several breakthroughs in the fields of mathematics, cartography and naval technology.

Under Afonso V (1443–1481), surnamed the African, the Gulf of Guinea was explored as far as Cape St Catherine (Cabo Santa Caterina), and three expeditions in 1458, 1461 and 1471, were sent to Morocco; in 1471 Arzila (Asila) and Tangier were captured from the Moors.

Under John II (1481–1495) the fortress of São Jorge da Mina, the modern Elmina, was founded for the protection of the Guinea trade. Diogo Cão, or Can, discovered the Congo in 1482 and reached Cape Cross in 1486. On 7 May 1487, two Portuguese envoys, Pêro da Covilhã and Afonso de Paiva, were sent traveling secretly overland to gather information on a possible sea route to India, but also to inquire about Prester John. Covilhã managed to reach Ethiopia. Although well received, he was forbidden to depart. Bartolomeu Dias doubled the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, thus proving that the Indian Ocean was accessible by sea.

After 1492 the discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus rendered desirable a delimitation of the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration. This was accomplished by the Treaty of Tordesillas (June 7, 1494) which modified the delimitation authorized by Pope Alexander VI in two bulls issued on May 4, 1493. The treaty gave to Portugal all lands which might be discovered east of a straight line drawn from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic, at a distance of 370 leagues west of Cape Verde. Spain received the lands discovered west of this line. As, however, the known means of measuring longitude were so inexact that the line of demarcation could not in practice be determined (see J. de Andrade Corvo in Journal das Ciências Matemáticas, xxxi.147-176, Lisbon, 1881), the treaty was subject to very diverse interpretations. On its provisions were based both the Portuguese claim to Brazil and the Spanish claim to the Moluccas (see East Indies#History). The treaty was chiefly valuable to the Portuguese as a recognition of the prestige they had acquired. That prestige was enormously enhanced when, in 1497-1499, Vasco da Gama completed the voyage to India.

The period of European contact of Ceilan begins with the arrival of Portuguese soldiers and explorers of the expedition of Lorenzo de Almeida, the son of Francisco de Almeida in 1505. The Portuguese founded a fort at the port city of Colombo in 1517 and gradually extended their control over the coastal areas.

More envoys were sent in 1507 to Etiopia, after Socotra was taken by the Portuguese. As a result of this mission, and facing Muslim expansion, regent queen Eleni of Ethiopia sent ambassador Mateus to king Manuel I of Portugal and to the Pope, in search of a coalition. Mateus reached Portugal via Goa, having returned with a Portuguese embassy, along with priest Francisco Álvares in 1520. Francisco Álvares book, which included the testimony of Covilhã, the Verdadeira Informação das Terras do Preste João das Indias ("A True Relation of the Lands of Prester John of the Indies") was the first direct account of Ethiopia, greatly increasing European knowledge at the time, as it was presented to the pope, published and quoted by Giovanni Battista Ramusio.

In April 1511, Afonso de Albuquerque set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of some 1200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships. They conquered the city on 24 August 1511. It became a strategic base for Portuguese expansion in the East Indies. The Portuguese built the fort named A Famosa to defend Malacca. In order to appease the King of Siam, Ayudhya, the Portuguese sent up an ambassador, Duarte Fernandes, who was well received by Ramathibodi in 1511. Finally in 1526, a large force of Portuguese ships, under the command of Pedro Mascarenhas, was sent to conquest Bintan, where Sultan Mahmud was based. Earlier expeditions by Diogo Dias and Afonso de Albuquerque explored the area and discovered several Ocean Indian islands. Mascarenhas served as Captain-Major of the Portuguese colony of Malacca from 1525 to 1526, and as viceroy of Goa, capital of the Portuguese possessions in Asia, from 1554 until his death in 1555. He was succeeded as viceroy by Francisco Barreto.

In 1511, the Portuguese were the first Europeans to reach the city of Guangzhou by the sea, and they settled on its port for a commercial monopoly of trade with other nations. they were later expelled from their settlements, but they allow the use of Macau, which was also occupied in 1511, and to be appointed in 1557 as the base for doing business with Guangzhou. The quasi-monopoly on foreign trade in the region would be maintained by the Portuguese until the early seventeenth century, when the Spanish and Dutch arrived.

the 1st Adelantado of Cuba Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar was before appointed governor of Cuba island later pacify Hispaniola island, under Governor of Hispaniola Nicolás de Ovando, and Cuba in 1511 under orders from Viceroy Diego Columbus. As Governor he authorized various expeditions to explore lands further west, including the 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba expedition to Yucatán. Diego Velázquez, still the governor of Cuba, ordered some expeditions one led by his nephew, Juan de Grijalva to Yucatán and the Hernán Cortés expedition of 1519. He initially backed Hernán Cortés's expedition to Mexico, but because of his personal enmity for Cortés later ordered to Pánfilo de Narváez to arrest him. Grijalva was sent out with four ships for some 240 men.

In 1516 Juan Díaz de Solís, discovered the estuary formed by the confluence of the Uruguay River and the Paraná River.

In 1517 Francisco Hernández de Córdoba sailed from Cuba in search of slaves along the coast of Yucatán. The expedition returned to Cuba to report on the discovery of this new land.

Pedro Arias Dávila, Governor of the Island La Española was descent of a converso's family. In 1519 Governor Dávila founded Darién, in 1524 he founded Panama City and moved his capital there laiding the basis for the exploration of South America's west coast and the subsequent conquest of Peru. Governor Dávila was a soldier in wars against Moors at Granada in Spain, and in North Africa, under Pedro Navarro intervening in the Conquest of Oran. At the age of nearly seventy years he was made commander in 1514 by king Ferdinand II of Aragon of the largest Spanish expedition.

Dávila sent Gil González Dávila to explore northward. In 1524 he sent another expedition with Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, executed there in 1526 by the orders of Pedro Arias Davila, by then aged over 85. Dávila's daughters were married to Rodrigo de Contreras and conquistador of Florida and Mississippi, the Governor of Cuba Hernando de Soto.

Dávila made too an agreement with Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro which brought about the discovery of Peru, but withdrew (1526) for a small compensation, having lost confidence in the outcome. In 1526 year Dávila was superseded as Governor of Panama by Pedro de los Ríos, but Dávila was later governor on 1527 of León in Nicaragua.

A expedition commanded by Francisco Pizarro and his brothers explored south from what is today Panama, reaching Inca territory by 1526. After one more expedition in 1529, Pizarro received royal approval to conquer the region and be its viceroy. This approval was received as detailed in the following quote: "In July 1529 the queen of Spain signed a charter allowing Pizarro to conquer the Incas. Pizarro was named governor and captain of all conquests in New Castile"

Juan Díaz de Solís arrived again to the renamed Río de la Plata, literally river of the silver, after the conquest Inca's Empire. He was demanded to looking for a way to transport the Potosi's silver to Europe. For a long time due to the Incan silver mines, Potosí was the more important site in Colonial Spanish America, located in the current department of Potosí in Bolivia and it was the location of the Spanish colonial mint. The first settlement in the way was the fort of Sancti Spiritu, established in 1527 next to the Paraná River. Buenos Aires was established in 1536, establishing the Governorate of the Río de la Plata.

The Basques were fur trading, fishing cod and whaling in Terranova (Labrador and Newfoundland) in 1520, and to Iceland at least by the early 17th century. They established whaling stations at the former, mainly in Red Bay, and probably established some in the latter as well. In Terranova they hunted bowheads and right whales, while in Iceland they appear to have only hunted the latter. It were the possibility of reaching the American continent in the year 1375, just to Newfoundland long before Columbus did in 1492. Many researchers also argue that at least two dozen of men arrived in the territory of Newfoundland caming from the Bay of Biscay and Bayonne in 1412, but this has not been demonstrated archaeologically yet. The evidence, however, suggest that Basques began whaling when they discovered the Grand Banks by 1372. Basque fishing, trading, or pirate ships rediscovered and perhaps even pillaged the Eastern Settlement on Greenland, probably before 1450. The Spanish fishery in Terranova declined by conflicts between Spain and other European powers during the late 16th and early 17th centuries.

In the year 1524 the Portuguese Estevão Gomes, who'd sailed in Ferdinand Magellan's fleet, explored Nova Scotia, sailing South through Maine, where he entered New York Harbor, the Hudson River and eventually reached Florida in August 1525. As a result of his expedition, the 1529 Diego Ribeiro world map outlines the East coast of North America almost perfectly.

The Portuguese Diego Rodrigues explored the Indian Ocean in 1528, he explored the islands of Réunion, Mauritius, and Rodrigues, naming it the Mascarene or Mascarenhas Islands, after his countryman Pedro Mascarenhas, who had been there before.

The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca, was the leader survivor of the Narváez expedition of 600 men., that between 1527-1535 explored the mainland of North America. From Tampa Bay, Florida on April 15, 1528, they started off on a march through Florida. Traveling mostly on foot the U.S. state, of Texas, New Mexico and Arizona, and Mexican states of Tamaulipas, Nuevo León and Coahuila. After several months of fighting native inhabitants through wilderness and swamp, the party reached Apalachee Bay with 242 men. They believed they were near other Spaniards in Mexico, but there were in fact 1500 miles of coast between them. They followed the coast westward, until they reached the mouth of the Mississippi River near to Galveston Island. Later they were enslaved for a few years by various Native American tribes of the upper Gulf Coast. They continued through Coahuila and Nueva Vizcaya; then down the Gulf of California coast to what is now Sinaloa, Mexico, over a period of roughly eight years. They spent years enslaved by the Ananarivo of the Louisiana Gulf Islands. Later they were enslaved by the Hans, the Capoques and others. In 1534 they escaped into the American interior, contacting other Native American tribes along the way. Only four men, Cabeza de Vaca, Andrés Dorantes de Carranza, Alonso del Castillo Maldonado, and an enslaved Moroccan Berber named Estevanico, survived and escaped to reach Mexico City. In 1539, Estevanico was one of four men who accompanied Marcos de Niza as a guide in search of the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola, preceding Coronado. When the others were struck ill, Estevanico continued alone, opening up what is now New Mexico and Arizona. He was killed at the Zuni village of Hawikuh in present-day New Mexico.

The Viceroyalty of Peru was established in 1542, encompassing all Spanish holdings in South America.

The viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza, for who is named the Codex Mendoza, commissioned the expeditions of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to explore and establish settlements in the northern lands of New Spain in 1540-42 to Quivira in central Kansas, the expedition of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo to explore the western coastline of Alta California in 1542-43, and the expedition of Ruy López de Villalobos to the Philippines in 1542-43.

In 1564, Miguel López de Legazpi was commissioned by the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, to lead an expedition in the Pacific Ocean, to find the Spice Islands where the earlier explorers Ferdinand Magellan and Ruy López de Villalobos had landed in 1521 and 1543, respectively. The expedition was ordered by King Philip II of Spain, after whom the Philippines had earlier been named by Ruy López de Villalobos. El Adelantado Legazpi established settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He was the first Governor-General of Spanish East Indies. After obtaining peace with various indigenous tribes, López de Legazpi made the Philippines the capital of the Spanish East Indies in 1571.

In 1578 the Saadi sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, contemporary of Elizabeth I, defeated Portuguese at the Battle of Ksar El Kebir, when was Portuguese king, Sebastian I. The king of Portugal landed in Nort Africa after Abu Abdallah asked him to help recover the Saadian throne, that Abu Abdallah's uncle, Abd Al-Malik, had taken it from Abu Abdallah with Ottoman empire support. The defeat of Abu Abdallah and his ally the king of Portugal led to the end of the Portuguese Aviz dynasty due to die in the battle the king Sebastian I still without heirs, and later to the integration of Portugal and its empire at the Iberian Union for 60 years under Sebastian's uncle Philip II of Spain married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland in a dynastic union with Spain.

The Chamuscado and Rodriguez Expedition explored New Mexico in 1581-1582. They explored a part of the route visited by Coronado in New Mexico and other parts in the southwestern United States between 1540 and 1542.

In subsequent decades, competition with other countries settlers not diminished the expeditions but specialized exploration.

As a result of Iberian Union Portugal and its Empire since 1580 was Spanish king's territory as since the previous century the Crown of Aragon and ist mediterranean Empire, and Phillip II king's enemies became Portugal's enemies, as Dutchs in Dutch–Portuguese War, England or France. Due to this, Brazil was partially conquered by both France and the rebel Dutch Protestant northern provinces from Seventeen Provinces.

War with the Dutch led to invasions of many countries in Asia, including Ceylon (today's Sri Lanka), and commercial interests in Japan, Africa (Mina), and South America. Even though Portuguese were unable to capture the entire island of Ceylon, they were able to keep the coastal regions of Ceylon under their control for a considerable time.

Spanish Formosa was a European colony established in Taiwan, first by Portugal from 1544 and later renamed and repositioned by Spain in Keelung, a northern natural defense site, when Iberian Union since 1626 to 1642. The colony was designed to protect Spanish and Portuguese trade from interference by the Dutch base in the south of Taiwan. The Spanish colony was short-lived due to the unwillingness of Spanish colonial authorities in Manila to commit men and materiel to defending it. After China gained control of Taiwan in 1683, but Portuguese and Spanish hold on trade with China cities from his basis, the Portuguese in Macau and others, the Spanish in Manila, when Arabs from the Middle East and Muslims from India were already actively trading in the port by the 1690s, and then Dutch, the French and English began frequenting the port through the Canton System.

In the 17th Century, taking advantage of this period of Portuguese weakness, many Portuguese territories in Brazil were occupied by the Dutch who gained access to the sugarcane plantations. John Maurice, Prince of Nassau-Siegen was appointed as the governor of the Dutch possessions in Brazil in 1637 by the Dutch West India Company. He landed at Recife, the port of Pernambuco, in January 1637. By a series of successful expeditions, he gradually extended the Dutch possessions from Sergipe on the south to São Luís de Maranhão in the north. He likewise conquered the Portuguese possessions of Elmina Castle, Saint Thomas, and Luanda, Angola, on the west coast of Africa. After the dissolution of the Iberian Union in 1640, Portugal would reestablish its authority over the lost territories of the Portuguese Empire. The Dutch intrusion into Brazil was long lasting and troublesome to Portugal. The Seventeen Provinces captured a large portion of the Brazilian coast including the provinces of Bahia, Pernambuco, Paraíba, Rio Grande do Norte, Ceará, and Sergipe, while Dutch privateers sacked Portuguese ships in both the Atlantic and Indian Oceans. The large area of Bahia and its city, the strategically important Salvador, was recovered quickly by a Iberian military expedition in 1625. This laid the foundations for the recovery of remaining Dutch controlled areas. The other smaller, less developed areas were recovered in stages and relieved of Dutch piracy in the next two decades by local resistance and Portuguese expeditions.

Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio María Bucareli y Ursúa, demanded to explore the area north of Alta California in response to information that there were colonial Russian settlements there. Bruno de Heceta first explored the Pacific Northwest. In 1774 Juan Pérez, was exploring the islands in present-day British Columbia, and Canada. From 1769 to 1776 the Franciscan missionary Francisco Garcés of converso morisco descent, was exploring Sonora, Baja California, California, Arizona, and Nevada. The criollo Spaniard and later Governor of New Mexico Juan Bautista de Anza explored Arizona, Colorado and Alta California founding the first overland route to San Francisco Bay.

Columbus' discovery of what they thought was India at that time, and the constant competition of Portugal and Spain led to a desire for secrecy about every trade route and every colony. As a consequence, many documents that could reach other European countries were in fact fake documents with fake dates and faked facts, to mislead any other nation's possible efforts.

The tendency to secrecy and falsification of dates casts doubts about the authenticity of many primary sources. Several historians have hypothesized that John II may have known of the existence of Brazil and North America as early as 1480 thus explaining his wish in 1494 at the signing of the Treaty of Tordesillas, to push the line of influence further west. Many historians suspect that the real documents would have been placed in the Library of Lisbon. Unfortunately, due to the fire following the earthquake of 1755, nearly all of the library's records were destroyed, but an extra copy available in Goa, was transferred to Lisbon Tower of Tombo, during the following 100 years. The Corpo Cronológico (Chronological Corpus), a collection of manuscripts on the Portuguese explorations and discoveries in Africa, Asia and Latin America, was inscribed on UNESCO’s Memory of the World Register in 2007 in recognition of its historical value "for acquiring knowledge of the political, diplomatic, military, economic and religious history of numerous countries at the time of the Portuguese Discoveries."

Actions such as this would come as no surprise, though, since competition between the two kingdoms was intense and both had their networks which were in constant conflict with one another, by providing misleading information and in hiding territories and trade routes discovered by each country, but especially Portugal, by either keeping them concealed or by providing false dates and also false locations. This constant secrecy effort was what led to the creation of many "false" documents and thus many of the remaining documents from that time may not be reliable. As a consequence some historians believe that territories such as Brazil, several African locations along its coastline and North America, due to the voyages made westward, may have been discovered before the known dates.

Nautical science

Main article: Iberian ship development, 1400–1600

Ephemeris by Abraham Zacuto in Almanach Perpetuum, 1496

A Portuguese caravel

The successive expeditions and experience of the Portuguese pilots led to a fairly rapid evolution of Portuguese nautical science.

In the thirteenth century they were guided by the sun position. For celestial navigation like other Europeans, used Arab navigation tools, like the astrolabe and quadrant, which they made easier and simpler. They also created the cross-staff, or cane of Jacob, for measuring at sea the height of the sun and other stars. The Southern Cross become a reference upon arrival at the Southern hemisphere by João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar in 1471, starting the celestial navigation on this constellation. But the results varied throughout the year, which required corrections.

To this the Portuguese used the astronomical tables (Ephemeris), precious tools for oceanic navigation, which have experienced a remarkable diffusion in the fifteenth century. These tables revolutionized navigation, allowing to calculate latitude. The tables of the Almanach Perpetuum, by astronomer Abraham Zacuto, published in Leiria in 1496, were used along with its improved astrolabe, by Vasco da Gama and Pedro Alvares Cabral.

The ship that truly launched the first phase of the discoveries along the African coast was the Portuguese caravel, quickly adopted by others iberian as merchant navy, it was a development based on existing African fishing boats. They were agile and easier to navigate, with a tonnage of 50 to 160 tons and 1 to 3 masts, with lateen triangular sails allowing luffing. The caravel benefited from a greater capacity to tack. The limited capacity for cargo and crew were their main drawbacks, but have not hindered its success. Limited crew and cargo space was acceptable, initially, because as exploratory ships, their "cargo" was what was in the explorer's feedback of a new territory, which only took up the space of one person. Among the famous caravels are Berrio and Caravela Annunciation. Columbus used them too in his travels.

With the start of long oceanic sailing also large ships were developed. "Nau" was the Portuguese archaic synonym for any large ship, primarily merchant ships. Due to the piracy that plagued the coasts, they began to be used in the navy and were provided with canon windows, which led to the classification of "naus" according to the power of its artillery. The carrack or nau desiggnated, it was a three- or four-masted sailing ship. It had a high rounded stern with large aftcastle, forecastle and bowsprit at the stem. It was first used by the Portuguese, and later by the Spanish. They were also adapted to the increasing maritime trade: from 200 tons capacity in the 15th century to 500, they become impressive in the 16th century, having usually two decks, stern castles fore and aft, two to four masts with overlapping sails. In India travels in the sixteenth century there were also used carracks, large merchant ships with a high edge and three masts with square sails, that reached 2000 tons.

Sailing techniques

Map of the five major oceanic gyres

Besides coastal exploration, Portuguese also made trips off in the ocean to gather meteorological and oceanographic information, in these were discovered the archipelagoes of Madeira, the Azores, Cape Verde, Sao Tome, Trindade and Martim Vaz, Saint Peter and Saint Paul Archipelago, Fernando de Noronha, Corisco, Elobey Grande, Elobey Chico Annobon Island, Ascension Island, Bioko Island, Falkland Islands, Principe Island, Saint Helena Island, Tristan da Cunha Island and Sargasso Sea. In 1535, the Portuguese were defeated by native people in Bissagos Islands. The knowledge of wind patterns and currents, the trade winds and the oceanic gyres in the Atlantic, and the determination of latitude led to the discovery of the best ocean route back from Africa: crossing the Central Atlantic to the latitude of the Azores, using the permanent favorable winds and currents that spin clockwise in the Northern Hemisphere because of atmospheric circulation and the effect of Coriolis, facilitating the way to Lisbon and thus enabling the Portuguese venturing increasingly farther from shore, the maneuver that became known as the "volta do mar" (English: return of the sea). In 1565, the application of this principle in the Pacific Ocean led the Spanish discovering the Manila Galleon trade route.

Cartography

Pre-mercator navigation chart of the Coast of Africa (1571), by Fernão Vaz Dourado (Torre do Tombo, Lisbon)

The Manila-Acapulco trade route started in 1568 and Spanish treasure fleets (white) and its eastwards rivals, the Portuguese India Armadas routes of 1498-1640 (blue)

It is thought that Jehuda Cresques, son of Jewish cartographer Abraham Cresques of Palma in Majorca then part of the Crown of Aragon, have been one of the notable cartographers at the service of Prince Henry. However the oldest signed Portuguese sea chart is a Portolan made by Pedro Reinel in 1485 representing the Western Europe and parts of Africa, reflecting the explorations made by Diogo Cão. Reinel was also author of the first nautical chart known with an indication of latitudes in 1504 and the first representation of an Wind rose.

With his son, cartographer Jorge Reinel and Lopo Homem, they participated in the making of the atlas known as "Lopo Homem-Reinés Atlas" or "Miller Atlas", in 1519. They were considered the best cartographers of their time, with Emperor Charles V wanting them to work for him. In 1517 King Manuel I of Portugal handed Lopo Homem a charter giving him the privilege to certify and amend all compass needles in vessels.

The third phase of the former nautical cartography, was characterized by the abandonment of the influence of Ptolemy's representation of the East and more accuracy in the representation of lands and continents, stands out Fernão Vaz Dourado (Goa ~ 1520 - ~ 1580), whose work has extraordinary quality and beauty, giving him a reputation as one of the best cartographers of the time. Many of his charts are large scale.

At that time it was the misconception that the Earth was flat, Columbus offered his services to Portugal seeking wealth through the establishment of trade routes to reach the East Indies by sailing westward, but failed. Columbus knew the Earth was round, and convinced the Spanish Crown about it, receiving the support of the Spanish crown, which saw in it a promise, however remote, of gaining the lucrative spice trade with Asia. The legend says that to convince kings than it was possible a round planet would not fall he used an egg

Shortly after in 1494 Spain and Portugal signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, Portugal still thought the world was flat dividing the world into two exploration and colonizing areas: the west side to Spanish and the east side to Portuguese. It stated a meridian in the Atlantic Ocean, with the western part excusive to Spain and the east to Portugal. Later, when Spain established a route to the Indies from the west, showing that the Earth was indeed round, Portugal decided to complete the deal with a second treaty, the Treaty of Zaragoza.

Portuguese and Spanish empires (anachronous world maps)
Portuguese Empire	Spanish Empire	Iberian Union (1581-1640)

People at service of Spain

• Hernán Cortés (Mexico, 1518–1522, Baja California, 1532–1536)
• Pedro de Alvarado (Mexico, 1519–1521, Guatemala, El Salvador 1523–1527, Perú, 1533–1535, Mexico, 1540–1541)
• Francisco Pizarro (Perú, 1509–1535)
• Pedro de Candia (Panama, 1527, Colombia and Ecuador, 1528, Peru, 1530)
• Francisco Vázquez de Coronado (United States, 1540–1542)
• Juan de Oñate (New Mexico, United States, 1598–1608)
• Juan Vásquez de Coronado y Anaya (Costa Rica)
• Diego de Almagro (Perú, 1524–1535, Chile, 1535–1537)
• Rodrigo de Bastidas (Colombia and Panamá, 1500–1527)
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Panamá, 1510–1519)
• Juan Ponce de León (Puerto Rico, 1508, Florida, 1513–1521)
• Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (United States, 1527–1536, 1540–1542)
• Lucas Vázquez de Ayllón (United States, 1524–1527)
• Sebastián de Belalcázar (Ecuador and Colombia, 1533–1536)
• Gonzalo Pizarro (Perú, 1532–1542)
• Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (Cuba, 1511–1519)
• Diego de Ordaz (Venezuela, 1532)
• Juan Pizarro (Perú, 1532–1536)
• Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán, 1517)
• Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Nicaragua, 1524)
• Hernando Pizarro (Perù, 1532–1560)
• Diego Hernández de Serpa (Venezuela, 1510–1570)
• Juan de Grijalva (Yucatán, 1518)
• Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (Colombia, 1536–1537, Venezuela, 1569–1572)
• Francisco de Montejo (Yucatán, 1527–1546)
• Nicolás Federmann (Venezuela and Colombia, 1537–1539).
• Pánfilo de Narváez (Spanish Florida, 1527–1528)
• Diego de Nicuesa (Panama, 1506–1511)
• Cristóbal de Olid (Honduras, 1523–1524)
• Francisco de Orellana (Amazon River, 1541–1543)
• Hernando de Soto (United States, 1539–1542)
• Inés Suárez, (Chile, 1541)
• Martín de Ursúa, (Petén, Guatemala, 1696–1697)
• Pedro de Valdivia (Chile, 1540–1552)
• Pedro Menéndez de Avilés (Florida, 1565–1567)
• Alonso de Ribera (Chile 1599–1617)
• Alonso de Sotomayor (Chile 1583–1592, Panamá 1592–1604)
• Martín Ruiz de Gamboa (Chile 1552–1590)
• Juan Garrido (Multiple campaigns 1502–1530, Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, Cuba, Florida, Mexico)
• Miguel López de Legazpi (Philippines, 1565–1572)
• Juan de Salcedo (Philippines, 1565–1576)

People at service of Portugal

• Afonso de Albuquerque
• Álvaro Martins
• António de Noli
• Antão Gonçalves
• Bartolomeu Dias
• Cadamosto
• Cristóvão de Mendonça
• Lourenço de Almeida
• Diogo Cão
• Diogo de Azambuja
• Diogo Gomes
• Dinis Dias
• Duarte Fernandes
• Fernão do Pó
• Fernão Magalhães also known as Ferdinand Magellan and Magallanes served Spain too.
• Fernão Pires de Andrade
• Francisco de Almeida
• Francisco Álvares
• Henry the Navigator
• Gaspar Corte-Real
• Gil Eanes
• Gonçalo Velho
• João Afonso de Aveiro
• João da Nova
• João Grego
• João Álvares Fagundes
• João Fernandes Lavrador
• João Gonçalves Zarco
• João Infante
• João Vaz Corte-Real
• Jorge Álvares
• Lopo Soares de Albergaria
• Luís Pires
• Luís Vaz de Torres
• Martin Behaim
• Martim Afonso de Sousa
• Miguel Corte-Real
• Nicolau Coelho
• Nuno Álvares Pereira
• Nuno da Cunha
• Paulo da Gama
• Nuno Tristão
• Paulo Dias de Novais
• Pedro Álvares Cabral
• Pedro Teixeira
• Pêro de Alenquer
• Pêro de Barcelos
• Pêro da Covilhã
• Pêro Dias
• Pêro Vaz de Caminha
• Tristão da Cunha
• Tristão Vaz Teixeira
• Vasco da Gama

See also

• Tercio
• Bandeirantes
• Libertadores
• Colonial Brazil

Further reading

• Chasteen, John Charles (2001). Born In Blood And Fire: A Concise History of Latin America. New York: W. W. Norton & Co.. ISBN 9780393976137. 
• Innes, Hammond (2002). The Conquistadors. London: Penguin. ISBN 9780141391229. 
• Kirkpatrick, F. A. (1934). The Spanish Conquistadores. London: A. & C. Black. 
• Wood, Michael (2000). Conquistadors. London: BBC Books. ISBN 9780563487067.