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.ˈkiːstədɔr/; Spanish: [koŋkistaˈðor]; "conqueror") were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish or Portuguese Empires. They sailed beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes. The colonized much of the world for Portugal and Spain in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.

Overview

The term conquistador mostly refers to a Spanish or Portuguese adventurer who attempted to conquer territory in the Americas in the 15th-17th centuries. The leaders of these expeditions were called conquistadores. This name derived from the Reconquista (711-1492), the reconquest of the territories of the Iberian peninsula occupied by Muslims. 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 that year, Spain's empire was limited to the Canary Islands, taken by the Kingdom of Castille between 1402 and 1496. In 1492 Castilla expanded its exploratory activities, using Portuguese navigators. Long before Portugal had colonized the rest of the Atlantic islands, it had established a marine route to Japan circling Africa, with numerous coastal enclaves along the route.

Typically outnumbered by the empires they attacked, the conquistadors subdued and eliminated the most powerful rulers, aided by superior technology, determination, political circumstances and in some cases, a lack of scruples. The conquerors also spread diseases, including smallpox, flu and typhus, which decimated the inhabitants of the New World.

Conquest was typically done by private enterprises through a contract called by Castilla "capitulaciones", established with the king or his representative. This empowered the group to conquer a particular territory within a specified time. An army was organized, under a leader or chief, who received a title from the king, 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 complete it within the time limit. Upon success, the land was exempted from tax and donated to future populations, and Castilian rights and freedoms were established. Even in victory, conquistadores often disputed the booty and fled or were executed or imprisoned.

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

The Conquistadores were most prominent in North America, South America and the Caribbean, but they also reached the Pacific Ocean, the coast of Asia and they controlled areas in Africa, Asia, India, China, and Atlantic and Pacific islands, including Ceilan, Formosa, Maluku, Philippines, Timor, Guam, and others.

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

Characteristics and behaviour

The conquistadors were professional warriors, using European tactics, firearms, combat dogs, and cavalry against unprepared groups. Their units (Compañia, Companhia) would often specialize in forms of combat that required longer periods of training that was too costly for informal groups. Their armies were mostly mounted mercenary soldiers of Iberian or Northern European origin. Native allied troops were largely infantry equipped with armament and armor that varied geographically. Such groups consisted of young men without military experience, Catholic clergy and soldiers or mercenaries with military training. These expeditions often involved African slaves and Native American men or women who often had more training than the troops. They served as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, scribes, etc.

Castillan law banned foreigners and non-Catholics from the New World. However, not all Conquistadors were Castilian or Christian. Many foreigners hispanicized their names. Even nationals of enemy countries were accepted. Guy Fawkes became Guido and became an alférez. By 1603 he had been recommended for a captaincy in the Spanish army. Nikolaus Federmann, hispanicized as Nicolás de Federmán, was born c. 1505 in Ulm and died February 1542 in Valladolid. Georg von Speyer hispanized as Jorge de la Espira.

European young men enlisted in the army because it was the only way out of poverty. Most Iberians of that time could not read or write. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics and wrote letters for them. King's army officers taught military arts. These uneducated young recruits became military leaders, elected by merit by their fellow professional soldiers. As an example, Hernan Cortes during his childhood was a swineherd and fed himself on acorns he collected.

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 Spanish conquerors.

During the 1650s, most troops were mercenaries. Mercenary units typically formed at the ends of periods of conflict. However, after the 17th century, states invested in better disciplined and politically reliable permanent troops. For a time mercenaries were important as trainers.

The conquistadores took many different roles, including religious leader, harem keeper, King or Emperor and Native American warrior. Gonzalo Guerrero was a Mayan war leader for Nachan can, Lord of Chactemal. Gerónimo de Aguilar, who had taken holy orders in his native Spain and later was a soldier with Hernán Cortés, was captured by Mayan lords. Francisco Pizarro had children with more than 40 women. The chronicler Pedro Cieza de León and Fray Pedro Simón wrote about the Americas. Lope de Aguirre was an emperor in the Amazon.

An early death among Europeans was very common, due to diseases and conflicts. The defeat was likely. Even in victory, some hundreds of conquistadores may were disputing the booty being killed, executed, fled or imprisoned due to internal clashes.

After Mexico fell, Hernán Cortés's enemies, Bishop Fonseca, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego Columbus and Francisco Garay were mentioned in the Cortés' fourth letter to the King in which he describes himself as the victim of a conspiracy.

The division of the booties produced bloody conflicts, such as the one between Pizarro and Almagro. After Peru fell to Spain, Francisco Pizarro dispatched to el adelantado Diego de Almagro before they became enemies, to the Inca Empire's northern city of Quito to claim it. 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 of Inca gold further complicated the situation for Almagro and Belalcázar. Alvarado left South America in exchange for monetary compensation from Pizarro. Almagro was executed on 1538, under Hernándo Pizarro's orders. In Lima in 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. Belalcázar was tried in absentia, convicted and condemned for killing Robledo and other offenses pertaining to his involvement in the wars between armies of conquistadors. Pedro de Ursúa was killed by his subordinate Lope de Aguirre who crowned himself king while looking for El Dorado. 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 brother of Francisco Pizarro, rose in revolt, killed viceroy Blasco Núñez Vela and most of his Spanish army in the battle 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 issue around which the rebellion had been organized. Gasca convinced Pedro de Valdivia, explorer of Chile, Alonso de Alvarado another searcher for El Dorado, and others that if he were unsuccessful, a royal fleet of 40 ships and 15,000 men was preparing to sail from Seville in June.

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.

Early Portuguese period

Infante Dom Henry the Navigator of Portugal, son of King João I, became the main sponsor of this endeavor. In 1415, Portugal conquered Ceuta, its first overseas colony.

In 1434 the first consignment of slaves was brought to Lisbon; slave trading was 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.

Spain birth

Ferdinand II of Aragon was the Castilian son of John II of Aragon. His family was a cadet branch of the House of Trastámara. He became King of Castilla after fighting a civil war in Castilla and marrying his cousin Isabella I of Castile. He was supported by his crown army against Joan of Castile, who was supported by King Afonso V of Portugal, who was her husband and her uncle, and the Portuguese army. After his father's death in 1479, Ferdinand unified Castile with Aragon, creating the Kingdom of Spain. He later tried to incorporate by marriage the kingdom of Portugal. Ferdinand notably supported Colombus' voyage that launched the conquistadors into action.

Iberian background

In 1492, the combined populations of Spain and Portugal did not exceed 10 million people.Spanish kings' possessions were extended around the Mediterranean to southern Italy.

According to Robert Davis between 1 million and 1.25 million Europeans were captured by Barbary pirates and sold as slaves in North Africa and the Ottoman Empire between the 16th and 19th centuries in Arab slave trade. The pirates conducted an escalating War between Christian Hapsburg Spain and the Ottoman Empire for control of the Mediterranean. They attacked the coastal villages and towns of Portugal, Spain, Southern Italy, the Kingdom of Sicily the Kingdom of Naples and Mediterranean islands. Long stretches of the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish coasts were almost completely abandoned by their inhabitants. After 1600 Barbary pirates occasionally entered the Atlantic and struck as far north as Iceland.

In 1544, Hayreddin Barbarossa captured Ischia, taking 4,000 prisoners in the process, and deported to slavery some 9,000 inhabitants of Lipari, almost the entire population. In 1551, Turgut Reis (known as Dragut in the West) enslaved the population of the Maltese island Gozo, sending between 5,000 and 6,000 to Libya. When pirates sacked Vieste in southern Italy in 1554 they took 7,000 slaves. In 1555, Turgut Reis sailed to Corsica and ransacked Bastia, taking 6,000 prisoners. In 1558 Barbary corsairs captured the town of Ciutadella (Minorca), destroyed it, slaughtered the inhabitants and carried off 3,000 survivors to Istanbul. In 1563 Turgut Reis landed at the shores of the province of Granada, Spain, and captured coastal settlements such as Almuñécar, taking 4,000 prisoners. Barbary pirates frequently attacked the Balearic islands. In response many coastal watchtowers and fortified churches were erected. The threat was so severe that the island of Formentera became uninhabited.

On 1575 the ship of the brothers Rodrigo and Miguel de Cervantes, of probable converso descent, was attacked off the Catalan coast by Algerian corsairs under the command of an Albanian Ottoman named Arnaut Mami. After significant resistance, in which the captain and many crew members were killed, the survivors were taken to Algiers as captives. After five years spent as a slave in Algiers, and four unsuccessful escape attempts, Cervantes was ransomed by his parents and the Trinitarians and returned to his family in Madrid. This period of Cervantes' life supplied subject matter for several of his literary works.

In Portugal the coastal city of Nazaré was raided several times until the 16th century when the local fortress was built. Lisbon built the Torre de Belém to defend the capital.

In March 1492, Ferdinand issued the Edict of Alhambra, a document which ordered all Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. From 1502, violating the 1492 peace treaty, Ferdinand and later Phillip II forced all Muslims in Castile and Aragon to convert or be expelled. The Spanish peninsular Muslims were suspected of connivance with Northern African Muslim pirates.

The Inquisition judged all Christians, including forced converts and those suspected of Protestant sympathies. For example the poet António Gonçalves de Bandarra was accused by the Inquisition of Judaism. The nominally converted Christian Moriscos expulsion was in 1609.

According to a 2008 study, 19.8 percent of modern Iberians have DNA reflecting Near Eastern while 10.6 percent have DNA reflecting North African ancestors.

The largest part, likely a majority, of Spaniard Jews expelled in 1492 fled 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 declared Christians by Royal decree unless they left, but the King hindered their departure, needing their artisanship and working population for Portugal's overseas enterprises and territories.

Treaties

The 1492 discovery of the West Indies by Christopher Columbus rendered desirable a delimitation of the Spanish and Portuguese spheres of exploration. At the time of the treaty the Portuguese still thought the world was flat. Thus dividing the world into two exploration and colonizing areas seemed appropriate. 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 meridian drawn from the Arctic Pole to the Antarctic, at a distance of 370 leagues (1,790 km) west of Cape Verde. Spain received the lands west of this line.

The known means of measuring longitude were so inexact that the line of demarcation could not in practice be determined, subjecting the treaty to diverse interpretations. Both the Portuguese claim to Brazil and the Spanish claim to the Moluccas (see East Indies#History) depended on the treaty. It was particularly valuable to the Portuguese as a recognition of their new-found, particularly when, in 1497-1499, Vasco da Gama completed the voyage to India.

Later, when Spain established a route to the Indies from the west, showing that the Earth was indeed round, Portugal arranged a second treaty, the Treaty of Zaragoza.

Portuguese 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 for alternatives to the expensive eastern trade routes that followed the Silk Road. Those routes were dominated first by the republics of Venice and Genoa, and then by the Ottoman Empire after the conquest of Constantinople in 1453. He barred European access. For decades the Spanish Netherlands ports produced more revenue than the 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. Apart from their religious and scientific aspects, these voyages of discovery were highly profitable.

They had benefited from Guinea's connections with neighboring Iberians and north African Muslim states. Due to these connections, mathematicians and experts in naval technology appeared in Portugal. 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. Portuguese explored Atlantic, Indic and Pacific oceans before Iberian Union. In 1498, Vasco da Gama reached India. In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered Brazil, claiming it for Portugal. In 1510, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered Goa in India, Ormuz in the Persian Strait, and Malacca. The Portuguese sailors sailed eastward landing in such places as Taiwan, Japan, the island of Timor. They were also the first Europeans to discover Australia and even New Zealand. 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.

In 1483 Diogo Cão sailed up the uncharted Congo River, finding Kongo villages and becoming the first European to encounter the Kongo kingdom.

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 crossed the Cape of Good Hope in 1488, thus proving that the Indian Ocean was accessible by sea.

Álvaro Caminha, in Cape Verde islands, who received the land as a grant from the crown, established a colony with Jews forced to stay on the island of São Tomé. 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 parts of Brazil.

After 1500

Cidade de Congo de São Salvador was founded some time after the arrival of the Portuguese, in the pre-existing capital of the local dynasty ruling at that time (1483), in a city of the Luezi River valley. Portuguese were established supporting one Christian local dynasty ruling suitor.

When Afonso I of Kongo was established the Roman Catholic Church in Kongo kingdom. By 1516 Afonso I sent various of his children and nobles to Europe to study, including his son Henrique Kinu a Mvemba, who was elevated to the status of bishop in 1518. Afonso I wrote a series of letters to the kings of Portugal Manuel I and João III of Portugal concerning to the behavior of the Portuguese in his country and their role in the developing slave trade, complaining of Portuguese complicity in purchasing illegally enslaved people and the connections between Afonso's men, Portuguese mercenaries in Kongo's service and the capture and sale of slaves by Portuguese.

The period of European contact of Ceylon began 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 Ethiopia, 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 1,200 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 conquer 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 were allowed 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 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 Brazil was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by Pedro Álvares Cabral. The Portuguese encountered stone age natives divided into several tribes. The first settlement was founded in 1532,

Portugal realized that some European countries, especially France, were also sending excursions to Brazil to extract brazilwood. Worried about the foreign incursions and hoping to find mineral riches, the Portuguese crown decided to send large missions to take possession of the land and combat the French. In 1530, an expedition led by Martim Afonso de Sousa arrived to patrol the entire coast, ban the French, and to create the first colonial villages, like São Vicente, at the coast. As time passed, the Portuguese created the Viceroyalty of Brazil. Colonization was effectively begun in 1534, when Dom João III divided the territory into twelve hereditary captaincies, which had previously been used successfully in the colonization of the Madeira Island, but this arrangement proved problematic and in 1549 the king assigned a Governor-General to administer the entire colony. The king send to Tomé de Sousa.

The Portuguese frequently relied on the help of Jesuits and European adventurers who lived together with the aborigines and knew their languages and culture, like to the Portuguese João Ramalho, who lived among the Guaianaz tribe near today's São Paulo, and Diogo Álvares Correia, nicknamed Caramuru, who lived among the Tupinamba natives near today's Salvador de Bahia.

The Portuguese assimilated some of the native tribes while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity. By the mid-16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export and the Portuguese imported African slaves to cope with the increasing international demand.

French colonists tried to settle in present-day Rio de Janeiro, from 1555 to 1567, the so-called France Antarctique episode), and in present-day São Luís, from 1612 to 1614 (the so called France Équinoxiale. Through wars against the French the Portuguese slowly expanded their territory to the southeast, taking Rio de Janeiro in 1567, and to the northwest, taking São Luís in 1615.

The Dutch sacked Bahia in 1604, and even temporarily captured the capital Salvador. From 1630 to 1654, the Dutch set up more permanently in the Nordeste and controlled a long stretch of the coast most accessible to Europe, without, however, penetrating the interior. But the colonists of the Dutch West India Company in Brazil were in a constant state of siege, in spite of the presence in Recife of the great John Maurice of Nassau as governor. After several years of open warfare, the Dutch formally withdrew in 1661. Portuguese sent military expeditions to the Amazon rainforest and conquered British and Dutch strongholds, founding villages and forts from 1669. In 1680 they reached the far south and founded Sacramento on the bank of the Rio de la Plata, in the Eastern Strip region (present-day Uruguay).

In the 1690s, was discovered gold by explorers in the region that would later be called Minas Gerais (General Mines) in current Mato Grosso and Goiás.

Before the Iberian Union Spanish tried to prevent Portuguese expansion into Brazil with the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas, After Iberian Union the Eastern Strip were settled by Portugal. However, this was disputed in vain in 1777 they confirmed Portuguese sovereignty.

Spanish exploration

After first landing Guanahani island on The Bahamas, Columbus found the Isla Juana (named later Cuba) In 1511, the first Spanish settlement was founded by Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar at Baracoa; other towns soon followed including San Cristobal de la Habana which was founded in 1515.

The Spanish settlement on Jamaica island was in 1509, named then Isla de Santiago (by Sant Iago Apostol), in Sevilla la Nueva. The capital was unhealthy and then moved to the called villa de Sant Iago de la Vega around 1534, in present day St. Catherine.

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

After receiving notice from Juan de Grijalva of gold in the area of what is now Tabasco, the governor of Cuba, Diego de Velasquez, sent 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 his ships. Velasquez may have contributed to the effort, but the government of Spain offered no financial support.

Pedro Arias Dávila, Governor of the Island La Española was descent of a converso's family. In 1519 Dávila founded Darién, then in 1524 he founded Panama City and moved his capital there laying the basis for the exploration of South America's west coast and the subsequent conquest of Peru. 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 Ferdinand of the largest Spanish expedition.

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

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

An expedition commanded by 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. The approval read: "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" The Viceroyalty of Peru was established in 1542, encompassing all Spanish holdings in South America.

For a long time due to the Incan silver mines, Potosí was the most 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. Juan Díaz de Solís arrived again to the renamed Río de la Plata, literally river of the silver, after the Incan conquest. He sought a way to transport the Potosi's silver to Europe.

North America exploration

The Basques were fur trading, fishing cod and whaling in Terranova (Labrador and Newfoundland) in 1520, and in Iceland by at least 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. They may have reached Newfoundland in 1375, long before Columbus. At least two dozen men may have reach in the territory of Newfoundland from the Bay of Biscay and Bayonne in 1412, but this has not been demonstrated archaeologically yet. Evidence suggests that Basques began whaling when they discovered the Grand Banks in 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 over 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 outlined the East coast of North America almost perfectly.

In 1534 the explorer French Jacques Cartier describe and map the Gulf of Saint Lawrence and the shores of the Saint Lawrence River.

The Spaniard Cabeza de Vaca, was the leader 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 marched through Florida. Traveling mostly on foot, they crossed 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 was 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 viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza, for who is named the Codex Mendoza, commissioned several expeditions to explore and establish settlements in the northern lands of New Spain in 1540-42. Francisco Vásquez de Coronado reached Quivira in central Kansas. Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo explored the western coastline of Alta California in 1542-43.

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.

Pacific exploration

Viceroy of New Spain Antonio de Mendoza sent Ruy López de Villalobos to explore. He sailed to the Philippines in 1542-43.

In 1564, Miguel López de Legazpi was commissioned by the viceroy of New Spain, Luis de Velasco, to find the Spice Islands where 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 Villalobos. El Adelantado Legazpi established settlements in the East Indies and the Pacific Islands in 1565. He was the first Governor-General of the Spanish East Indies. After obtaining peace with various indigenous tribes, López de Legazpi made the Philippines the capital in 1571.

Iberian Union period

In 1578 the Saadi sultan Ahmad al-Mansur, contemporary of Queen Elizabeth I, defeated Portugal at the Battle of Ksar El Kebir, beating Sebastian I. Portugal had landed in North Africa after Abu Abdallah asked him to help recover the Saadian throne. Abu Abdallah's uncle, Abd Al-Malik, had taken it from Abu Abdallah with Ottoman empire support. The defeat of Abu Abdallah and Portugal led to the end of the Portuguese Aviz dynasty 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. Philip was married to Mary I, King of England and Ireland in a dynastic union with Spain.

As a result of the Iberian Union, Phillip II's enemies became Portugal's enemies, such as the Dutch in the Dutch–Portuguese War, England or France. War with the Dutch led to invasions of many countries in Asia, including Ceylon and commercial interests in Japan, Africa (Mina), and South America. Even though the Portuguese were unable to capture the entire island of Ceylon, they were able to control its coastal regions for a considerable time.

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, Colonial Brazil expanded from the small limits of the Tordesilhas Line to roughly the same borders as current Brazil.

In the 17th Century, taking advantage of this period of Portuguese weakness, the Dutch occupied many Portuguese territories in Brazil. 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. In a series of expeditions, he gradually expanded 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 and Angola. 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.

After the dissolution of the Iberian Union in 1640, Portugal reestablished authority over its lost territories including 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.

Spanish Formosa was established in Taiwan, first by Portugal from 1544 and later renamed and repositioned by Spain in Keelung. It became a natural defense site for the Iberian Union. 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 defend it.

After Iberian Union

China gained control of Taiwan in 1683, but the Portuguese and Spanish maintained a hold on trade with China cities. The Portuguese operated from Macau and other cities. The Spanish controled Manila. Arabs from the Middle East and Muslims from India were actively trading in the port by the 1690s. Dutch, the French and English later frequented the port through the Canton System.

The 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, explored 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.

Disease in the Americas

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

Jared Diamond summarized the causes of 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". Atahualpa and Moctezuma ruled preliterate states, giving their conquerors an unassailable advantage. They benefited from Europe's extensive body of knowledge about human behavior and history.

While technological and cultural factors played an important role in the victories of the conquistadors in the Americas, this was facilitated by old world diseases, especially smallpox, but also chicken pox, diptheria, typhus, influenza and measles. The diseases were carried to distant tribes and villages. This typical path of disease transmission moved much faster than the conquistadors so that as they advanced, resistance weakened.

Epidemic disease is commonly cited as the primary reason for the population collapse. The American natives lacked immunity and resistance to these infections. Most American native peoples lived in isolated communities, with only limited trade contact and no regular communication, further reducing their ability to build up immunity. Trading was the only ongoing contact between most New World cultures.

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. 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 was recorded in 1529 and killed the emperor Huayna Capac, the father of Atahualpa. Further 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 reduced the population in Aztec Mexico was aided by a great drought in the 16th century, and which continued through the arrival of the Spanish conquest. This has added to the body of epidemiological evidence indicating that cocoliztli epidemics (Nahuatl name for viral hemorrhagic fever) were indigenous fevers transmitted by rodents and aggravated by the drought. The cocoliztli epidemic 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 remainder.

The American researcher HF Dobyns claimed that 95% of the total population of the Americas died in the first 130 years, and 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.

Search for mythic lands

Books such as the Age of Exploration, The Travels of Marco Polo, recounted rumors of mythical wonderful places. They described the half-fabulous Christian Empire of "Prester John", the kingdom of the White Queen in "Western Nile" or Sénégal River in Africa, the Fountain of Youth in Everglades, Quivira or Cibola, cities of Gold in North and 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 to have fought there. Others claimed that the similarity between "Indio" and "Iudio", the word for Jew in Spanish language about 1500, revealed the indigenous peoples' origin. Portuguese traveller Antonio de Montezinos reported 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. They found other precious metals such as silver, which was particularly abundant in Potosi. They discovered new routes, Ocean currents, trade winds, crops, spices and other products. In the sail era such knowledge was essential. A good example of this is the Agulhas current, which long prevented Portuguese sailors from reaching India.

Secrecy and disinformation

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's 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."

Competition between the two kingdoms was intense and their networks were in constant conflict. They provided misleading information and hid territories and trade routes, especially Portugal, by either keeping them concealed or by providing false dates and also false locations. This effort led to the creation of many "false" documents and thus many of the remaining documents from that time may not be reliable. Some historians believe that territories such as Brazil, several African locations along its coastline and North America may have been discovered before the known dates.

Financing

Armed groups sought supplies and funds in various ways. Financing was requested from the King, delegates of the Crown, the nobility, rich merchants or the troops themselves. The more professional campaigns were funded by the Crown. Campaigns were sometimes initiated by inexperienced governors, because in Spanish Colonial America, offices were bought or handed to relatives or cronies. Sometimes, an expedition of conquistadors were a group of influential men who had recruited and equipped their fighters, by promising a share of the booty.

The conquistador borrowed as little as possible, preferring to invest all their belongings. Sometimes, every soldier brought his own equipment and supplies, other times the soldiers received gear as an advance from the conquistador.

The Pinzón brothers, seamen of the Tinto-Odiel participated in Columbus's undertaking. They also supported the project economically, supplying money from their personal fortunes.

Sponsors included governments, the king, viceroys, and local governors backed by richmen. The contribution of each individual conditioned the subsequent division of the booty, receiving a portion the pawn and twice a man on horseback owner of a horse. Sometimes part of the booty consisted of women and/or slaves. Even the dogs, weapons of extraordinary importance, in some cases were rewarded. The division of the booty produced conflicts, such as the one between Pizarro and Almagro.

Colonial governance

Ferdinand incorporated the American territories into his domain and then withdrew the authority granted to governor Christopher Columbus and the first conquistadors. He established 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. After unifying Castile, Ferdinand introduced to Castile many laws, regulations and institutions such as the Inquisition, that were typical in Aragon. These laws were later used in the new lands.

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.

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. 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.

The Crown reserved for itself important tools of intervention. The "capitulacion" clearly stated that the conquered territories belonged to the Crown, not to the individual. On the other hand, concessions allowed the Crown to guide the Companies conquests 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. A written report about the results was mandatory. The army had a royal official, the "veedor". The "veedor" or notary, ensured they complied with orders and instructions and preserved the King's share of the booty.

In practice the Capitán had almost unlimited power. Besides the Crown and the conquistador, the Capitán was very important to the backers was charged with anticipating the money and guarantee payment of obligations.

Military advantages

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

Conquistadors had overwhelming military advantages over the native peoples. They belonged to a more advanced civilization with better techniques, tools, firearms, artillery, steel and domesticated animals. Horses and mules carried them, pigs fed them and dogs fought for them. The indigenous peoples had the advantage of established settlements, determination to remain independent and large numerical superiority. European diseases and divide and conquer tactics contributed to the defeat of the native populations.

In the Iberian peninsula, in a situation of constant conflict, warfare and daily life were strongly interlinked. Small, lightly equipped armies were maintained at all times. The state of war continued intermittently for centuries and created a very warlike culture in Iberia.

Strategy

Another factor was the ability of the conquistadors to manipulate the political situation between indigenous peoples. To beat the Inca civilization, they supported one side of a civil war. They overthrew the Aztec civilization by allying with natives who had been subjugated by more powerful neighboring tribes and kingdoms. These tactics had been used since antiquity, for example, in the Granada War, the conquest of the Canary Islands and conquest of Navarre. Throughout the conquest, the indigenous people greatly outnumbered the conquistadors; the conquistador troops never exceeded 2% of the native population. The army with which Hernán Cortés besieged Tenochtitlan was composed of 200,000 soldiers, of which fewer than 1% were Spaniards.

The Europeans practiced war within the terms and laws of their concept of a just war. While Spanish soldiers went to the battlefield to kill their enemies, the Aztecs and Mayas captured their enemies for use as sacrificial victims to their gods—a process called "flower war" by Spanish historians.

The cultural context of the Iberian Peninsula was different than that of the rest of Continental Europe from the Middle Age, due to contact with Moorish culture and the isolation provided by the Pyrenees. Doctrines, equipment, and tactics differed from those found in the rest of Europe.

In traditional cultures of the Stone Age, Bronze Age, and hunter-gatherer societies the warfare was mostly 'endemic', long duration, low intensity, usually evolving into almost an ritualized form. By contrast, Europe had moved to 'endemic' warfare in the Middle Ages due to the availability of professionally mercenary armies. It is interesting that when Italy was ransacked by French and Spanish Armies in the early 1500s, most Italian states were easily defeated by armies practicing sporadic-warfare. Aztec and neighboring people before the Spanish invasion had developed an endemic system of warfare too, and exactly the same thing was experienced by American countries when Americas were ransacked by Spanish and Portuguese sporadic-warfare Armies since the early 1500s, many native states were easily defeated.

Tactics

These forces were capable of quickly moving long distances, allowing a quick return home after battle. Wars were mainly between clans, expelling intruders or sacking enemy villages. On land, these wars combined some European methods with techniques from Muslim bandits in Al-Andalus. These tactics consisted of small groups who attempted to catch their opponents by surprise, through an ambush.

In Mombasa de Gama resorted to piracy, looting Arab merchant ships, which were generally unarmed trading vessels without heavy cannons.

Equipment and animals

Firearms

The introduction of gunpowder in Europe in the late 14th century led to the increased preference for infantry-oriented professional armies and gave birth to heavy infantry armored like a knight, with chain 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 that was capable of penetrating armor.

When traders from Portugal introduced Arquebuses and Muskets, Iberian warlords were quick to adapt them, giving them a large advantage. Iberian kingdoms developed expertise in both cannon manufacturing and shipbuilding. Aragon's Crown and Portugal constructed warships equipped with firearms and advanced gunpowder cannons.

Portuguese and Spanish conquerors made use of these weapons, including 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. A few effective artillery hits would stop the charging warriors and destroy morale because of the noise and carnage. The small weapons carried by native warriors had little advantage. The reloading procedure in arquebus was lengthy, rarely allowing more than ten shots per battle.

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 household utensils. Few metals were used 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 indigenous cultures were limited to weapons of wood, flint and obsidian.

Light equipment

A Spanish sword made of steel was considered the pinnacle of craftsmanship and a well trained swordsman could be a dominant foe. To the Spanish, the sword represented their honor and devotion as a Christian Knight. When they took control of a territory, the conquistadors usually banned possession of steel swords by their subjects.

The cavalry mostly used steel breastplates and armor during Cortés' campaign. The high heat and humidity of Central and South America could make heavy iron armor and steel items mostly impractical.The Spanish, from a country with very hot summers, usually had lighter armor. Commonly mail and leather were worn by the Spaniards. However, some indigenous cultures had used woven grasses and leathers for protection for centuries.

Animals

Animals were another important factor for Spanish triumph. On the one hand, the introduction of the horse and other domesticated pack animals allowed them greater mobility unknown to the Indian cultures. However, in the mountains and jungles, the Spaniards were less able to use narrow 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 effective as a psychological weapon against the natives, who, in many cases, had never seen domesticated dogs. Many indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere did have domestic dogs; these include 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 the Taínos, Aztecs and 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 barely clothed troops. The Spanish conquistadors armored dogs that had been trained to kill and disembowel.

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 rapid evolution of Portuguese nautical science.

Navigation

In the thirteenth century they were guided by the sun position. For celestial navigation like other Europeans, they used Arabic 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 the arrival of João de Santarém and Pedro Escobar in the Southern hemisphere in 1471, starting its use in celestial navigation. The results varied throughout the year, which required corrections. To address this the Portuguese used the astronomical tables (Ephemeris), a precious tool for oceanic navigation, which spread widely in the fifteenth century. These tables revolutionized navigation, enabling latitude calculations. 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.

Ship design

The ship that truly launched the first phase of the discoveries along the African coast was the Portuguese caravel. Iberians quickly adopted it for their merchant navy. It was a development based on 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 particularly 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 discoveries about a new territory, which only took up the space of one person. Among the famous caravels are Berrio and Caravela Annunciation. Columbus also used them in his travels.

Long oceanic voyages led to larger ships. "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 cannon windows, which led to the classification of "naus" according to the power of its artillery. The carrack or nau was a three- or four-masted 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. They grew from 200 tons capacity in the 15th century to 500. In the 16th century they usually had two decks, stern castles fore and aft, two to four masts with overlapping sails. In India travels in the sixteenth century used carracks, large merchant ships with a high edge and three masts with square sails, that reached 2,000 tons.

Winds and currents

Map of the five major oceanic gyres

Besides coastal exploration, Portuguese ships also made trips further out to gather meteorological and oceanographic information. These voyages revealed 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 Azores, using the 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 to venture farther from shore, a 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

Portolan of Angelino Dulcert (1339) showing Lanzarote island

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)

In 1339 Angelino Dulcert of Majorca produced the portolan chart map. Evidently drawing from the information provided in 1336 by Lanceloto Malocello sponsored by King Dinis of Portugal. It showed Lanzarote island, named Insula de Lanzarotus Marocelus and marked by a Genoese shield, as well as the island of Forte Vetura (Fuerteventura) and Vegi Mari (Lobos), although Dulcert also included some imaginary islands himself, notably St. Brendan, and three islands he names Primaria, Capraria and Canaria.

'Mestre Jacome', was a Majorcan cartographer induced by Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator to move to Portugal in the 1420s to train Portuguese map-makers in Majorcan-style cartography.'Jacome of Majorca' is even sometimes described as the head of Henry's legendary observatory and "school" at Sagres.

It is thought that Jehuda Cresques, son of Jewish cartographer Abraham Cresques of Palma in Majorca and Italian-Majorcan Angelino Dulcert were cartographers at the service of Prince Henry. Majorca had many skilled Jewish cartographers. 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. Emperor Charles V wanted 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 nautical cartography was characterized by the abandonment of Ptolemy's representation of the East and more accuracy in the representation of lands and continents. Fernão Vaz Dourado (Goa ~ 1520 - ~ 1580), produced work of extraordinary quality and beauty, giving him a reputation as one of the best cartographers of the time. Many of his charts are large scale.

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.