Spanish Conquistadors
Conquistadors (/kɒn.ˈkiːstədɔrz/; from Spanish conquistadores, "conquerors") were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire. The name derived from the Reconquista (completed in 1492), the reconquest of the territory of the Iberian Peninsula that had been controlled by various Muslim states (known through much of that time as Al-Andalus). They sailed beyond Europe, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 15th, 16th, and 17th centuries.
Read more about Spanish Conquistadors: Conquest, Background, Portuguese Exploration, Spanish Exploration, Iberian Union Period (1580–1640), After Iberian Union, Disease in The Americas, Mythic Lands, Secrecy and Disinformation, Financing and Governance, Military Advantages, Nautical Science, People At Service of Spain, People At Service of Portugal, See Also
Famous quotes containing the word spanish:
“The Bermudas are said to have been discovered by a Spanish ship of that name which was wrecked on them.... Yet at the very first planting of them with some sixty persons, in 1612, the first governor, the same year, “built and laid the foundation of eight or nine forts.” To be ready, one would say, to entertain the first ship’s company that should be next shipwrecked on to them.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)