Conquistador
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- This article is about the Spanish explorers and warriors dating from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, for other uses see Conquistador (disambiguation)
Conquistador (Spanish: [koŋ.kis.t̪a'ð̞oɾ]) (meaning "Conqueror" in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers and adventurers who brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, starting with the 1492 settlement established in the modern-day Bahamas by Christopher Columbus.
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[edit] Background
The first Spanish conquest in the Americas was the island of Hispaniola (presently shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic). From there, Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico and Diego Velázquez took Cuba. The first settlement on the mainland was Darién in Panama, settled by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1512. As these Caribbean regions proved no great treasury or endless supply of priceless spices, the 'disappointment' motivated further exploration, rather than a serious effort to make the best of the 'virgin' colonies, a foretaste of monumental economic mismanagement.
The first immensely successful conquistador was Hernán Cortés. Between 1520 and 1521, Cortés, along with some Native American allies, conquered the mighty Aztec empire, thus bringing present day Mexico under the dominion of the Spanish empire, as New Spain. Of comparable importance was the conquest of the South American Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro. Both were helped by smallpox and other European plagues that weakened the native populations, for these diseases were unknown in America at the time of the Spanish arrival and the native populations lacked the antibodies to fight them. The diseases also killed the current leader of the Inca at the time, facilitating the war that Pizarro walked into upon his arrival. Combined with far greater forces of native allies, Cortés's forces managed to besiege the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlan and destroy it.
Rumours of golden Cities (Cíbola in North America and "El Dorado" in South America) caused several more expeditions to leave for the Americas, but many returned without finding any gold, finding less gold than expected, or finding Fool's Gold. The piece that Sapa Inca Atahualpa paid Pizarro for his freedom was taken back to Spain, leading to additional Conquistador expeditions in South America. Emboldened by the seemingly endless rising imports of silver and gold, the Spanish Habsburg imperial rule became uncompromising, leading to the unwise use of the Quinto Real of the colonial proceeds that would bankrupt a constantly overstretched Spain. The influx of precious metal also caused towering inflation in Europe (particularly in Spain), thereby undermining the domestic economy (which was the main source of revenue), greatly contributing to the ultimate loss of the war against Protestant rebels and Catholic France, and, finally, after a long, slow, decline, led to the loss of imperial prominence to its northern rivals.
[edit] The Spanish Conquest in Asia - Pacific
The discovery of the Strait of Magellan in 1520 by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the tip of South America led to Spanish interest in the Pacific. The first of the Conquistors to sail the vast Pacific Ocean was Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564; he arrived in the Philippine archipelago on 1565. Legazpi and his men destroyed the native settlements and conquered the islands for Spain. This paved the way for Spanish settlements in the Pacific.
[edit] List of conquistadores and explorers
- Hernán Cortés (Mexico, 1518-1522, Honduras, 1524, Baja California, 1532-1536)
- Francisco Pizarro (Peru, 1509-1535)
- Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (southwestern United States, 1540-1542)
- Diego de Almagro (Peru, 1524-1535, Chile, 1535-1537)
- Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Panama, 1510-1519)
- Juan Ponce de León (Puerto Rico, 1508, Florida, 1513 and 1521)
- Pedro de Alvarado (Mexico, 1519-1521, Guatemala 1523 -1527, Peru, 1533-1535, Mexico, 1540-1541)
- Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (southwestern United States, 1527-1536, South America, 1540-1542)
- Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón (United States east coast, 1524-1527)
- Sebastián de Belalcázar (Ecuador and Colombia, 1533-1536)
- Gonzalo Pizarro (Peru, 1532-1542)
- Juan Pizarro, (Peru, 1532-1536)
- Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán, 1517)
- Martín de Goiti, (Manila, Philippines, 1570-1571)
- Hernándo Pizarro, (Peru, 1532-1560)
- Juan de Grijalva (Yucatán, 1518)
- Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (Colombia, 1536-1537, Venezuela, 1569-1572)
- Miguel López de Legazpi, (Philippines, 1565-1571)
- Francisco de Montejo (Yucatan, 1527-1546)
- Juan de Salcedo, (Northern Philippines, 1570-1576)
- Nikolaus Federmann (Venezuela and Colombia, 1537-1539).
- Pánfilo de Narváez (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 (southeastern United States, 1539-1542)
- Inés de Suárez, (Chile, 1541)
- Martín de Ursua, Peten region of Guatemala, 1696-1697
- Pedro de Valdivia (Chile, 1540-1552)
- Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (Cuba, 1511-1519)
- Pedro Menendez de Aviles (Florida, 1565 - 1567)
- Juan de Oñate (New Mexico, 1598)
- Ñuflo de Chavez (Bolivia; 1544-1568)
[edit] Conquistadores in popular culture
The Conquistadors have since been featured (or referred to) in a great many media representations, and their distinctive helmets have accquired nearly iconic status. They are sometimes seen as an emblem of the Spanish Empire.
- The Rock group Procol Harum had a hit single with a song called "Conquistador". This was also the title of the Portuguese entry in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest.
- The German power metal band Running Wild has a song called "Conquistadores" on their Port Royal album.
- The Funk-Rock-Glitter-Stomp group "Conquistador" was formed in Southern California in the late 1990s. The band was led by singer-song-smith Alex Antebi.
- The album Labyrinth by the goa trance group Juno Reactor features two sequential songs called "Conquistador Part I" and "Conquistador Part II".
- In the PC games Civilization III and Civilization IV, as well as in the Expansion Pack to Age of Empires II, the Conquistador is the Spanish unique unit.
- Deborah Baker Monday composed a song for string orchestra called conquistador.
- In Ian Browns 1998 song "My star" the lyrics " Astronauts the new conquistadores " in reference to American space exploration.
[edit] See also
- Spanish conquest of Peru
- Spanish colonization of the Americas
- Encomienda
- Repartimiento
- List of conquistadors
- New Laws
- Valladolid debate
[edit] References
- John Charles Chasteen, Born In Blood And Fire: Concise History of Latin America Summary of the history of Latin America.
