Conquistadors

[ [|hide] ] *  [|1 Overview]
 * Conquistadors** ([[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/8a/Loudspeaker.svg/11px-Loudspeaker.svg.png width="11" height="11" caption="play"]] [|/] [|k] [|ɒ] [|n] [|.] [|ˈ] [|k] [|iː] [|s] [|t] [|ə] [|d] [|ɔr] [|z] [|/]  ; [|Spanish] and [|Portuguese] : //Conquistadores//, Spanish:  [|[koŋkistaˈðoɾes]] , Portuguese:  [|[kõkiʃtaˈðoɾɨʃ]]  ; "Conquerors") were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the [|Spanish] [|[1]] [|[2]] or [|Portuguese Empires] . 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.
 * == Contents ==
 * [|2 Characteristics and behaviour]
 * [|3 History]
 * [|3.1 Early Portuguese period]
 * [|3.2 Spanish birth]
 * [|3.3 Iberian background]
 * [|3.4 Treaties]
 * [|4 Portuguese exploration]
 * [|4.1 After 1500]
 * [|4.2 South America]
 * [|5 Spanish exploration]
 * [|5.1 North America exploration]
 * [|5.2 Pacific exploration]
 * [|6 Iberian Union period]
 * [|7 After Iberian Union]
 * [|8 Disease in the Americas]
 * [|9 Mythic lands]
 * [|10 Secrecy and disinformation]
 * [|11 Financing and governance]
 * [|12 Military advantages]
 * [|12.1 Strategy]
 * [|12.2 Tactics]
 * [|12.3 Equipment and animals]
 * [|13 Nautical science]
 * [|13.1 Navigation]
 * [|13.2 Ship design]
 * [|13.3 Winds and currents]
 * [|13.4 Cartography]
 * [|14 People at service of Spain]
 * [|15 People at service of Portugal]
 * [|16 See also]
 * [|17 References]
 * [|18 Further reading] ||

Overview
The surrender of [|Granada] in 1492. Muhammad XII before [|Ferdinand and Isabella]. The name derived from the // [|Reconquista] // (711–1492), the reconquest of the territory of the [|Iberian Peninsula] that was controlled by Muslims (the state called [|Al-Andalus] ). In 1492 [|Castile] expanded its exploratory activities, using Portuguese navigators.[// [|citation needed] //] Portugal had previously established a marine route to Japan via the southern coast of Africa, with numerous coastal enclaves along the route. Following the discovery of the New World by [|Christopher Columbus] in 1492, expeditions led by conquistadors brought much of the Americas under the control of Spain in the 16th century. 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. Human infections were transmitted for the first time worldwide, from Africa and Eurasia to the Americas and vice versa. [|[3]] [|[4]] [|[5]] The spread of diseases, including [|smallpox], [|flu] and [|typhus] , decimated the inhabitants of the [|New World]. Iberian countries were controlled by very segmented, but very pragmatic governments. The goal of these kings, noblemen, and rich men was to increase their status and that of their descendants. They used the [|Inquisition] to help them rule, but there was otherwise little effective government control. Control was exercised by power groups and misrule resulted in civil wars or public unrest. Conquest was typically done by private enterprises through a contract called by Castile //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 Castile those titles were //capitán// (captain), //gobernador// (governor), or //adelantado// (advanced), 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. The [|Crown of Castile] early on introduced the // [|Royal Audiencia] // into the imperal new lands of the Americas and Asia as part of its campaign to bring the areas and its settlers, subjects, and traders under royal control. 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. [|[6]] 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. Others expeditions sailed beyond Europe, [|Swedish], [|Dutch] , [|English] , [|French] , [|Italian] , [|Russian] , [|Danish] , [|German] ... But these peoples and expeditions are not known as "conquistadors" mostly, so they are not included in this article. For example in 1608 the [|Grand Duchy of Tuscany] did an expedition to the area of Guiana in order to create a colony for the commerce of amazonian products to [|Renaissance] Italy, but his sudden death stopped it. In 1624 France attempted to settle in the area too, but was forced to abandon it in the face of hostility from the Portuguese. The control was exercised by power groups mostly and several countries were able to establish colonies or settled colonies from others but misrule or unexpected events as American diseases, famine, attacks of native people, colonial rivalry... etc. resulted in abandoned colonies many times. The death of European settlers and armies was the biggest problem. Colonization was not possible with dead subjects, servants and workers were needed, and African slaves were expensive. In the 16th century perhaps 240,000 Europeans entered American ports. [|[7]] [|[8]] By the late 16th century American silver imports provided one-fifth of Spain's total budget. [|[9]]

Characteristics and behaviour
Location of [|Rockall] in the North [|Atlantic Ocean] a point in the route of Iberian Cod fishers where they [|shipwrecked]. Painting in tribute to [|Gonzalo Guerrero], a shipwrecked Spanish mariner, married a [|Maya] woman and later fought with the Mayas against the conquista. 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 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. Frequently Catholic clergy played administrative positions of political responsibility. Catholic clergy was a way out of poverty and also was a way of prestige and power among the nobility. The high clergy were mostly of noble birth as [|Ignatius of Loyola]. Castilian 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. [|[10]] [|Ioánnis Fokás] was known by Juan de Fuca. [|Nikolaus Federmann], hispanicized as Nicolás de Federmán, was born c. 1505 in [|Ulm] and died February 1542 in [|Valladolid]. The Venetian [|Sebastiano Caboto] was Sebastián Caboto, [|Georg von Speyer] hispanized as Jorge de la Espira, [|Eusebius Franz Kühn] hispanicized as Eusebio Francisco Kino, [|Pierre Le fevre] was Pedro Fabro, [|Wenceslaus Linck] was Wenceslao Linck, [|Ferdinand Konščak], was Fernando Consag, [|Amerigo Vespucci] was Américo Vespucio, the Portuguese [|Aleixo Garcia] was in Castilian army Alejo García etc. It is not possible yet to distinguish the origin of many expeditionary people and crews of all kinds of sailors, traders, fishermen, (cod or whale fishermen for example), pirates or several activities at once, due to the inaccuracy in identifying the languages, employed by them. Frequently languages such as [|Arabic], Basque, [|Berber] , Breton, Catalan, Dutch, French, Galician, Greek, Italian, [|Languedoc] , etc. were wrongly identified[// [|clarification needed] //] in crews and settlers of Iberian empires. So for example, many [|Galician people] from Spain were thought to be Portuguese and vice versa. In 1686 a Spanish, French, or Spanish-French ship ran aground on [|Rockall] between [|Iceland] and [|Ireland]. Several men of the crew, Spanish and French, were able to reach [|St. Kilda] in a [|pinnace] and save their lives. Some details of this event were recounted by [|Martin Martin] in his //A late voyage to St. Kilda//, published in 1698. [|[11]] The ship was perhaps a fishing vessel based in the [|Bay of Biscay] and bound for North Atlantic [|cod] fisheries. Furthermore, Castilian law banned Spanish women from travelling to America. A Spanish woman could travel when married only and she must be accompanied by her husband, as [|María de Escobar], [|María Estrada] , [|Marina Vélez de Ortega] , [|Marina de la Caballería] , [|Francisca de Valenzuela] , [|Catalina de Salazar] ...the lack of Spaniard women produced many marriages with Native American women and many more illegitimate children with black and Indian slave women and [|mistress]. European young men enlisted in the army because it was one way out of poverty. Most Iberians of that time could not read or write. Catholic priests instructed the soldiers in mathematics, writing, theology, Latin, Greek, history... and wrote letters and official document 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. Others were born into [|hidalgo] families, and as such they were members of the Spanish [|nobility] with some studies but without economic resources, even some rich nobility families members become soldiers or missionaries but mostly without to be the heir firstborn. 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. Catholic religious orders that participated and supported the exploration were mostly [|Dominicans], [|Carmelites] , [|Franciscans] and [|Jesuits] , evangelizing and pacifying as [|Francis Xavier] , [|Bartolomé de Las Casas] , [|Eusebio Kino] or [|Gaspar da Cruz] , some times even exploring new lands for themselves. In 1536, Dominican friar Bartolomé de las Casas went to [|Oaxaca], to participate in a series of discussions and debates among the Bishops of the Dominican and Franciscan orders. The two orders had very different approaches to the conversion of the Indians. The Franciscans used a method of mass conversion, sometimes baptizing many thousands of Indians in a day. This method was championed by prominent Franciscans such as [|Toribio de Benavente]. The conquistadores took many different roles, including religious leader, [|harem] keeper, King or Emperor, deserter and [|Native American] warrior. // [|Caramuru] // was a Portuguese settler in the [|Tupinambá] Indians. [|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 was captured by Mayan lords too, and later was a soldier with Hernán Cortés. Francisco Pizarro had children with more than 40 women. The [|chroniclers] [|Pedro Cieza de León], [|Diego Durán] and [|Fray Pedro Simón] wrote about the Americas. Lope de Aguirre was an emperor in the Amazon. Francisco Pizarro meets with the Inca emperor [|Atahualpa], 1532 An early death among Europeans was very common, due to diseases and conflicts, the Cultural advantage could not be enough, for example the French soldiers from [|Napoleon] sent in 1802 to quell the revolt in [|Saint-Domingue] were attacked by [|Yellow fever] during the [|Haitian Revolution], and more than half of the French army died because of disease. [|[12]] 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. They were obsessed with matters of honor and reputation. Spanish soldiers had a reputation for rowdy, and duels were not uncommon. They could be years without charge and living in miserable conditions before rebel. In case of mutiny, they elected their leaders and kept a discipline equivalent to that of the army. After Mexico fell, Hernán Cortés's enemies, [|Bishop Fonseca], [|Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar] , [|Diego Columbus] and [|Francisco Garay] [|[13]] 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 bishop [|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
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, [|[14]] [|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. [|[14]] [|[15]] 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], 8 November 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.[// [|clarification needed] //] In 1415, Portugal conquered [|Ceuta] , its first overseas colony. Throughout the 15th century, [|Portuguese explorers] sailed the coast of Africa, establishing trading posts for [|tradable commodities] such as firearms, spices, silver, gold, and [|slaves], in a round[// [|clarification needed] //] route to Japan, crossing Africa, India, China and Korea. 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.

Spanish birth
[|Ferdinand II of Aragon] was the son of [|John II of Aragon], a Crown[// [|clarification needed] //] of Aragon's king of [|Castilian] descent. His family was a cadet branch of the [|House of Trastámara]. He became King of Castile after fighting a [|civil war] and marrying his cousin [|Isabella I of Castile]. He was supported by his crown army against [|Joan of Castile], who was supported by the Portuguese army of King [|Afonso V of Portugal] , who was her husband and her uncle. 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. [|[16]] :136 The Spanish kings' possessions extended around the Mediterranean to southern Italy. When [|Catherine of Aragon] travelled to London to marry [|Henry VIII of England], she brought a group of her African attendants with her. [|[17]] They were the first Africans to arrive in London in a long time, and were considered luxury servants, which boosted the status of the princess and spoke to the power of her family. 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 [|[18]] 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]. [|[19]] In 1544, [|Hayreddin Barbarossa], younger brother of also pirate [|Aruj] , captured [|Ischia] , taking 4,000 prisoners in the process, and deported to [|slavery] some 9,000 inhabitants of [|Lipari] , almost the entire population. [|[20]] 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]. [|[21]] 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. [|[22]] [|[23]] [|[24]] On 1575 the ship of the brothers Rodrigo and [|Miguel de Cervantes], of probable converso descent, [|[25]] was attacked off the Catalan coast by [|Algerian] corsairs under the command of an [|Albanian] Ottoman named // [|Arnaut] Mami//. [|[26]] After significant resistance, in which the captain and many crew members were killed, the survivors were taken to [|Algiers] as captives. [|[27]] :236 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. [|[28]] [|[29]] [|[30]] [|[31]] [|[32]] [|[33]] 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. When Philip II of Spain tried to invade England, the [|Spanish Armada in Ireland] suffered heavy losses during an extraordinary season of storms in the autumn of 1588. Among the survivors was Captain [|Francisco de Cuellar], who gave a remarkable account of his experiences on the run in [|Ireland] , [|[34]] similarly to those experienced by other conquistadors defeated elsewhere. In March 1492, Ferdinand issued the Edict of [|Alhambra], [|[35]] a document which ordered all Jews to either convert to Christianity or leave the country. [|[36]] By 1498 the reforms of [|cardinal] [|Francisco Jiménez de Cisneros] were so fierce that even four hundred Catholic monks and friars fled to Africa with their "wives" and converted to Islam. 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. [|Leo Africanus] was born in [|Granada] in around 1494 but his family moved to [|Fez] soon after his birth. [|[37]] [|[38]] [|[39]] 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. On 16 February 1553, [|Michael Servetus], while in [|Vienne] , was denounced as a heretic, on behalf of the French [|inquisitor] [|Matthieu Ory] , and were released for lack of evidence. On 4 April 1553 he was arrested again by Roman Catholic authorities, and imprisoned in Vienne. On June, he was convicted of [|heresy]. The nominally converted Christian [|Moriscos] expulsion was in 1609. [|[30]] [|[40]] The [|Sephardim] usually followed the general rules for [|Spanish] and [|Portuguese names]. They generally bear Portuguese and Spanish names. Many of the names are associated with non-Jewish, Christian, families and individuals, and are by no means exclusive to Jews. After 1492, many [|marranos] changed their names to hide their Jewish origins and avoid persecution. It was common to choose the name of the Parish Church where they have been baptised into the Christian faith, such as Santa Cruz or the common name of the word "Messiah" (saviour/Salvador), or adopted the name of their Christian godparents. [|[41]] Dr. Mark Hilton's research demonstrated in IPS DNA testing that the last name of marranos linked with the location of the local parish were correlated 89.3% 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. [|[42]] 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. [|[43]] 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] (7 June 1494) which modified the delimitation authorized by [|Pope Alexander VI] in two [|bulls] issued on 4 May 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, [|[44]] 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 India] , [|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//), [|[45]] [|[46]] [|[47]] 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. 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]. [|[48]] 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. In 1498, [|Vasco da Gama] reached India. In 1500, [|Pedro Álvares Cabral] discovered [|Brazil], claiming it for Portugal. [|[49]] 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, and the island of [|Timor]. They were also the first Europeans to discover Australia and even New Zealand. [|[50]] [|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. [|[51]]

After 1500
Main article: [|Portuguese India] In west Africa // [|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. [|[52]] The aggregate of [|Portugal] 's colonial holdings in [|India] were [|Portuguese India]. 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. [|[53]] 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]. [|[54]] In April 1511, [|Afonso de Albuquerque] set sail from Goa to Malacca with a force of 1,200 men and seventeen or eighteen ships. [|[55]] 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]. [|[56]] 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. [|Ferdinand Magellan] led the first expedition that circumnavigated the globe in 1519–1522 The Portuguese presence disrupted and reorganisated the Southeast Asian trade, and in eastern Indonesia—including Maluku—they introducted Christianity. [|[57]] The Portuguese had conquered the city state of [|Malacca] in the early 16th century and their influence was most strongly felt in Maluku and other parts of eastern Indonesia. [|[58]] After the [|Portuguese] annexed [|Malacca] in August 1511, one Portuguese diary noted 'it is thirty years since they became [|Moors] ' [|[59]] - giving a sense of the competition then taking place between Islamic and European influences in the region. [|Afonso de Albuquerque] learned of the route to the [|Banda Islands] and other 'Spice Islands', and sent an exploratory expedition of three vessels under the command of [|António de Abreu], [|Simão Afonso Bisigudo] and [|Francisco Serrão]. [|[60]] On the return trip, [|Francisco Serrão] was shipwrecked at [|Hitu] island (northern [|Ambon] ) in 1512. There he established ties with the local ruler who was impressed with his martial skills. The rulers of the competing island states of [|Ternate] and [|Tidore] also sought Portuguese assistance and the newcomers were welcomed in the area as buyers of supplies and spices during a lull in the regional trade due to the temporary disruption of [|Javanese] and [|Malay] sailings to the area following the 1511 conflict in Malacca. The spice trade soon revived but the Portuguese would not be able to fully monopolize nor disrupt this trade. [|[58]] Allying himself with Ternate's ruler, Serrão constructed a fortress on that tiny island and served as the head of a [|mercenary] band of Portuguese seamen under the service of one of the two local feuding sultans who controlled most of the [|spice] trade. Such an outpost far from Europe generally only attracted the most desperate and avaricious, and as such the feeble attempts at Christianisation only strained relations with Ternate's Muslim ruler. [|[58]] Serrão urged [|Ferdinand Magellan] to join him in Maluku, and sent the explorer information about the Spice Islands. Both Serrão and Magellan, however, perished before they could meet one another. [|[58]] In 1535 Sultan Tabariji was deposed and sent to Goa in chains, where he converted to Christianity and changed his name to Dom Manuel. After being declared innocent of the charges against him he was sent back to reassume his throne, but died en route at Malacca in 1545. He had however, already bequeathed the island of [|Ambon] to his Portuguese godfather Jordão de Freitas. Following the murder of Sultan Hairun at the hands of the Europeans, the Ternateans expelled the hated foreigners in 1575 after a five-year siege. The Portuguese first landed in [|Ambon] in 1513, but it only became the new centre for their activities in Maluku following the expulsion from Ternate. European power in the region was weak and Ternate became an expanding, fiercely Islamic and anti-European state under the rule of Sultan Baab Ullah (r. 1570 – 1583) and his son Sultan Said. [|[61]] The Portuguese in Ambon, however, were regularly attacked by native Muslims on the island's northern coast, in particular Hitu which had trading and religious links with major port cities on Java's north coast. Altogether, the Portuguese never had the resources or manpower to control the local trade in spices, and failed in attempts to establish their authority over the crucial Banda Islands, the nearby centre of most nutmeg and mace production. [|Mauritius] was visited by the Portuguese between 1507 and 1513. The Portuguese took no interest in the isolated [|Mascarenes islands]. Their main African base was in [|Mozambique], and therefore the Portuguese navigators preferred to use the [|Mozambique Channel] to go to India. The [|Comoros] at the north proved to be a more practical port of call. Thus no permanent colony was established on the island by the Portuguese. Following Portuguese missionary work, there have been large Christian communities in eastern Indonesia particularly among the Ambonese. [|[61]] By the 1560s there were 10,000 Catholics in the area, mostly on Ambon, and by the 1590s there were 50,000 to 60,000, although most of the region surrounding Ambon remained Muslim. [|[61]]

South America
The Brazil was claimed by Portugal in April 1500, on the arrival of the Portuguese fleet commanded by [|Pedro Álvares Cabral]. [|[62]] 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, [|[63]] [|[64]] 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. [|[64]] [|[65]] 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 [|[66]] while others were enslaved or exterminated in long wars or by European diseases to which they had no immunity. [|[67]] [|[68]] By the mid-16th century, sugar had become Brazil's most important export [|[69]] [|[70]] and the Portuguese imported African slaves [|[71]] [|[72]] to cope with the increasing international [|demand]. [|[67]] [|[73]] [|Mem de Sá] was the third [|Governor-General] of Brazil in 1556, succeeding [|Duarte da Costa], in [|Salvador] of [|Bahia] when France founded several colonies. Mem de Sá was supporting of [|Jesuit] priests, Fathers [|Manuel da Nóbrega] and [|José de Anchieta], who founded [|São Vicente] in 1532, and [|São Paulo] , on 1554. [|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. [|[74]] The Dutch sacked [|Bahia] in 1604, and even temporarily captured the capital [|Salvador]. The Dutch company WIC in the 1620s and 1630s, established many trade posts or colonies, even the Spanish silver fleet, which carried silver from Spanish colonies to Spain, were seized by [|Piet Heyn] in 1628; privateering was at first the most profitable activity. In 1629 [|Suriname] and [|Guyana] were established. In 1630 the West India Company managed to conquer a part of Brazil. In 1630, the colony of [|New Holland] (capital Mauritsstad, present-day [|Recife] ) was founded, taking over [|Portuguese] possessions in Brazil. It was a neo- [|feudal system], where patrons were permitted considerable powers to control the overseas colony. In the Americas, [|fur] (North America) and sugar (South America) were the most important trade goods, while Dutch African settlements traded slaves—mainly destined for the plantations on the Antilles and Suriname—gold, and ivory. The company was the dominant slave trading entity of the time, and probably in all of history. [|[75]] [|John Maurice of Nassau] prince of [|Nassau-Siegen], was appointed as the governor of the Dutch possessions in [|Brazil] in 1636 by the [|Dutch West India Company] on recommendation of Frederick Henry. He landed at [|Recife], the port of [|Pernambuco] and the chief stronghold of the Dutch, 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. [|Sekondi], was the site of Dutch [|Fort Orange] in (1642). In 1624 most of the white inhabitants of the town [|Pernambuco] ( [|Recife] ), in the future Dutch colony of [|Brazil] were [|Sephardic Jews] who had been banned by the [|Portuguese Inquisition] to this town at the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. As some years afterward the Dutch in Brazil appealed to Holland for craftsmen of all kinds, many Jews went to Brazil; about 600 Jews left Amsterdam in 1642, accompanied by two distinguished scholars – [|Isaac Aboab da Fonseca] and [|Moses Raphael de Aguilar]. In the struggle between Holland and Portugal for the possession of Brazil the Dutch were supported by the Jews. 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, [|[76]] founding villages and forts from 1669. [|[77]] 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] ). [|[78]] 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) [|[79]] 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 [|[80]] and then moved to the called [|villa de Sant Iago de la Vega] around 1534, in present day St. Catherine. [|[81]] Diego de Almagro led the first Spanish expedition south of Peru into [|Chile] 1535–37 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. [|[82]] 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]. [|[83]] [|[84]] 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. [|[85]] [|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. [|Francisco de Orellana] and his men became the first to travel the entire length of the [|Amazon River] in 1541–1542 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. [|[86]] 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" [|[87]] The [|Viceroyalty of Peru] was established in 1542, encompassing all Spanish holdings in South America. [|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. 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 [|[88]] 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]. [|[89]]

North America exploration
Monument to [|Cabeza de Vaca] in Houston, Texas. During the 1500s, the Spanish began to explore and colonize North America. They were looking for rich in gold native kingdoms. Just by 1511 there were rumors of undiscovered lands to the northwest of [|Hispaniola]. [|Juan Ponce de León] equipped three ships with at least 200 men at his own expense and set out from Puerto Rico on 4 March 1513 to Florida and surrounding coastal area. Another early motive was the search for the [|Seven Cities of Gold], or "Cibola", rumored to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest. In 1536 [|Francisco de Ulloa], the first documented European to reach the Colorado River, sailed up the Gulf of California and a short distance into the river's delta. [|[90]] Route of [|Narváez expedition] (until November 1528), and a reconstruction of [|Cabeza de Vaca] 's later wanderings. The [|Basques] were fur trading, fishing cod and whaling in Terranova ( [|Labrador] and [|Newfoundland] ) in 1520, [|[91]] and in Iceland by at least the early 17th century. [|[92]] [|[93]] They established whaling stations at the former, mainly in [|Red Bay], [|[94]] and probably established some in the latter as well. In Terranova they hunted [|bowheads] and [|right whales], while in Iceland [|[95]] 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. [|[96]] 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, [|[97]] that between 1527–1535 explored the mainland of North America. From [|Tampa Bay, Florida] on 15 April 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]. The Coronado expedition, 1540–1542 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. A map showing the [|de Soto] route through the Southeast 1539–1542 [|Francisco Vásquez de Coronado] 's 1540–1542 expedition began as a search for the fabled Cities of Gold, but after learning from natives in New Mexico of a large river to the west, he sent [|García López de Cárdenas] to lead a small contingent to find it. With the guidance of Hopi Indians, Cárdenas and his men became the first outsiders to see the Grand Canyon. [|[98]] However, Cárdenas was reportedly unimpressed with the canyon, assuming the width of the Colorado River at six feet (1.8 m) and estimating 300-foot (91 m)-tall rock formations to be the size of a man. After unsuccessfully attempting to descend to the river, they left the area, defeated by the difficult terrain and torrid weather. [|[99]] In 1540, [|Hernando de Alarcón] and his fleet reached the mouth of the [|Colorado river], intending to provide additional supplies to Coronado's expedition. Alarcón may have sailed the Colorado as far upstream as the present-day California–Arizona border. However, Coronado never reached the Gulf of California, and Alarcón eventually gave up and left. [|Melchior Díaz] reached the delta in the same year, intending to establish contact with Alarcón, but the latter was already gone by the time of Díaz's arrival. Díaz named the Colorado River //Rio del Tizon//, while the name //Colorado// ("Red River") was first applied to a tributary of the Gila River. In 1540, expeditions under [|Hernando de Alarcon] and [|Melchior Diaz] visited the area of [|Yuma] and immediately saw the natural crossing of the Colorado River from Mexico to California by land, as an ideal spot for a city, as the Colorado River narrows to slightly under 1000 feet wide in one small point. Later military expedition that crossed the Colorado River at the [|Yuma Crossing] include [|Juan Bautista de Anza] (1774). [|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
Magellan and Villalobos should be mentioned in the correct time sequence. ||       Statue of Miguel López de Legazpi, [|Cebu City], Philippines In 1525 king [|Charles I of Spain] ordered an expedition led by friar [|García Jofre de Loaísa] to go to Asia by the western route to colonize the [|Maluku Islands] (known as Spice Islands, now part of Indonesia), thus crossing first the [|Atlantic] and then the Pacific oceans. [|Ruy López de Villalobos] sailed to the Philippines in 1542–43. From 1546 to 1547 [|Francis Xavier] worked in Maluku among the peoples of [|Ambon Island], [|Ternate] , and [|Morotai] , and laid the foundations for the Christian religion there. In 1564, [|Miguel López de Legazpi] was commissioned by the viceroy of New Spain, [|Luis de Velasco], to explore the Maluku 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[// [|clarification needed] //] in 1571. The Spanish settled and took control of [|Tidore] in 1603 to trade spices and counter Dutch encroachment in the archipelago of Maluku. The Spanish presence lasted until 1663, when the settlers and military were moved back to the Philippines. Part of the Ternatean population chose to leave with the Spanish, settling near Manila in what later became [|the municipality of Ternate]. Spanish [|galleons] travelled across the Pacific Ocean between [|Acapulco] in Mexico and [|Manila]. In 1542 [|Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo] traversed the coast of California and named many of its features. In 1601 [|Sebastián Vizcaíno] mapped the coastline in detail and gave new names to many features. In 1611 Sebastián Vizcaíno surveyed the east coast of Japan.[// [|citation needed] //] In 1608 he was sent to search for two mythical islands called Rico de Oro (island of gold) and Rico de Plata (island of silver). [|[100]]
 * = [[image:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1c/Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg/20px-Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg.png width="20" height="14" caption="[icon]" link="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wiki_letter_w_cropped.svg"]] || This section requires [|expansion] with:

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 the death of Portugal's king 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 his relative [|Mary I] cousin of his father, due to this, Philip was [|King of England] and [|Ireland] [|[101]] 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
[|Alexander von Humboldt] 's American expedition at service of Spain's King 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 controlled 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]. By 1767, [|Jesuit] [|missionaries] on the [|peninsula of Baja California] had established approximately twenty-three missions over a period of seventy-two years. 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. Near the end of 1771 the [|Portolà expedition] arrived at [|San Francisco Bay] ; discovered in 1769. Between 1774 and 1791, the [|Spanish Crown] sent forth a number of expeditions to explore the [|Pacific Northwest]. [|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. In 1781 the superior of the Franciscan missions of Spanish Sonora, Father Francisco Antonio de Barbastro, report the chronicle of the death of some [|missions] with more than two hundred years of missionary history, resulting from the Yuma massacre when the [|Yuma tribe] attacked and damaged the Spanish mission settlements of [|San Pedro y San Pablo de Bicuñer] and [|Puerto de Purísima Concepción], killing Lieutenant Governor Fernando Rivera, the mission Father, three Franciscans, thirty soldiers and all Spanish male settlers, abducting the women. The following year, the Spanish retaliated with military action against the tribe by [|José Antonio Roméu] [|governor of Las Californias]. The Spanish were unable to defeat the Yuma, and the tribe remained in control of the land for the following seventy years. The event closed the Anza Trail, crippling the overland population growth of the colony. The minister Don [|Mariano Luis de Urquijo] recommended [|Alexander von Humboldt] 's American expedition to the King of Spain, the Humboldt thoroughly expedition arrived to South America in 1799 and departed from North America in 1804. Less known nationals from Spain and Portugal continued to conduct exploration work, support to conquest and colonization After [|Napoleonic Wars] when both Peninsular countries were powers of second order, but while Portugal was allied with Britain and preserved a longer time its possessions, Spain with a few remnant colonies on every continent and periodical crisis tried the same alliance with France, as in [|Cochinchina Campaign] in Asia or [|Morocco] and [|North Africa] [|Scramble for Africa]. Portugal flirted with the French rulers, but the British offered to support Portugal in return for free trade agreements and to remove their French rivals.

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". [|[102]] 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, [|smallpox], [|chicken pox] , [|diptheria] , [|typhus] , [|influenza] , [|measles] , [|malaria] and [|yellow fever]. 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. [|[103]] 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. [|Cabeza de Vaca] reported that in 1528, when the Spanish landed in Texas, “half the natives died from a disease of the bowels and blamed us.” [|[104]] 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. [|[16]] :133 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. [|[105]] [|[106]] 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. [|[107]] [|[108]] The American researcher HF Dobyns claimed that 95% of the total population of the Americas died in the first 130 years, [|[109]] and that 90% of the population of the Inca Empire died in epidemics. [|[110]] 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. [|[111]]

Mythic lands
They found new animals species confused with monsters, giants, women and guardians, like dog-head people, sirens, dragons, firefly cocuyos, mistaken with ghost or stars, African gorilla groups mistaken with hairy women etc.: "los hombres marinos que hay en el mar", "hombres con rabo o con cabeza de perro, o acéfalos". [|[112]] They were common mysterious castaway stories about wonderful islands. An early motive was the search for Cipango the place where gold was born. Later was supposed to be Cipango, Cathay and Cibao. The [|Seven Cities of Gold], or "Cibola", was rumored to have been built by Native Americans somewhere in the desert Southwest. In 1611 yet, Sebastián Vizcaíno surveyed the east coast of Japan and searched for two mythical islands called Rico de Oro (Rich in Gold) and Rico de Plata (Rich in Silver). 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]. [|Gonzalo Fernández de Oviedo y Valdés] wrote that Ponce de León was looking for the waters of [|Bimini] to cure his aging. [|[113]] A similar account appears in [|Francisco López de Gómara] 's //Historia General de las Indias// of 1551. [|[114]] Then in 1575, [|Hernando de Escalante Fontaneda], a shipwreck survivor who had lived with the Native Americans of Florida for 17 years, published his memoir in which he locates the waters in Florida, and says that Ponce de León was supposed to have looked for them there. [|[115]] This land somehow also became confused with the [|Boinca] or [|Boyuca] mentioned by [|Juan de Solis], although Solis's navigational data placed it in the [|Gulf of Honduras]. Sir [|Walter Raleigh] and some Italian, Spanish, Dutch, French and Portuguese expeditions were looking for the wonderful [|Guiana] empire that named these present day countries. 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. By the imagined cities made ​​of gold, rivers of gold and precious stones, have been named various places in Africa and the Americas. Shipwrecked off in [|Santa Catarina] in present-day [|Brazil], [|Aleixo Garcia] living among the Guaranís heard tales of a "White King" who lived to the west, ruling cities of incomparable riches and splendor. Marching in a voyage to the land of the "White King" towards the west, he was the first European to cross in 1524 South America since East, discovering a great waterfall and the [|Chaco]. He managed to penetrate the outer defenses of the [|Inca Empire] on the hills of the [|Andes], in present-day [|Bolivia]. He was the first European too to do so, accomplishing this eight years before Francisco Pizarro. Garcia looted an impressive booty of silver. When the army of [|Huayna Cápac] arrived to challenge him, Garcia then retreated with the spoils, only to be assassinated by his Indian allies near [|San Pedro] on the [|Paraguay River].

Secrecy and disinformation
Map of the [|Island of California], circa 1650; restored. Parime Lacus on a map by Hessel Gerritsz (1625). Situated at the west coast of the lake, the so called city //Manoa// or El Dorado legendary city. Sir Walter Raleigh described El Dorado as a city on [|Lake Parime] far up the [|Orinoco River] in [|Guyana]. This city on the lake was marked on English and other maps until its existence was disproved by [|Alexander von Humboldt] during his Latin-America expedition (1799–1804). 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. For example, the [|Island of California] refers to a famous [|cartographic] error propagated on many maps during the 17th and 18th centuries, despite contradictory evidence from various explorers. The legend was initially infused with the idea that California was a terrestrial paradise, like the [|Garden of Eden] or [|Atlantis], peopled by black women [|Amazons]. 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." [|[116]] 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 and governance
Main article: [|Council of the Indies] Conquistadors and their [|Tlaxcalan] allies enter Tenochtitlan         1541 founding of [|Santiago de Chile] 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, they were very important the backers who were charged with anticipating the money to the Capitán and guarantee payment of obligations. 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. [|[117]] They also supported the project economically, supplying money from their personal fortunes. [|[118]] 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 (lancero, piquero, alabardero, rodelero) and twice a man on horseback (caballero) 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.

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. [|[16]] :178 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.

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
Spanish Conqueror Helmet (Morion) The armament consisted of a spear, a steel shield, a helmet named Morion, a hilted sword, and sometimes a horse saddle with leather shell. [|Rodeleros] also called espadachines, ("swordsmen") were equipped with steel shields or [|bucklers] known as //rodela// and [|swords], usually of the [|side-sword] type. 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]. The Spanish adopted too [|halberdiers] and the //colunella//, the first of the mixed [|pike and shot] formations, they used small groups of sword and buckler men to break the deadlock of the [|push of pike]. When they took control of a territory, the conquistadors usually banned possession of steel swords by their subjects. The majority of [|Hernán Cortés] 's troops during his campaigns in the New World were rodeleros: in 1520, over 1000 of his 1300 men were so equipped, and in 1521 he had 700 rodeleros, but only 118 [|arquebusiers] and [|crossbowmen]. [|Bernal Díaz], the author of an account of Cortés' [|conquest] of the [|Aztecs] , served as a rodelero under Cortés. 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. [|[16]] :123The 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
Basque Countrymen near the France–Spain border in 1898, with characteristic horse, donkey and dogs. These were the type of animals introduced to America. 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 some [|Molossers] breedings, [|Spanish war dogs] [|[119]] and [|sheep dogs] were effective as a psychological weapon against the natives, who, in many cases, had never seen domesticated dogs. Although some indigenous peoples of the Western Hemisphere did have domestic dogs or caninae ; including 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 similar to South American fox ( [|Pseudalopex culpaeus] ) or Yagan dog, [|[120]] 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 big breeds of broad-mouthed were [|specifically trained] for battle. These [|war dogs] were used against barely clothed troops. They were armored dogs trained to kill and disembowel. [|[121]]

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. [|[122]] 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 [|Bissagos Islands] where the Portuguese were defeated by native people in 1535, 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]. 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"// (//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) 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//. [|[123]] '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. [|[124]] 'Jacome of Majorca' is even sometimes described as the head of Henry's legendary observatory and "school" at [|Sagres]. [|[125]] 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