6 INTRODUCTION History tells us that in 1492 Christopher Columbus crossed the Atlantic on three sturdy ships the Niña the Pinta and the Santa María and discovered the New World That world the North and South American continents had of course already been inhabited by Native Americans for centuries before Columbus’s arrival In addition Columbus had originally hoped to land in India on the other side of the world and was probably frustrated to find the Americas in his way Columbus was determined to make sure his discovery was valuable to the monarchs who had sponsored his journey King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain The Spanish sought to establish a powerful empire in the New World since this land was rich in resources In this Columbus was successful the New World would become a host to some valuable colonies for the Spanish monarchy However Columbus’s new world was already home to many groups of native peoples referred to as Native Americans The Spanish had grand plans for these peo ple They planned to exploit them as laborers to mine the gold and silver they found on their land they also planned to con vert them to Christianity After all if the Spanish were about to build an empire they would want it to be a Christian one The Spanish monarchy’s desire for a Christian empire was motivated by their own history In 711 Spain had been con quered by the armies of the Muslim empire The Muslims known as the Moors established a steady government and were
7 generally tolerant of other religions but the Spanish fought hard to eject them from their land As R Conrad Stein writes in The Conquistadores Building a Spanish Empire in the Americas Centuries of conflict with the Moors made Spain a nation of warriors By 1492 when Columbus sailed the Muslims had been pushed out of Spain and Ferdinand and Isabella wanted to make sure Spain became a dominant power once again Soon after explorers such as Columbus arrived another type of man came to the New World the conquistador which means conqueror in Spanish These conquis tadors were usually skilled toughened warriors who had fought in the battles against the Muslims and were eager to face new ones in the Americas Their mission was threefold Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain supported Columbus’s journey to India at least that is what they thought He landed on the new continent claiming it for Spain
Hernán Cortés one of the most renowned of the conquistadors is credited with conquering Mexico for Spain 8
9 INTRODUCTION to 1 secure new lands for Spain 2 conquer and convert Native American tribes to Christianity and 3 obtain as much wealth as possible for the monarchy which needed it to expand their empire Many historians agree that the goals of the conquistadors can be summed up as a quest for gold God and glory Many European nations spent a vast amount of time and resources chart ing paths to reach the New World Europe’s great powers of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries Spain Portugal England and France rivaled one another in sending expeditions of discovery across the Atlantic
