Conquistador

soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire and Portuguese Empire From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Conquistador
Remove ads

A Conquistador (English: Conqueror; : Conquistadores, or Conquistadors) was a Spanish or Portuguese soldier, explorer, and adventurer.[1][2] The Conquistadors invaded and conquered much of the Americas and the Philippines Islands, as well as other islands in Asia Pacific. Many of them were hidalgos (low-status noblemen).

Thumb
Hernán Cortés, Conquistador of the Aztec Empire.

Their conquests brought these lands under Spanish and Portuguese colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, starting with the 1492 settlement by Christopher Columbus in what is now the Bahamas. They created what is now called Latin America.[3]

The first successful conquistador was Hernán Cortés. Between 1520 and 1521, Cortés and the native enemies of the Aztecs conquered the mighty Aztec Empire. Present-day Mexico became New Spain, a colony of the Spanish Empire. Francisco Pizarro later found and conquered the similarly large Inca Empire.[4]

Remove ads

List of Conquistadors

Remove ads

References

Other websites

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads
Remove ads