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Oct 12, 1492
Columbus Reaches America
Columbus arrives in the Bahamas. Europeans are in the Americas to stay. Columbus eventually makes four voyages to the New World, but dies dejected and forgotten in Valladolid, Spain in 1506. -
Jun 30, 1520
Night of Tears
La Noche Triste: The "Night of Tears" in which almost two thirds of Cortés' men—nearly 800 in total—are killed as they try to escape Tenochtitlan after the death of Moctezuma. -
1531
Virgin of Guadalupe
Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant, has an apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Before long, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe becomes the patron saint of the New World. -
1532
Pizarro Invades Peru
Francisco Pizarro invades the Incan Empire and begins the conquest of Peru. -
1540
Ignatius Loyola Founds Jesuits
A Basque army veteran named Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. Their mission is to become an "Army of God" under papal authority to root out heresy and Protestantism. They set up missions throughout the New World in an effort to win souls for Catholicism by converting Native Americans. -
1542
Seven Lost Cities of Gold
Francisco Vázquez de Coronado leads an expedition in search of El Dorado, the mythical Seven Lost Cities of Gold. He travels for two years through the territories that will later become the American Southwest. He finds much desert but no gold. -
1545
Silver Discovered
Silver is discovered at Potosí in Bolivia. Spain begins to reap huge financial rewards from its New World colonies. -
Magellan Circumnavigates Globe
Ferdinand Magellan's ships are the first to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan himself is killed by natives in the Pacific. -
Cortes Conquers Aztecs
Cortés and his men conquer the entire Aztec Empire in what will later become Mexico.
