New Spain

By a002605
  • Sep 12, 1492

    Colombus gets to America

    Colombus gets to 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 7, 1494

    Treaty of Tordesillas

    Treaty of Tordesillas
    The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed, dividing newly discovered overseas lands between Portugal and Spain.
  • 1501

    Encomienda System

    Encomienda System
    The encomienda system begins, granting Native Americans to Spanish encomenderos as slaves. The Spaniards are tasked with protecting the natives and teaching them Christianity. The system is rife with abuses
  • 1507

    America Named

    America Named
    Geographer Martin Waldseemüler is first to use the name "America" to refer to newly-discovered continents, after Italian merchant, explorer, and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci. Columbus loses out on lucrative naming rights.
  • 1513

    Ponce de León Discovers Florida

    Ponce de León Discovers Florida
    Juan Ponce de León discovers Florida
  • 1513

    Balboa Reaches Pacific

    Balboa Reaches Pacific
    Vasco Nuñez de Balboa becomes the first European to gaze upon the Pacific Ocean after cutting his way across the Isthmus of Panama.
  • 1519

    Cortes Conquers Aztecs

    Cortes Conquers Aztecs
    Cortés and his men conquer the entire Aztec Empire in what will later become Mexico.
  • Nov 8, 1519

    Cortes Captures Tenochtitlan

    Cortes Captures Tenochtitlan
    Fall of Tenochtitlan: Hernán Cortés and approximately 100 Spaniards capture the capital of the Aztec Empire.
  • Jun 30, 1520

    Night of Tears

    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.
  • 1521

    First African Slaves

    First African Slaves
    The Spanish import the first African slaves to the territory that will later become the United States.
  • 1521

    Magellan Circumnavigates Globe

    Magellan Circumnavigates Globe
    Ferdinand Magellan's ships are the first to circumnavigate the globe. Magellan himself is killed by natives in the Pacific.
  • 1531

    Virgin of Guadalupe

    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

    Pizarro Invades Peru
    Francisco Pizarro invades the Incan Empire and begins the conquest of Peru.
  • 1542

    New Laws in New Spain

    New Laws in New Spain
    The new laws of the Indies are published in the new Spain with the objective of protecting the indigenous people from the encomenderos
  • 1560

    Chichimeca War

    Chichimeca War
    There are two Zapotec uprisings against Spanish colonial authority on these two dates, and it takes considerable effort on the part of the new masters of Central America to restore control. The Catholic Encyclopaedia regards these uprisings as attempts to revert to paganism.

  • Fight for Mexican Independence (1810- 1821)

    Fight for Mexican Independence (1810- 1821)