Spanish Conquest

Columbus Reaches America

Oct 12, 1492

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.

Treaty of Tordesillas

Jun 7, 1494

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

Encomienda System

1501

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.

America Named

1507

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.

Balboa Reaches Pacific

1513

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

Ponde de León Discovers Florida

1513

Juan Ponce de León discovers Florida.

Cortes Captures Tenochtitlan

Nov 8, 1519

Fall of Tenochtitlan: Hernán Cortés and approximately 100 Spaniards capture the capital of the Aztec Empire.

Night of Tears

Jun 30, 1520

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.

Magellan Circumnavigates Globe

1521

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

Cortes Conquers Aztecs

1521

Cortés and his men conquer the entire Aztec Empire in what will later become Mexico.

First African Slaves

1521

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

Virgin of Guadalupe

1531

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.

Pizarro Invades Peru

1532

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

Ignatius Loyola Founds Jesuits

1540

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.

Printing Press

1541

The first printing press is set up in Mexico City. Printing comes to the New World.

Seven Lost Cities of Gold

1542

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.

Silver Discovered

1545

Silver is discovered at Potosí in Bolivia. Spain begins to reap huge financial rewards from its New World colonies.

Native American Rights Debated

1551

Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda debate the rights of Native Americans in the New World in Valladolid, Spain.

St. Augustine Founded

1565

St. Augustine, the first permanent Spanish settlement in what will later become the United States, is founded in what is now Florida.

Spanish War of Independence

May 2, 1808

Madrid rises against Napoleon's occupying troops, beginning the Spanish War of Independence. Spanish colonies in South America use the opportunity to start agitating for independence themselves.

Mexican Independence

1824

Mexico is founded with a Republican Constitution. Spanish rule in North America comes to an end.