Spanish Conquest of the America's

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.

Spanish Conquest of the America's

Period: Oct 12, 1492 to Dec 31, 1565

Treaty of Tordesillas

Jun 7, 1494

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

Encomienda System

Apr 11, 1501

The encomienda system begins, granting Indians 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

Feb 9, 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.

Ponde de León Discovers Florida

Mar 12, 1513

Juan Ponce de León discovers Florida.

Balboa Reaches Pacific

Aug 25, 1513

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

Magellan Circumnavigates Globe

Jun 9, 1519

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

Cortes Captures Tenochtitlan

Nov 8, 1519

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

Cortes Conquers Aztecs

Dec 21, 1519

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

Night of Tears

Jun 30, 1520

La Noche Triste: The "Night of Tears" in which almost two thirds of Cortés's men (nearly 800 in total) are killed as they try to escape Tenochtitlan after the death of Moctezuma.

First African Slaves

Oct 29, 1521

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

Virgin of Guadalupe

May 19, 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

Sep 6, 1532

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

Silver Discovered

Mar 13, 1545

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

Indian Rights Debated

Jul 8, 1551

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

St. Augustine Founded

Sep 25, 1565

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