Explorers and voyages
European nations originally competed to find sea routes to this continent to gain access to its wealth and riches.
What is Asia?
Hernán Cortés defeated this empire in 1521 using superior weaponry and European diseases.
Who are The Aztecs?
This Spanish labor system forced Native Americans to farm, ranch, or mine for landlords under the promise of protection, though workers were routinely abused.
What is the encomienda system?
This sea captain sailed westward across the Atlantic for Spain in 1492, aiming for Asia but landing in the Caribbean instead.
Who is Christopher Columbus?
This Spanish conquistador conquered the Inca Empire using a force of only about 200 men.
Who is Francisco Pizarro?
At the very top of Spanish colonial society were these individuals, who were born directly in Spain.
What are Peninsulares?
Scholars believe Christopher Columbus made his initial landfall on islands located in this modern-day island chain.
What are the Bahamas?
Besides superior weaponry this invisible factor helped the Spanish defeat the natives killing most of their population.
What are European diseases ?
In the colonial caste system, people of full Spanish descent who were born in the Americas were known by this term.
Who are creoles?
An Italian explorer sailing under the service of Portugal realized the lands he reached were not Asia, leading him to call the area the "New World."
Who is Amerigo Vespucci?
This explorer led an expedition through North America's harsh Southwest, searching for gold and establishing the region for Spain.
Who is Francisco Vásquez de Coronado?
This social class consisted of individuals born from the mixed parentage of a Spaniard and an Indigenous person.
What are mestizos?
Leading the largest expedition yet, this explorer's crew sailed around southern South America, becoming the first to circumnavigate the globe.
Who is Ferdinand Magellan?
Because of the vast money and gold generated in the Americas, Spanish authorities sent these two types of people to manage local wealth and land.
Who are priests and landlords?
This group comprised individuals of mixed Spanish and African heritage within the colonial social hierarchy.
What are Mulattos (or Mulatos)?