Spanish Explorers
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Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus (Click to enlarge)
Christopher Columbus was an Italian sailor who believed he could get to Asia by sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean. He was sponsored by the Spanish monarchs, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella, for his voyage because France, England, and Portugal would not. At this time, Spain had gotten rid of the Muslims living in their land, so they could now pay for exploration. In 1492, Columbus set sail with three ships: the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria. Shortly after, he landed on present-day Cuba and Hispaniola, which he claimed for Spain. Additionally, Columbus thought he had landed on India, so he called the native people “Indians” and the location “Indies.” He sailed to the Caribbean and South America a total of four times during 1492 - 1504. Eventually, Europeans realized that Christopher Columbus had not land on India; instead, he had discovered two continents that blocked their path to Asia.
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Ferdinand Magellan
Ferdinand Magellan was a Spanish explorer who was determined to sail around the Americas and reach Asia. In 1520, he departed from Spain and sailed south along the coast of South America. Soon enough, he found a waterway around South America—the Strait of Magellan. After passing the strait, Magellan entered a sea so peaceful; he named it the Pacific Ocean. He and his crew continued sailing west and survived the harsh conditions by chewing leather, sawdust, and eating rats. They finally reached the Philippines after four months out at sea. Once there, Magellan was killed by the people, but his crew persisted across the Indian Ocean, around Africa, and returned to Spain, becoming the first to circumnavigate—sail around—the world. In the end, Magellan's voyage lasted three years.
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Hernan Cortes
Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador from the Extremadura—a harsh region in Spain. He sailed to the Americas and participated in the Spanish invasion of Cuba in 1511, where his courage and strength impressed his Spanish commander. When smallpox killed thousands of Native Americans in Cuba in 1517, Cortes’ commander asked him to trek into the Yucatan Peninsula to find people who could be forced to work for the Spanish. In 1519, he set sail for Mexico from Cuba in search of the gold and treasure of the Aztec Empire. He discovered Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, and he defeated the empire and claimed Mexico for Spain in 1521. Cortes and his soldiers were greatly outnumbered by the Aztec warriors, but he still conquered them because of guns, horses, and the spread of disease.
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Click the button below to learn more about Cortes' conquest of the Aztec Empire.
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Did you know?
When Cortes met the Aztecs, they thought he was their light-skinned, feathered god, Quetzalcoatl, who was believed to return to Earth one day.
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Francisco Pizarro
Francisco Pizarro, a Spaniard, was a poor man from a harsh region in Spain known as the Extremadura. In 1502, he arrived in the Americas and helped explore Panama with Vasco Nunez de Balboa, his comrade. Pizarro wanted to find the “golden empire” that was fabled to be overflowing with gold and precious metals. When he stumbled upon the Inca Empire in present-day Peru, Pizarro tricked the emperor, Atahualpa, and defeated the Inca around 1532. He claimed Peru for Spain, which allowed Spain to gain control of land in South America.
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