Conquistadores

Conquistadors were the knights, soldiers and explorers of the Spanish Empire and the Portuguese Empire. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia, conquering territory and opening trade routes. They colonized much of the world for Spain and Portugal in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. After arrival in the West Indies in 1492, the Spanish, primarily nobles from the west and south of Spain, began building up an American empire in the Caribbean using islands such as Hispaniola, Cuba, and Puerto Rico as bases. From 1519 to 1521, Hernán Cortés waged a campaign against the Aztec Empire, ruled by Moctezuma II. From the territories of the Aztec Empire, conquistadors expanded Spanish rule to northern Central America and parts of what is now southern and western United States and from Mexico sailing the Pacific Ocean to the Philippines. Other conquistadors took over the Inca Empire after crossing the Isthmus of Panama and sailing the Pacific to northern Peru. As Francisco Pizarro subdued the empire in a manner similar to Cortés other conquistadores used Peru as base for conquering much of Ecuador and Chile. In Colombia, Bolivia, and Argentina conquistadors from Peru linked up with other conquistadors arriving more directly from the Caribbean and Río de la Plata-Paraguay respectively. All these conquests founded the basis for modern Hispanic America and the Hispanophone. Besides conquests, Spanish conquistadors made significant explorations into the Amazon Jungle, Patagonia, the interior of North America, and the discovery and exploration of the Pacific Ocean. Conquistadors founded numerous cities, many of them on locations with pre-existing pre-colonial settlements including Manila and the capitals of most Latin American countries. Conquistadors in the service of the Portuguese Crown led numerous conquests for the Portuguese Empire, across South America and Africa, as well as commercial colonies in Asia, founding the origins of modern Portuguese-speaking world in the Americas, Africa, and Asia. Notable Portuguese conquistadors include Afonso de Albuquerque who led conquests across India, the Persian Gulf, the East Indies, and East Africa, and Filipe de Brito e Nicote who led conquests into Burma and was made King of Pegu.

El término conquistadores españoles se refiere de forma genérica a los soldados y exploradores españoles que, desde finales del siglo xv y durante el siglo xvi, conquistaron y poblaron grandes extensiones de territorio en América y Filipinas, incorporándolas a los dominios de la monarquía española. La exploración y conquista de América tuvo ocasión durante la llamada era de los descubrimientos, la cual siguió a la llegada de Cristóbal Colón en 1492. Los conquistadores fundaron numerosas ciudades, muchas de ellas en lugares con asentamientos precoloniales preexistentes, incluidas las capitales de la mayoría de los países latinoamericanos. Además de las conquistas, los conquistadores españoles hicieron exploraciones significativas en la selva amazónica, la Patagonia, el interior de América del Norte y el Océano Pacífico.