diseases and their exportation as slaves, but also from a combination of war and mistreatment.99% of the native population of western Nicaragua perished over the course of 60 years, causing some modern scholars to refer to the Spanish conquest as a genocide or holocaust. Native weapons and tactics The Spanish described the Matagalpa as being well-organised, with ordered battle-lines. The Nicarao engaged in war with the Matagalpa, probably in order to capture slaves, and prisoners to be offered for human sacrifice. Background to the conquest Christopher Columbus discovered the New World for the Kingdom of Castile and Leon in 1492. Private adventurers thereafter entered into contracts with the Spanish Crown to conquer the newly discovered lands in return for tax revenues and the power to rule. The Spanish founded Santo Domingo on the Caribbean island of Hispaniola in the 1490s. In the first decades after the discovery of the new lands, the Spanish colonised the Caribbean and established a centre of operations on the island of Cuba. In the first two decades of the 16th century, the Spanish established their domination over the islands of the Caribbean Sea, and used these as a staging point to launch their campaigns of conquest on the continental mainland of the Americas. From Hispaniola, the Spanish launched expeditions and campaigns of conquest, reaching Puerto Rico in 1508, Jamaica in 1509, Cuba in 1511, and Florida in 1513. In the south, the Spanish established themselves in Castilla de Oro (modern Panama), when Vasco Núñez de Balboa founded Santa María la Antigua in 1511. In 1513, while exploring westwards, Balboa discovered the Pacific Ocean, and in 1519 Pedrarias Dávila founded Panama City on the Pacific coast. The focus soon turned to exploring south along the Pacific coast towards South America. The Spanish heard rumours of the rich empire of the Aztecs on the mainland to the west of their Caribbean island settlements and, in 1519, Hernán Cortés set sail to explore the Mexican coast. By August 1521 the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan had fallen to the Spanish. The Spanish conquered a large part of Mexico within three years, extending as far south as the Isthmus of Tehuantepec. The newly conquered territory became New Spain, headed by a viceroy who answered to the Spanish Crown via the Council of the Indies. The discovery of the Aztec Empire and its great riches changed the focus of exploration out