Title: U.S. History, Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650, Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest | OpenEd CUNY
Headings: Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
SPANISH EXPLORATION AND CONQUEST
Columbus’s Probanza de mérito of 1493

Content: U.S. History, Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492–1650, Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest | OpenEd CUNY
Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
SPANISH EXPLORATION AND CONQUEST
The Spanish established the first European settlements in the Americas, beginning in the Caribbean and, by 1600, extending throughout Central and South America. Thousands of Spaniards flocked to the Americas seeking wealth and status. The most famous of these Spanish adventurers are Christopher Columbus (who, though Italian himself, explored on behalf of the Spanish monarchs), Hernán Cortés, and Francisco Pizarro. The history of Spanish exploration begins with the history of Spain itself. During the fifteenth century, Spain hoped to gain advantage over its rival, Portugal. The marriage of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile in 1469 unified Catholic Spain and began the process of building a nation that could compete for worldwide power. Since the 700s, much of Spain had been under Islamic rule, and King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I, arch-defenders of the Catholic Church against Islam, were determined to defeat the Muslims in Granada, the last Islamic stronghold in Spain. In 1492, they completed the Reconquista: the centuries-long Christian conquest of the Iberian Peninsula.