Conquistador

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Conquistador (Spanish: kōn-kē-stŏ-dōr) (meaning "Conqueror" in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries, starting with the 1492 settlement established in modern-day Cuba by Christopher Columbus.

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Background

The leaders of Spanish expeditions to the New World called themselves conquistadores, a name expressing the similarity of conquests in the New World to the recently accomplished reconquista, the Christian crusades to conquer or (re)conquer the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim Moors, recently sealed with the conquest of Granada, 1492). The conquistadors also invoked the name of Santiago Matamoros ("St James the Moor-killer") before going into battle against the native population of the Americas, who were considered without rights as long as they were "pagan" not converted to Catholicism: their lands were annexed as belonging to Christendom with papal blessing, the only rival claim to be taken seriously was that of the Portuguese, settled after papal arbitration in the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494.

Many conquistadores were poor, including some nobles (hidalgos) seeking a fortune in the West Indies, since there were limited prospects in Europe, the Crusades having ended. Hispanic honor rules for nobility banned them from manual work.

Some were also fleeing the religious repression caused by the Spanish Inquisition.

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History

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New World

Image:Cortes-Hernando-LOC.jpg The first Spanish conquest in the Americas was the island of Hispaniola (presently shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic). From there, Juan Ponce de León conquered Puerto Rico and Diego Velázquez took Cuba. The first settlement on the mainland was Darién in Panama, settled by Vasco Núñez de Balboa in 1512. As these Caribbean regions proved no great treasury or endless supply of priceless spices, the 'disappointment' motivated further exploration, rather than a serious effort to make the best of the 'virgin' colonies, a foretaste of monumental economic mismanagement.

The first immensely successful conquistador was Hernán Cortés. Between 1520 and 1521, Cortés, along with some Native American allies, conquered the mighty Aztec empire, thus bringing present day Mexico under the dominion of the Spanish empire, as New Spain. Of comparable importance was the conquest of the South American Inca Empire by Francisco Pizarro. Both were helped by smallpox and other European plagues that weakened the native populations. The diseases also killed the current leader of the Inca at the time facilitating the war that Pizarro walked into upon his arrival. Both Pizarro and Cortés massacred droves of Incan and Aztec in an effort to frighten and terrorize the populations, which was not successful in either case. Combined with far greater forces of native allies, Cortés' forces managed to besiege the Aztec capital city and destroy it.

Image:Franciscopizarro.jpeg Rumours of golden cities (Cíbola in North America and "El Dorado" in South America) caused several more expeditions to leave for the Americas, but many returned without finding any gold, finding less gold than expected, or finding Fool's Gold. The ransom that Sapa Inca Atahualpa paid Pizarro for his freedom, was taken back to Spain, leading to additional Conquistador expeditions in South America and the Pacific.

Emboldened by the seemingly endless rising imports of silver and gold the Spanish Habsburg imperial rule became uncompromising, leading to the unwise use of the crown's share of the colonial proceeds that would bankrupt a constantly overstretched Spain, repeatedly. The influx of precious metal also caused towering inflation in Europe (particularly in Spain), thereby undermining the domestic economy (which was the main source of revenue), greatly contributing to the ultimate loss of the war against Protestant rebels and Catholic France, and, finally, after a long, slow, decline, led to the loss of imperial prominence to its northern rivals.

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The Spanish Conquest in Asia - Pacific

The discovery of the Strait of Magellan in 1520 by Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan in the tip of South America led to Spanish interest in the Pacific. The first of the Conquistadors to sail the vast Pacific Ocean was Miguel López de Legazpi in 1564 and arrived in the Philippine archipelago on 1565. Legazpi and his men destroyed the native settlements and conquered the islands for Spain. This paved the way for Spanish settlements in the Pacific.

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Debate on the Human Rights of Natives

Most of the conquistadores cruelly mistreated the inhabitants of the regions they visited or conquered; killing, enslaving, raping and otherwise abusing them. Some Spaniards, notably the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, defended Native Americans against the abuses of conquistadores. In 1542, Bartolomé de las Casas published A Short Account of the Destruction of the Indies (Brevísima relación de la destrucción de las Indias). His account is largely responsible for the passage of the new Spanish colonial laws known as the New Laws of 1542, which was used in an attempt to protect the rights of Native inhabitants (the governor and men sent to enforce them were killed by rebellious conquistadores). In 1615, Felipe Guaman Poma de Ayala sent the 1200 page New Chronicle and Good Government (El primer nueva corónica i buen gobierno) to the King of Spain. This was a history of the Incas, their conquest, and their mistreatment written by a former Inca noble who had a guilty conscience in his old age about helping the Conquistadores and wanted to inform the King of the problems. It was lost to history until 1908, when it was discovered in the personal library of the Royal house of Denmark.

Don Juan de Oñate (b. 1552 in Zacatecas, Mexico) took on the conquest of New Mexico in 1598. When the people of the Acoma Pueblo killed Oñate's nephew, and fellow soldiers Oñate took revenge. Oñate attacked the Pueblo, and as punishment all males over 25 lost their right foot and were subjected to 20 years of slavery, males, ages 12 to 25 were subjected to 20 years of slavery, Two Moquis Indian visitors lost their right hand, and were sent to warn to their own pueblos, women over 12 were subjected to 20 years of slavery, and children under 12 had a Christian upbringing under the Franciscan priests.

Accounts of the behavior of Spanish Conquistadors from both inside and out were part of the source material for the stereotype of Spanish cruelty that came to be known as the Black Legend.

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List of Famous Conquistadores and Explorers

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See also

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References

John Charles Chasteen, Born In Blood And Fire: Concise History of Latin America Summary of the history of Latin America.

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"Conquistadors" in market-directed culture

Image:Conquistadorptw.jpg Conquistadors were a featured unique unit for the Spanish civilization in the expansion to the computer game Age of Empires II; featured a scenario in which the player commands Spanish fleet against the Turkish armada, a reenactment of the Battle of Lepanto, they also appear in Civilization III Play the World in which the player commands Spanish crown in the times of Spanish colonization of the Americas. Also, they are an upgrade for Spanish explorers in Age of Empires III that can be sent from the home city (typically Seville). It allows the explorer to train more war dogs than normal and makes him stronger.

The Rock group Procol Harum had a hit single with a song called Conquistador. This was also the title of the Portuguese entry in the 1989 Eurovision Song Contest.

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Usage

According to WordCount.Org, "conquistador" is the least used word in the English language behind "recrossed" and "workless."bg:Конкистадор da:Conquistador de:Conquistador es:Conquistadores eo:Conquistador fr:Conquistador hr:Konkvistadori io:Conquistador id:Conquistador it:Conquistadores he:קונקוויסטאדור nl:Conquistador (geschiedenis) ja:コンキスタドール no:Conquistador nn:Conquistador pl:Konkwista pt:Conquistadores ro:Conchistador ru:Конкистадор fi:Konkistadori sv:Conquistador

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