Bands of men who explored the Western Hemisphere during the first half of the 16th century, conquistadores opened up new lands, peoples, and resources to Spanish influence and thereby formed the leading front of Spanish conquest and colonization.
From as early as the 13th century Castile sought overseas expansion. Partly because of potential commercial gain but largely because of adventurism, the Castilians led expeditions to Africa and the Canary Islands during the 15th century. Then, during the late 15th and early 16th centuries, their focus shifted to the Indies. Some historians point to a warrior tradition honed during centuries of fighting when the Spanish worked to expel the Moors (see Islam) from the Iberian Peninsula. For these scholars it seems natural that Spain, finally free of Moorish domination, would then translate its crusading fervor and sharp military abilities to
Aztec defending island against conquistador; priest baptizing an infant. Mexican Indian painting (The Granger Collection)
The pursuit of conquest in the New World discovered by Christopher Columbus.
Following the death of Columbus in 1506, the age of the conquistadores began in earnest. Although the spirit of discovery and conquest can be traced back several centuries, the distinguishing features of the conquistadores included their tendency to function as part of warrior bands organized for conquest and also, at least during the early conquistado-rial era, to search for treasure, land, and slave laborers as opposed to the pursuit of permanent settlement.
Using Hispaniola as the base from which they launched conquests of other lands, the conquistadores were originally those men who did not receive encomiendas during the early settlement of Hispaniola. Over time the conquistadores consisted of a motley selection of members, ranging from poor or obscure settlers lacking substantial land holdings such as Hernan Cortes to those such as Francisco Pizarro, who possessed considerable standing and connections within the growing sphere of Spanish domination in the West Indies. In addition, not all conquistadores were motivated by the thrill and rewards of discovery alone. Some envisioned a more long-term role for themselves in lands newly claimed for Spain. They remained in the lands they subjugated even after the distribution of booty. Although diversity prevailed among the conquistadores, all who joined expeditions understood that they typically did so at their own expense and risk.
Beginning with Columbus, capitulaciones (legal agreements) between the Crown and explorers stipulated the conditions, including the time frame and group leader for a given enterprise and the distribution of profits, for any newly discovered or conquered lands. During the first half of the 16th century, the capitulacion represented an inducement for would-be discoverers of new lands in the Indies. Further motivation came from the Crown and its desire to use the West Indies to set up intermediary centers for the trading of gold. Generally, however, the booty from an expedition proved far from impressive. Dependent on royal recognition for their accomplishments, conquistadores resorted to description of their alleged heroic deeds through rhetoric laced with nationalistic and religious sentiment.
The Castillian nobility tended to view conquistadores as fraudulent, self-promoting opportunists who advanced themselves through the bloodshed of indigenous peoples. Very few conquistadores received designations of nobility upon their return to Spain. More frequently, the Crown bestowed them positions of limited authority as bureaucrats in the territories they conquered.
Following Columbus’s first voyage, the Spanish conquistadores engaged in more than 20 years of rather unproductive discovery and exploration. Yet even in this period, some conquistadores achieved lasting success. In 1509 Vasco Nunez de Balboa founded Darien; in 1513 Juan Ponce DE Leon discovered Florida; and in 1520 Cortes led the conquest of the Aztec Empire. The founding of Hispaniola and Cuba also represented valuable early additions to the Spanish Empire. Then, during the 1530s and 1540s, in the wake of the long-fought but successful conquest of Peru, the number of conquistadores in search of fame and riches, instead of new lands, increased significantly.
Somewhat surprisingly, many of the expeditions led by conquistadores lacked superior military equipment and technology in comparison with indigenous groups. For example, during the conquest of the Aztec Empire, Cortes relied on but 15 cannons, 13 guns, and 16 horses. Although such equipment certainly placed them at an advantage, two factors proved more critical in the Spanish success: the ability of the conquistadores to exploit rivalries between and among indigenous peoples, and the devastating blow of epidemic disease, part of the Columbian Exchange that accompanied their arrival.
Although overwhelmed and in many cases surprised by their conquerors, not all indigenous populations quietly accepted Spanish domination. As a result, the Spaniards did not enjoy universal ascent in every segment of the New World. A number of indigenous groups, including the Araucanian Indians in present-day Chile, adopted some of the conquistadores’ strategies and weaponry and effectively used them to avoid domination by the conquistadores and subsequent groups of Europeans through the 19th century.
By the middle of the 1570s, the era of the conquistadores moved toward its end. During the late conquistadorial period explorers increasingly found themselves settling in significant numbers in the lands they conquered. Although such a pattern can be detected from the earliest Spanish voyages, as fewer and fewer undiscovered lands remained during the 1560s and 1570s, conquistadores began to realize that lasting wealth and status came typically not with the raiding and abandonment of an area but from its full settlement and exploitation.
Further reading: Guillermon Cespedes, Latin America: The Early Years (New York: Knopf, 1974); Patricia de Feuentes, ed. and trans., The Conquistadors: First-Person Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico (Norman and London: University of Oklahoma Press, 1993); Mario Gongora, Studies in the Colonial History of Spanish America, trans. Richard Southern (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1975); Edwin Williamson, The Penguin History of Latin America (New York and London: Penguin, 1992).
—Kimberly Sambol-Tosco
World History
