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Conquistador

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For the book by S.M. Stirling, see Conquistador (book).
For the board game, see Conquistador (game).

Conquistador (Spanish: [koŋ.kis.t̪a'ð̞oɾ]) (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.

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.

History

New World

Hernán Cortés, Conquistador of the Aztec Empire

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, for these diseases were unknown in America at the time of the Spanish arrival and the native populations lacked the antibodies to fight them. The diseases also killed the current leader of the Inca at the time, facilitating the war that Pizarro walked into upon his arrival. Combined with far greater forces of native allies, Cortés' forces managed to besiege the Aztec capital city and destroy it.

File:Franciscopizarro.jpeg
Francisco Pizarro. Conquistador of the Inca Empire

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 piece that Sapa Inca Atahualpa paid Pizarro for his freedom was taken back to Spain, leading to additional Conquistador expeditions in South America. 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. 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.

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.

Debate on the Human Rights of Natives

Most of the conquistadors cruelly mistreated the inhabitants of the regions they visited or conquered; killing, enslaving, raping and otherwise abusing them in a way that, on the other side, may not have been really different of the one inflicted by other contemporary European powers in their colonies but, due to the much larger population which the Spaniards met, may have become much more obvious. Accounts of the behavior of Spanish conquistadors from both inside and outside were part of the source material for the stereotype of Spanish cruelty that came to be known as the Black Legend.

As a result of this, little is known outside the Hispanic world about some Spaniards, notably the priest Bartolomé de Las Casas, who 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). These New Laws of 1542 established a very early -if compared to British or French colonies- abolishment of native slavery (see the Valladolid debate).

Adding to the fact that most of the Black Legend is "propaganda" against the spanish, is that today center and south america's most common racial traits are those of the native americans, while it's very hard to find native americans in anglo (and non spanish) North America.

List of Famous Conquistadores and Explorers

File:Conquistadorptw.jpg
Conquistador in Civilization III Play the World.

The Conqistadors have since been featured (or referred to) in a great many media representations, and their distinctive helmets have accquired nearly iconic status. They are sometimes seen as an emblem of the Spanish Empire.

  • The Funk-Rock-Glitter-Stomp group "Conquistador was formed in Southern California in the late 1990's. The group was lead by singer-song-smith Alex Antebi. In the 2004, El Conquistador was featured in the "Levi's Red Tab" Campaign, which included a flip book of the artist performing in the Levi's premium denim line. In 2006, Conquistador and Kinky collaborated on the bi-lingual album entitled "Reina", which included the single "Sister Twisted." Time Out Magazine described artist as "candy-land-strip-mall-jet-set-executive-super-soul-seventies." Artist currently resides in Los Angeles and performs all over the world. For more information, please see Home and Blog.

See also

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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