After Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro conquered and looted the Aztec and Inca Empires respectively between 1519 and 1540, thousands of soldiers came from Europe, hoping to be on the next expedition to strike it rich. Many men from other European nations joined the Spanish in their conquest and looting of the New World. Source for information on Spanish Conquistadors: U*X*L Encyclopedia of U.S. History dictionary. Gatherings with anyone other than household members is banned in new county protocols. The Spanish Conquistadors were those who initially expanded the Spanish Empire. In Mexico, Hernan Cortes and Pedro de Alvarado (1485–1581) ordered the Cholula Massacre and the Temple Massacre respectively, killing thousands of unarmed men, women, and children. Welcome to our comprehensive gift guide for the 2020 holiday season. The horses, cannons and iron weaponry brought over on their huge ships from Cuba commanded respect and fear. Their units (compañia) would often specialize in forms of combat that required long periods of training that were too costly for informal groups. Hernán Cortés owed his conquest of the Aztecs to his expedition's unknown, unseen secret weapon: the smallpox virus. Their armies were mostly composed of Spanish, as well as soldiers from other parts of Europe and Africa. In 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered previously unknown lands to the west of Europe, and it wasn't long before the New World filled with colonists and adventurers looking to make a fortune. Many of the conquistadors who explored the New World were avid fans of popular romance novels and of some of the more ridiculous elements of historical popular culture. California is named after a fictional island in a popular Spanish chivalry novel. “We felt the best way to deal with it was not to duck the issue,” said Bill Frank, the exhibit’s curator. Without these thousands of native warriors fighting alongside them, these legendary conquistadors would certainly have failed. Christopher Minster, Ph.D., is a professor at the Universidad San Francisco de Quito in Ecuador. Spanish Conquistadors would come to the Americas and brutally murder men women and children in the name of a god. Although the vast majority of the conquistadors came from Spain, not all of them did. A response board for comments has been set up as part of the exhibit because “we were curious about what the response would be,” Frank said. The Aztecs and Inca Empires were rich in gold, silver, precious stones, and other things the Spanish found less valuable, like brilliant clothes made of bird feathers. However, the conquistadors were far more interested in gold and loot. The Spaniards’ use of animals and technology made them no less barbaric than the Aztecs, just dramatically different. They even believed much of it, and it affected their perception of New World reality. This did not even count the vast treasures taken later when the Inca capital city of Cuzco was looted. The Americas were full of fierce native warriors who defended their lands valiantly, but they had gold and other valuables, which were irresistible to the invaders. There are two aspects to consider here: their religion, and their politics. The Aztecs were equally, if not more violent, destructive and bloodthirsty than the Spanish who conquered them. They not only fought in the battlefield, but served as interpreters, informants, servants, teachers, physicians, and scribes in the New World. ThoughtCo uses cookies to provide you with a great user experience. The Aztecs thought the conquistadors, with their beards, white skin, shiny armor, horses, and ships, were gods who were returning to claim their lands. Wherever the conquistadors went, death, disease, and misery for the natives followed. A few also had crude firearms known as Arquebus. In Peru, Pizarro found allies against the Inca among recently-conquered tribes such as the Cañari. Spanish ConquistadorsSpain was the first European country to build an empire in the New World. Public health officials in some counties are warning that unless the coronavirus surge can be stopped, hospitals could run out of beds in weeks. He is a former head writer at VIVA Travel Guides. The men who ravaged the peoples of the New World came to be known as the conquistadors, a Spanish word meaning "he who conquers." It should not be surprising, then, that squabbles between groups of these heavily-armed bandits should break out frequently.