In 1492 the Genoese sailor Christopher Columbus, sailing for the Spanish crown, reached the Caribbean. His arrival opened a permanent link between Europe and the Americas.
Columbus's voyages
- 1492 — reached the island he named Hispaniola (modern Haiti/Dominican Republic).
- He believed he had reached Asia.
- Three more voyages (1493–1504) — explored Cuba, Puerto Rico, and parts of the South American coast.
- He set up the first Spanish settlements.
First contact: Historians call this moment first contact.
Why Spain got there first: Spain had just finished the Reconquista (recapturing Spain from Muslim rule, completed 1492), so it had a battle-hardened army, an ambitious monarchy, and money freed up to fund risky voyages. Portugal already controlled the African route to Asia, so Spain backed Columbus's westward gamble instead.
Spanish conquest of the Caribbean followed fast. On Hispaniola, and then Cuba (conquered by Diego Velázquez from 1511) and Puerto Rico, the Spanish used the encomienda system — Indigenous people were "granted" to a Spanish settler, who could demand their labour in exchange for (supposedly) protecting and converting them. In practice it was forced labour. Combined with new diseases like smallpox, the Taíno population of Hispaniola collapsed from several hundred thousand to a few thousand within a generation.
- Christopher Columbus — Genoese navigator; four voyages 1492–1504; opened Spanish access to the Caribbean.
- Diego Velázquez — led the Spanish conquest and settlement of Cuba from 1511.
- Encomienda — a grant of Indigenous labour to a Spanish colonist, justified as protection and conversion.
- Taíno — the main Indigenous people of the Caribbean islands, devastated by disease and forced labour.
French and British exploration further north
While Spain focused on the Caribbean and Latin America, France and England explored further north, where there was no gold empire to plunder — so their approach was different from the start.
French exploration
- Jacques Cartier explored the St Lawrence River (1534–1542), claiming "New France" (Canada).
- Focused on the fur trade — partnership with Indigenous nations (e.g. the Huron) who supplied furs, rather than mass conquest.
- Small permanent settlements at first; Quebec founded later (1608, by Samuel de Champlain).
British exploration
- John Cabot (sailing for England) reached Newfoundland in 1497, giving England its claim to North America.
- Serious colonisation came later — Roanoke (1585, failed) and Jamestown (1607) — outside this c1600 window but rooted in these early claims.
- Aimed at permanent settlement and land, not just trade — a key difference from France.
Compare, don't just describe: A strong Paper 3 answer contrasts Spanish conquest-and-extraction in the south with the French trade-partnership and British settlement models in the north — showing you understand different colonial motives, not just different countries.
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In 1519, Hernán Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico with around 500 men. His target was the Aztec Empire.
The Aztec Empire in 1519
- Ruled from the island capital Tenochtitlan.
- Its emperor was Moctezuma II.
- Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world at the time, home to perhaps 200,000 people.
Landing and alliances (1519)
Cortés burned his ships to stop retreat, then marched inland. He allied with the Tlaxcalans, a people who deeply resented Aztec rule and provided thousands of warriors.
Arrival in Tenochtitlan
Moctezuma allowed Cortés into the city, possibly hoping to control him. Cortés took Moctezuma hostage to rule indirectly through him.
La Noche Triste (1520)
After a massacre of Aztec nobles by Cortés's deputy, the Aztecs rose up. Moctezuma was killed and the Spanish were driven out of the city with heavy losses.
Siege and fall (1521)
Cortés regrouped with Tlaxcalan allies and returned. A brutal siege, worsened by a smallpox epidemic inside the city, ended with Tenochtitlan's fall in August 1521.
Land, ally, hostage, revolt, siege — Cortés won with allies and disease more than with Spanish steel.
Reasons for Spanish success and Aztec defeat: No single cause explains it. Always argue several factors together.
Five factors to combine
- Disease — smallpox arrived with the Spanish and killed huge numbers of Aztecs with no immunity, including likely a new emperor during the siege.
- Indigenous allies — the Tlaxcalans and other resentful subject peoples supplied most of Cortés's actual fighting force.
- Technology — steel swords, crossbows, guns, and horses (unknown in the Americas) gave a battlefield edge, though this mattered less than allies and disease.
- Political division — the Aztec Empire ruled through tribute and fear, so many subject peoples switched sides readily.
- Leadership and beliefs — Moctezuma's hesitant response gave Cortés time to build alliances before open war began.
| Factor | How it helped Spain |
|---|---|
| Disease (smallpox) | Killed Aztecs with no immunity; weakened the city during the 1521 siege |
| Tlaxcalan alliance | Provided most manpower and local knowledge |
| Steel weapons, horses, guns | Battlefield advantage in open combat |
| Aztec tribute system | Made subject peoples willing to rebel and join Cortés |
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Further south, Francisco Pizarro led the conquest of the Inca Empire, the largest empire in the Americas, stretching along the Andes.
Pizarro's chance: The Incas had just fought a brutal civil war between two rival brothers, Huáscar and Atahualpa, after their father died. He probably died of smallpox. The disease had already spread ahead of the Spanish through Indigenous trade networks.
Civil war weakens the empire (1520s)
Atahualpa defeated Huáscar just before Pizarro's arrival in 1532, leaving the empire divided and exhausted.
Capture at Cajamarca (1532)
Pizarro, with under 200 men, ambushed and captured Emperor Atahualpa at a meeting in the town of Cajamarca.
Ransom and execution (1533)
Atahualpa offered a room filled with gold and silver for his release. The Spanish took the ransom, then executed him anyway.
Fall of Cuzco (1533)
With the emperor dead, Pizarro's forces took the Inca capital Cuzco, installing a puppet ruler to control the empire indirectly.
Civil war, capture, ransom, betrayal, Cuzco falls — Atahualpa's death broke the chain of command.
Pizarro installed Manco Inca as a puppet emperor in 1533. But by 1536 Manco Inca turned against his Spanish overlords, leading a major uprising and besieging Cuzco for nearly a year. When the siege failed, he retreated to the remote mountain region of Vilcabamba, where he and his successors kept an independent Inca state alive until the Spanish finally crushed it in 1572 — decades after the "conquest" of 1533.
Reasons for Spanish success and Inca defeat
- Civil war — Huáscar vs Atahualpa left the empire divided right before the Spanish arrived.
- Disease — smallpox had already spread through the Andes ahead of Pizarro, killing the previous emperor and weakening the population.
- Capturing the emperor — Inca rule was highly centralised around the emperor as a semi-divine figure, so capturing Atahualpa paralysed the whole state's decision-making.
- Technology — steel weapons, horses, and firearms gave a real but secondary advantage in open battle.
Conquest was not instant: Manco Inca's resistance shows conquest was not instant — organised Inca resistance continued for nearly 40 years after Cajamarca.
Don't say "conquest" happened in one year: Examiners reward answers that show conquest was a process, not a single event. Use Manco Inca's Vilcabamba resistance (1536–1572) as proof the Inca Empire did not simply vanish in 1533.