F
or more than 300 years, from the
late 15th to the early 19th century,
much of the Americas belonged to
Spain. Spanish ships were the first to
reach the New World, and Spanish con-
quistadores, or conquerors, quickly over-
ran Native American resistance and
established great empires. Spanish colo-
nial America came to stretch from what is
now Chile northward, deep into what is
now the United States. The long period
of Spanish rule in the New World, with its
glories, atrocities, and complex interweav-
ing of cultures, set the stage for the future
history of independent Latin America.DISCOVERY AND
GENOCIDEIronically, Spain’s American empire was
not founded by a Spaniard. Known to the
Spanish as Cristóbal Colón, Christopher
Columbus (1451–1506) was born
Cristoforo Colombo, in Genoa, then a
republic in what is now Italy. Influenced
by Genoa’s tradition of maritime trade, he
became a mariner himself and developed
an unusual theory about how to sail to
Asia. The result was not only the “discov-
ery” of the Americas but the establish-
ment of Spain’s first American
colonies—and the first of many acts of
genocide against Native Americans.The Voyages of Columbus
In an age when explorers were trying to
discover new sea routes to the riches of the
Far East, Columbus proposed to get there
by sailing west. Most educated people
agreed that the Earth was spherical, but
many believed that the ocean separating
East Asia and western Europe was too
vast to cross. Based on geographical analy-
sis and many wishful assumptions,
Columbus argued that the distance from
the Canary Islands to Japan was only 2,400
nautical miles; in fact, it is more than
10,000. If he had been right, then Japanwould have been only as far from Europe
as Haiti. In any case, Columbus proposed
to attempt the journey, sailing west from
the Canary Islands, propelled by the east-
erly trade wind. The king of Portugal
refused to fund his proposal, but after
much discussion, Ferdinand and Isabella of
Spain agreed to do it. Among other things,
their bargain stipulated that Columbus
would be titled Admiral of the Ocean Sea,
would be viceroy and governor of any
lands he discovered, would receive a
hereditary peerage, and would get 10 per-
cent of any gold or other precious mer-
chandise obtained from his lands.
On August 3, 1492, Columbus set
sail from Palos, Spain, with a modest
expedition consisting of 90 men, most of
them Spanish, and three ships: the Santa
Maria, probably less than 100 feet long;Spain in the Americas
2
CHAPTER
“I promise, that with a little
assistance afforded me by our
most invincible sovereigns, I
will procure them as much
gold as they need...”— Christopher Columbus, in a
letter dated March, 1493,
reporting to one of his patrons
what he had found in the
CaribbeanChristopher Columbus (Library of Congress)