GO rD hIllAt around the same time, Gaspar Corte Real, financed by Portugal,
reconnoitered the Labrador and Newfoundland coasts, kidnapping 57
Beothuks to be sold as slaves to offset the cost of the expedition.
Meanwhile, Amerigo Vespucci—for whom the Americas were
named—and Alonso de Ojedo, on separate missions for Spain, reconnoi-
tered the West Indies and the Pacific coast of South America. Ojedo was
actively carrying out slave raids, and was killed by a warrior’s poisoned
arrow for his efforts.
From the papal bull of 1493 and a subsequent Treaty of Tordesillas
(1494), Portugal had been given possession of Brazil. In 1500, the Por-
tuguese admiral Pedro Alvares Cabral formally claimed the land for the
Portuguese crown.
Now that the initial reconnaissance missions had been complet-
ed, the invasion intensified and expanded. In 1513, Ponce de Leon, fi-
nanced by Spain, attempted to land in Florida, but was driven off by 80
Calusa war canoes.
From 1517 to 1521, the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes laid
waste to the Aztec empire in Mexico, capturing the capital city of Teno-
chtitlan and killing millions in a ruthless campaign for gold.
Shortly afterwards, in 1524, Pedro de Alvarado invaded the region of
El Salvador, attacking the Cuscatlan, Pipeles, and Quiche peoples. In Gua-
temala Alvarado conducted eight major campaigns against the Mayans,
and while he and his men were burning people alive, the Catholic priests
accompanying him were busy destroying Mayan historical records (that
is, while they weren’t busy directing massacres themselves). Alvarado’s
soldiers were rewarded by being allowed to enslave the survivors.
In 1531, the Spaniard Francisco Pizarro invaded the region of the
Incas (now Peru). Taking advantage of an internal struggle between two
Inca factions led by the brothers Huascar and Atahualpa, Pizarro suc-
ceeded in subjugating the Incas by 1533.
Ten years later, Pedro de Valdivia claimed Chile for the Spanish
crown, although fierce resistance by the Mapuche nation restricted the
Spanish to the northern and central regions. Valdivia was eventually
killed in battle by Mapuche warriors.
During this same period, Jacques Cartier, financed by France in 1534,
was reconnoitering the eastern regions of what would become Canada,
and Spaniards such as Hernando de Sotos, Marcos de Niza and others
began penetrating into North America, claiming the lands for their re-
spective countries, as was their custom.