# data[].attributes.body
Watch the two videos on this page. Do not go beyond this page on the website please.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
ADA Text Version
Spain, whose monarchs financed Columbus's voyage, proceeded to take the lead among European nations seeking to capitalize on their "discoveries." Spanish explorers traversed much of the Americas, including areas that eventually became part of the south and southwestern United States.

Conquest of the Americas

The Spanish conquest of vast regions of the Americas and the Indian peoples living there had far-reaching effects. Columbus's voyage, for example, touched off European explorations that prompted a redrawing of world maps. The conquest also raised the question of what happens when two civilizations that never knew the other existed meet, as seen in the clash between the Spanish and Aztecs in Mexico.

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

What were the motivations behind Spanish conquests in the Americas?

How did the Spaniards justify conquering the Indians? Were alternatives to brutal conquest possible?

Why was Cortés's entry into Tenochtitlán a unique moment in history?

How and why was Cortés able to conquer Mexico?

What areas of America did de Soto, Coronado, and Cabrillo explore? What were the effects of their explorations?

Download the transcript of Conquest of the Americas.

The Compassionate Conquistador

The story of Alvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca's experience in America differs from most Spanish conquistadors. Cabeza de Vaca, known as "The Compassionate Conquistador," traveled throughout the southwestern area of what is now the United States nearly 500 years ago. Trading was one activity that helped Cabeza de Vaca and his followers survive in a foreign culture.
"So, trading along with my wares I penetrated inland as far as I cared to go and along the coast as much as forty or fifty leagues....This trade suited me well because it gave me liberty to go wherever I pleased; I was not bound to do anything and (was) no longer a slave. Wherever I went they treated me well, and gave me (food) to eat for the sake of my wares."

What does this excerpt from Cabeza de Vaca's journal tell you about his experience in America?

Why are primary sources, such as this journal, important to the study of history?

New Spain

New Spain analyzes the economic, political, and social effects of Spanish colonization in the New World and also examines the influence of Spanish missionaries.

Look for answers to these questions when watching the video:

What were the economic, political, and social characteristics of Spain's empire in the New World in the sixteenth century?

What roles did religious missionaries play in New Spain?

Why did the Spanish found a settlement at St. Augustine?

Why did the Spanish settle in the area that became New Mexico? What led to the Acoma rebellion and how was it suppressed?

Why was Santa Fe founded in 1608?

Download the transcript of

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
ADA Text Version Spain, whose monarchs financed Columbus's voyage, proceeded to take the lead among European nations seeking to capitalize on their "discoveries." Spanish explorers traversed much of the Americas, including areas that eventually became part of the south and southwestern United States.

# data[].attributes.body
What are conquistadors?

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

# data[].attributes.body
Spanish Explorers

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
1. Spanish Exploration, Exploration, American Beginnings: 1492-1690, Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Primary resources--historical documents, literary texts, and works of art--thematically organized with notes and discussion questions.

# data[].attributes.body
Mayan Account of the Spanish Conquest

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source

# data[].attributes.body
Spanish Conquistadors - the breakdown of history

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Skip to main menu Skip to page content Skip to footer

Searching for gold and glory and finding something else

Soon after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, the Spanish began to hear stories of civilizations with immense riches. Hoping to claim this wealth and territory for Spain and themselves, conquistadors, or "conquerors," sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

When they ventured onto the mainland, they found an immense landscape that was already home to tens of thousands of American Indians. Conflict between the two groups was frequent, leading to misunderstandings, exploitation, and violence. While their explorations gave Europeans a better understanding of the Americas, the conquistadors who explored the land now known as Texas often failed to find the wealth and resources they were looking for leading the Spanish to focus colonization efforts further south for many years.

This clearly shows how the designs of men sometimes miscarry. Cabeza de Vaca

Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca

When Cabeza de Vaca joined fellow Spanish explorer Pánfilo de Narváez on an expedition to conquer and colonize the North American Gulf Coast in 1528, he began a journey that would take more than eight years to complete.

In 1519, the explorer Alonso Álvarez de Piñeda became the first European to map the Texas Gulf Coast. However, it would be another nine years before any Spaniards explored the Texas interior.

In 1528, another expedition, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, set sail from Spain to explore the North American interior. A long series of disasters left most of the expedition dead. A group of 90 men, headed by Álvar Nuñez Cabeza de Vaca, shipwrecked near Galveston Island. The party included Estevanico, a North African enslaved man believed to be the first person of African descent to set foot in North America. Despite receiving food and shelter from the nearby Karankawa tribe, only fifteen of the men survived the winter.

For the next eight years, Cabeza de Vaca and the remaining survivors would become the first Europeans to view the diversity of the landscape and people of what we now call Texas. Moving between the mainland and the coast, Cabeza de Vaca worked as a trader and healer to survive, with the ultimate goal to make it to Mexico City.

On his journey south, Cabeza de Vaca rediscovered three Spaniards who had been separated from his party soon after their shipwreck. These men had been enslaved by an American Indian group known as the Mariames. Once reunited, Cabeza de Vaca was also enslaved.

Six years after the expedition began, the four men escaped the Mariames one by one and headed south, where they were taken in by members of the Avavares tribe. After recuperating for eight months, the men set out for Mexico. They followed a winding route that covered approximately 2,400 miles, and took them south of the Rio Grande, across northern Mexico, and eventually south to Mexico City.

In the eight years they spent in Texas, Cabeza de Vaca and his companions failed to discover any gold or claim any new territory for Spain. Instead, they returned with tales they heard from American Indians of riches elsewhere in North America. Rumors like these fueled Spanish exploration of Texas and the surrounding areas for nearly 70 years.

Francisco Vásquez de Coronado

Cabeza de Vaca's tales of riches were reinforced when a Franciscan friar reported cities of gold in present-day New Mexico. In 1540, Viceroy Antonio Mendoza ordered Francisco Vásquez de Coronado to lead an expedition to the northern reaches of the Spanish empire to conquer the region and claim the wealth for Spain.

Coronado gathered 1,000 men and thousands of horses, mules, sheep and cattle for the expedition. They marched north for two-and-a-half months before reaching the Zuñi pueblo of Hawikuh in present-day northwestern New Mexico.

Instead of streets paved with gold, the party found a city of more than 500 families living in buildings constructed of sandstone and adobe. Coronado read the Zuñis the Requerimiento, a document in Spanish that ordered them to submit to the King of Spain's rule and convert to Christianity; the Zuñis responded by firing arrows at the Spanish soldiers. Coronado attacked. Despite the Zuñis best efforts to defend their city, the Spanish soldiers stormed Hawikuh's walls and captured or killed most of the Zuñis who could not escape.

Soon after he seized Hawikuh, Coronado heard rumors of another golden kingdom, Quivira, to the east. He headed in that direction, crossing the Texas Panhandle on his way to the Great Plains. He sighted Palo Duro Canyon during his expedition, but found no treasure. Coronado returned to Mexico City empty-handed in 1542. His failure to locate the Seven Cities of Cíbola, Quivira or any other riches discouraged further Spanish exploration in the region for many years to come.

Coronado's interactions with the Zuñis at Hawikuh were typical of how many conquistadors approached American Indians. The Spanish read them the Requerimiento in a foreign language and if the Native Americans resisted then the Spaniards took what they wanted by force. These tactics led to conflict, suffering, and often death for many American Indians throughout the Western Hempishere.

Luis de Moscoso de Alvarado

As Coronado was returning to Mexico, another Spanish expedition stumbled into present-day Texas.

Hernando De Soto and his men set out from Florida in search of large cities and abundant treasure, but the expedition found neither of these things. In the Spring of 1542, right in the midst of his explorations, De Soto fell ill and died, leaving Luis de Moscoso de Alvarado in charge of the expedition. After burying De Soto on the Mississippi River, Moscoso and his men abandoned the search for riches and decided to head west to Mexico. They marched into Ais and Caddo territory in present-day East Texas where the Spanish soldiers attacked Caddo towns and stole the American Indians' food stores to feed themselves. One Caddo cacique, or chief, ordered his men to guide the Spaniards into another, less well-stocked band's territory. When Moscoso discovered the trick, he had the guides hanged, and then turned back for the Mississippi River soon after.There they built several small boats, sailed down the Mississippi River, and followed the Gulf Coast to Mexico. Upon reaching Mexico in September 1542, Moscoso reported the expedition's failure to locate any of the large, wealthy cities De Soto sought. His account, combined with Coronado's failure to locate any of the supposed cities of gold, reinforced Spain's decision not to further explore the northern frontier.

Antonio de Espejo

It was 40 years before explorers returned to the northern boundaries of Spain's territories again. This time the Spanish weren't searching for gold, but for missing men.

In November 1582, Antonio de Espejo set out from Nueva Vizcaya, Mexico, to search for some friars who had traveled to northern New Mexico to convert the American Indians there. Espejo learned early in his expedition that the two friars had been killed by members of the Tiguex tribe in present-day New Mexico. Nevertheless, he continued on and explored the areas to the north and east. He pushed north into Tiguex territory, then headed east until he reached the Pecos River. He and his men followed the Pecos south and crossed into present-day Texas, where they were welcomed by Jumano who acted as Espejo's guides, leading him through the Trans-Pecos region and back to the Rio Grande.

One of the members of Espejo's expedition, Diego Pérez de Luxán, kept a daily record of the journey. His detailed descriptions of the landscape and American Indians the Spaniards encountered encouraged further exploration and, eventually, settlement of present-day New Mexico. However, his descriptions of the Trans-Pecos region didn't inspire the Spanish to explore what is now Texas further.

They [the Jumanos] cover themselves with well-tanned skins of the cibola [bison]. The hides they tan and beat with stones until they are soft. They fight with bows and arrows. ... They cultivate corn, beans, and calabashes.

- Diego Perez de Luxán, official diarist of the Espejo expedition

Juan de Oñate

Juan de Oñate would be the last of the conquistadors to traverse present-day Texas. Unlike his predecessors, his explorations would have a direct and lasting impact on the region.

In early 1598, Juan de Oñate led an expedition to settle present-day New Mexico. Unlike some of his predecessors, who were only tasked with claiming land and finding resources, Oñate was ordered to establish a colony. Many of the colonists in his party hoped to find their own riches mining silver. On his way north he crossed the Rio Grande at El Paso del Norte, the site of the modern city of El Paso. It was there that he formally declared Spanish possession of what is now New Mexico. After establishing the colony's new headquarters near modern-day Santa Fe, Oñate followed in Coronado's footsteps and headed east in search of the city of gold, Quivira. Like Coronado before him, he failed to find any riches on the Great Plains.

During his brief time in the region, Oñate's expedition found nothing the Spanish were searching for: no cities of gold, no precious metals, and no jewels. However, his actions would have great impact on Texas in the coming decades. His route through El Paso del Norte-a route already well-known to Native American populations who had used it for trade long before Spanish arrived-became El Camino Real del Norte. This road would serve as a crucial lifeline connecting New Mexico to the capital in Mexico City. Its location on El Camino Real del Norte made El Paso del Norte an important trading and transportation hub in the future.

The Story Continues

The conquistadors collected, recorded, and published a wealth of knowledge about the land we call Texas, but knowledge was not the primary goal of the Spanish crown. Spain wanted riches to fund their political goals in Europe, and the conquistadors found none in Texas. After decades of exploration that frequently led to conflict and violence with local American Indians, the region was largely ignored for another 100 years until the late 1600s when another European presence would seek to insert itself into the complex network of people already living in Texas.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Conquistador Story | Texas State History Museum

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Soon after Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas in 1492, the Spanish began to hear stories of civilizations with immense riches. Hoping to claim this wealth and territory for Spain and themselves, conquistadors, or "conquerors," sailed across the Atlantic Ocean.

# data[].attributes.body
Check out this map

# data[].attributes.body
Check out this map, be sure to read the KEY

# data[].attributes.body
Pizarro and the Inca

# data[].attributes.body
Missionary Info.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Newsela | How Did the Spanish Missions in California Affect Native Americans?

# data[].attributes.body
What was life like as the Spanish empire was developed?

# data[].attributes.body
Missionary Info.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
5. Indian Missions, Settlement, American Beginnings: 1492-1690, Primary Resources in U.S. History and Literature, Toolbox Library, National Humanities Center

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Primary resources--historical documents, literary texts, and works of art--thematically organized with notes and discussion questions.

# data[].attributes.body
Missionary Info.

# data[].attributes.body
Image of Mission work with Amercan Indians

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
During the 1650s, Spanish priests began converting the Mansos, Sumas, and Janos of El Paso to Christianity and settling them in missions. Photo of mural at Guadalupe church in Juarez by Margaret Howard.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
During the 1650s, Spanish priests began converting the Mansos, Sumas, and Janos of El Paso to Christianity and settling them in missions. Photo of mural at Guadalupe church in Juarez by Margaret Howard.

# data[].attributes.body
Primary Source- Forcing Natives to be Catholic

# data[].attributes.body
Missionary Info.

# data[].attributes.body
Missionary Info.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Illustration of the Alamo as a mission as imagined in 1883.
By William Ludwell Sheppard (1833-1912). Courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.

This is an essay from the Spanish Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary

Known as the Custodio y Conversión de San Pablo, the newly appointed prelate of the New Mexico mission field Fray Alonso de Benavides arrived with the supply caravan of 1626. Accompanied by twelve Franciscans, they joined fourteen missionaries, already residing in New Mexico. Benavides' arrival signaled a new beginning for the New Mexican missions. The tireless friar, who held the titles of Father Custodian and Commissary of the Holy Office of the Inquisition, toiled in the expanded mission field and promoted it with his prolific quill. Written for the Pope and Spanish king, his Memorial of 1630, and a revised version in 1634 were published in five languages before the end of seventeenth century. An offshoot of the colonial Mexican Church, the New Mexico missions were not unlike other mission provinces in the Americas. In his Memorial, Benavides offered a composite, albeit romanticized, view of "the pious tasks of the friars in these conversions."

Of a day in the life of a missionary, Benavides, seeing through the eyes of a colonial missionary, wrote a description of a friar's daily routine that could be applied anywhere in the Americas during the Spanish colonial period. Benavides' Memorial embellished the successes of the New Mexico missions and brushed off the American Indian view-in particular that of anti mission Pueblo Indians. Their view was often expressed as a rejection of the missionaries. When passive resistance failed, the Indians turned to armed rebellion. Despite their goals, the friars ultimately settled for imperfectly converted Christian Indians who integrated Christianity, native beliefs and spirituality into their customs and traditions. The missionaries had satisfied the Spanish government's objectives to pacify the frontier, and the church's quest to save souls and spread Christianity.

"Dance, San Ildefonso Pueblo, New Mexico, 1942."
Photo by Ansel Adams. Courtesy of the National Archives

Benavides' universal description of a day in the life of a missionary resonated in the daily lives of missionaries in remote lands. He wrote:

Since the land is very remote and isolated and the difficulties of the long journeys require more than a year of travel, the friars, although there are many who wish to dedicate themselves to those conversions, find themselves unable to do so because of their poverty. Hence, only those who go there are sent by the Catholic King, at his own expense, for the cost is too excessive that only his royal zeal can afford it. This is the reason that there are few friars over there and that most of the convents have only one religious each, and he ministers to four, six, or more neighboring pueblos, in the midst of which he stands as a lighted torch to guide them in spiritual as well as temporal affairs. More than twenty Indians, devoted to the service of the church, live with him in a convent. They take turns in relieving one another as porters, sextons, cooks, bell ringers, gardeners, refectioners, and in other tasks. They perform their duties with as much circumspection and care as if they were friars. At eventide, they say their prayers together, with much devotion, in front of some image.

In every pueblo where a friar resides, he has schools for the teaching of praying, singing, playing musical instruments and other interesting things. Promptly at dawn, one of the Indian singers, whose turn it is that week, goes to ring the bell for the Prime, at the sound of which those who go to school assemble and sweep the rooms thoroughly. The singers chant the Prime in the choir. The friar must be present at all of this and takes note of those who have failed to perform this duty, in order to reprimand them later. When everything is neat and clean, they again ring the bell and each one goes to learn his particular specialty;the friar oversees it all, in order that these students may be mindful of what they are doing. At this time those who plan to get married come and notify him, so that he may prepare and instruct them according to our holy council;if there are any, either sick or healthy persons, who wish to confess in order to receive communion at mass, or who wish anything else, they come to tell him. After they have been occupied in this manner for an hour and a half, the bell is rung for mass. All go into the church, and the friar says mass and administers the sacraments. Mass over, they gather in different groups, examine the lists, and take note of those who are absent in order to reprimand them later. After taking the roll, all kneel down by the church door and sing the Salve in their own tongue. This concluded, the friar says: "Praised be the most Holy Sacrament," and dismisses them, warning them first of the circumstances with which they should go about their daily business.

View atop Concepcion.
NPS photo.

At mealtime, the poor people in the pueblo who are not ill come to the porter's lodge, where the cooks of the convent have sufficient food ready, which is served to them by the friars;food for the sick is sent to their homes. After mealtime, it always happens that the friar has to go to some neighboring pueblo to hear a confession or to see if they are careless in the boys' school, where they learn to pray and assist at mass for this is the responsibility of the sextons and it is their duty always to have a dozen boys for the service of the sacristy and to teach them how to help at mass and how to pray.

In the evening, they toll the bell for vespers, which are chanted by the singers who are on duty for the week, and, according to the importance of the feast, they celebrate it with organ chants as they do for mass. Again the friar supervises and looks after everything, the same as in the morning.

On feast days, he says mass in the pueblo very early, and administers the sacraments and preaches. Then he goes to say a second mass in another pueblo, whose turn it is, where he observes the same procedure, and then he returns to his convent. These two masses are attended by the people of the tribe, according to their proximity to the pueblo where they are celebrated.

More than church, San Jose mission was an agricultural community.
From the Mission San Jose Visitor's brochure. Courtesy of the National Park Service.

One of the weekdays which is not so busy is devoted to baptism and all those who are to be baptized come to the church on that day, unless some urgent matter should intervene;in that case, it is performed at any time. With great care, their names are inscribed in a book;in another, those who are married;and in another, the dead.

One of the greatest tasks of the friars is to adjust the disputes of the Indians among themselves, for since they look upon him as a father, they come to him with all their troubles, and he has to take pains to harmonize them. If it is a question of land and property, he must go with them and mark their boundaries, and thus pacify them.

For the support of all the poor of the pueblo, the friar makes them sow some grain and raise some cattle, because if he left it to their discretion, they would not do anything. Therefore, the friar requires them to do so and trains them so well that with the meat he feeds all the poor and pays the various workmen who come to build the churches. With the wool he clothes all the poor, and the friar himself also gets his clothing and food from this source. All the wheels of this clock must be kept in good order by the friar, without neglecting any detail, otherwise all would be totally lost.

The most important thing is the good example set by the friars. This, aside from the obligations of their vows, is forced upon them because they live in a province where they concern themselves with nothing but God. Death stares them in the face everyday! Today one of their companions is martyred, tomorrow, another;their hope is that such a good fortune may befall them while living a perfect life.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
A Day in the Life of a Spanish Missionary -- Friar Alonso de Benavides, 1630 (U.S. National Park Service)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
This is an essay from the Spanish Missions of the Southwest Travel Itinerary Known as the Custodio y Conversión de San Pablo, the newly appointed prelate of the New Mexico mission field Fray Alonso de Benavides arrived with the supply caravan of 1626. Accompanied by twelve Franciscans, they joined fourteen missionaries, already residing in New Mexico.