Concluding the five-part series on the Mayan Empire we discover the disease and Conquistadors that lead to the demise of the Mayan people. While this does touch upon the devastation that all but destroyed the Mayan civilization, the over...

Map showing the routes taken by fourteen Spanish explorers in the Americas between 1509 and 1543.

This Crash Course video explains the global impact of the Spanish Empire on culture's across the globe, and how their aquisition of Silver lead to runaway inflation. [10:46]

In this Crash Course video, John Green kicks off Crash Course US History! In episode 1, John talks about the Native Americans who lived in what is now the US prior to European contact. This is a history class, not archaeology, so we're...

Explores what is known about the "Land of the Four Quarters" and the achievements of the Inca empire, their religious rituals, high altitude archaeology, and burial artifacts.

The Spanish Conquistadors were explorers and military leaders who conquered new lands for Spain. Find out how their adventures gave birth to the modern world. [2:02]

In the years after Columbus's first voyage, Spanish adventurers known as conquistadores began to colonize the surrounding areas of the Caribbean and the Americas. In this video, Kim explores the social changes that Spanish colonization...

Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who conquered and annihilated the Aztec Empire. This video examines his life and how he defeated the Aztecs. [5:37]

Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who is commonly thought to have been on a search for the fountain of youth. He is remembered for colonizing the Caribbean, and for discovering Florida and trying to establish a...

Hernando De Soto was a Spanish conquistador who mercilessly exploited the native peoples in the new world, enslaving them, killing them, and plundering their gold and silver. His actions made Spain a wealthy country and helped to...

Hernando de Soto (Jerez de los Caballeros, Badajoz, Spain, c.1496/1497-May 21, 1542) was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who, while leading the first European expedition deep into the territory of the modern-day United States, was...

A map of Lake Texcoco, showing the Aztec centers in the region at the time of the Spanish conquistadors. The entry route of Cortes into the city of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital, is designated along with causeways into the city. A few...

This site tells the story of the Conquistadors search for gold in Ecuador. It is written like a story rather than a biography and is very detailed and interesting.

(1485-1547) The conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire.

Two maps and four accounts of the Spanish exploration of North America that reflect the goals of the conquistadors and fascination with the land they examined-and the brutality of their treatment of native peoples.

(1475-1541) Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.

(1475-1541) Spanish conquistador who conquered the Inca Empire.

(1495-1541) Spanish conquistador who was second command to Hernan Cortes during the conquest of Mexico.

A Spanish conquistador. Juan Ponce de Leon founded the state of Florida.

Commemorates the first organized expedition into the Southwest by conquistador Francisco Vasquez de Coronado.

A Spanish explorer and conquistador who was the first European documented to have crossed the Mississippi River.

Juan Ponce de Leon (1474 - July 1521) was a Spanish conquistador. He accompanied Christopher Columbus on the latter's second voyage to the New World.

(1475-1517) Spanish explorer, governor, and conquistador best known for being the first European to reach the Pacific Ocean from America.

A map of Mexico showing the sites of the Spanish Conquistador expedition under Hernan Cortes in 1519. The map shows Juanna (Cuba), Tabasco, Vera Cruz, and Mexico City (Tenochtitlan). An inset map details the route taken by Cortez from...