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...

This is the original report Coronado sent to the viceroy describing his journey from Mexico to what he hoped were the Seven Cities of Gold. He describes the land, people, climate, food, animals.

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.

History Matters provides this fascinating account from Spanish conqquistador, Cabeza de Vaca, about his encounters with the varous Native Americans in the Southwest who came to him for medical attention.

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...

Fordham University provides an excerpt of an Aztec account of the initial encounter of Montezuma and the Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes, as published by noted anthropologist Miguel Leon-Portilla. The meeting-turned-massacre,...

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...

Background on a narraative about Hernando De Soto's exploration of the New World, including the role played by Luis de Moscoso. The originally-Spanish narrative has been translated into English and access to that document is available...

Fordham University gives the text of Cortes' second letter to King Charles V, describing the Aztec capital city, Tenochtitlan, and the people who lived there.