Colonisation

Colonisation

After Christopher Columbus landed in the West Indies in 1492, Spain and Portugal started disputing areas of influence on the South American continent. The dispute was eventually settled by the Pope (Alexander VI), who in 1493, drew up defined areas of influence for the two nations with the idea of spreading Christianity to the natives in those territories. In time the Portuguese territory became known as Brazil, hence the working language of that country to this day is Portuguese, while most of the rest of the continent speaks Spanish.

On 1 August 1498, during his third voyage, Columbus finally sighted the South American mainland for the first time. The next white explorer to reach the continent was the Portuguese navigator Pedro Cabral, who anchored off the coast of present day Brazil in April 1500 - a territory which he then claimed for Portugal. However, the claim was ignored for more than 30 years by Portugal itself, whose sailors had in the interim sailed round Africa to India.

During this time of Portuguese indifference, the Spanish seized the initiative in Central America and the West Indies. In 1519, the Portuguese explorer Ferdinand Magellan, then employed by the Spaniards, first sailed up the Rio de la Plata River. He then proceeded south and in November 1520, first sailed round the southernmost part of South America and sighted the Pacific Ocean.

1. Spain

In 1519, Cortes with about 600 men set sail for South America with a few cannon and horses. A last minute dispute with the Spanish governor saw Cortes' expedition being officially cancelled, but Cortes continued, later bringing back gold and other riches to the Spanish crown as justification for his expedition. The army sailed west along the Gulf Coast, engaging in a major battle against a local tribe.

It was at this first battle that Cortes realized the technological advantage the Europeans possessed: steel armour, guns, cannons and even horses were completely unknown to the people of Central America, and many tribesmen fled at the very sight of a powerful charge horse. These advantages were pressed home remorselessly, and all the native tribes in Central and South America were to pay dearly for being technologically so far behind the Europeans.

At the time of the Spanish conquest of Central America, the Aztecs had created an empire which stretched