Describe Spain’s early westward explorations in the late 15th – early 16th

centuries. Include the early development of the Spanish Empire (New

Spain).

The age of exploration saw all of the western European nations rise and fall in
power and wealth. From the late 1400’s to the early 1900’s all of Europe scrambled
to carve up the earth, such that all the riches of the world would flow from the
colonized to the colonizers. It all began, however with the capture of Andalusia (the
Iberian Peninsula), and the subsequent commandeering of the Al-Andalus navy.

Shortly after the land south-west of France was christened Spain, the new
Kingdom, needed money to thrive. The major items of trade were Silk, Gold, Silver
and Spices. All of Europe hungered for these items but because they were
surrounded by the Ottoman Empire, were unable to access them, for as long as this
empire existed, they barred any and all Europeans from eastern trade.

Before the advent of the Caravel, Europeans never seriously considered the
sea as a route of trade, but in taking all of Andalusia form the Moors, Europeans
also gained access to this great, ocean worthy ship. Lacking land access, and
needing the goods from the east, the Portuguese and Spanish began a race to see
who could get to the there, and lock up trade routes first. Their original goal was to
reach Japan, and subsequently the other Oriental countries.

In 1492 an Italian Sailor made a spectacular proposition to the Portuguese

monarchy, if they funded him, he proposed, he and his men would find a sea route
to the Far East by sailing west. The Portuguese laughed at him, and he brought the
same proposal to the Spanish Crown. Queen Isabella complied, and that same year,
the Caribbean was claimed for Spain. The claim to the land was solidified, when
Pope Alexander IV issued the Inter caetera, dividing the Caribbean, and yet
undiscovered South American lands in two, pole to pole. Portugal getting the
everything east of the pole, and Spain getting everything west.

Initially, the annexation of Hispaniola yielded very little profit to the conquers.
There was sugar and vegetables to be planted, but the pirates had an insatiable
hunger for gold. This led more raiders to leave Spain in search rumored riches, and
glory in the new world. Later, less than 30 years after the decimation, and
colonization of Hispaniola, the present lands of Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Panama were
each to share the same fate.

For the next ~150 years the, Spanish pillagers toppled every government,
and every nation that they came across. They crushed, and erased any aspects of
aboriginal culture, and replaced it with their own. It's due to the arrival of the
Europeans that the two continents (North and South America) were almost
completely depopulated.

New Spain was the first of the European empires that the “sun never set on”.
At their zenith, The Spanish Empire consisted of the Caribbean islands, South
America(minus Brazil), all of central America, all of the South and Western present
day United States, and the Philippines. The creation and existence of the Spanish
empire was the bane of hundreds of millions, but for Spain, this empire was a
godsend. Without it, Europe would have surely perished under the weight of the
Ottoman trade blockade.

Attached are pictures of the Ottoman, and Moorish empires needed to demonstrate
how Europe was surrounded, and needed to branch out and discover new lands.