by Strong Americas | Aug 6, 2026
Spanish expeditions searching for a route to Andean silver reached the Paraguay River in the 1530s, and in 1537 Domingo Martínez de Irala’s men established a fort at Asunción that became the base for Spain’s colonization of the region. Finding little gold,...
by Strong Americas | Aug 6, 2026
Spanish exploration of the Isthmus of Panama began in 1501 with Rodrigo de Bastidas and continued with Christopher Columbus’s voyages along the coast. Vasco Nunez de Balboa crossed the isthmus and reached the Pacific Ocean in 1513, a discovery that underscored...
by Strong Americas | Aug 6, 2026
Spanish explorers under Christopher Columbus first reached the Nicaraguan coast in 1502, but sustained conquest did not begin until Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba’s expedition of the 1520s. Hernandez de Cordoba founded the cities of Granada and Leon in 1524,...
by Strong Americas | Aug 6, 2026
Spanish forces under Hernan Cortes conquered the Aztec Empire between 1519 and 1521, bringing the territory that is now Mexico under Spanish rule and forming the core of the viceroyalty of New Spain. Mexico City, built on the ruins of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan,...
by Strong Americas | Aug 5, 2026
Jamaica entered the colonial era in 1494, when Christopher Columbus reached the island during his second voyage. Spanish settlement began in earnest after Juan de Esquivel founded Sevilla la Nueva in 1509, with the colonial capital later relocated to Villa de la Vega,...
