The modern age

1.       The reign of the Catholic Monarchs:

The kingdoms of castile and Aragon were jointly governed by the Catholic Monarchs but each kingdom maintained its own laws and institutions.

The catholic monarchs wanted to increase their territories, so they conquered:

•          The kingdom of Granada (1492)
•           Canary Islands.
•           Kingdom of Naples (Nápoles) Italy
•           Small territories in the north of Africa.
•           Kingdom of Navarra

However, the most important expedition was the one financed by these kings and led by Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) because thanks to this expedition the Europeans discovered a new continent: America.

Cristopher Columbus.

In the 15^th century, people thought the Earth was flat. Columbus was convinced that it was round, so he wanted to arrive in Asia by sailing across the Atlantic Ocean to the west.  He set off from the Port of Palos, in Huelva with three caravels: Pinta, Niña and Santa María.  On the 12^th of October 1492, after 2 months, he landed on an Island in the Caribbean: Guanahani, in the Bahamas.

The Spanish  conquered the Caribbean Islands very quickly and they explored the continent. Different expeditions conquered new territories. The Catholic Monarchs offered conquerors the title of captain or governor as well as tracks of land in the new territories.

They divided the territory into viceroyalties with a viceroy controlling almost everything. The society was organized by race.

•           Spanish: government positions and owned extensive properties and plantations.
•         Mestizos (half Spanish-half natives): some of them had important positions while others lived in poverty.
•           Natives: suffered many abuses. No laws protected them.
•           Africans: were brought from Africa as slaves.

Pre- Columbian peoples

Before the arrival of the Spanish, a great variety of people lived in the Americas. There were small tribes but there were also three enormous empires: the Aztecs, Mayans and Incas

•  Aztecs: Valley of Mexico
• Mayans: South of Mexico, Guatemala and Honduras. They were expert mathematicians and astronomers.
•  Incas: Perú, Ecuador and part of Bolivia.

Mayan pyramid 

Inca city, Machu Picchu