Conquistadores

Conquistadores, the conquerors of a New World empire for Spain in the sixteenth century. The conquistadores were men who participated in the conquest of Mexico, Peru, and other regions of what became the Spanish Empire from the early sixteenth century to approximately 1570. They went to the New World seeking a better life for themselves and their families, and often endured incredible hardships in their pursuit of this dream. While the vast majority were laymen, a number of dedicated clerics also participated in the conquests, adding a spiritual dimension to the military ventures.

The conquistadores represented every segment of Spanish society except the high nobility. The early conquistadores and their most celebrated leaders—Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro, Francisco de Montejo, Hernando de Soto, and others—were born in Spain, frequently in Estremadura, and arrived in the New World as young men. Typically they led privately financed expeditions and shared any booty with their men. Most initially saw their exploits as a means to provide wealth which would enable them to return to Spain and live a life of leisure. Except for some participants in the capture and ransom of the Inca Atahualpa, however, few realized their dream, for the rewards of conquest were typically encomiendas, land, and offices, commodities not transferable to Spain. Most conquistadores remained in the New World, some moving every few years in pursuit of "another Peru."

As a group, the conquistadores shared the desire to own a big house and a horse; marry a Spanish wife; be able to entertain family, retainers, and friends lavishly; and live off the labor of natives held in encomienda. Those who were successful diversified their investments and engaged in stock raising, farming, mining, commerce, and officeholding. They and their heirs were a central part of the early colonial aristocracy.

See alsoCortés, Hernán; Encomienda; Pizarro, Francisco; Soto, Hernando de.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Bernal Díaz Del Castillo, The True History of the Conquest of New Spain, 1517–1521, 5 vols. in 4, translated by Alfred P. Maudslay (repr. 1967).

James Lockhart, The Men of Cajamarca: A Social and Biographical Study of the First Conquerors of Peru (1972).

Additional Bibliography

Elizondo, Carlos. El escorpión de oro: Luces y sombras en la extraordinaria vida de Hernán Cortés. México, D.F.: EDAMEX, 1996.

Grunberg, Bernard. "The Origins of the Conquistadores of Mexico City." Hispanic American Historical Review 74, no. 2 (May 1994): 259-283.

López de Gómara, Francisco and Silvia L. Cuesy. Historia de la conquista de México. México, D.F.: Editorial Océano de México, 2003.

Thomas, Hugh. Conquest: Montezuma, Cortés, and the Fall of Old Mexico. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1993.

                                Mark A. Burkholder