How Much Do You Know About the Spanish Empire?

The Santa Maria belonged to a certain Juan de la Cosa and was commandeered for the journey. There were two other ships with Columbus, the Pinta and the Santa Clara (also called the Nina).

The Inca were the final nation to fall to the Spanish. Living in Peru they, were conquered by 1533.

A minor noble, Hernan Cortes chose the New World as his point of exploration. Cortes was known for his brutality toward the inhabitants of the New World.

Montezuma II was the leader of the Aztecs when Hernan Cortes and his men arrived in their territory. He sent them gold as tribute.

The Aztecs had a well-established society which saw people arranged in group of city states that traded with each other, formed alliances and even went to war.

Francisco Pizarro was responsible for defeating the Inca nation in Peru. Interestingly, he was a distant cousin of Hernan Cortes.

Well they certainly knew what they were going to to New World for, didn't they? And conquer they did ... often with great cruelty.

The Aztecs were native to Mexico and had lived there from around 1300.

An independent group, the Tlaxcaltecas helped Hernan Cortes overcome the Aztecs. Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Tlaxcaltecas and the Aztecs had been at war.

Santo Domingo was first established in 1496, interestingly, by Christopher Columbus' brother, Diego. This was on the island of Hispaniola.

The legend of El Dorado changed over time, but many believed it was a city in the New World which was made of gold. It became the focal point of many conquistador expeditions.

Having never had to deal with smallpox before and not having antibodies to fight it, smallpox devastated the local populations in many areas the conquistadors explored

Montezuma II, the Aztec leader when Hernan Cortes arrived on his exploration, is said to have sent him gold and chocolate as tribute.

Although Italian, Amerigo Verspucci sailed under the Spanish flag. He is credited with discovering America, the first explorer to do so.

Those who chose to seek fame and fortune in the New World were called conquistadors.

Columbus tried to get funding from the Spanish monarchy for a long time before they finally agreed to sponsor his first voyage. King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella had initially turned him down.

Between 1524 and 1526, the Spanish defeated the Mayan nation, whose people lived in the Yucatan Peninsula.

Yes, the Spanish were a major influence on the island and indigenous people of Cuba, which certainly can still be seen today.

Incredible but that's what he offered. It is said he filled up a room three times in presenting this gold and silver to the Spanish. It didn't help. He was executed.

During their discoveries, the Spanish found the Pacific Ocean. This was found by Vasco Núñez de Balboa.

The first land sighted during the journey and upon which Columbus landed was the Bahamas. It had taken five weeks to cross the Atlantic Ocean.

Juan de la Cosa was a cartographer by trade and had even sailed with Columbus. He wanted to map as much of the New World as possible.

Although he was Italian, Christopher Columbus was an excellent seafarer, trained in Portugal. He helped discover the new world while looking for an alternate way to the East Indies.

Established in 1510, Santa María la Antigua del Darién gave the Spanish a solid base from which to accelerate their expansion of the New World.

Once they had dispatched with the three major nations in the Incas, Mayans and Aztecs, Spanish forces quickly advanced through the rest of South America except Brazil.

Portugal was the world's foremost seafaring nation at the time, with Spain eager to follow their neighbors in the finding and conquest of new lands.

A seriously impressive feat, Francisco de Orellana navigated the Amazon during 1541 and 1542.

That's got to hurt! I would have told them where the gold is in a flash!

Christopher Columbus undertook four journeys to the west. These were in 1492, 1493, 1498 and 1502.

Columbus immediately claimed the land for Spain, calling it San Salvador

While the local people called the island Guanahani, the name San Salvador, chosen by Columbus, meant Holy Savior.

Whether this story is true remains up for debate. He was killed by either the Charrúa or Guarani indians. The Guarani were know to practice cannibalism.

And still today, while all South American countries speak Spanish, Brazil speaks Portuguese. They had arrived in Brazil in 1500 under the command of Pedro Alvares Cabral.

Guacamole, which we still love today, was an Aztec dish. It was thought to be an aphrodisiac by the Spanish.

Some would argue that early primitive guns were the reason the conquistadors were successful. Although they certainly played a part, they were very slow to load. The secret of the Spanish success was armor. The weapons of the locals struggled to pierce it.