Spanish Conquest: Did you mean...?

An audiencia began as a judicial institution in medieval Spain, but in the 16th century, it was applied as the highest form of local government in key cities of the Spanish Empire. An audiencia had a panel of judges made responsible for the...

How did a mere 167 Spaniards conquer an empire of 10 million people? The Spanish were outnumbered 200-to-1 yet they were able to seize the Inca capital, Cuzco, and dispose of the Inca ruler within only a year. Kim MacQuarrie's The Last Days...

Juan de Grijalva (aka Grijalba, 1489-1527) was a Spanish conquistador who explored the eastern coast of Mexico in 1518. His notable achievements included a demonstration that the Yucatán Peninsula was just that and not, as previously thought...

This map illustrates the rapid and often chaotic expansion of British control in India between the Battle of Plassey in 1757 and the eve of the Indian Rebellion in 1857. During this century, the East India Company transformed from a trading...

An illustration showing the torture of indigenous American peoples by Spanish conquistadors. From the 1552 edition of A Very Brief Recital of the Destruction of the Indies by Bartolomé de las Casas which was a graphic indictment of the exploitation...

A c. 1589 map showing the port of Cartagena on the Spanish Main (now in modern Colombia). Cartagena was one of the main ports for the Spanish treasure fleets and acted as a collecting point for gold, silver, emeralds, and pearls from Colombia...

The Roman incorporation of Gaul began with the campaigns of Julius Caesar (58–51 BCE) and resulted in the gradual transformation of a diverse Celtic region into an integral part of the Roman world. By c. 200 CE, Gaul was organized into a...

A map showing the route of the Spanish Armada from May to October 1588 CE. The Armada was sent by Philip II of Spain (r. 1556-1598 CE) to invade the kingdom of Elizabeth I of England (r. 1558-1603 CE) but was defeated by the Royal Navy and...

A 17th century CE painting by Cornelis Claesz van Wieringen of the Spanish Armada which sailed to invade England in 1588 CE. (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)

A 16th-century print by Theodor de Bry showing indigenous peoples gaining revenge on Spanish Conquistadores in the Americas by pouring molten gold down their throats. (From Grand Voyages Accounts to the Americas, and to Africa and the Orient...