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Spanish Conquistadores Being Tortured
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...

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Proclamation of the Spanish Constitution of 1812
Proclamation of the Spanish Constitution of 1812 by the Cortés de Cádiz during the Peninsular War, image by Salvador Viniegra, 1912.

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Spanish Silver Dollar, 1771
Spanish silver dollar from the reign of Charles III of Spain (r. 1759–1788). Minted in Mexico, under the authority of the Kingdom of Spain, 1771.

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Montezuma - Last Ruler of the Aztecs
Montezuma (aka Moctezuma), or more correctly, Motecuhzoma II Xocoyotzin, meaning 'Angry Like A Lord’, was the last fully independent ruler of the Aztec empire before the civilization's collapse after the Spanish Conquest in the early 16th...

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Treaty of Tordesillas
The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas (Tordesilhas) was an agreement between the monarchs of Spain and Portugal to divide the world between them into two spheres of influence. The imaginary dividing line ran down the centre of the Atlantic Ocean...

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The Conquest of New Spain
The Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Díaz del Castillo (1492 to c. 1580) is an account written in 1568 of the early Spanish colonization of Mesoamerica, specifically the conquest of the Aztec civilization in Mexico from 1519 to 1521 when Díaz...

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Repartimiento
The repartimiento system was a distribution of rights to Spanish colonialists and municipalities, which allowed them to extract forced but low-paid labour from local communities in conquered territories. Designed to replace the inefficient...

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Encomienda
The encomienda was a system where Spanish adventurers and settlers were granted the legal right to extract forced labour from indigenous tribal chiefs in the Americas colonies of the Spanish Empire. In return, the Europeans were expected...

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The Spanish Singer by Manet
An 1860 oil on canvas painting, The Spanish Singer, by Edouard Manet (1832-83), the French modernist painter. The subject is here painted in a conservative style and, consequently, it was accepted by the Salon of Paris in 1861 and won a commendation...

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Spanish Conquest & Exploration in South America in the 16th Century
A map illustrating Spain’s drive to expand its empire in South America following the occupation of the larger Caribbean islands by 1512. The promise of gold drove the Spaniards far and wide across the continent, from the Isthmus of Panama...