Conquistador

Conquistador (meaning "Conqueror" in the Spanish language) is the term used to refer to the soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who achieved the Conquista (this Spanish term is generally accepted by historians), i.e. brought much of the Americas and Asia Pacific under Spanish colonial rule between the 15th and 17th centuries. The Genoese Columbus's discovery of the New World in 1492 afforded Spain a headstart in Colonization of the Americas, i.e. North, South America, continental Central and the Caribbean regions; the whole area was designated the West Indies, as the explorers originally presumed they had reached the (inexistent) Atlantic coast of the Asia-Pacific Far East, which was being reached and soon colonized as 'East Indies', notably the archipelago of the Philippines and Guam.

List of Famous Conquistadors and Explorers

• Hernán Cortés (Mexico, 1518-1522, Honduras, 1524, Baja California, 1532-1536)
• Francisco Pizarro (Peru, 1509-1535)
• Francisco Vásquez de Coronado (southwestern United States, 1540-1542)
• Diego de Almagro (Peru, 1524-1535, Chile, 1535-1537)
• Vasco Núñez de Balboa (Panama, 1510-1519)
• Juan Ponce de León (Puerto Rico, 1508, Florida, 1513 and 1521)
• Pedro de Alvarado (Mexico, 1519-1521, Guatemala 1523 -1527, Peru, 1533-1535, Mexico, 1540-1541)
• Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca (southwestern United States, 1527-1536, South America, 1540-1542)
• Lucas Vásquez de Ayllón (United States east coast, 1524-1527)
• Sebastián de Belalcázar (Ecuador and Colombia, 1533-1536)
• Gonzalo Pizarro (Peru, 1532-1542)
• Juan Pizarro, (Peru, 1532-1536)
• Francisco Hernández de Córdoba (Yucatán, 1517)
• Martín de Goiti, (Manila, Philippines, 1570-1571)
• Juan de Grijalva (Yucatán, 1518)
• Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada (Colombia, 1536-1537, Venezuela, 1569-1572)
• Miguel López de Legazpi, (Philippines, 1565-1571)
• Francisco de Montejo (Yucatan, 1527-1546)
• Juan de Salcedo, (Northern Philippines, 1570-1576)
• Nikolaus Federmann (Venezuela and Colombia, 1537-1539).
• Pánfilo de Narváez (Florida, 1527-1528)
• Diego de Nicuesa (Panama, 1506-1511)
• Cristóbal de Olid (Honduras, 1523-1524)
• Francisco de Orellana (Amazon River, 1541-1543)
• Hernando de Soto (southeastern United States, 1539-1542)
• Inés Suárez, (Chile, 1541)
• Martín de Ursua, Peten region of Guatemala, 1696-1697
• Pedro de Valdivia (Chile, 1540-1552)
• Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar (Cuba, 1511-1519)
• Pedro Menendez de Aviles (Florida, 1565 - 1567)