Episode 5: The Spanish Opening - Part 2

1492 was one of the great turning point years in all of history. In January, Spanish armies completed the Reconquista, ending 800 years of Muslim civilization in Europe. Later that month, Queen Isabella of Castile granted an audience to a little know Italian navigator named Christopher Columbus, who had a plan to reach Asia by sailing west and bypassing the established routes of the spice trade dominated by Venice, Portugal, and the Ottoman Empire. Isabella later agreed to fund and outfit his voyage, and in August he set sail.  In October he landed - not in Asia, of course, but in the islands of the Caribbean off the coast of a continent no one in the old world knew existed. Spain would not corner the Asian spice market like Columbus and Isabella initially hoped, but by the close of 1492, Spain was in possession of newly “discovered” islands that formed the foundation for what would become the largest empire the world had ever seen. 

Columbus claimed the position of Viceroy over the new colonies for himself and for his heirs, but he and later his bothers and sons proved to be so incompetent and unpopular that Spanish authorities reneged on their initial agreement after Isabella died. Into this power vacuum came ambitious members of the courts of Castile and Aragon with dreams of fortune and glory in the new world. One of the most successful was Diego Velasquez de Cuellar, who came first to Hispaniola to work for the crown and later led the conquest of Cuba.  He then ruled over the entire island as governor and brought all future conquests under his control, becoming the most powerful man in the Caribbean in the process.

Around 1505 the explorers and conquerors began to be joined by colonizers who would populate and build societies in the newly conquers islands. This included crown officers, bureaucrats, entrepreneurs, and church authorities all looking for a piece of the new world for themselves. 

One of these ambitious figures was Hernan Cortés, a notary from a minor noble family in Extremadura, a backwater region in western Castile. A distant uncle happened to be the crown’s top official in the Caribbean and young Hernan took a position in his administration. Later, he joined Velasquez de Cuellar in the conquest of Cuba and took large tracks of land and mines as a reward. His new holdings made him wealthy.  He soon married Catalina Suarez, a young woman from a wealthy noble family, and was named mayor of Santiago de Cuba. Cortés, though, fell out of favor with Velasquez and was forced to watch from the sidelines as others were chosen to explore the new continental landmass discovered to the west. After two expeditions to scout the Yucatan peninsula in modern-day Mexico, Velazquez began planning a third, more ambitious mission, and soon Cortés would get his chance to redeem himself. Little did Velasquez de Cuellar realize; redemption was the last thing on Cortés’ mind. 

The Cutting Edge

Spanish Conquistadores were the elite warriors of their day. They were inheritors of 800s years of military advances in technology and tactics that were refined and perfected during their wars to reclaim the Iberian Peninsula from the Muslim Moors.

Spice Spice Baby

The spice trade was the economic engine of the middle ages. It formed a proto-globalization that connected east and west beginning in late antiquity. By 1500, that trade was dominated by the Portuguese, who had command of the sea route around Africa, and the Venetians and the Ottoamns, who together controlled the route that went through the mediterranean sea and then on to India and beyond by land and sea.

…Columbus sailed the ocean blue.

Was he a great man who changed history? An evil man who initiated genocide? A con artist who failed to find a western route to Asia as he initially set out to do? Whatever your perspective on these questions, there’s no doubt that his voyage set the stage for the ascendency of western civilization that would come to dominate the world over the next 500 years.

If looks could kill

Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano was born to a minor noble family in the backwater region of Extremadura in the kingdom of Castile. Thanks to a family member who represented the crown in the new Caribbean colonies, he made his way to the new world to seek his fortune in 1504.

Weapons of War

Conquistadores were experts of the most advanced weapons systems available anywhere in the world, including early firearms. They were also masters of tactics that allowed them to employ these weapons in the most lethal way possible.

In fourteen hundred ninety-two…

He thought he was sailing to Asia to corner the spice market, but what Columbus found would instead from the foundation for the largest empire the world had ever seen for his Spanish patrons.

The Power Broker

Diego Velazquez de Cuellar maneuvered to become the most powerful man in the Caribbean after he led the conquest of Cuba and brought all future exploration and expansion in the region under his authority.