The Spanish Atlantic World, 1492-1825 : From Kingdoms to Colonies to Independence

The overseas enterprises of Spain expanded dramatically following the first voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492.The Spanish had already conquered the Canary Islands, which served as a base for the later conquest of lands in the Americas (known as the Indies) that served as the foundation of the Spanish Atlantic world.After 1492 Spanish colonists fanned out from a few Caribbean outposts to Mexico, as armies overthrew the Aztec Empire and annexed the Maya domains in southern Mexico and Central America.In just over a decade the Spaniards brought down the Inca Empire, giving the Castilians control over the vast human and mineral resources in South America.Over the course of the sixteenth century, the Castilian invaders, followed by crown bureaucrats and Catholic clergymen, consolidated control over the central regions of Mexico and Peru.Spain eventually claimed control over the vast region from the current southwest of the United States to the southern tip of South America, creating a m