Conquistador ( or in English; "conqueror") is the name given to the Spanish soldiers, leaders, explorers, and adventurers involved in the conquest of the Americas following Europe's discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus in 1492. The leaders of the conquest of the Aztec Empire were Hernan Cortes and Pedro de Alvarado y Contreras. Francisco Pizarro led the conquest of the Incan Empire.

Characteristics of the conquistadors

The captains of the company were not conquering old people and adolescents as the rest of the host. They were usually mature men, who fought in earlier battles with the Muslims in southern Spain. Conquistadors were more mercenaries than actual soldiers. They had to buy their armor, sword, and horses. The warlords of the conquest of Mexico (Cortes, Alvarado) were, on average, 34 years old. Francisco Pizarro, the oldest of all, was called "El Viejo"(Old) by the Spaniards and "Apu Machu" by the Incas.

The authority of the captain was assured by being granted a royal commission, by his experience and by the fact that he controlled the spoils. On some occasions, captains resorted to extreme measures to maintain their authority, as when Hernán Cortés ordered his men to burn their ships or when Francisco Pizarro charted the bay with his sword on the island of Gallo. Due in part to these types of actions, the soldiers began to see the conquistador captains as heroes and legendary figures. In the case of the conquest of Peru, discipline was maintained until the spoils were split among the men. Once the strict discipline was relaxed, murders and even armed uprisings against the captains resulted.Fact: date=September 2008

Another feature of the conquistadors was the relatively low percentage to come from nobility compared with other contemporary military ventures. Julio R. Villanueva Sotomayor suggests that only 30% of conquistadors were noblemen.Fact: date=May 2008 Commoners made up the bulk of the Spanish forces. Joining a conquistador company was a very attractive method of social advancement in a rigidly stratified society, and a particularly enticing one for un-employed veterans and mercenaries.Fact: date=May 2008

The conquest of the Americas by Spain

POV: date=May 2008

Main article Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Historians have highlighted the short time required for the Spanish conquest of vast populations in the Americas. Exposure of these previously unexposed populations to European diseases caused many more fatalities than the wars themselves, and severely weakened the natives' social structures. The people in the Americas were not previously exposed to several European diseases which resulted in their much higher fatality rate than that of European populations. The diseases moved much faster than invading armies. When the Spanish conquistadores arrived in the Inca empire, a large portion of the population, including the emperor, had already been killed by a smallpox epidemic.