Christopher Columbus (1451–1506) was a navigator and explorer whose famous 1492 voyage from Spain to the West Indies marked the beginning of successful European colonization of the Americas. ...

Hernán Cortés (1485–1547) was perhaps the most famous of the Spanish conquistadors, the conqueror of the mighty Aztec Empire of Central America. From 1519 to 1521, Cortés commanded the sm...

Hernando de Soto (1496–1542) was a Spanish conquistador who led a disastrous expedition of conquest into the North American interior between 1539 and 1542. De Soto, who hoped to follow in th...

Moctezuma II (1466–1520), also known as Montezuma, was the last emperor of the Aztecs. He was imprisoned by Cortés' Spanish troops and later died in their captivity. Much of his history is...

Francisco Pizarro (1475–1541) was one of the most successful Spanish conquistadors. In 1532, Pizarro led a small force of Spanish soldiers and conquered the mighty Inca Empire. He then founded th...

Junipero Serra (1713–1784) was a Franciscan friar who founded a series of Missions in what is now California. Born in Majorca, Spain in 1713, he joined the Order of Friars Minor in 1730 and...