Conquistadors or conquistadores was a term used to refer to Spanish and Portuguese colonialists of the early modern period. During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond the Iberian Peninsula to the Americas, Oceania, Africa and Asia, establishing new colonies and trade routes. They brought much of the "New World" under the dominion of Spain and Portugal.
Hernán Cortés led the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire and expanded the Spanish Empire in the Americas
Ponce de León and his explorers in Florida searching for the Fountain of Youth
Christopher Columbus and his Spanish crew making their first landfall in the Americas in 1492
Hernando de Soto and Spanish conquistadors seeing the Mississippi River for the first time.
The Age of Discovery also known as the Age of Exploration, part of the early modern period and largely overlapping with the Age of Sail, was a period from approximately the 15th century to the 17th century, during which seafarers from a number of European countries explored, colonized, and conquered regions across the globe. The Age of Discovery was a transformative period in world history when previously isolated parts of the world became connected to form the world system and laid the groundwork for globalization. The extensive overseas exploration, particularly the European colonization of the Americas, with the Spanish and Portuguese, and later the British, at the forefront, spurred global trade. The interconnected global economy of the 21st century has its roots in the expansion of trade networks during this era.
A replica of the Portuguese caravel Caravela Vera Cruz. These small, highly manoeuverable ships played an important role in overseas exploration.
A replica of the Spanish carrack Victoria which completed the first circumnavigation of the Earth in 1522.
Pintle-and-gudgeon stern-post rudder of the Hanseatic league flagship Adler von Lübeck (1567–1581).
The Silk Road and spice trade routes which the Ottoman Empire later expanded its use of in 1453 and onwards, spurring European exploration to find alternative sea routes