The History of the Spanish Conquistadors

Spanish explorers and conquistidors then moved into the caribean. cortes led an expedition to the mainland that saw him make contact with and conquer the aztec empire of the central mexican plateau. These first decades after the arrival of the spanish were, as you will recall, a humanitarian disaster for the indigenous population. But despite this top down political structure that traced its authority directly to the king himself, in the early days of hapsburg new spain, it was really a pretty decentralized ruling structure.