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The Treaty of Tordesillas is signed, dividing newly discovered overseas lands between Portugal and Spain.
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Spanish Empire at its height, with Spain the predominant European power. The rise of Protestant states in northern Europe and the Ottoman Empire in the Mediterranean begin the country's gradual decline.
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Vasco Nuñez de Balboa becomes the first European to gaze upon the Pacific Ocean after cutting his way across the Isthmus of Panama.
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La Noche Triste: The "Night of Tears" in which almost two thirds of Cortés' men—nearly 800 in total—are killed as they try to escape Tenochtitlan after the death of Moctezuma.
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Is the begining of New Spain.
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Juan Diego, a Mexican peasant, has an apparition of the Virgin of Guadalupe. Before long, Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe becomes the patron saint of the New World.
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Francisco Pizarro invades the Incan Empire and begins the conquest of Peru.
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A Basque army veteran named Ignatius Loyola founds the Society of Jesus, better known as the Jesuits. Their mission is to become an "Army of God" under papal authority to root out heresy and Protestantism. They set up missions throughout the New World in an effort to win souls for Catholicism by converting Native Americans.
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Silver is discovered at Potosí in Bolivia. Spain begins to reap huge financial rewards from its New World colonies.
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Santa Fe, the capital of present-day New Mexico, is founded.
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The Popé rebellion begins as Pueblo Indians under Native American Chief Popé attack Santa Fe, driving the Spanish from the area. Spanish colonists react by ending the encomienda system in 1717, allowing Pueblos to own land, and baptizing babies at birth.
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It takes 12 years of fighting for the Spanish to subdue the Pueblo Indians in New Mexico.
