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Columbus arrives in the Bahamas. Europeans are in the Americas to stay. Columbus eventually makes four voyages to the New World, but dies dejected and forgotten in Valladolid, Spain in 1506.
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The encomienda system begins, granting Indians to Spanish encomenderos as slaves. The Spaniards are tasked with protecting the natives and teaching them Christianity. The system is rife with abuses.
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Because of his work with the native peoples of South America. Las Casas was named the protector of the Indians.
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Cortés and his men conquer the entire Aztec Empire in what will later become Mexico.
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Francisco Pizarro invades the Incan Empire and begins the conquest of Peru.
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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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Bartolomé de Las Casas and Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda debate the rights of Indians in the New World in Valladolid, Spain.
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After many years of working to protect the native people of South America, Las Casas died on July 18, 1566, in Madrid, Spain.
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Map of colonial South American and West Indies
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After several years of fighting, liberators Simon de Bolivar and José de San Martín complete the South American independence movement. Spain is left with only Cuba and Puerto Rico as colonies.
