Chronology of Latin (Spanish, Portuguese, and French) Discoveries and Encounters

The two lists that follow attempt to separate so-called discoveries by Europeans of places in the Western Hemisphere from actual conquests by Europeans of pre-Columbian inhabitants in a hemisphere that Europeans very quickly began to identify as the New World. Of course, the Western Hemisphere was not "new" at all to the inhabitants whose peoples had lived on this continent for as many as a thousand generations; i.e., as far back as 18,000 B.C.E. A more neutral way to refer to the Europeans' "discoveries" is by referring to the meeting of these two groups of individuals from very different places and cultures as "encounters. The first list, then, shows some of the principal encounters, which, in the very beginning did not necessarily mean total physical conquest. The second list does refer to such military and cultural conquests. Note: neither list is totally complete; rather they attempt to show the most significant items under each category.

1492 Columbus (Cristóbal Colón): Cuba, la Española (Hispaniola). Spain

1494 Treaty of Tordesillas (Spain/Portugal)

1493 Columbus(Colón): Puerto Rico. Spain

1497 Sebastian Cabot (Sebastiano Caboto, Genoa): Newfoundland (Canada). England

1498 Columbus (Colón): South America (Venezuela and the Orinoco River) . Spain

1500 Pedro Álvares Cabral: Brazil. Portugal

1502 Columbus(Colón): Central America. Spain

1512 Juan Ponce de León: Florida (la Florida) . Spain

1513 Vasco Núñez de Balboa: the Pacific Ocean. Spain

1516 Juan Díaz de Solís: Argentina. Spain

1519 – 1522 Fernão de Magalhães (Magellan) & Juan Sebastián Elcano: circumnavigation of the globe. Spain

1522 Pascual de Andagoya: Perú (¿pirú?). Spain

1524 Giovanni da Verrzzano: South Carolina to Newfoundland. Italian sailor for France.

1528 – 1536 Álvar Núnez Cabeza de Vaca (ith Pánfilo de Narváez) Florida to New Mexico. Spain

1535 Hernán Cortés: California (Baja California and the place name). Spain

1539 Hernando de Soto: Florida. Spain

1542 Francisco Vásquez de Coronado: New Mexico (Nuevo México) to Kansas. Spain

1542 João Rodrigues Cabrilho: Upper California (Alta California). Portuguese sailor for Spain.

1562 Jean Ribault: Carolinas and Florida. France

1603 Samuel de Champlain: La France Nouvelle (New France; i.e., Canada). France

1687 Eusebio Francisco Kino: Arizona and inland California. Italian Jesuit missionary for Spain.

Conquests / Conquistas

1493 – 1501 Columbus (Colón): la Española (the indigenous people of Haiti and the Dominican Republic died or were killed; a virtual genocide) African slaves were imported to replace the indigenous people (1501-1830). Spain

1510 – 1513 Balboa: Panamá (Santa María la Antigua del Darién: first permanent Spanish settlement on mainland). Spain

1519 – 1521 Hernán Cortés: México to Guatemala. Spain

1524 – 1526 Hernán Cortés: Honduras. Spain

1527 – 1546 Francisco de Montejo: Yucatán (México)

1531 – 1541 Francisco Pizarro: Perú. Spain

1536 – 1538 Jiménez de Quesada: Colombia. Spain

1564 Jean Ribault: Fort Caroline (Jacksonville). France

1565 Pedro Menéndez de Avilés: San Agustín, Florida (St. Augustine). Spain

1540 – 1545 Cabeza de Vaca: Argentina and Paraguay. Spain

1540 – 1553 Pedro de Valdivia: Chile. Spain

1580 Juan de Garay: Buenos Aires. Spain

1607 Juan Martínez de Montoya: Santa Fe (New Mexico). Spain

1608 Juan de Oñate: New Mexico (Nuevo México). Spain

1608 Samuel de Champlain: Québec (New France). France

1697 Petén Itzá (Guatemala): last conquest of the Mayas. Spain

1769 Junípero Serra & Gaspar de Portolá: California. Spain

While the motivations, actions, results, and long-term effects of the events shown in both lists overlap in similar ways in most cases, nevertheless, there are a few notable differences. The voyages of discovery were motivated by the trips' sponsors (monarchs, financiers, nobles) by underlying desires for financial, political, and military gain and, therefore, increased power. Personal and national rivalries contributed directly and indirectly to these ventures. Even so, there were other motivating factors involved in the first list. The participants were active men who sought novelty, adventure, excitement, the advancement of knowledge about the Earth, personal individual glory, and thrills. They faced immense obstacles, and they either suffered greatly, or, if successful in their voyages of discovery, they experienced the joys of success, increased prestige, and wonderment and amazement for having seen and experienced things no other Europeans had before they did. Their understanding of themselves and of others increased far beyond anything ever before experienced in their home cultures. In a word, these explorers were Renaissance men in every sense of the term. The results of the actions of both lists combined created Latin America: a new people of mixed ethnicities and cultures; syncretism; multiculturalism; new horizons in the humanities; new opportunities for understanding the Other.

As for the second list, the conquistadores first and foremost were officers and soldiers whose motivations came from the art and practice of battle and war. They were convinced of the superiority of their cause and their own culture, and they were dedicated to imposing both on whomever they might encounter. Personal warrior glory and glory for their superiors (monarchs, sponsors, etc.) were accompanying motivations. Secondarily, I think, they more or less sincerely were motivated by the challenges of obtaining, either peacefully or forcefully, Catholic converts; creating settlements for other kinds of men, women, and children; and establishing colonies that served the purposes of the metropolis (home nation).

In general, the actions involved in the discovery and encounter of various civilizations reflect the positive aspects of the European Renaissance: modernity, individualism, science, reason, progress, humanism. In general, the results of the list of conquests reflect the counterbalancing effects of the same European expansion against the Other: war, destruction, oppression, poverty, confusion, and, sometimes, genocide.