. Immediately after Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas in 1492, Spain began a series of expeditions into North, Central and South America. In 1519 Hernan Cortes began a campaign to conquer Tenochtitlan. It took several years but eventually he prevailed. The Aztec capital was razed to the ground and replaced by Mexico City. Mexico City quickly became the political/military center for most of Spain's possessions in North and Central America - what they were to call New Spain. The conquistadores brought great wealth to the throne but they also posed potential political risks as they grew stronger. The Spanish monarchy sought to neutralize those risks. A royal judicial body, the audencia, reporting directly to the Spanish crown was created in Mexico City in 1527. .In 1535 Antonio de Mendoza was named the first viceroy of New Spain. The viceroy was the king's representative and as such controlled the bureaucracy (but not the audencia). Military figures in New Spain had
· At the turn of the 20th century, the Indian was literally headed for extinction. · At the turn of the 21st century, the Indian has not only survived, indeed he and she has become a viable, even necessary factor in the life of the nation and the world. 9. When did the Spanish colonization of America begin? Which areas of the present US belonged to Spain? Colonial expansion under the crown of Castile was initiated by the Spanish conquistadores and developed by the Monarchy of Spain through its administrators and missionaries. The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions. It lasted for over four hundred years, from 1492 to 1898. *Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus, over nearly four centuries the Spanish Empire would expand across: most of present day Central America, the
annaabi.ee 
