Spanish colonization of the Americas

The Spanish colonization of the Americas began with the arrival in America of Christopher Columbus (Cristóbal Colón) in 1492. This was the first part of the European colonization of the Americas.

The Spanish grew their control of land in America over the years until they owned Central America, most of South America, Mexico, the South of what today is Southern United States, the Western part of what today is the United States, the Southwestern part of what today is British Columbia in Canada, and even reaching Alaska.[1] A lot of the colonisation involved Genocide.

At the start of the nineteenth century, the Spanish land in America began a series of independence movements, which led to independence from Spain by the mid-1820s of Mexico, and the colonies in Central and South America. The other Spanish colonies, Cuba and Puerto Rico, were lost in 1898 as a result of the Spanish-American War.