Conquistadores

Conquistadores 

the participants in the Spanish conquest of South and Central America in the late 15th and 16th centuries. The campaigns of the conquistadores were accompanied by the extermination or enslavement of the tribes and peoples of the West Indies and Central and South America, by the devastation and plundering of entire regions, and by acts of vandalism, violence, and mass torture. The plundered gold, slaves, and lands were divided among the conquistadores, whose leaders included P. Alvarado, Nún̄ez de Balboa, P. Valdivia, D. Velásquez, G. J. Quesada, H. Cortés, and F. Pizarro.

REFERENCE

Las Casas, B. de. Istoriia Indii. Leningrad, 1968. (Translated from Spanish.)
Bartolomé de Las Casas: K istorii zavoevaniia Ameriki. Moscow, 1966. (Collection of articles.)
Kirkpatrick, F. A. The Spanish Conquistadores, 3rd ed. London, 1963.