FROM CARIBBEAN ISLANDS TO THE MAINLAND
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From their bases in the Caribbean islands, explorers and conquistadores soon expanded Spanish control to the North American mainland. Within two decades of Fernando Cortés' conquest of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán (renamed Mexico City) in 1519, Hernando de Soto and Francisco Vázquez de Coronado were exploring the vast reaches of the northern frontier of New Spain, adding lands from Florida to Arizona to the royal realms. Gradually, over the course of the three succeeding centuries, these and other areas would be colonized with soldiers, missionaries, and settlers. |