In October, 1492, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus arrived in the Caribbean, probably landing on the island of San Salvador. Columbus sailed for Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain, and hoped to establish a trade route to Asia. Several different groups of people inhabited the islands of the Caribbean, including the Taino. The Taino were friendly and eager to trade. They lived in villages and used wood and stone tools for their arts and hunting.

After the first voyage, Columbus returned several times. He brought colonists and the process of colonization of the Americas by Europeans began. Following Columbus were other conquistadors including Hernán Cortés, who reached the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlán, in 1519, and who had conquered the Aztecs by 1521, claiming the land for Spain. Francisco Pizarro captured the Inca capital, Cuzco, in 1533. In 1536, Manco Inca, the son of the Inca king Atahualpa, launched a rebellion against the Spanish, but it was crushed.

In their conquest, the Spanish were aided by their iron weapons and armor, and their guns and horses. They also made alliances at times with native groups. The indigenous population, exposed for the first time to European diseases like measles, smallpox, and typhus, was decimated, particularly in more densely populated areas; diseases, therefore, helped European conquest.

After conquest, the Spanish enslaved the native populations they conquered and put them to work mining the rich deposits of gold and silver and working on ranches and farms under the encomienda system. The cruelty of this system was recognized by some; for example, in the 16th century the priest Bartolomé de las Casas criticized the treatment of the native peoples by the Spanish.

In 1512, the Laws of Burgos were introduced in an attempt by the Spanish government to offer some protection to the indigenous people in the colonies. The later New Law of the Indies (1542) had the same goal. Enslaved Africans were used as replacements when the native population was inadequate, particularly on the plantations of the Caribbean and South America. Other explorers followed the Spanish, and competition to claim new territories increased.

The Treaty of Tordesillas (1494) divided the world into Spanish and Portuguese territory. Colonial governments privileged the peninsulares — those born in Europe. Creoles, those of Spanish descent born in the colonies, had second class status. The colonies were vastly profitable for their European colonizers.

Treasure galleons sailed back to Europe, laden with gold and silver. Along with treasure, came other products — from the Americas, plants such as the potato, tobacco, tomatoes, corn, and pumpkins were introduced into Europe. This is part of a process known as the Columbian exchange. From Europe, the colonizers brought coffee, bananas, horses, cattle, sheep, and sugarcane. Finally, in addition to exploiting the indigenous people they encountered, the Spanish and Portuguese also focused on converting them to Catholicism.

In North America, explorers from France, Britain, and the Netherlands spread out along waterways, staking claims to the lands they visited. French explorers like Jacques Cartier established New France in Canada in 1534, while other French explorers made their way down the Mississippi and established New Orleans in 1718. The French were interested primarily in the fur trade, and established mostly friendly relations with the indigenous people they encountered. Like the Spanish and Portuguese, the French made efforts to convert the people they encountered.

British explorers Sir Walter Raleigh and Henry Hudson also explored North America and laid claim to territory. Raleigh’s exploration led to the ill-fated effort by the British to establish a colony at Roanoke in what is now North Carolina. Unfortunately, however, this colony mysteriously disappeared.