CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS AND THE SPANISH EMPIRE Prior to 1492 and Christopher Columbus' voyage to the Americas, Spain's only possession of any consequence outside Europe were the Canary Islands. By the mid sixteenth century, however, Spain would control much of the Caribbean, large portions of the Americas and parts of Africa. This rapid acquisition of overseas possessions was accompanied and aided by the establishment and consolidation of hegemony in Europe through a series of political marriages. Instead …showed first 75 words of 2937 total…

…showed last 75 words of 2937 total… Whatever else one can conclude about Columbus' journeys and their impact, the fact remains that, as G.V. Scammel writes, the voyage in 1492 revealed a previously unknown continent and "set in motion ... a staggering sequence of exploration and conquest." Within a decade of Columbus' death, the entire length of the coast from Honduras to Pernambuco had been mapped, and all the major West Indian islands, save Barbados, had been explored by Europeans. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ **Bibliography**