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Treaty of Tordesillas
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Treaty of Tordesillas

The 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas (Tordesilhas) was an agreement between the monarchs of Spain and Portugal to divide the world between them into two spheres of influence. The imaginary dividing line ran down the centre of the Atlantic Ocean...
Repartimiento
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Repartimiento

The repartimiento system was a distribution of rights to Spanish colonialists and municipalities, which allowed them to extract forced but low-paid labour from local communities in conquered territories. Designed to replace the inefficient...
Montezuma
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Montezuma

Montezuma (aka Moctezuma), or more correctly, Motecuhzoma II Xocoyotzin, meaning 'Angry Like A Lord’, was the last fully independent ruler of the Aztec empire before the civilization's collapse after the Spanish Conquest in the early 16th...
The Gold of the Conquistadors
Article by Mark Cartwright

The Gold of the Conquistadors

The staggering quantity of gold the conquistadors extracted from the Americas allowed Spain to become the richest country in the world. The thirst for gold to pay for armies and gain personal enrichment resulted in waves of expeditions of...
Game Review: A Plague Tale: Innocence
Article by Jan van der Crabben

Game Review: A Plague Tale: Innocence

A Plague Tale: Innocence is a true masterpiece of interactive storytelling. The video game (console versions on Amazon, PC version on Steam) takes the player back to medieval France. The country is troubled by both the Hundred Years' War...
Ten Notorious French Pirates
Article by Mark Cartwright

Ten Notorious French Pirates

Piracy has involved many nationalities over the centuries, but one of the prominent groups in the medieval and early modern periods was the French pirates, who terrorised the Atlantic, the Caribbean, and the Indian Ocean. French writers often...
Ferdinand Magellan
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Ferdinand Magellan

Ferdinand Magellan, or Fernão de Magalhães (c. 1480-1521), was a Portuguese mariner whose expedition was the first to circumnavigate the globe in 1519-22 in the service of Spain. Magellan was killed on the voyage in what is today the Philippines...
Cochineal
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Cochineal

Cochineal is a brilliant red dye extracted from the crushed bodies of parasitic insects which prey on cacti in the warmer parts of the Americas. The dye was an important part of trade in ancient Mesoamerica and South America and throughout...
Aztec Civilization
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Aztec Civilization

The Aztec Empire (c. 1345-1521) covered at its greatest extent most of northern Mesoamerica. Aztec warriors were able to dominate their neighbouring states and permit rulers such as Montezuma to impose Aztec ideals and religion across Mexico...
Juan de Grijalva
Definition by Mark Cartwright

Juan de Grijalva

Juan de Grijalva (aka Grijalba, 1489-1527) was a Spanish conquistador who explored the eastern coast of Mexico in 1518. His notable achievements included a demonstration that the Yucatán Peninsula was just that and not, as previously thought...
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