In the space of 50 years, the Spanish Crown acquired vast territories & ten of millions of new subjects in America. How was this feat achieved?

Essay from the year 2001 in the subject Romance Languages - Latin American Studies, grade: 1,7 (A-), University College Cork (History), course: Spanish America, language: English, abstract: In the space of 50 years, the Spanish Crown acquired vast territories & ten of millions of new subjects in America. How was this feat achieved? When Christopher Columbus set sail to the west in 1492, he thought, he was going to find the westward sea-route to India. At that time nobody knew that there was a big, undiscovered continent in-between. What started as a small excursion by Columbus, ended up in the conquest of rather big territories on the main land by men like Hernán Cortés, Francisco Pizarro and Diego de Almagro. The "discovery, conquest, and colonisation marks the Spanish Conquista as a turning-point in history and one of the most stupendous outpourings of human energies on record."1 Although during the conquest the natives were superior in numbers, the Spaniards managed it to make them to their subject. Many different factors played a role in this achievement. One of them was the fact, that once the Spaniards realised, that there was a big possibility in front of them, they acted quickly and effectively. During the time the Spaniards were colonising the islands in the Caribbean, they also started to make some expeditions to the main land. Rumours about rich kingdoms arrived to them while having contact with natives, and so it lasted just a short time until Cortés and the others started to conquer the mainland.