The Typical Conquistador in the Americas The “typical” conquistador: a title given to the many faces of famous white Europeans that came to the New World -- the Americas, to conquer. To name a few, Christopher Columbus, Hernan Cortez, Francisco Pizarro, Ferdinand Magellan have all been credited as your everyday standard conquistador. These men who apparently had so much power and skill were able to conquer and overthrow whole continents with advanced civilizations and powerful empires without difficulty. In some cases, these men were also seen as very negotiable men who without excessive force or violence were able to carry out a peaceful and harmless conquest. Essentially, these “typical” conquistadores have been connected with the notion…show more content… Reading through Mathew Restall’s first chapter in the Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest, one can begin to understand the importance of these men throughout history. Long after their deaths, conquistadores are constantly being contrasted to important achievements of our time, as Mathew Restall mentions, “the exploratory achievements of mankind are placed within a trajectory of being with Columbus’ transatlantic voyages, running through the European settlement of North America, and climaxing into space travel". One can only conclude from this, that men like Columbus set the bar for explorations, and through him, people channel the inspiration to embark on expeditions such as reaching outer space. This idea perpetuates the theory that it was men yielding intelligence, such as the people who landed the first man on the moon, who conquer the masses. Nevertheless, for many the question of how a hand full of people were able to overthrow an empire with populations in the thousands still resonates. Whether people believe it took a genius to conquer or not, this doesn’t sufficiently explain the defeat of well-grounded civilizations, and for those who know a little truth of the conquest of Mexico, know all too well that Cortez and his group of men did not do it alone or without a means of innovative