Christopher Columbus is often mistakenly referred to as a conquistador, but he was not one. Columbus was an Italian explorer who sailed under the Spanish flag. His voyages across the Atlantic Ocean in the late 15th century opened the way for widespread European exploration and the eventual conquest of the Americas. However, Columbus himself did not engage in the conquest and colonization that followed his initial discoveries. The term ‘conquistador’ specifically refers to the Spanish soldiers, explorers, and adventurers who took part in the conquest of the Americas after Columbus’s voyages. These conquistadors, such as Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro, led military campaigns that resulted in the fall of indigenous empires like the Aztec and Inca. Columbus’s role was more about exploration and establishing initial contact, rather than the direct conquest and colonization that characterized the actions of the conquistadors.
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