Numerous subsequent Spanish expeditions followed, eventually leading to the first Spanish colony, Villa Bruselas in Costa Rica in 1524.

The most outstanding attempts in support of annexation were made by former Spanish Army General Narciso López, who prepared four filibuster expeditions to Cuba in the US.

Following Christopher Columbus's discovery of the Americas for Spain, the Spanish sent numerous expeditions to the region, and they began their conquest of Maya lands in the 1520s.

Several Spanish and Portuguese expeditions occurred in about 1340 around the island and the island were inhabited by Maurs and were afflicted with European slave holders.

The Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest, with the 1791 Francisco de Eliza expedition preceding Vancouver by a year, had also missed the Fraser River although they knew from its muddy plume that there was a major river located nearby.

Spanish imperial conquest and colonization began with two Castilian expeditions.

Other expeditions by Spanish and English ships followed, with the islands ' current name stemming from British explorer John Marshall.

Spanish expeditions also discovered Tuvalu, the Marquesas, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea in the South Pacific.

Soon Spanish expeditions would converge upon Tierra Firma ( also Tierra Firme, Spanish from the Latin terra firma, " dry land " or " mainland ") which served in Spanish colonial times as the name for the Isthmus of Panama

They did embark on slaving expeditions in and around St. Vincent following royal sanction in 1511, driving the Carib inhabitants to the rugged interior, but the Spanish made no attempt to settle the island.

* José Celestino Mutis ( 1755 – 1808 ), Spanish botanist ; lead the first botanic expeditions to South America, and built a major collection of plants.

Several European expeditions, including a group of Spanish Jesuits, explored the Chesapeake Bay during the 16th century.

Subsequent conquests, and the Spanish colonization of the Americas by the maritime expeditions they commissioned, created the vast Spanish Empire: for a time the largest in the world.

Much of what is known about pre-18th-century Native American cultures has come from records of Spanish expeditions.

Near the end of 1771 the Portolà Expedition arrived at San Francisco Bay ; between 1774 and 1791, the Spanish Crown sent forth a number of expeditions to explore the Pacific Northwest.

Spanish missionaries brought fruit seeds over from Europe, many of which had been introduced to the Old World from Asia following earlier expeditions to the continent ; orange, grape, apple, peach, pear, and fig seeds were among the most prolific of the imports.

" He decided to send hunters on expeditions to kill the bears in order to feed the Spanish and the Neophytes ( Indians that converted to Christianity ) in the north.

Quickly Spanish expeditions reached the Appalachian Mountains, the Mississippi River, the Grand Canyon and the Great Plains.

In the 16th century, Spanish military expeditions against the sultanate were launched.

Two subsequent expeditions were required ( the first in 1525, followed by a smaller group in 1528 ) to bring the Pipil under Spanish control.

In 1779 a third Spanish expedition, under the command of Ignacio de Artega in the ship Princesa, and with Quadra as captain of the ship Favorite, sailed from Mexico to the coast of Alaska, reaching 61 ° N. Two further Spanish expeditions, in 1788 and 1789, both under Esteban Jose Martínez and Gonzalo López de Haro, sailed to the Pacific Northwest.

These principles derive ultimately from Roman law, transmitted through Spanish and French law, as the state's current territory intersects the area of North America colonized by Spain and by France.

In the early 17th century Spain colonized Guam, the Northern Marianas, and the Caroline Islands ( what would later become the Federated States of Micronesia and Palau ), creating the Spanish East Indies, which was governed from the Spanish Philippines until the Spanish-American War in 1898.

Some of these were on Caribbean islands, which had often already been conquered by the Spanish or depopulated by disease, while others were in eastern North America, which had not been colonized by Spain north of Florida.

Beginning with the arrival of Dutch merchants in 1624, the traditional lands of the aborigines have been successively colonized by Dutch, Spanish, Han ( from both the Ming and Qing dynasties ), Japanese, and Taiwanese ( the Chinese Nationalist government, or Kuomintang ) rulers.

During these early years, the Spanish explored and colonized the southwestern region of the New World, but never sent many forces or settlers to the Hopi country.

The Spanish colonized near the Rio Grande and, because the Hopi did not live near rivers that gave access to the Río Grande, the Spanish never left any troops on their land.

Although Spanish ships associated with the Manila Galleon trade probably contacted the Chumash intermittently during this " protohistoric " period, the Spanish first colonized Santa Barbara County in AD 1769, when the DeAnza expedition explored the area and laid plans to establish a series of missions and presidios ( forts ).

As the area became colonized by the Spanish and later fell under Mexican jurisdiction, the land of the San Vicente Valley became a part of the Mexican land-grant known as Rancho Cañada de San Vicente y Mesa del Padre Barona in 1846.

The area was later colonized by the Spanish beginning in 1598, when Juan de Oñate claimed all territory north of the Rio Grande for New Spain and later became the first governor of the Spanish territory of New Mexico.

As early as 1813 some of the Tejanos who colonized Texas in the Spanish Colonial Period established a government in Texas that looked forward to independence from Mexico.

Before the United States ' borders expanded westward in the 19th century, New World regions colonized by the Spanish Empire since the 16th century held to a complex caste system ( casta ) that classified persons by their fractional racial makeup and geographic origin.

The other three are the Islamic caliphate which created today's Islamic World, the Spanish Empire which dominated and largely colonized the New World, the British Empire which succeeded it, and today's global economic monoculture ( English-speaking ) led by the United States of America which in turn succeeded that.

Many invasive weeds have colonized the mountain habitats, such as annual Mediterranean grasses, Spanish Broom ( Genista juncea ), and Yellow Starthistle ( Centaurea solstitialis ).

Ignored by Spanish explorers, who found the region too hot and poor to be claimed, the region was not colonized until 1604, when a French settlement was founded.

Among the Spanish and Mexican families who colonized New Mexico, a winter tradition consists of gathering to making sweetmeat empanadas for Christmas.

It has a wide cultural tradition that comes from being the urban settlement founded by the Spanish conquerors who colonized the interior of the continent.

Chile has a long viticultural history for a New World wine region dating to the 16th century when the Spanish conquistadors brought Vitis vinifera vines with them as they colonized the region.

Originally inhabited by Nuclear Malayo-Polynesian languages-speaking peoples, the region was colonized in the 16th century by the Portuguese and Spanish, then in the 17th century by the Dutch.

Spanish settlements were established in the New World: Mexico City, the most important colonial city established in 1524 to be the primary center of administration in the New World ; Florida, colonized in the 1560s ; Buenos Aires, established in 1536 ; and New Granada ( modern Colombia ), colonized in the 1530s.

The area was later colonized by the French, the Spanish again, then finally fell into English hands, who occupied it until the American Revolution.