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Ferdinand and Isabella had used the Inquisition more for the purpose of intrenching themselves in power than for the good of souls and the Dons and the priests who crossed to America knew how well it had worked. The highest authorities of Church and State had taught them the use of torture, murder, extortion, espionage, injustice for personal aims. They were all very fine people in some respects but then again they had some funny little ways that led to the robbery and death of anybody who had something that the Spanish wanted. And what they wanted was gold.
Gold was to them a medium of exchange for anything on earth they craved. Gold was to the Aztee or Incan just a nice thing for decorative purposes and was plentiful. So they were willing to let the Spanish have it for peace sake. And, for the good of all, the Spanish took it and then enslaved, split open or burned the former owner.
Things took a quick start. Within two years after Columbus made his report Spain and Portugal, without asking anybody except the Pope, divided the world into east and west halves and Spain took the western half. But neither had any idea as to just what they were dividing.
Eighteen years passed before Ponce de Leon found . North America at Florida. Twenty-five years passed before Cortez landed in Central America. Pineda
saw the Mississippi River in the same year, 1519. It was also in that same year that Magelhaes discovered what a lot of water there was in the Pacific Ocean. This was an eventful year in discovery.
While Columbus was anxiously looking westward for a sight of land Henry VIII of England was one year old. England was not taking part in world events as a maritime power. Henry’s paternal was getting all his thrills by the saving of pennies, knowing that the dollars would take care of themselves. Then Henry VIII came to the throne and found himself so busy with his wives and the Pope and with stripping the clergy that he could not be bothered with Aztecs and Incans, gold-laden galleons and discovery. He was enslaving, splitting open and burning folks right around home.
He, Henry, was nearly through by the time the outlines of Central and South America, on both sides, became known.
France, meanwhile, had hired a Florentine named Verrazano to explore the coast of North America from North Carolina to New Foundland. That was in 1524. They made efforts to colonization in 1534, a matter of ten years later. Port Royal in South Carolina, was settled in 1562 and the St. Johns river in Florida, in 1565. The Spanish retaliated at once with the settlement of St. Augustine and destroyed the French colony.