During the sixteenth century, the New World helped Spain become the most powerful monarchy in both Europe and the Americas. Initially, Spaniards enslaved Caribbean tribes and put them to work growing crops and mining gold. But the profits from these early ventures barely covered the costs of maintaining the settlers. After almost thirty years of exploration, the promise of Columbus’s discovery seemed illusory.

In 1519, however, that promise was spectacularly fulfilled by Hernán Cortés’s march into Mexico. By about 1545, Spanish conquests extended from northern Mexico to southern Chile, and New World riches filled Spanish treasure chests. Cortés’s expedition served as the model for Spaniards’ and other Europeans’ expectations that the New World could yield bonanza profits for its conquerors while forced labor and deadly epidemics decimated native populations.