Question 1: Compare and contrast Castilian and Portuguese expansion in the centuries leading up to 1492 (before their arrival in Latin America). Address the following as part of your answer:
Explain their motives behind expansion, locations they expanded to, and methods for finding and acquiring new land.
By the late 15th century, which was more successful with expansion-Spain/Castile, or Portugal? Why did this matter for their expansion into the Americas?
Question 2: Restall and Lane explain that 1492 was an eventful and euphoric year for Spain-but not for the reasons we might think. According to these scholars, Christopher Columbus's historic arrival in the Americas that year was only one of four important events that "marked Spain's birth and its arrival on the European-indeed, the world-stage". (p. 57) what were the other three events that defined 1492 for Spain, and why were they so important?
Use citations from at least two of the assigned readings to support your answer. . Refer back to your answer to question #1: how did these events relate to the motives behind, and methods for, Spanish expansion?
As part of your answer, briefly explain how these four events influenced Spanish colonizers' actions in the early years after Columbus's arrival in the Caribbean.