page_title: Spanish colonization of the Americas
section_title: Río de la Plata and Paraguay
hierarchical_section_title: Spanish colonization of the Americas / Imperial expansion / Río de la Plata and Paraguay
caption_attribution_description: Español: Monumento a Pedro de Mendoza, Parque Lezama, barrio de San Telmo, Buenos Aires, Argentina. This is a photo of an Argentine monument identified by the ID C566
context_page_description: The Spanish colonization of the Americas began under the Crown of Castile and spearheaded by the Spanish conquistadors. The Americas were invaded and incorporated into the Spanish Empire, with the exception of Brazil, British North America, and some small regions in South America and the Caribbean. The crown created civil and religious structures to administer this vast territory. The main motivations for colonial expansion were profit and the spread of Catholicism through indigenous conversions.
  Beginning with the 1492 arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Caribbean and gaining control over more territory for over three centuries, the Spanish Empire would expand across the Caribbean Islands, half of South America, most of Central America and much of North America. It is estimated that during the colonial period, a total of 1.86 million Spaniards settled in the Americas and a further 3.5 million immigrated during the post-colonial era; the estimate is 250,000 in the 16th century, and most during the 18th century as immigration was encouraged by the new Bourbon Dynasty.
context_section_description: Argentina was not conquered or later exploited in the grand fashion of central Mexico or Peru, since the indigenous population was sparse and there were no precious metals or other valuable resource.  Although today Buenos Aires at the mouth of Rio de la Plata is a major metropolis, it held no interest for Spaniards and the 1535-36 settlement failed and was abandoned by 1541.  Pedro de Mendoza and Domingo Martínez de Irala, who led the original expedition, went inland and founded Asunción, Paraguay, which became the Spaniards' base. A second (and permanent) settlement was established in 1580 by Juan de Garay, who arrived by sailing down the Paraná River from Asunción, now the capital of Paraguay. Exploration from Peru resulted in the foundation of Tucumán in what is now northwest Argentina.
caption: Monument to Pedro de Mendoza, Buenos Aires
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