Bernal Díaz del Castillo was a Spanish conquistador, who participated as a soldier in the conquest of Mexico under Hernán Cortés and late in his life wrote an account of the events. As an experienced soldier of fortune, he had already parti...

Jean Parisot de Valette was born into a noble family in Quercy. He was a Knight of St. John, joining the order in the Langue de Provence, and fought with distinction against the Turks at Rhodes. As Grand Master, Valette became the Order's...

Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada was a Spanish explorer and conquistador in Colombia. He explored the northern part of South America. While successful in many of his exploits, acquiring massive amounts of gold and emeralds, he ended his career di...

Ambrosius Ehinger, also (Ambrosio Alfínger in Spanish) was a German conquistador and the first governor of the Welser concession, also known as “Little Venice”, in New Granada, now Venezuela and Colombia. Ehinger was a factor in Madrid for...

Gonzalo Pizarro y Alonso was a Spanish conquistador, brother of Francisco Pizarro. A lieutenant of his brother in the conquest of Peru, Gonzalo aided in the defense of Cuzco (1536-37) against the Inca Manco Capac, subdued Charcas (present B...

Francisco de Montejo y León (el Mozo) was a Spanish conqueror, he was born in 1502. Founder in 1542 of the City of Mérida, capital of State of Yucatán, Mexico. Son of Francisco de Montejo. Circa June of 1527 at the age of 26 years he sailed...

Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, the third Duke of Alba was a Spanish general and governor of the Spanish Netherlands (1567 - 1573), nicknamed "the Iron Duke" by Protestants of the Low Countries because of harsh rule. Although the Duke led oppre...

Francisco de Orellana was a Spanish explorer and conquistador. He completed the first known navigation of the length of the Amazon River, which was originally named for him. He also founded the city of Guayaquil in modern-day Ecuador. Th...

Cristóbal de Mondragón y Mercado was a Spanish general during the Eighty Years' War. He was a prominent military figure of the sixteenth century, and was colonel of one of the Tercios of Flanders under the Duke of Alva, Luis de Requesens...

René of Châlon was a Prince of Orange and stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht and Gelre. René was born in Breda, the only son of Count Henry III of Nassau-Breda and Claudia of Châlon. Claudia's brother, Philibert of Châlon, and the anc...

Pedro Menéndez de Avilés was a Spanish admiral and explorer, best remembered for founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565. This was the first successful Spanish foothold in La Florida and remained the most significant city in the region for...

Count Lamoral of Egmont was a Flemish general and statesman. He was Fillips II's supreme commander and achieved important victories on the French. Therefore he became appointed by Fillips II as governor of Flanders and Artesia, as a member...

Yermak Timofeyevich, born between 1532 and 1542 - 1584) was a Cossack who led the Russian conquest of Siberia in the reign of Ivan the Terrible. Russia’s fur interests fueled their desire to expand east into Siberia. The tsar’s ultimate...

Marcantonio II Colonna (or Marc'Antonio), Duke and Prince of Paliano, was an Italian general and admiral. Colonna, born at Civita Lavinia, was a member of the famous noble family of the Lazio, then one of the most powerful fief holder of th...

Toyotomi Hideyoshi was a daimyo who rose to become the second unifier of japan, after Oda Nobunaga. Hideyoshi was a very powerful emperor who exercised control over nearly all of mainland Japan through shrewd military tactics. He is known f...