Diego Velazquez Conquers Cuba

1511

With three hundred Spaniards and a chaplain, Diego Velazquez landed on Cuba and began a methodical conquest of the island's Taino villages. The cacique Hatuey, resisting to the end, was burned alive. Cuba became the staging ground from which Cortes would soon launch his assault on Mexico. Cuba's strategic position made it the natural staging ground for mainland conquest, and its ports served the Americas as a naval base for centuries.