While Spain today is more well known than Portugal, probably due to its incredible soccer tradition, it is by no means the power today that it once was. During the Age of Discovery, Spain joined Portugal in dominating the seas, building an impressive empire that controlled large parts of North and South America. We can see evidence of this today when considering the language spoken by the majority of people south of the United States: Spanish.

In fact, the rivalry between Spain and Portugal for new land and power became so intense that the Pope was once actually asked to settle land disputes between them to prevent war! As with most of the exploration done during this era, the pursuit of creating a powerful empire led to both positive and negative consequences, especially when you consider the controversial figure of Christopher Columbus.