Jose Velazquez

@AurelioCaldeir1 I can relate to stopping in a location to prepare, we did the same in Panama City. It definitely gives a good chance to prepare for the conquest.

July 26th 1597: We have made it to the Cape Verde islands. We plan to stay here for a short amount of time. This will give us time to plan out the rest of our journey. Unfortunately Barthumule Dias will not be going the rest of the way with us. But he will help prepare us.

Most people in Spain are Roman Catholics and now it is the same in South America too! #spanishinfluence #spreadofculture #opportunities God is always with us.

I also did not mention that thanks to the surplus of Spanish settlements in South America we have had many people leave Spain to live there and many of our men have married the natives there which have caused complete #blendingofcultures, our influence has expanded!

@PoloMaffeo It is so interesting to meet different people along the journey. The priests and our crew during my journey constantly prayed for the non-Christian people we met. God is with us.

When we went through the Pamir Mountains, we met local people that would give us shelter, and we tried to communicate with them but it was kinda hard, we learned a lot of their langue but like always we had to move with our journey.

When we visited Tabriz, the Safavid kingdom was ruling the city and it was the capital that's why it was so rich and beautiful. When we visited Badakhshan, a local dynasty was the roller but we don't know much about them, we just stayed there to sleep ad get some resources.

@MiguelV93457632 It is a blessing that us Spaniards, have been able to spread the Spanish influence all over the world.

(February 5th, 1516) We have finally reached the "mainland" of this new continent, South America. In front of us is a new opportunity, a new land, a whole new future! This is very exciting! We are finally here, I can't believe it! I will keep you all updated with everything...

I sometimes wonder if we could have gained from their culture...

We managed to gain a lot for Spain in the short and long term however we also slowly stripped the Incas of their identity, weakening them, killing them and their leader. Leaders were incredibly important to them, their power was on they wholeheartedly believed in.

Thank you, everyone, for keeping up with my journey. My life has been full of adventure and I wouldn't trade it for anything else. I am forever grateful to Maestro Pizarro and our exploration. Bye everyone ⛵️👋🏻🌊🗺😋

Many elements of the Inca civilization, including their complex farming method called the agricultural pattern in the vertical archipelago, were systemically ruined by us. We forced them to work in the gold mines and adopt our Spanish culture.

We destroyed the Incas and forced them to hide their culture, isolating them, until some of them in the north decided to rebel.

The Incas did not 'welcome' us once we took over but those that survived rather had to live as Spaniards in their own land, which we claimed as our own and isolate the 'Inca' part of themselves.

I believe that as we gained opportunities for Spain we were a threat to the Incas and their society, they had to retreat into isolation, hiding their culture and old ways of life.

When we first met most of them, they felt no need to be on the offense or defense because we had deceived them, and once we got rid of their leader and then we massacred many of their innocent men. We also brought illnesses like smallpox to their lands, which caused many deaths.

When we encountered the Incas we made them believe we came in peace, it was a part of our strategy. I got a chance to observe aspects of their culture and language. They seemed devoted to their leaders, they performed a sacrifice years ago upon the death of their leader.

This will probably be one of my last updates. I do not have much contact with the old members of the crew but there are nights when I cannot sleep, remembering what we did. While I feel our success, it definitely came at a cost.

I have heard of El Greco and Velázquez and their masterpieces recently created. And Cervantes and his novel called Don Quixote. #proudtobespanish I believe that conquering and gaining of land and power has allowed for such great people to expose their talents.

So many Spanish conquistadors have established Spanish settlements all over the world, we now have much more money to build our country, I am particularly proud of our cultural growth and innovation.

The City of Kings has granted us the opportunity to communicate and discuss trade opportunities with Panama City. This is exciting news, we are extending and increasing Spanish influences all over the world. Upon visiting home I heard this has been called the Golden Age for Spain

Another victory for Maestro Pizarro and our crew, we have created a city in this old Inca land. It is ours, it is Spain's! The gold is ours too! We call it... Ciudad de los Reyes which translates to City of Kings.