No nation is more synonymous with exploration in the Early Modern period that Spain. Not only did they find the new world (after millions of Native Americans had already found it centuries earlier), but they set up long term colonies that's impact lasts to this day. The Spanish rule of their colonies in the New World often comes with a deserved negative connotation (see slavery, encomienda). No single group shaped the history of Latin America more than Spain. Below is the story of how a western colony of the Abbasids came to reconquer their own peninsula, explore, and build a massive empire...
Dominated by the Western Hemisphere, the Spanish Empire was the 3rd largest empire in World History (1st=British, 2nd=Mongol)
This map shows British, Dutch and Spanish shipping routes from 1750 to 1800. It's been created from newly digitized logbooks of European ships during this period. (Unfortunately, the French data is not shown.) These lines are the contours of empire and of European colonialism, yes, but they're also the first intimations of the global trade and transportation system that are still with us today. This was the flattening of the world, for better and for worse.
Viceroyalties of Spain
CLIP TWO: HOW MAGELLAN CIRCUMNAVIGATED THE GLOBE