Did the Spanish & Portuguese empies have great singular leaders? What drove imperialisl for centurie

[Theskyisblue2]

I am interested in how the power continued and what their ideology on other races, race mixing, conquest etc was.

USSR had a Stalin
China a Mao
Russian Empire a Catherine and Peter
Romans key leaders etc


Who did the Spanish & Portuguese have?

[Sebastianus Rex]

What drove the colonial enterprise of the Iberian kingdoms was largely the civilizational mission of recruiting souls for Christendom. That's why Jesuit missionaries played such an important role, taking the natives out of their savage ways and assimilating them.

[Damião de Góis]

Afonso de Albuquerque springs to mind

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Afonso_de_Albuquerque