Conquistador

 While the term has generally come to be associated with any sort of violent conqueror, the Conquistadors of the 15th and 16th centuries were considered by Iberians to be nobles, knights, explorers, and soldiers who were involved in expanding the reach of the colonial powers in the Atlantic and Pacific worlds. Most famous were Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro and their brutal conquests of the Aztec and Incan empires, respectively.