Conquistadors were made encomenderos (holders of the grant ) over the land.
Answer:
Exploration was very important for many reasons. Some of those reasons would include finding good and new land for plantations and colonies, making maps, picking what is needed and what is not for expansion. It was all unknown land so they needed as much information possible in order to make better use of their resources.
Increase of crops due to new innovations with the farming technique is one that comes to mind, not very sure about other factors though, sorry
Slaves were brought to the colonies via boat which they were tightly crammed in