Spain is a good place to start and we can make Columbus's trips to the new world our beginning point.   The ancient  Austrian roots of the Ramos name will not be explored in these pages.  So let's get started with the trips to the New World:                                       

Contrary to popular myth, Columbus's crew on the first voyage were not a bunch of cutthroats. They were mostly 'hometown boys' from Andalusia, and nearly all experienced seamen. It is true that the Spanish Sovereigns offered amnesty to convicts who would sign up  for the voyage, but only four men took up the offer: one who had killed a man in a fight, and three of his friends who then helped him escape from jail.

Of the four voyages of Columbus, only the crew of the first voyage is completely known. Alice Bache Gould spent decades combing various archives in Spain, eventually accounting for each of the 87 crewmen of the NiZa, Pinta, and Santa Maria. Her research was published in fragments, but a summary is given at  http://www.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=18801

Cristóbal Colon                           

 Links of interests: http://www.bruce.ruiz.net/PanamaHistory/los_conquistadores.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquistador     http://www.studyspanish.com/comps/conqui.htm   http://tntn.essortment.com/conquistadores_rzpq.htm

La Caravela Santa María, 1492

Santa María was Columbus’s flagship on his first and most remembered voyage, although he did not like the ship because it was large and slow. Santa María ran aground on a sandbar near what is now Cap HaVtien, HaVti, on Christmas Eve of 1492. In recent decades, a number of expeditions have searched for the remains. Famous historians have claimed to know where it is. Some adventurers have even claimed to have located the wreck, but nothing has ever come of any of these claims.

http://www.shipsofdiscovery.org/stamaria.htm#SantaMaria