The courage and determination of the Spanish conquistadors may be due to distant descendency from Roman legionnaires. After the Romans conquered Spain, the Roman senate, worried at the thought of the damage Roman legionnaires might do back in Rome, offered them the place of their choice in Spain. They chose Extremadura, the province from which came many of the most famous conquistadors such as Hernan Cortes, the Pizarro brothers, Pedro de Alvarado, Hernando de Soto and Vasco Nunez de Balboa.