I'm not really sure you can see the conquest of the New World as just a continuation of the Reconquista. They were distinctly separate events.
Sure, but I think that the Reconquista did create the mindset that enabled the conquest of the New World. That certitude that "God is On Our Side", and the missionary sense that drove them to bring Indian souls to the church (even if it killed them) I would argue can be seen as a direct legacy of the recent success of the Reconquista. Here's one website that makes the same point in a discussion of Columbus' first letter back to Ferdinand and Isabella:
"The conjunction of Verardus's panegyric with Columbus's first letter can perhaps be explained by reference to the epigram added at the end of the letter in its Latin translation by the bishop of Monte Peloso (at left). The crisis facing the Spanish monarchy was evident. The reconquista was over. Spanish society, which had evolved to support many substantial militant christian orders, was in danger of collapsing unless a new release could be found for the military. And, just by chance, just after Granada is conquered, Columbus returns with news of a rich and fertile land filled with heathans who are ripe for conversion and who lack the attributes of civilization."
http://www.usm.maine.edu/~maps/columbus/production.html
I'm not really sure you can see the conquest of the New World as just a continuation of the Reconquista. They were distinctly separate events.
While you are right that they are distinct events, the fact is that with the fall of Granada in 1492 and the complete restoration of Roman Catholic hegemony in Iberia, the discovery of new lands populated by unevangelized heathen provided a convenient target for the religiously zealous, combined with the fact that the battle-hardened military leaders had a new area to focus on and a new place to carry on their adventures. It may be more accurate to say that the conquest of America was driven by the twin forces of religious zeal and desire to extend the economic empire, but the completion of the reconquest of Spain and the end of battling the Moorish infidel freed up military resources to go in a new direction.
I would say a little of both. We need to remember why Europeans of that age were sending explorers on dangerous missions of discovery. One of their big motivations was to find a sea route around the Muslim world to Asia, in order to re-establish trade with Asia. When they found, along with it, two new unaligned continents, they understood the importance to them of adding the new world to the Christian sphere.