Spanish Explorers Spain and Latin America Fall of the Aztecs and Incas

Reasons for the easy conquer of the Amerindians: The Americas Reasons for the easy conquer of the Amerindians: Spanish and Portuguese technology Disease brought from the conquerors (such as small pox)

Columbus and the first trip The Arawak -the first Amerindians to come in contact with Columbus -gold working -told exaggerated stories of “gold in other places”

The second trip Columbus brought hundreds of settlers Fortune seekers Missionaries Some bad things that they did: Demanded labor for gold search Stole gold Took food Assaulted native women Killed and enslaved the Arawak people after an attempted rebellion

Conquistadors Expeditions Gold Free labor Capture of Amerindians Slaves Hispaniola

The conquest of the Aztecs Hernán Cortèz Ruthless Aspired to conquer the Aztec empire Had no intention of doing this peacefully Moctezuma II Emperor of the Aztecs Wanted to be an ally of the Spanish Did not want to use force

The conquest of the Aztecs cont. Cortéz had no intention of siding with the Aztecs. Tlaxcalans Malintzin After a series of attacks from the Spanish using foreign tactics and weapons, Moctezuma welcomed them. BIG MISTAKE Moctezuma imprisoned Stealing Festival massacre Moctezuma killed Tenochtitlan captured Widespread disease and death

The conquest of the Inca Huayna Capac- Inca ruler Atahualpa Huascar Weak military and political leadership Francisco Pizarro Wanted the riches of the Incas Was sent to conquer the Incas

The conquest of the Inca cont. Pizarro Attacked Atahualpa and his followers They were surrounded by at least 40 thousand warriors Distraction Capture of Atahualpa Atahualpa orders the execution of his brother He pays a huge ransom to be freed The Spaniards still murder Atahualpa The Spaniards capture the capital city of Cuzco

Spanish America Spanish settlers brought their own traditions; however, the amerindian traditions still survived Arranged marriage Land claims African slave trade Spain attempts to establish control over conquistadors Spanish government was very expensive and uniform

The Catholic Church Over the teaching and introduction of Christianity Converted amerindians Introduced the printing press and founded schools and universities Spain and Portugal used this conversion as an explanation for the American conquests Christianity spread very quickly Comparable to the time of Constantine Not enough religious friars in America Bartolomé de la Casas Defense of the Amerindians New laws of 1542

Colonial Mining Mining of Silver Potosi (modern day Bolivia) Mining Old method (environmental impact) New method (mercury) Poisoning of the Amerindians

Society in Colonial Latin America People who came to the New World Lesser nobility Merchants Artisans Miners Priests Lawyers Spanish settlers were outnumbered by Amerindians and Creoles The Spanish were below the American born Creoles and the European natives