Spain Builds an American Empire Chapter 4 Section 1

I. The Voyages of Columbus A. First Encounters 1. October 12, 1492 the Nina, Pinta, and Santa Maria caught sight of a shore after months of sailing west looking for a westward passage to the East Indies 2. Columbus had not reached the East Indies but instead had landed in the Bahamas 3. He named it San Salvador-meaning Holy Savior

A. First Encounters 4. Columbus embarked on three more voyages for Spain helping Spain create colonies- or lands that are controlled by another nation.

B. Other Explorers take to the seas 1. Pedro Alvares Cabral- A Portuguese explorer who claimed Brazil for Portugal

B. Other Explorers take to the seas 2. Amerigo Vespucci-Traveled through South America and realized that this was not Asia and told Europe on his return trip of his discovery. As a result the “new world” was named America

B. Other Explorers take to the seas 3. Ferdinand Magellan sailed around the Southern tip of South America and became the first European to set eyes on the Pacific Ocean

II. Spanish Conquests in Mexico A. Cortes Conquers the Aztecs 1. Hernando Cortes landed on the shores of Mexico and discovered the Aztec people. Later explores were coined the term Conquistadors 2. Montezuma II believed that Cortes was a God and wished to please him by giving mass amounts of gold

A. Cortes Conquers the Aztecs 3. Then the Spanish attacked the Aztecs and a war ensued. Cortes and his 600 men, with support of enemies of the Aztecs, defeated the Aztecs in 1521 4. Diseases like measles, small pox, mumps, and typhus devastate the Native American populations more than war.

III. Spanish Conquests in Peru A. Pizzaro Subdues the Inca 1. Pizarro and his army of 200 ambush the Incan ruler Athahualpa and kidnap him. Pizarro demands the Incas to fill an entire room with jewels and gold for his release. The Inca’s comply but the Spanish strangle the king and the Incas flee demoralized.

A. Pizzaro Subdues the Inca 2. Pizarro then marches on to the Inca capital Cuzco where they capture the city without a fight 3. By the middle of the 16th century Spain had created an American empire

B. Spain’s Patterns of Conquest 1. The Spaniards drew upon earlier techniques of the reconquista of Spain and adopted them to the Americas. This meant living with the conquered people and imposing their way of life on them

B. Spain’s Patterns of Conquest 2. This resulted in the Spanish men having relations with the native women creating a large Mestizo population-mixed Spanish and Native American offspring

B. Spain’s Patterns of Conquest 3. The Spanish made the Native Americans work in a system called encomienda. This system forced the natives to farm, ranch and mine for the Spanish landlords. Many natives were treated harshly

C. The Portuguese in Brazil Brazil was the only Portuguese controlled land in South America. Cabral had made the claim for Portugal. The Portuguese built large sugar plantations that provided financial growth for the country