The Spanish Conquerors Lesson 4
Claiming the Americas To encourage expeditions, Spain gave money to explorers known as conquistadors. By 1500 Spain has all of the Americas (except Brazil). In the Americas, some Spaniards wanted to: Win fame Convert Native Americans to Christianity Become rich by trading
Juan Ponce de Leon Spain wanted conquistadors to go farther than the Bahamas. Ponce de Leon was looking for the “Fountain of Youth.” He did not find it but made it to “La Florida” (what we know now as Florida.) Ponce de Leon was the first Spanish explorer to set foot on the United States.
Cortes in Mexico Spain wanted GOLD so they sent Hernando Cortes on a journey to find it in the land of the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire was located in present-day Mexico. The capital city was called Tenochtitlan Cortes brought over 650 men and 16 horses with him to defeat the Aztecs and conquer them and their treasures!
Help for Cortes Indians who were unhappy with Aztec rule joined Cortes and his men. (more people to fight) Cortes also got lucky because of a religious belief the Aztecs had: The Aztecs believed a light-skinned god named Quezalcoatl would return to rule them. (They thought it might be Cortes!) So….the Aztec emperor Motecuhzoma welcomed them with gifts of gold!
Cortes took Motecuhzoma prisoner! Fighting broke out! When Motecuhzoma tried to stop the fighting, someone threw a rock at him and the head injury killed him. A year later the Spanish took over for good! The capital city was destroyed and rebuilt. Tenochtitlan became Mexico City.
Panfilo de Narvaez In 1528 Panfilo de Narvaez led an expedition to Florida. Only 4 men lived and barely made it back to Mexico City. THIS EXPEDITION WAS STILL IMPORTANT BECAUSE…
Golden Cities ….The 4 survivors came back with stories speaking of seven cities of gold! The Spanish were VERY interested. In 1539 the Spanish sent an African named Esteban and a priest to find the Seven Cities of Gold.
Esteban was killed on the journey but de Niza returned saying he HAD seen a golden city. In 1540 Spain sent Francisco Vasquez de Coronado (with over 1,000 men!) to find the seven cities. The Spanish never found the cities but they did see a lot of the new world. The Spanish now called the new world, “New Spain.”
De Soto in the Southeast In 1539 a conquistador named Hernando de Soto traveled north of Florida to what is now known as Georgia. He and his men found no gold. They kept moving north through the Carolinas. Along the way, de Soto and his men encountered many Native Americans.
Brutal battles were the results of the encounters. De Soto and his men marched on finally reaching the Mississippi River. De Soto died of fever in 1542, but he was responsible for claiming the southeastern U.S. for Spain.