Chapter 2, Sec 1

Hernan Cortes led the Spanish march into the Aztec Empire at the age of 34.

The Spanish Encounter the Aztecs Cuba was conquered by Diego Velazquez a Spaniard. 6 years later smallpox spread through Cuba killing thousands of Native Americans. Without labor the Spainiards under the leadership of Cortes began to look at the Yucatan Peninsula for people to work.

The Invasion Begins Jeronimo de Aguilar- translated for Cortes Malinche- Native woman who translated and told Cortes about Montezuma’s attack on the Spanish Motezuma- Aztec leader- tried to sneak attack the Spanish but it didn’t work

Cortes defeats the Aztec Highlights- The Aztec city was huge and well organized. There was the tzompantli- or huge rack of human skulls displayed. Lowlights- Cortes took Montezuma hostage and he went peacefully. The Aztecs rebelled and 4,000 died compared to 450 Spaniards. This was called the Noche Triste (Sad Night) Not only did the Aztecs die in war but smallpox broke out

Renamed Tenochtitlan, Mexico and it became New Spain's capitol city. Conquistadors- Spanish conquerors- the men who led the expeditions

Pizarro Conquers the Inca Francisco Pizarro moved in on the Inca in present day Peru and took their leader Atahualpa captive. Bible incident- Atahualpa was eventually killed a year later and Pizarro put in figureheads who did exactly what he wanted in charge.

Searching for Cities of Gold After the success of Pizarro many Spanish conquistadors went out looking for cities of gold. They searched north of New Spain in present day Southwest United States. None of them found any gold, nor did many return alive.

The Spanish Settle the Southwest Due to the lack of success with finding gold it took time for the Southwest to be settled. They eventually settled in New Mexico and California. El Camino Real- Royal Highway. They setup missions for the Catholic Church.

The Enomienda System Encomienda- system of rewarding conquistadors tracts of land. The goal was for them to take care of Native Americans and convert them to Christianity. Most of the time they abused their power and Native Americans were overworked and died.

Society Based on Class It was a top down society Peninsulares- top gov’t and church spots Criollos- Spanish born in the colonies Mestizos mixed Spanish and Native American Council of the Indies- Advised the King what was going on in the Americas

Mining and Ranching When they realized there wasn’t gold, they started mining minerals and silver Haciendas- were large ranches that had massive amounts of cattle

King Francis sent Giovanni da Verrazano to map North America’s coastline and then Jacques Cartier to find the Northwest Passage Northwest Passage- the northern route through North America to the Pacific Ocean.

France Explores America Cartier- He discovered the St. Lawrence river and tried to found a colony but the harsh winter made him return to France.

New France is Founded 1500’s- The French began fishing near North America and started trading with the Native Americans. 1600’s- Beaver fur became very popular in France and King Henry IV of France sent merchants to colonize in North America. Samuel de Champlain- was the royal geographer sent to help colonize. Settled in Quebec and it became the capitol of New France.

Life in New France They did not try to use the land, only trade furs. Most of the settlers didn’t live here, they would live among the Native Americans and learned their language known as coureurs de bois- “Runners of the woods”

The settling in New France was slow. They felt threatened by the English and Spanish so they sent over 4,000 people into New France. The government would give money to those who got married and had kids and would fine those who did not.

Exploring the Mississippi “Big River” Was explored by Louis Joilet and Jacques Marquette. By 1682 Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle followed the Mississippi River all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. (1 st European to do so)

Settling Louisiana It was harder than inticipated to settle on the “Big River” The weather was too hot to trade and food spoiled quickly. Eventually they created Biloxi and then the French started growing crops like sugar, rice, tobacco, and indigo. (Brought in slaves to work on the fields)

Rivalry with Spain St. Augustine, Florida- became the French’s claim in the Southeast. They were constantly competing with the Spanish.