1. US History
Chapter 2
Section 3

2. Spanish Conquistadors
Conquistador – explorers who received grants from Spanish rulers
Agreed to give 1/5 of anything discovered
Had fewer men, but conquered the Aztec and Inca empires
Tribute – giving part of wealth to a conquering nation for peace (Aztec system)
Hernan Cortes
Marched on Tenochitalan (Aztec capital)
Took Montezuma, Aztec emperor, prisoner
Montezuma dies in an Aztec uprising against the Spanish
Spain now controls region of Mexico

3. Pizarro and Peru Francisco Pizarro – heard about the Inca
Traveled down the coast to Peru
Captured Inca ruler, Atahualpa
The next year, Spain executed Atahualpa
Spain now controlled the region of Peru
Juan Ponce de Leon – first Spanish on mainland of North America
Arrived on present-day Florida
Hoped to find the “Fountain of Youth”
1565 – established a Spanish fort at St. Augustine, Florida

4. Conquistador Victories
Why they won?
New, strange weapons (guns and cannons)
New Animals (horses and vicious dogs)
Native Americans were mad at the Aztec and Inca to begin with (Spanish offered freedom)
New Disease – Native Americans had no immunity to the new diseases the Spanish vicariously brought with them (smallpox)
Other Conquistadors
Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca AND Panfilo de Narvaez - shipwrecked in Mexico
Became medicine men (with African, Estevanico)
Hernando de Soto – travelled through modern-day South- East US, crossed the Mississippi River, died of fever in OK
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado – tried to find the “Seven Cities of Cibola”, travelled in Mexico, AZ, NM, KS, and CO

6. Spanish Rule Types of Settlements Spanish Class System
Pueblos – towns established as for trade
Missions – religious communities with small town, farmland, and a church
Presidio - fort
Spanish Class System
Peninsulares – upper class born in Spain
Creoles – people born in America to Spanish parents
Mestizos – people born in America to Spanish and Native American mixed parents
Africans – enslaved by the Spanish
Encomienda – conquistador’s right to demand taxes or labor from the Native American peoples
Bartolome de Las Casas – preist who made Native American slavery awareness in Spain, resulted in New Laws about no Native American slaves.
Plantations – a large estate
Main export in West Indies = tobacco and sugar cane
Africans replace Native Americans as plantations slaves
Portuguese did the same in Brazil.