1. Spanish Explorations
Describe aims, obstacles, and accomplishments of Spanish explorers.
Trace the routes of Spanish explorers and identify their claims.
Why did the Spanish explore and conquer large areas of the Americas?
Juan Ponce de Leon
Hernando Cortes
Estevanico
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado
Francisco Pizarro
Atahuallpa
Hernando de Soto
Martin Luther

2. The Spanish Explore Florida
Juan Ponce de Léon
The king of Spain encouraged more explorers, offering large sums of money, called grants.
Spanish explorers became known as conquistadors.
Ponce de León had sailed with Columbus.
While in Puerto Rico he had heard that the island of Bimini contained the fountain of youth.
In 1513, Ponce de Léon set out to find the fountain of youth, water that supposedly made old people young again,
He never found any fountain of youth, but he did explore some of today’s southeastern united states, in Florida

3. Ponce de leon in Florida
The Spanish explorer, Ponce de leon, was the first explorer to set foot on land that became part of the United States.
He named the land La Florida, for ‘flowery’ and claimed it for Spain.

4. Early Conquistadors
In 1519 – Hernando Cortez was sent by Spain to find gold in the land of the AZTECS
He landed in now Mexico with 650 soldiers, and they marched west toward the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.
5 million people lived in the Aztec Empire.
The Fall of the Aztecs
The Aztecs believed that a light skinned god would come to rule them.
Montecuhzoma was the Aztec ruler and he welcomed Cortez.
But this peace would not last long.

6. Cortez took Montecuhzoma prisoner and fighting broke out between the Spanish and the Aztecs
The Aztecs were strong fighters but they did not have horses or guns.
Many Aztecs died in battles, but most died from diseases carried by the soldiers.
By 1521, Cortez had conquered the Aztecs.
On the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Spanish built Mexico city.
This city became the capital of Spain’s new Empire in the Americas.

8. They blocked boat traffic to and from the mainland, keeping the Aztec in their city without supplies. It became worse for the Aztec when an epidemic of smallpox or measles occured in the city .
Finally, in 1521, after fierce fighting, with most of their warriors dead from disease, starvation, or war wounds, the Aztec gave up. It had taken only two years for the Spanish to destroy the Aztec Empire !

9. Coronado and the Southwest
Francisco Vasquez do Coronado, in 1540, set out with about 300 soldiers, several enslaved Africans, and more than 1,000 enslaved Native Americans to find the golden cities.
Coronado found no riches, but had claimed lands for Spain.
Coronado’s expedition was one of the largest and most expensive expeditions Spain had ever sponsored. It included more than 1,300 people and cost about $4 million in today’s money.
Costs: boats, food, animals, injury, loss of life
Benefits: wealth, land, spreading religion

10. Spanish Expeditions Continue
Pizarro and the Incas
In 1531, the Spanish Conquistador, Francisco Pizarro led 180 soldiers on an expedition into the western coasts of South America.
There he met with people from the Incan Empire, the leader was Atahualpa.
A Spanish priest told the Inca leader they had to accept Christianity and Spanish rule.
Atahualpa said no, and Pizarro and his soldiers attacked the Incas.
The Spanish took Atahualpa prisoner, so they had no leader.
After capturing Atahualpa, Pizarro traveled to Cuzco, the capital of the Incan Empire, and took control of the region.

11. De Soto in the Southwest
Hernando de Soto explored the southeastern United States.
In 1539, he and 600 men sailed from Cuba and landed near Tampa Bay. They later met the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River.
De Soto and his soldiers met many Native Americans during this expedition.
These meetings ended in bloody battles. One of the worst was against the Mobile tribe in present day Alabama.
In 1542, de Soto died of a fever. Of the 600 men, about 300 survived.
De Soto and his men claimed a lot of land for Spain.
Spanish claims now covered half of what is now the United State

12. Missionaries to America
During the Age of Exploration in the Americas people in Europe began to question the power of the Catholic Church.
The church had forced people to follow its rules , to pay taxes, and it even had its own court system.
The Church would punish people for disagreeing with Church laws.
Martin Luther began to call for reforms, or changes.
This period of reforms is called the Reformation.
Luther was forced out of the Church, but gained many supporters.
Those who followed him were called Protestants.
The Catholic Church started to counter these efforts by writing books that went against his teachings. This was called the Counter-Reformation.

13. A part of the Counter Reformation was that the church wanted to spread its power in the Americas.
Church leaders wanted to gain new followers, and share in the wealth claimed by European nations.
To do this, the Church sent missionaries to convert Native Americans to the Catholic Church.
AT first these missions were to gain wealth and land. They also aimed at spreading the Catholic religion.
It was not until later that the missionaries actually started teaching them about Catholic beliefs.
Some missionaries forced Native Americans to become Catholic and also enslaved them.
Missionaries