CONQUEST OD TENOCHTITLAN

SAILING WEST TO GO EAST While the Portuguese were exploring the African coast, the Spanish were busy fighting Muslims. The armies of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella drove the last Muslim invaders out of Spain in 1492. When Christopher Columbus came to them asking for help, the time was right. The Spanish were ready to think about an overseas empire.

COLUMBUS AND THE SPANISH MONARCHS Columbus’ plan was to sail west to go east. He believed that he could reach Asia and the East Indies by sailing west. For many centuries, common people believed the earth was flat. If a ship sailed too fair, it would fall off the edge. By the 1400s, educated people knew that this was not true. However, they could only estimate the true size of the earth. They did not know how far west the East Indies were located.

For years of Portugal and then Spain to finance his plan, when he tried again in 1492, Queen Isabella agreed. He persuaded her by telling her of the richness that would come to Spain. Perhaps more important to her, however, were the nonEuropeans that could be converted to Catholicism.

Columbus and 90 sailors set sail in three caravels on August 3, 1492. They found land slightly more than two months later, on October 12. However, the land they found was not Asia; it was the island of Hispaniola and Cuba. Columbus returned three more times to the Caribbean looking for the Asian mainland. Because he thought he had reached the East Indies, he called the people he met Indios, or Indians.

It did not take long for Spain and other nations to realize Columbus’ mistake. He had not found Asia. He had found two unknown continents that Europeans called the New World. The Spanish and the Portuguese, who had discovered what is now Brazil, decided that the wealth and people of these continents belonged to them.

To prevent disputes between the two nations, Pope Alexander VI divided the New World in 1494. The Treaty of Tordesillas established the Line of Demarcation at 38° west longitude. It separated Spanish lands from Portuguese lands. Everything west of the line belonged to Spain; everything east of the line belonged to Portugal.

OVERTHROWING THE AZTEC EMPIRE By 1515, the Spanish controlled most of the island in the Caribbean. From their base in Cuba, they set out to explore the mainland of Central America. One of the first conquerors, or conquistadores, was Hernán Cortés.

In 1519, Cortés, 500 soldiers, some horses and few cannon landed on the Yucatán Penisula. They began a march inland. Early on their journey, they met Malinche, an Aztec who had been captured by Mayans. Cortés took Malinche along as interpreter. While Cortés continued his march to the city of Tenochtitlán, the Aztec ruler, Montezuma, waited.

He had learned that the Spanish were on their way, and he was fearful. According to an ancient prophecy, a white god, Quetzalcoatl, had once lived among the Aztec. He had returned home, but would one day come back. When he did, the Aztec Empire would end.

Montezuma decided to welcome the Spanish. He showered them with food and riches. He gave them a palace where they could live. In a short time, however, Cortés tricked Montezuma into becoming his prisoner. Cortés and the Spanish were then in control of the city. In 1520, the Aztec rebelled against the Spanish. Montezuma died in the fighting. The Spanish fled Tenochtitlàn.

A SPANISH ATTACK Aztecs and Incas were destroyed by the Spanish. A few survived Cortes returned with more soldiers sent from Cuba, the new Spanish force , fully equipped with horses and guns, defeated the Aztec.

They destroyed Tenochtitlán and built Mexico City in its place. The Aztecs' temple was replaced by a Catholic Church.

OVERTHROWING THE INCA EMPIRE During the 1531 , the Spanish moved throughout Central America , native Americans , Spanish moved farther south , they heard histories of rich kingdom somewhere in the Andes mountains , this was the Empire of the Inca.

Francisco Pizarro, another Conquistador , set out to find the Inca . In 1531, reached the Incan capital of Cuzco. He had only 180 soldiers with him, but they were enough. The Empire was torn by civil war. Rival forces of Atahualpa and Huascar, half-brothers , were fighting for the power over the Empire.

Atahualpa asked Pizarro for help in defeating Huascar. Instead, Pizarro made Atahualpa his prisoner. To save himself , Atahualpa arranged for enough gold and silver to fill two rooms to be given to Pizarro. Atahualpa also had to arrange for the murder of Huascar. Rather than set Atahualpa free, Pizarro seized the ransom. He then had Atahualpa tried, convicted, and executed for Huascar's death.

The Inca were leaderless. Without A ruler the Empire began to fall apart. Pizarro seized much of the territory and it was vast wealth of gold and silver for Spain.

COLONIZING CENTRAL AND SOUTH AMERICA The Spanish quickly expanded their territory in the Americas. By the mid-1500s, they claimed Mexico and much of Central and South America. They were also moving north into what would become the United States. How would the Spanish control this vast new territory? How would they govern it?

GOVERNING SPANISH AMERICA The Spanish decided to set up colonies. The Spanish monarchs encouraged their citizens to sail to the Americas and build settlements. The more wealth the colonies created, the wealthier the monarchs became. Part of every shipment of gold, silver, and others goods from the colonies went to the monarchs.

To govern Spanish America, Spain set up viceroyalties. Each viceroyalty was an area governed by a viceroy- or a governor who represented the monarch. By 1535, there were two viceroyalties: the Viceroyalty of New Spain and the Viceroyalty of Peru. In the 1700s, the latter was split into three units. Converting Native Americans to Christianity, however, remained an important goal. Missionaries came with the colonists.They Christianize Native Americans. They burned native books and tore down native temples and statues. Their mission was to turn Native Americans into Spaniards. Native Americans were to give up their native dress, customs, language, and religion.

ENSLAVING NATIVE AMERICANS AND AFRICANS When colonists began settling the islands in the Caribbean, Queen Isabella granted them encomienda. This was the right to demand labor from Native Americans living on the land. The queen had intended to protect Native Americans. However, the colonists used the encomienda to enslave them. When the Spanish discovered gold and silver in Peru and Mexico, the Spanish forced Native Americans to work in their mines.

The Spanish worked hundreds of thousands more starved to death. European diseases caused even more deaths. Native Americans had no immunity to diseases such as smallpox and measles. The island of Hispaniola is an example.

Experts believe that 250,000 Native Americans lived on the island when Christopher Columbus landed there in 1492. By 1538, only 500 Native Americans remained. Experts estimate that between 1519 and 1630, some 24 million Native Americans died in Central Mexico alone.

In an effort to save Native Americans, Bartolome de las Casas, a priest, urged using Africans and workers. As early as 1518, a few Africans had been shipped to the Caribbean. The Spanish replaced Native American laborers on sugar plantations. After 1542, the Spanish were forbidden to enslave Native Americans. As a result, the trans-Atlantic trade in enslaved Africans became big business for the Spanish-and later for the English. It is estimated that at least 10 million Africans came to the Americas in chains. Perhaps twice that many died on the journey.

SOCIETY IN SPANISH AMERICA The most important posts in colonial government were held by peninsulares. These were native-born Spanish who were sent from Spain, which was a peninsula, to run the colonies. They consisted of a very small number of people, but they made up the highest social class.

The next social class were creoles. Their ancestors had been the original Spanish colonists. Creoles usually owned plantations, mines, and trading businesses. They had little power in the colonies.

Mestizos were descended from Spanish and Native Americans. Mulattos had ancestors who were Spanish and African.

The two groups made up the lowest social classes. Native Americans and enslaved Africans were below the social system.

The big cities of Spanish America such as Mexico City and Lima, Peru, were designed like European cities. They had wide avenues and huge churches and government buildings. The homes of the wealthy were decorated with beautiful furniture and paintings. Universities were built to educate young men of the upper classes. Wealthy young women were educated at home or by Catholic nuns at local convents. Spanish influence could be seen in all aspects of daily life.