Goals to Reach• Identify why Spain

was able to defeat the Aztec and Inca Empires

• Explain how Spain and Portugal set up colonies in the Americas.

Words to Watch Out For!

•Conquistador •Viceroy•Encomienda•Peon

The Aztec Empire

• The civilization reached its height by the 1400’s.• Tenochtitlan’s population

was over 200,000 by the end of the 1400’s.• The Aztecs conquered a

majority of modern day Mexico • They ruled the region

until the Spanish conquest in 1519.

The Conquest of the Aztecs

• Spanish settlers moved from the Caribbean to the Main Continent of North and South American to search for Gold. • The Spanish settlers

encountered the Aztec and Inca empires who had an abundance of Gold.

Conquistadors

• Spanish for Conquerors.• Individuals that traveled to the Americas as

Conquerors in order to gain glory, gold, and land.• They were males from aristocratic families.• Some were motivated by religious reasons.• They were willing to use any means to achieve

their goals.

Hernando Cortes• Sailed from Cuba to

the Gulf Coast of Mexico in 1519.• His inventory

consisted of 11 ships, 508 soldiers, 2 priests, 16 horses, and 7 small cannons.

How were they able to Conqueror the Aztecs?!

• The Spaniards were outnumbered by hundreds of thousands.• They had a minimum

amount supplies.• Cortes also burned his

ships so his soldiers were unable to run or call for back up.

Aztec’s Downfall• The Aztecs believed that

the Spaniards were gods or messengers from their God Quetzalcoatl.• Montezuma gave them

Gold hoping they would lose interest and leave.• This was the worst

decision he could do.

Continued • The Spaniards now knew where the source of Gold was

coming from. • Cortes sought the help of the rival tribes of the Aztecs. • He gained allies and also Aztec informants.• Cortes began a siege of Tenochtitlan; the Aztecs resisted until

a majority of their soldiers had been killed, captured, or died of small pox.

Conquest of the Incas. • The region

covered modern day Peru and Chile.

• The height of the empire was around 1438 A.D. with the conquest of the surrounding area of their capital city, Cuzco.

• They had a lot of Gold.

Francisco Pizzaro

• He gained permission by the Spanish Emperor Charles the V. to begin the conquest of the coast of modern-day South America.

• He arrived in 1532; he met the Incan ruler, Atahualpa, and then took him prisoner.

• The Inca fought back with spears, clubs, and bows.

• These were no match for Spanish cannons and steel swords.

• Not a single Spaniard died, but hundreds of Incans killed.

The End Result• Pizzaro held Atahualpa for ransom, After the collection of the

profit. He had him strangled.• One-fifth of the earnings went to the King of Spain, the rest

was distributed amongst the Spaniards.• They region that was conquered was contested between the

Spaniards. They began to fight amongst each other, even Pizzaro was assassinated.

• The King had to send a representative called a Viceroy to establish order in Peru in 1555.

Later Spanish Explorers

• Hernando de Soto led an expedition to Florida, traveled as far as the Carolinas and then turned westward until he reached the Mississippi river in 1541. • Francisco de Coronado headed north from

Mexico in 1540 and captured the pueblos of the Zuni Indians there. His expedition split up, some members went towards the course of the Colorado river and others traveled as far east as present-day Kansas.

Spain’s Empire in the Americas• The land gained by the Spanish conquests were

divided up into provinces. A representative (Viceroy) was appointed to carry out the king’s policies in each province. • The Spanish Government believed that the

colonies existed for the economic benefit of Spain.• Spain controlled the trade of the colonies; they

encouraged the export of raw materials and discouraged the development of manufacturing in the colonies.• This way, the colonists were forced to buy

finished goods from Spain.

Continued (Land Development)• The Spanish

Government gave land to Conquistadors and royal favorites.• These families received

Encomiendas, which were grants that entitled them to demand labor and taxes from the natives that lived on their lands.

• The Natives that worked on the land were called Peons, in return for their labor, the settlers promised to protect the Natives and pay support of village priests.

What really happened• Local government officials did not enforce laws to

protect the natives.• The Encomienda system was in practice, a brutal

form of slavery.• Thousands of natives died during the 1500’s due to

harsh working conditions.

Spanish Missionaries • Catholic Missionaries

were deeply troubled when they saw the conditions that the natives were put through.

• Bartolome de Las Casas, appealed to the king of Spain for new laws. Thus social reform laws were passed in 1542 forbidding the further enslavement of Natives.

Portuguese Colonization of Brazil

• In 1500, Pedro Cabral followed the same route of Vasco De Gama and landed on the coast of Brazil.• Cabral immediately

claimed this land for the Portuguese.

Portuguese Settlement • Settlements in Brazil

were established by wealthy nobles who received grants of land from the King of Portugal. • by the mid-1500’s

there were about 15 fortified towns on the Brazilian Coast.

• Unlike the Spanish, the Portuguese colonies attracted settlers from all different classes.