1).

Hernan Cortés, Moctezuma, Francisco Pizarro, Juan Ponce de Léon, and Batholomé de Las Casas
were all vital to the formation of New Spain. Hernando Cortés was the one that took down the Aztec
empire. Without him, who knows how long colonization would have taken! Moctezume was the
emperor of the Aztec empire. If Moctezuma was not the Aztec emperor, the Aztecs could have endured
the Spanish attacks, and Spain might have had to colonize elsewhere, so it could have even effected our
country! This land could have been Mexico! The conquistador that took down the Incas was Francisco
Pizarro. Without his strong wits, the Incan empire could have resisted. Then everything would be thrown
off track from there. Juan Ponce de Léon was another dare-devil conquistador. He was the one that
looked for a magical fountain, but never found one. If he never got the information about the land in or
by Florida, the Spanish could have been thrown-off for a long time. Now onto Bartholomé de Las Casas.
He really meant no harm, but all he did was make matters worse. He had the idea to get slaves from
Africa. He backed-up his claim with the fact that Africans already worked in harsh conditions, and might
be more immune to diseases. However, he died regretfully, because the African slaves suffered just like
the Indians. However, he did do something good. Before the whole African slaves dilemma, he
persuaded the government to un-enslave Indians. They were given the right to own cattle, and plant
crops.

3). The Spanish were able to conquer the Americas because of their resources. They had guns,
armor, and many war weapons that they had available to them.

4). The Spanish explored many islands, what is now Mexico, and Southern America.

5). The Laws of the Indies gave the Spanish guidelines to follow when they were creating an empire.
Without these guidelines, the Spanish probably wouldn’t have made good, functional and organized
colonies. An example of this would be no pueblos. These pueblos were trading and farming centers. It
would be very disorganized to have to go to so many places to trade, rather than just a few.

6). Life was very harsh for Indians under Spanish rule. They almost had no rights, were not
respected, and were treated like conquered people. None of the Indians did anything but protect their
home land to deserve this. However, they still were in a bad position, at the bottom of the Social Class
Pyramid.
The Spanish brought Africans to the Americas to work as slaves. Many of the Indian-slaves were
dying of European diseases and harsh conditions. They thought that Africans would be fit to work in
harsh conditions, but were wrong.