Spanish Conquest In The

Americas
(Ch. 4 Sec 1)
 Spain and Portugal

 These 2 Western European countries were the

first to colonize the Americas (The New World)
Christopher Columbus
 Christopher Columbus 1451-1506
 Was born in Genoa, Northern Italy
 sailed for Spain 1492 in search of a western sea route
to the Far East (China)

 he never reached China, he reached the Caribbean

 Christopher Columbus
● The Caribbean  Columbus claimed the
island for Spain, called
it San Salvador “Holy
Savior”

Columbus really landed in

the Bahamas
Tainos
 Tainos
 He took each island in the
 Called Arawaks in Caribbean as a colony for Spain
English and searched them for gold

 These were the Native

Americans in the Bahamas
 Columbus/Spain began a process
where Columbus first arrived
that turned all the lands of North/South
America into European colonies
 Other Explorers
Take to the Seas

Pedro Amerigo Vasco Nunez Ferdinand Hernando

Alvares Vespucci de Balboa Magellan Cortes
 Brazil

 1500 Colonized by Pedro Alvares for Portugal

 Portuguese in Brazil
 1500 Pedro Alvarez conquers Brazil for Portugal

Brazil was only area in South America

Spain did not control
Portuguese in Brazil
 Portuguese in Brazil
 1530’s Portuguese colonists  Portuguese grew sugar in
settled Brazil’s coastal regions Brazil

 Portuguese enslaved Natives in

Brazil and later Africans to work  Portugal became very wealthy
sugar plantations in Brazil from Brazilian sugar
 Amerigo Vespucci
 Sailed the coast of South America for Portugal
 first to proclaim a new world had been found
● 1507 German mapmaker named South America after

Amerigo Vespucci
 Vasco Nunez de Balboa
 1515 marched through Panama and claimed it for Spain
 Ferdinand Magellan

1519-1522 explored Guam,

conquered the Philippines for Spain
(but he was Portuguese)
 Ferdinand Magellan
 Magellan killed in the Philippines
 his crew claimed Guam and Philippines for Spain
 18 of original 230 men made it back to Spain 1522 (3 years
later): first men to circumnavigate the globe
Hernando Cortes
 Hernando Cortes
 1519 sailed for Spain to Mexico
 he marched inward to conquer new lands in Meso-
America (Mexico and Central America) for Spain
 Hernando Cortes
 Cortes learned of the wealthy Aztec Empire
Aztecs
 Tenochitlan
 Aztec Capital: modern-day Mexico City
 Cortes and his 600 men reach Tenocitlan after four
weeks of searching (1519)
Tenochitlan
 Moctezuma II
 Aztec Emperor when Cortes arrives (1519)
 Convinced Cortes was an Aztec God: Quetzalcoatl
 Moctezuma II
 agreed to give Cortes a share of Aztec’s gold

 Cortes quickly enslaved and forced Aztecs into mines to

dig up gold
 Hernando Cortes
 1520 Aztecs revolt and temporarily push Cortes out
 Hernando Cortes
 1521 Cortes returns and reconquers Aztecs for Spain
 Cortes’ 3 Advantages
 Aztecs (and other natives) were
 able to convince other defenseless against European
natives in the region to diseases (measles, mumps,
smallpox, typhus)
help him against Aztecs
(they wanted revenge)

 Spaniards had cannons, muskets,

horses
 Francisco Pizarro
 1532 conquers parts of South America for Spain
(modern day Ecuador and Peru)
Inca Empire
 Atahualpa
 Inca ruler (1532) Met Pizarro’s 200 men for battle
 Atahualpa
 Atahualpa had 30,000 unarmed men
 Spaniards crushed them with firearms and
kidnapped Atahualpa
 Atahualpa
 promised Spaniards piles of gold and silver for his
release

 The Inca delivered the gold/silver:

 Spaniards strangled Atahualpa in front of Incas after
they got the ransom
 Atahualpa
 Incas were demoralized and surrendered
 Yucatans Mayas
 1542 conquered by  1697 Finally conquered
Spaniards by Spaniards
 Spain Pushes North
 1513 Juan Ponce de Leon explored Florida

 1540 Francisco Coronado led an expedition through

American Southwest
Spain’s Empire 1700
 Spain’s Pattern of Conquest
 Conquistadors: Spanish
explorers that carved out
colonies in Latin America in
search of gold and silver
 Encomiendas: Spaniards
forced Natives to ranch, farm,
and mine for Spanish landlords
 Peninsulares:
Peninsulares Spanish settlers were
almost all men
 Forced marriage between Spanish
settlers and native women was
common
 this created a new mixed race of
Spanish and Native American blood
(Mestizo)
Forced Marriage
 Spain’s Pattern of Conquest
 Forced Conversion to Christianity
● Priests accompanied conquistadors on their expeditions
to forcefully convert Natives to Catholicism
Forced Conversion
Forced Conversion
 Santa Fe, New Mexico:
 first Catholic mission in the U.S: missions became
the headquarters for forced conversion of Natives to
Catholicism
Bartolome de Las Casas
 a Catholic Priest
 spoke out against the
harsh treatment of Natives
on encomiendas
 first to suggest
enslaving Africans for
labor in the new world
 some priests contributed to
the abuse and loss of
autonomy by the Native
Americans
 Rise of New World Slavery
 Africans had prior exposure to European diseases and did not die from
them as much as Native Americans
 Spaniards, Portuguese, and British (later) all began using Africans as
slave labor in the new world
 Native Resistance
 1493 Tainos on St. Croix revolted against Columbus
with poison arrows
 Tainos revolted there again in 1495 before finally
being subdued
 Native Resistance
 end of 1600’s Pueblos in New Mexico revolted against the
Spanish
 With forced conversion to Catholicism, priests burned Natives’
sacred objects and forbade their rituals
 Those who practiced their own religion were beaten
 Native Resistance
 1680 Pop’e (Pueblo ruler) led an uprising against
the Spanish in New Mexico
 Native Resistance
 Pueblo Revolt
17,000 warriors from all over New Mexico fought
the Spanish
they pushed Spaniards back into Mexico for 12 years
 Spain’s Influence
 Spain’s American colonies made it the richest most
powerful nation in the world by the late 16th century

 Spain built a powerful navy and army to protect its colonies