Transcript 2-1: Spain`s Empire in the Americas

2-1: Spain’s Empire in the
Americas
The Spanish Conquest of Central
and North America
Conquistadores (conquerors)
• Spanish explorers who sailed to
• Spanish explorers who sailed to America
America in the years after
in the years after Columbus’s voyages in
Columbus’s voyages in search of gold
search of gold and silver
and silver
What motivated Spain’s conquest?
• Greed- the desire for
gold and silver
• The desire to spread
the Catholic religion
• The desire to expand
Spanish power and
wealth
How were the Spanish able to
succeed?
• The Spanish had superior weapons and military supplies
• The Spanish brought diseases (smallpox) to the new
world that killed thousands of native people
• The Spanish had native allies that helped them to
conquer other rival native people
Hernado Cortes
• Conquistador who
landed in Mexico in
1519
• By 1521, Cortes’s
army conquered
the Aztecs and
took their gold
The Spanish continue to seize power
• Between 1522-1528
followers of Cortes
landed in the Mexican
regions of the
Yucatan and
Guatemala where
they conquered the
Mayan people
• In 1531, Francisco
Pizarro and his army
conquered the
wealthy Inca Empire
on the western slope
of South America
Juan Ponce de Leon
• Conquistador who explored
present-day Florida
Spain establishes colonies in
the New World
• The Spanish wanted to
exploit the new colonies
for its wealth, resources
and goods
• The Spanish wanted to
keep other European
powers from gaining
control of the area
• The Pope had decreed
that the native people
should be converted to
Catholicism.
How did Spain control these
colonies?
• Spanish settlers lived with the
native peoples and imposed
Spanish culture on them
• They established
congregaciones (large
communities started by Spanish
priests to convert the native
peoples to the Catholic religion)
• They forced native workers to
work under the encomienda
system. They made Native
Americans farm, ranch, or mine
the land.
• They used military force
Why did the Pueblos rebel against
the Spanish?
• The Spanish had imposed their religion and
culture on the Pueblos
• The Spanish made forced laborers of them
• The Spanish made the Pueblos pay tribute to
them
• The Spanish physically abused them
The result of the Pueblo Rebellion
(1680)
• Spanish churches were destroyed
• Spanish priests were executed
• Spanish settlers were driven out of New
Mexico for 14 years