Latin American Lect #4

1. Agenda - 11/12/14
•Lecture - Collapse of the Great Empires #4
•Reading - Collision at Cajamarca
•Due Friday - Reading Questions from Collision at
Catamarca

2. Great Empires Fall
•The arrival of Spanish
conquistadors coincided with
the peak of the Great Empires
•Conquistadors came to New
World to search for fortune
and fame
–“God, Gold, Glory”
Fallofthe
Great
Empires

3. 65
Cortes in Mexico
•The most notable conquistador was Hernando Cortês
•1519 landed in Mexico
•600 Men
•16 Horses
•14 Cannons
•By 1521 - Cortês had
•conquered the Aztec
•empire of 1 million
69

4. 66
Reasons for Cortes’ Victory
•1. Moctezuma II hesitated to fight the
Spanish. He believed Cortes was the
god-king Quetzalcoatl
•2. Cortes won allies among the local
tribes which greatly increased his army
•3. Diseases - smallpox and others
killed millions of the native population

5. Pizarro in Peru
•Francisco Pizarro heard rumors of great
wealth in the Inca Empire
•In 1532 he landed on the coast of Peru
•Incas had just ended a bloody civil war
–weakened state made them vulnerable
•Pizarro led a small force against the Incas
–Horses, Disease, Gunpowder
Francisco
Pizarro

6. Pizarro in Peru
•Pizarro used trickery to
capture Atahualpa
•Atahualpa offered to trade his
life for a room of gold
–Pizarro accepted and then
killed Atahualpa
•The Inca’s were lost without a
leader and fell by 1535
Atahualpa

7. Diseases to the New World
•Of all the organisms Europeans brought to the New World
none was more harmful to Natives than disease
–Smallpox, measles, bubonic plague, malaria, typhoid and
yellow fever
•Diseases came primarily from close contact with animals -
such as cattle, horses, pigs, etc.
•With no immunity the natives died off at a 90% rate
–In year 1519 pop. was 25.3 million; by 1523 it was 16.8 million and
by 1605 down to just 1 million
•Smallpox was in particular deadly because the incubation
period was 10-12 days with allowed for multiple contacts

8. 70

10. The “Columbian Exchange”
v Squash v Avocado v Peppers v Sweet Potatoes
v Turkey v Pumpkin v Tobacco Syphilis
v Cocoa v Pineapple v Cassava POTATO
v Peanut TOMATO v Vanilla MAIZE
v Olive COFFEE BEAN v Banana v Rice
v Onion v Turnip v Honeybee v Barley
v Grape v Peach SUGAR CANE v Oats
v Citrus Fruits v Pear v Wheat HORSE
v Cattle v Sheep v Pigs Smallpox
Flu Typhus Measles Malaria
Diptheria Whooping Cough
v Trinkets
v Liquor
GUNS