Spanish conquer and colonize the Americas

1. US History 11 - CHEE
A Meeting of Three Worlds:
Europe, Africa, and the Americas
Colonization Begins 1492–1680
Lecture 1.2: The Spanish (and
Portuguese) Conquer and
Colonize the Americas

2. Tenochtitlan – “a dream”?
Bernal Diaz del Castillo

3. Tenochtitlan – “a dream” (Mexico City)?
Bernal Diaz del Castillo
1519 -
Quetzalcoatl
prophecy
Cortes & nearly
500 men, guns,
horses, & used
trickery
Disease -
smallpox

4. Malinche &
Cortes c. 1519
“Dona Marina” (spoke
Nahuatl)
Cortes & nearly 500 men, guns,
horses, & used trickery
Disease – smallpox
Alliance – anti-Aztec

5. Conquest of Mexico or Tenochtitlan
Spaniard Bernal Diaz del Castillo
Diego Rivera Painting, Mexico City Hall

6. Motivations to explore and settle?
Spanish first started settling on Hispaniola – in 1502.
• Sought gold but found silver (Spanish mined 7 million pounds by 1660 –
triple the European supply)
• Missionary zeal
• Free labor
• Spices (did not find)
• Sugar plantations (6 –32 million pounds/year)

7. Mexico City – Cathedral next to the Templo Mayor

8. Spanish Exploration in North America, 1513-1610
Gold-seeking expeditions of Hernando de Soto, Francisco Vazquez de
Coronado & others, start new settlements in Florida & New Mexico

9. Spanish & the
Portuguese in
the New World

10. Guaman Poma’s
Nueva coronica The
New Chronicle &
Good Government –
1587-1615
Andean nobleman Felipe
Guaman Poma de Ayala compiled
a 1200 page book with 400 quill
drawings, from 1587-1615 about
the Spanish conquest

11. The Incas
Inca Empire of 11 million
Cuzco, capital
of the Inca
empire, 300,000

12. The Incas
• built an
elaborate series
of over 10,000
miles of roads

13. The Incas & Quipu
• Ruled as a military &
admin elite
• Armies of conquered
peoples
• No writing, but had
quipu, cords of various
colors & lengths, with
knots

14. The Incas & Francisco Pizarro (180 men) 1532-3
• Francisco Pizarro & 180
Spanish men
• arrived when the Inca
ruling party was
disputing – easy for them
to exploit
• 1533- took Cuzo – capital
• killed the ruling party
including the Inca ruler
Atahualpa – until they
received gold.

15. Guaman Poma’s Nueva
coronica - Gathering
the Harvest – Incas
before the Spanish
Conquest

16. Incan King & a
Spaniard
“Yes, we eat it.”
The Spaniard mis-
communicated, and said
yes, the Spaniards eat gold.
The Incans gave gold to
them, to satisfy their
curious diet.
Guaman Poma’s Nueva coronica

17. Grace Chee Copyright 9.2018
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