1) Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, arrived in Mexico in 1519 with a small force of 550 men but was able to defeat the vast Aztec Empire through tactical advantages like horses and guns, forming alliances with neighboring tribes, and unwittingly spreading deadly diseases that weakened the Aztecs. 2) Francisco Pizarro similarly conquered the large Inca Empire in Peru in the 1530s with just 160 men by ambushing the emperor Atahualpa and kidnapping him, then executing him despite the Incas meeting Pizarro's ransom demands. 3) Both conquests resulted in Spain gaining control of extensive new territories in the Americas and access to the natural resources and

1. Fall of the Aztec & Incan Empires Unit Eight Notes

6. Spanish Conquistadors

11. Cortes Meeting Montezuma

21. Atahualpa