The document discusses the Spanish conquest of Central and South America in the early 1500s. It describes how the Spanish, led by Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, were able to defeat the powerful Aztec and Inca empires despite being greatly outnumbered, using alliances with local populations oppressed by those empires, novel technologies like horses and guns, and diseases that decimated native populations. The document also notes that the Spanish justified their conquests under the concept of a "just war" as outlined in the Requerimiento proclamation.

1. New Spain

2. Azteca
• The French, Portuguese, English and Dutch justified pirating
from Spanish fleets by the Black Legend, that the Spanish
treated the natives with the most cruelty and brutal force
• While not entirely true, as all nations treated the Indians
poorly, the Spanish made allies with those who were
oppressed by the Aztec
• In 1521, Cortes conquered Tinochitlan with both Spanish and
Indian soldiers
• Cortes’ force was only 600 men and 13 guns, but using
alliances he toppled an empire in less than 2 years

3. Conquistadors
• Francisco Pizarro brought only 180 men with him to
Peru, to topple the Inca
• Spanish technology also included Horses and War
Dogs, both new and horrifying to the natives
• As well, the Spanish used disease to overthrow,
although not always intentionally dealt
• Spanish law of conquest held that a “just war” must
be fought; reading in Spanish the Requerimiento,
announcing all deaths are the fault of those who
fight and not the monarch or soldier or conqueror