US HistoryUS HistoryChapter 2Section 3

Spanish ConquistadorsSpanish ConquistadorsConquistador – explorers who received grants

from Spanish rulers◦ Agreed to give 1/5 of anything discovered◦Had fewer men, but conquered the Aztec and Inca

empires◦ Tribute – giving part of wealth to a conquering nation

for peace (Aztec system)Hernan Cortes ◦Marched on Tenochitalan (Aztec capital)◦ Took Montezuma, Aztec emperor, prisoner◦Montezuma dies in an Aztec uprising against the

SpanishSpain now controls region of Mexico

Pizarro and PeruPizarro and PeruFrancisco Pizarro – heard about the Inca◦Traveled down the coast to Peru◦Captured Inca ruler, Atahualpa◦The next year, Spain executed Atahualpa◦Spain now controlled the region of Peru

Juan Ponce de Leon – first Spanish on mainland of North America◦Arrived on present-day Florida◦Hoped to find the “Fountain of Youth”◦1565 – established a Spanish fort at St.

Augustine, Florida

Conquistador VictoriesConquistador VictoriesWhy they won?◦ New, strange weapons (guns and cannons)◦ New Animals (horses and vicious dogs)◦ Native Americans were mad at the Aztec and Inca to begin

with (Spanish offered freedom)◦ New Disease – Native Americans had no immunity to the

new diseases the Spanish vicariously brought with them (smallpox)

Other Conquistadors◦ Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca AND Panfilo de Narvaez -

shipwrecked in Mexico Became medicine men (with African, Estevanico)

◦ Hernando de Soto – travelled through modern-day South-East US, crossed the Mississippi River, died of fever in OK

◦ Francisco Vasquez de Coronado – tried to find the “Seven Cities of Cibola”, travelled in Mexico, AZ, NM, KS, and CO

Spanish RuleSpanish Rule Types of Settlements

◦ Pueblos – towns established as for trade◦ Missions – religious communities with small town, farmland, and a church◦ Presidio - fort

Spanish Class System◦ Peninsulares – upper class born in Spain◦ Creoles – people born in America to Spanish parents◦ Mestizos – people born in America to Spanish and Native American mixed

parents◦ Africans – enslaved by the Spanish

Encomienda – conquistador’s right to demand taxes or labor from the Native American peoples◦ Bartolome de Las Casas – preist who made Native American slavery

awareness in Spain, resulted in New Laws about no Native American slaves.

Plantations – a large estate◦ Main export in West Indies = tobacco and sugar cane◦ Africans replace Native Americans as plantations slaves◦ Portuguese did the same in Brazil.