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Spain’s Empire in the Americas

Europe Looks Outward (1000-1720)

Ch. 2, Section 2

Lesson Objectives

w Describe how the Spanish were able to defeat the empires of the Aztecs and Incas

w  Identify Spanish explorations in areas that later became part of the United States.

w Explain how society was organized in Spain’s empire in the Americas.

Key Terms & People w  ______________ - soldier-adventurers w  ______________ ______________ - Spanish

conquistador who took control of Mexico from the Aztecs

w  ______________ - leader of the Aztecs w  ______________ - large farms worked by laborers

who worked on the property w  ______________ - land grants that included the right

to demand labor or taxes from Native Americans w  Bartolomê de Las Casas - a Spanish priest who fought

against the ecomienda system w  ______________ - a religious settlement w  ______________ - Spanish colonists born in Spain

Spanish Conquistadors

w By the early 1500’s, the Spanish had a firm foothold in the America’s

w From Spain’s island colonies in the Caribbean, conquistadors set out to explore and conquer a world unknown to them

w They hoped for ______________ and glory for themselves and Spain

Cortés and Pizarro

w  In 1519, Conquistador ______________ ______________ sailed from Cuba to Mexico with more than 500 soldiers

w The first Native Americas he met, presented him with lavish gifts of ______________

Cortés and Pizarro

w On November 8, 1519, Cortés marched into the Aztec capital of ______________.

w As the Spaniards moved closer, more Native Americans who had been captured by the Aztecs joined them, tired of their brutal life being controlled by the ______________

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Cortés and Pizarro

w The Aztec leader, Montezuma, met with Cortés and tried to get him to leave by offering him ______________.

w The plan backfired. Cortés took Montezuma ______________ and claimed all of Mexico for Spain.

w The Aztecs would, however, soon rebel, and force the Spaniards to flee the country.

Cortés and Pizarro

w  Cortés would return to Mexico about a year later with a much larger force, recapture Tenochtitlán, destroy it, and build a new capital city, ______________ ______________. w Mexico City served as the capital of

______________ w  Cortés used the same tactics to subdue the

Aztecs in South America that another conquistador, Francisco ______________, used.

Cortés and Pizarro

w  Pizarro landed on the coast of Peru in 1531 to search for the ______________, who were said to have much gold.

w  In 1532 he led about 170 soldiers through the jungle into the heart of the Incan empire.

w  He then took the Incan leader ______________ hostage.

w  Although a huge ransom was paid to free him, he was executed anyway.

w  In November 1533 the Spanish defeated the Incas and captured their capital city ______________.

Why Were the Spanish were Victorious

w How could a few hundred Spanish defeat Native American armies many times their size? w ______________ - The Europeans had armor,

muskets, and cannons w ______________ - which Native Americans had

never ever seen before w ______________ among themselves - In Peru,

where the Incans were conquered, a Civil War had just ended and in Mexico, many other Native Americans hated the Aztecs and joined the Spanish.

Checkpoint Question

How were the Spanish able to defeat the Native Americans?

Spanish Explorers in North America

w The Spanish did not limit themselves to the exploration of Central America

w  In 1513, ______________ ______________ sailed north from Puerto Rico to investigate reports of a large island

w He found beautiful flowers there, and named the place la ______________

w He was the first Spaniard to set foot in what is now the United States.

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Spanish Explorers in North America

w Exploration along Florida’s west coast began in 1528, when about 400 Spaniards landed near the present-day city of St. Petersburg

w Finding no gold, they marched on into ______________ ______________

w They fell under attack from Native Americans and had to retreat to the sea using small boats, eventually ending up in, what is now, ______________ Texas.

w The 80 survivors were led by Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca

Spanish Explorers in North America

w Starvation and disease quickly reduced their numbers to 15 before the Indians ______________ them

w Soon, only 4 remained, including de Vaca w After 6 years in captivity, they escaped and

made their way to ______________ ______________

w  In 1536, eight years after landing in Florida, the 4 survivors of the ______________ man expedition returned to Spanish lands

Spanish Explorers in North America

w The men returned telling stories told to them by the Native Americans of seven cities filled of gold to the North

w Spanish officials asked the men to head an expedition to find these cities, but only 1, ______________, an African slave, was willing to go

w  In 1539, he led a group into what is now Western ______________

w When Estevanico was killed by Native Americans, the others returned to Mexico City

Spanish Explorers in North America

w Upon their return, the Spanish conquistador Francisco Coronado set out with 1,100 Spaniards and Native Americans to find the city of ______________

w Although he never found the city, he did ______________ much of what is now New Mexico, Arizona, Texas, and Kansas

Spanish Explorers in North America

w While Coronado was making his way through the southwest, ______________ ______________ was searching for riches in the southeast.

w He traveled as far as North Carolina and as far west as Oklahoma

w He would end up dying in what is now Louisiana in 1542, having found the ______________ River, but no signs of the golden city.

Checkpoint Question

What regions in the present-day United States did Spaniards explore?

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Colonizing Spanish America

w At first, Spain allowed the conquistadors to govern the lands they discovered and claimed for ______________

w However, this quickly proved to be very ______________

w Spain had to create a formal system of government to rule it’s colonies

Harsh Life for Native Americans

w Within Spain’s vast empire, there was little place for Native Americas except as a source of ______________ ______________

w Government officials granted settlers huge tracts of land to start mines, ranches, and ______________.

Harsh Life for Native Americans

w To help the Spaniards with work, the government granted ______________

w The Spanish forced Native American’s to work in the gold and silver mines

w Many died as tunnels, unsafe, caved in w Some Spaniards protested this cruel

______________

Harsh Life for Native Americans

w The Spanish ______________ Bartolomé de las Casas traveled through New Spain working for ______________ for Natives

w Largely due to his efforts, the government reformed the system in the mid-1500’s

Harsh Life for Native Americans

w Like other Europeans in the Americas, the Spanish felt it was their duty to convert the Native Americans to ______________

w They set up missions, run by Catholic priests and ______________

w A number of important U.S. cities got their start as Spanish missions in the 1700’s

Trade in Humans

w  As the death toll for the Native Americans continued to rise, Spanish colonists looked across the ______________ Ocean for a source of labor

w  In 1517, Spain brought about 4,000 Africans to the ______________ Islands and forced them to work there.

w  By the middle of the 1500’s, the Spaniards were shipping about 2,000 enslaved African’s each year to Hispaniola alone

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Society in the Spanish Colonies

w  A rigid social system based on birthplace and blood developed in the Spanish colonies

w  At the top, the ______________’s, which included almost all government officials

w  ______________’s were colonists born to two Spanish parents - they also held important positions w  These were some of the wealthiest merchants and

plantations owners w  ______________’s were people of mixed

parentage (people of Spanish and Indian blood) w  Could achieve success as ranchers, farmers, or

merchants, but entrance entrance into the upper levels of society was impossible

Society in the Spanish Colonies

w  Below mestizos were ______________, people of Spanish and African heritage

w  Native Americans and African Americans were held at the bottom of the social class, helping Spain keep control of the America’s for more than 300 years

Review

w  1. What part of the North American continent did conquistadors explore?

w  2. How was the Spanish empire established in the America’s?

w  3. What was the lasting accomplishment of Bartolomé de Las Casas?

w  4. How would you describe the lives of Native Americans in “New Spain”?