THE SPANISH AND FRENCH BUILD EMPIRES.

Ch. 2 Sec. 1

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

In 1511, Spanish troops led by Diego Velazquez conquered Cuba.

Six years later smallpox decimated the Native population which left the Spanish with no workers for manual labor.

Velazquez sent Cortez to the Yucatan Peninsula to look for new people to force to work for the Spanish.

In 1519, Cortez set sail for Mexico with 11 ships, 550 men, and 16 horses.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

When Cortez arrived in Mexico, he came into contact with a shipwrecked sailor named Jeronimo de Aguilar.

Aguilar acted as a translator to the Natives in Mexico.

Cortez’ efforts to communicate with these “new people” were unsuccessful, and Cortez was attacked by warriors from a nearby city.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

The Spanish had the advantage of superior technology (swords, crossbows, guns and cannons).

The attacking warriors soon gave up after Cortez had killed over 200 of their men.

The group of warriors asked for peace and offered Cortez twenty of their women in return. Cortez accepted the offer.

Cortez and his men then moved up the coast of the Yucatan and encountered another group of people.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

One of the twenty Native women that were offered up to Cortez was able to act as translator (her name was Malinche).

Cortez was impressed with Malinche, so he baptized her and gave her the name Dona Marina. She became on of Cortez’ closest advisors.

Eventually, Cortez learned that the people who ruled the Yucatan were the fabled Aztecs.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

Cortez marched inland in order to come into contact with the Aztecs and their leader Montezuma.

The Aztec chief, Montezuma, thought that Cortez was the Aztec god Quetzacoatl and was hesitant to cause him any harm.

Because Montezuma was afraid of angering Quetzacoatl, he offered to pay tribute to Cortez. He also sacrificed many of his captives and sent their blood to Cortez to drink.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

This horrified Cortez and he ordered his Spanish troops to attack Montezuma and the Aztecs.

Cortez killed over 6000 people in this attack as he marched towards the Aztec capital Tencochitlan.

Once Cortez got to Tenochitlan, his troops got surrounded by Aztec warriors.

Cortez takes Montezuma hostage in order to save himself and his troops and uses Montezuma as leverage.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

Enraged at their loss of power, Aztec priest organized a rebellion in the spring of 1520.

The Aztec priest were successful at pushing Cortez and this troops out of the Aztec capital on the night known as Noche Triste.

Cortez is still determine to take Technochitlan and devised a plan to attack it by sea.

At the same time the Aztecs were hit hard by small pox and were severely weakened.

THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO

Cortez used this to his advantage and easily went back into the city, attacking it by sea, and defeated the Aztecs in August of 1521.

The Aztec people were decimated by disease.

Cortez enslaved the people that were left and eventually the Aztec people died out of existence.

NEW SPAIN EXPANDS

Cortez re-built the old Aztec capital and named it Mexico.

Mexico became the capital of the new Spanish colony of New Spain.

Cortez sent many expeditions to conquer the rest of New Spain.

The men that he sent on this expeditions were known as conquistadors.

NEW SPAIN EXPANDS

While Cortez was in central America, a Spanish captain named Francisco Pizarro was exploring South America.

In 1526, Pizarro landed in Peru and encountered the Inca empire.

With the king’s permission, Pizarro returned to Peru in 1531 in order to conquer the Incas.

Pizarro marched his troops through Peru to the town of Cajamarca in search of the tribal chief Atahualpa.

NEW SPAIN EXPANDS

Atahualpa was summoned to Cajamarca by his brother where Pizarro was waiting with over 6000 troops.

Catholic priest presented Atahualpa with a Bible and he threw it to he ground.

This enraged Pizarro and he ordered his troops to attack the Incas and took Atahualpa prisoner.

Eventually Pizarro killed Atahualpa and wiped the entire Incan civilzation.

SEARCHING FOR CITIES OF GOLD Pizarro’s success in Peru fueled rumors

that there was great wealth in the Americas.

Panfilio Navarez searched northern Florida for the fabled City of Gold.

He never found the City of Gold, almost lost his life and he and his men had to float on rafts along the of the Americas and eventually landed in modern day Texas.

THE ANASAZI

Lived in the Four Corners area of the United States (Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico).

Anasazi was the name given this group by the Navajo Indians.

The Anasazi became well known is the Chaco Canyon (northwest New Mexico) where they constructed large multi-story buildings made out of adobe.

THE ANASAZI

Early Spanish explorers called these elaborate building pueblos.

Beginning in 1130 A.D. the a devastating drought that lasted over 50 years in Chaco Canyon which caused the Anasazi to abandoned their pueblos.

Drought, along with epidemic, caused the Anasazi civilization to collapse.

THE ADENA AND THE HOPEWELL The Adena and the Hopewell developed in

America’s eastern woodland region. The Adena and the Hopewell developed

woodworking tools such as stone axes, gouges, and nets to snare birds.

The Adena and the Hopewell were the first to actually “bury” their dead.

For unknown reasons, the Adena and the Hopewell began to decline around 400 A.D.

THE MISSISSIPPI CULTURE

Developed in the Mississippi River Valley. Capital city was Cahokia where the main

crops were maize and beans. The Mississippi Culture built pyramids with

flat tops. The largest was called Monks Mound which was larger than any pyramid in Egypt.

The Mississippi Culture built three large cities in present-day Spiro, Oklahoma, Moundville, Alabama, and Etowah, Georgia.

THE MISSISSIPPI CULTURE

Cohokia collapsed around 1300 A.D. because it was attacked by other Native American groups.

Even though Cohokia collapsed, much of its culture survived until European colonization, and some of its cultural traits still exist today.

THE END