Bell Work
• What do you think was the most important
item exchanged in the Columbian
Exchange from each side and why?
Spain Builds an Empire
Objectives
• Students will identify reasons for European
exploration and colonization of North
America.[2A]
• Students will identify selected racial,
ethnic, and religious groups that settled in
the United States and explain their
reasons for immigration.[23A]
Spain gets a Head Start
• Because of Columbus,
the Spanish had a head
start in getting to the new
world. Spain sent
Conquistadors to
conquer parts of North
and South America.
• Spain had three main
goals in conquering the
Americas. These goals
are known as the three
G’s. They were God,
Gold, and Glory.
Spain
Cortez & Natives are SHOCKED!
• A Spaniard by the name of
Cortez was one of the first
Conquistadors to make it to the
new world. He had heard
stories of a wealthy native
American tribe in Mexico.
They were the Aztecs.
• As Cortez approached, the
Aztecs had no idea what to
think. They had never seen
ships like the Spanish had,
and they had never seen
horses. Montezuma, the
leader of the Aztecs, thought
Cortez was a God.
• Cortez was then able to kill
Montezuma and conquer the
Aztecs.
Pizzaro and the Incas
• Meanwhile, another
conquistador named
Francisco Pizarro set
his sights on the Incan
Enpire. Pizarro and his
men, only numbering
about 200, were able to
capture the Incan
Emperor and execute
him. The rest of the
Incans quickly collapsed.
Why so easy?
•
•
So why did two great empires like
the Aztecs and the Incas fall so
easily? Well, one reason was that
the Spanish had superior
weapons and other military
equipment. Another reason is that
both empires were scared of the
Spanish. Neither the Aztecs nor
the Incas had ever seen a white
man. Neither really knew if the
Spanish were gods or not. Lastly,
many of the Incas and Aztecs
were dying from the European
diseases. Many historians think
that diseases alone would have
conquered all of Mexico.
Once we had killed off most of the
Native Americans in Mexico,
Spain began to send over settlers
to make colonies. They built
pueblos (towns), presidios
(military housing), and missions
(churches).
Review
• Why were the Spanish able to conquer the
Americas so easily?
Spanish Social Classes
•
The new Colonies in Spain had a
very strict social class system.
Having social classes means that
people judge how good or
valuable you are just by who your
parents are. There were four
social classes. The highest were
the Peninsulares. They were
people who were actually born in
Spain. The Peninsulares had the
best jobs. The next highest were
the creoles. These were people
born in the Americas, but their
parents were both Spanish. Next
came the mestizos. These were
people who had one Spanish
parent and one Native American
Parent. The lowest were the
Native Americans. These were
people with both parents being
Native Americans.
Slavery Begins in North America
•
•
•
The Native Americans endured a hard
life. They were forced into hard labor
and slavery. Native Americans made
poor slaves, though. They just kept
dying from the European diseases.
The Spanish had to come up with
another way to get slave labor.
As more and more Spanish moved to
the Americas, and as the King of Spain
demanded more and more gold, the
Spanish had to figure out a way to get
the slave labor that they needed. The
Spanish solution was to import slaves
from Africa. These Spanish knew that
the Africans would be immune to
European diseases, and they also
thought that the Africans wouldn’t mind
slavery so much since they were so
used to hard labor.
This was the beginning of the slave
trade in the Americas. Before it was
over, more than 10 million enslaved
Africans would be transported here.
Review
• Why weren’t Native Americans good
slaves?
• Who did the Spanish turn to as a labor
source?
Notebook Assignment
• Pretend you are an Aztec and have just
witnessed the arrival of Cortez and the
Spanish. Write a letter to Moctezuma
describing what you see. Be very
descriptive because Moctezuma doesn’t
know what a gun, horse, armor, sword,
ships,etc are.