Conquest in the Americas
By: Bree-Anna Brown
Introduction
 In 1492, Christopher Columbus landed in the Caribbean.
Which is now called the West Indies.
First Encounters in the Americas
 Columbus first meeting with the Natives began a cycle.
Encounter, conquer and death.
Meeting with the Tainos
 When Columbus first arrived in the west Indies, he came
upon the Tainos. These Tainos live in little villages and grew
crops and cotton. They were very friendly towards the
Spanish. Regardless of how nice they were, the Spanish still
treated them bad. Columbus’s encounter was repeated by a
wave of Spanish conquers who arrived in America. They
settled in the island of Hispanola
Guns, Horses and disease
 The Spanish had many advantages over the Natives
 The Spanish had horses which helped them carry things and
get around to places. The natives were very afraid of horses
because the have never seen them before
 Diseases killed a lot of the natives because they couldn’t fight
against the diseases.
 So the natives population went down as much as 90%
Cortes Conquers Mexico
 From the Caribbean, the Spanish explorers studied the coasts
of America. They told stories about empires rich in gold.
They also told them that there were fierce fighting people
there.
Cortes Advances on the Aztecs
 Among the earliest conqueror was Hernan Cortes. He was a
landowner in Cuba. He heard of the Spanish journeys that
had been pushed back by the Indians. He went to Mexico in
1519 and met with an Indian woman name Malinche. She
told them how she gained power by conquering other groups
of people. They arranged an alliance so they agreed to help
Cortes fight the Aztecs.
Moctezuma Faces Dilemma
 Moctezuma was terrified when wondered if the leader of the
pale-skinned bearded strangers might be Quetzalcoatl. So he
sent gifts and other goods. Cortez had no intentions of
turning back.
Tenochtitlan Falls to the Spanish
 Moctezuma welcomed Cortes. The relationship between the
Aztec and Spanish began to strain. The Spanish tried to
convert the to Christianity. They imprisoned Moctezuma so
Cortez could gain power and gain control of their riches.
Cortez forced Moctezuma to sign over his land and treasure.
 A new Spanish conquer had arrived one the coast to
challenge Cortes.
 With all this confusion that followed with the various groups
the Aztecs drove out the Spanish.
 Cortez retreated in 1521.His Indians captured and
demolished Tenochtitlan.
Pizarro Takes Peru
 Cortes’s success inspired other adventures. Francisco Pizarro
was interested in Peru’s Inca empire which had more riches
than the Aztecs. He arrived in Peru in 1532 after Atahualpa
had won the throne from his brother.
 Atahualpa refused to become a Spanish vassal or convert to
Christianity. Pizzarro with the help of Indians killed ten
thousand Incas. The Spanish demanded a ransom for their
ruler, they paid it but the Spanish killed him anyway.
 Piazarro himself was killed by a rival Spanish faction a few
years after he established the city of Lima.