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AGE OF EXPLORATION
COLONIZATION IN THE AMERICAS
 CONQUISTADOR: Spanish conqueror
 After Columbus & Magellan…
 Hernan Cortes (Spain) - conquistador
who arrived in Mexico in 1519, looking for
lands to claim & searching for “City of
Gold”
HERNAN CORTES
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Video 
 Came across Aztec Empire Greeted by Montezuma
 Aztecs thought Spaniards were “iron-clad gods”
 Defeated Aztecs (1. Superior weapons, 2. Used enemies to
help, 3. Disease)
 Tenochtitlan (Aztec capital) became Mexico City
FRANCISCO PIZARRO
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Bio. Video 
 Conquistador who arrived in Inca Empire (Peru) in 1523
 Captured Atahualpa for ransom of gold/silver;
silver
became a HUGE commodity!
Video 
 Spanish eventually conquered, taking over lands from
Ecuador to Chile
SPANISH ECONOMY & SOCIAL CLASSES
 Can only import/export with Spain
 MERCANTILISM: how much gold/silver a country has
 ORDER OF SOCIAL CLASS in New Spain:
• Peninsulares – born in Spain
• Creoles – American-born descendents of
Spanish settlers
• Mestizos – Native & Spanish descent
• Mulattoes – Spanish & African descent
• Native Americans &
African slaves
Age of Exploration
The Columbian Exchange
What was the Columbian Exchange???
 Columbian Exchange = the exchange of goods
from Americas to Europe & from Europe to
America
 – new plants, animals, crops, foods, disease,
technology, and ideas
 This kind of exchange is called cultural
diffusion
 Influx of food results in population growth,
especially in Europe
 Influx of disease results in decline in
population in the Americas
What was exchanged???
 from Americas: corn, potatoes, tomatoes, sweet potatoes,
pumpkins, squash, beans, pineapples, tobacco, chocolate,
quinine
 from Europe: wheat, melons, grapes, bananas, coconut,
coffee, sugar cane, honeybees, olives, onions, horses,
cattle, firearms, smallpox, whooping cough, malaria,
measles
The Triangle Trade
Video
What was the Triangle Trade???
 Triangular Trade:
network of trade
between the
Americas, Europe
and coastal Africa
raw materials (sugar,
cotton, tobacco, etc.)
from Americas to
Europe;
slaves, ivory, gold
from Africa to
Americas
manufactured goods
(guns, rum, etc.)
from Europe to
Africa;
The Gun-Slave cycle
Guns are
given in
exchange
for slaves
New guns
are used to
get more
slaves