The fall of great
empires and
the arrive of
the
Conquistadors
:
Who are the Triangles?
 Play while students are entering
 http://www.history.com/topics/aztecs/video
s
Conquistador
 Conquistador: Spanish explorers and
conqueror
The Aztec
 Call themselves Mexica (x makes a sh
sound)
 Poor nomadic people
 Wander around and get kicked out of places
 Become soldiers for hire
 God of war Huitzilopochtli tells them to
found a city of their own
Tells the Mexica to look for an
eagle perched on a cactus
holding a snake
They find this on a small island
in Lake Texcoco
Found their city there and
name it Tenochtitlan
No other groups really care it’s a bad place to live
Tenochtitlan
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The Mexica begin to better their city
Drain marshes
Bring in irrigation
Build chinampas - floating gardens
Add land to their island
The Triple Alliance
 Aztecs form alliance with two other citystates surrounding Lake Texcoco
 Texcoco
 Tlacopan
 Early 1500’s - empire of 80,000 square
miles, 38 provinces, 5-15 million people
Building an Empire
 Aztecs use war machine to conquer
 Loose political control
 Demand tribute - gold, maize, cacao beans,
cotton, jade
 Use military as a punishment
Religion
 Dominates life much like the Maya
 Worship gods such as Quetzalcoatl,
Huizilopochtli, Ehcatl, Xipe Totec
 Gods need blood to sustain life - huge
amounts of human sacrifice take place
 Need to conquer more lands to get more
captives for sacrifice - Flowery War
 Conquered nations not happy
Xipe Totec
 Our Lord the Flayed One
 Very particular form of sacrifice demanded
 Gets the Aztec in big trouble early in their
history
Montezuma and Cortes
The Spanish Conquest
 1519 - Cortes lands off eastern coast of
Mexico with 550 soldiers and sailors
 16 horses are there as well - first ones ever
in the New World
 Natives are not sure what to think - are
these people gods or humans?
The Conquistadors
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Have steel swords
Cannons
Guns
Horses
Montezuma’s Dilemma
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Montezuma is the Aztec emperor
What should he do with newcomers
Are they the return of Quetzalcoatl?
Has to be cautious - sends gifts to them and
tells them not to bother traveling to
Tenochtitlan
 Conquistadors continue inland - sporadic
fighting occurs
 Quetzalcoatl was
described to be a
white skinned man
with a beard
 Cortez arrived during
this celebration and
looked like this god
Montezuma Lets Them In
 He is too indecisive
 Allows the conquistadors into Tenochtitlan
and treats them as guests
 Conquistadors are shocked by what they see
- good and bad
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Cortez shocked by the human sacrifices said
to get rid of destroy all ideals
Aztecs PO
Cortez took Montezuma prisoner
Cortez found out Aztec killed some of his
troops
Cortez order Montezuma to burn all the
soldiers involved in the attack were burned
alive
 Cortez was obsessed with the gold
 Aztec had their fill of the Spanish and ran
them out
 Aztec started to get small pox
 Spanish army reattached and conquered
 80 days of a siege
Spanish Regroup
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Conquistadors escape and regroup
Take refuge with Tlaxcalan allies
Attack Tenochtitlan again
Divide conquistadors up and have a flotilla
attack all at once
 Aztec are defeated
INCAS
 http://educationportal.com/academy/lesson/the-incacivilization-pre-columbian-southamerica.html
 http://www.history.com/shows/mankindthe-story-of-all-of-us/videos/mankind-thestory-of-all-of-us-rise-of-the-incas
Exploring
 Spain explored from
California to Florida
 Juan Ponce de Leon
searched
 Legend of youthful
water-never found
 DARN!
http://images4.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081102125950/pirates/i
mages/d/d6/Juan_Ponce_de_Leon.jpg
Exploring
 DeSoto: searched the Southeast for gold
 He died
 Francisco Coronado: explored the
southwest
 Lots of native resistance
Settling New Spain
 Conquistadors were bad rulers
at first
 Three types of settlements
 Pueblos:towns; centers of trade
 Presidios: forts were soldiers
lived
 Missions: religious settlements
run by Catholic priests
Social Classes
 Haciendas: Large land tracts
 Given to Peninsulares
Who is going to work land?
 Ecomiendas: land
grants that included
the right to demand
labor or taxes from
Natives
 Social class system
 Start of Atlantic
Slave Trade
http://9f1780.medialib.glogster.com/media/357a382c1179f7959ec74b2cad93b88e83ab76aa467b610834dd186df1f57797/social-
Social Classes
 Peninsulares: born in Spain,
highest jobs in gov &
Church
 Creoles: people born in the
Americas to Spanish parents
 Mestizos: Mixed Spanish &
Indian
 Labor (enslaved & Natvies)