Spanish Explorations
Chapter 3, Lesson 3
Lesson Objectives
 Describe the aims, obstacles, and
accomplishments of Spanish explorers.
 Trace the routes of Spanish explorers.
Vocabulary
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Grant
Conquistador
Reform
Reformation
Counter-Reformation
Missionary
The Spanish Explore Florida
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Reasons Spanish Explorers Sailed to the
Americas
To find adventure
To get rich
Glory and fame
Convert Native Americans to Christianity
The Spanish Explore Florida
• The Spanish emperor encouraged expolrers
by offering large sums of money called
grants.
• The Spanish explorers were called
conquistadores, or “conquerors”.
• The conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon set
out to find a rumored Fountain of Youth on
the island of Bimini, but founded what is
now the state of Florida instead in 1513.
The Spanish Explore Florida
(continued)
• Ponce de Leon returned to Florida in 1521
to start a settlement.
• He was wounded by native people and later
died from those wounds.
• He become the first Spanish explorer to set
foot on land that became the United States.
Ponce de Leon Discovers Florida
Early Conquistadores
• In 1519, Spain sent Hernando Cortez to find
gold in the land of the Aztecs (present day
Mexico).
• The Aztec Empire covered 80,000 square miles
and reigned over as many as 5 million people.
• With and army of 650 soldiers and the help of
native tribes who disliked the Aztecs, Cortez
was able to conquer the Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlan.
Early Conquistadores
(continued)
• One reason Cortes was able to defeat such a
vast empire with so small an army was that
the Aztecs thought he might be Quetzalcoatl,
an Aztec god that had promised to return at
about the same time Cortez came.
• Other reasons for Cortes’s success were:
– The Spanish had horses.
– The Spanish had guns and armor.
– Europeans brought new diseases
Early Conquistadores
(continued)
• Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan
and became the capital of Spain’s new empire.
• The Spanish continued to look for gold. They
heard of a fabled “city of gold”, which motivated
Vasquez de Coronado and others in 1540 to
explore to find it.
• Coronado did not find a city of gold, but his
explorations into the North American continent
led to increased land claims for Spain.
Expeditions Continue
• Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas on the
western coast of South America in 1531.
• Hernando de Soto explored the Southeastern
United States in 1539. He and his men were
the first Europeans to see the Mississippi
River.
• Because of de Soto and others, Spanish land
claims now covered much of the southern half
of what is now the United States.
Missionaries in America
• The Catholic Church in Europe had a great
deal of power in the 1500’s.
• Some people, including a German priest
named Martin Luther, began to call openly for
reforms, or changes, in the Church. This
period of reforms was called the Reformation.
• Luther was forced out of the Catholic Church,
but he and his followers became known as
Protestants.
Missionaries in America
(continued)
• As a result of the Protestant reformation, the
catholic Church tried to keep its power through
efforts now called the Counter-Reformation.
• During the Counter Reformation, the Catholic
Church banned books that went against their
teachings and punished people who protested
Catholic laws.
• Catholic missionaries were sent to the Americas
to convert Native Americans to the Catholic
Church in order to gain new followers.