Spain in America
2.3
The Conquest of Mexico
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Conquistadors
Gold & silver
1519 Cortes arrives
1521 Aztecs conquered
Cortes & Spain gold
Conquest of Peru
• 1533 Pizarro
• Silver for Pizarro & Spain
Why Spain Won
• Superior weapons & animals
• Aztec neighbors helped
• Small pox
Justification for Conquest
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Cultural superiority
History of crusades
Papal order dividing the New World
Mission to spread Catholicism
– Heathenism
– Protestantism 1517
Exploration of NA
• 1513 Ponce de Leon
– Florida
– gold & The Fountain of Youth
– 1565 St. Augustine
The Seven Cities of Gold
• “Cibola”
• 1528-1536 De Vaco & Estevanico
• DeSoto 3yrs
– Florida & SE
– Violent
– Buried in MS River
• Coronado
– N. Mexico, AZ, NM
– 1540 Zuni
– No gold
– CO River to KS
– Buffalo
Devastation of Indian Communities
• Mobile communities 100’s of people
• Spread disease
• Later colonizers will find native settlements
gone
Conquistador Rule
• Demand tax & labor
• Natives worked to death in the mines
• Cruel
Indian Labor
• Gold & sliver mines
• Haciendas
Spain & Indians
• 2 agendas
– Saving souls
– Exploit labor
• Restraints on abuse
– Pope ban on Indian
enslavement 1537
– Las Casas’s
Destruction of the
Indies
Colonial Govt
• Curb conquistador aggression
• Est. top-down royal govt
• Social composition
– Young men, laborers, craftsmen, soldiers
– Govt officials, priests, professionals, minor
aristocrats
• The New Laws 1542
– banning native slavery
– encomienda system – free forced labor
• Continued abuse
– repartimiento system – involuntary paid labor
– African slaves
Plantation System
• Large farms in NA
• Tobacco & sugar in West Indies
• Native labor then 1500’s African slaves
Spanish Settlement
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Pueblos
Missions
Prisidio
1598 New Mexico founded
– Cattle & horses
– 1607 Santa Fe capitol of Providence
Spanish Settlements
Spanish Society
• 4 Classes
– Peninsulares
– Creoles
– Mestizos
– Native American & African Slaves
Southwest
• NM, TX, CA
• 1542 Spain claims CA
• 1769 missions CA
– Natives farm & maintain mission
• Changes to native life
– Traditions bad
– Christian farmers now
Impact of Native Societies on
Empire
• Mestizos
• Hybrid culture
– 1531 Virgin of Guadalupe
Black Legend
• Spain’s image as uniquely brutal &
exploitive
– Based on conquistadors & Las Casas writings
• Justify other European powers to
challenge Spain for New World control