Nikkia's+page

 **Cortés, Hernán** (1485-1547), conquistador of Mexico. His secretary described him as ruthless, haughty, quarrelsome, and much given to women, qualities that served him well. He sailed to Hispaniola in 1504 and in 1511 joined an expedition to Cuba. As mayor of Santiago he was a magnet for dissidents and to get rid of him the governor appointed him captain general of an expedition to Yucatán, only to revoke his authority before departure. Ignoring this, in February 1519 Cortés sailed with 11 ships, 100 sailors, 500 soldiers, and 16 horses. Landing at Tabasco, among the gifts he received from local Indians was ‘Malinche’, who became his mistress and indispensable councillor and interpreter throughout the campaign. Sailing on, he founded Vera Cruz, declared independent authority, and in a famous episode literally burned his boats.

Thanks to Malinche he was able to exploit resentments against the Aztecs among their subject peoples, forming a military alliance with the powerful Tlaxcala. Upon arrival at the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán at the head of a combined Spanish-Tlaxcaltec force of less than 1, 500, he won over the Emperor Montezuma, already unmanned by a prophecy about the return of the god Quetzalcoatl. In mid-1520, Cortés left Alvarado in charge while he marched to the coast to defeat and recruit to his cause a force sent from Cuba under Narváez. On return he found his lieutenant had provoked the Aztecs to revolt. Montezuma was killed when he tried to restore his people to docility and Cortés had to evacuate the city during the ‘Sorrowful Night’ of 30 June. Tenochtitlán was in the middle of a lake connected to the mainland by causeways and these were destroyed by Aztecs fighting from canoes, with the loss of many Spaniards and Tlaxcaltecs, much of their loot, all of their artillery and gunpowder, and most of their horses. Despite this, six days later Cortés turned on his vastly more numerous pursuers and defeated them at Otumba.

Over the next year, Cortés won over or conquered the areas surrounding Tenochtitlán, until finally the city itself was successfully assaulted in August 1521. Cortés's authority appears to have been accepted by the peoples of Mexico, accustomed to submission to a hegemonial power and happy to be relieved of the Aztecs' ‘flower wars’, whose purpose was to gather captives for sacrifice. His problems lay in Spain, where enemies sought to persuade the Emperor Charles V that he intended to establish an independent kingdom.

In 1526 he returned from a two-year expedition to Honduras to find his estates seized and Mexico in chaos. Compelled to return to Spain to plead his case in person, he was made a marquis and confirmed as captain general, but the coveted post of viceroy was withheld. He returned to Mexico in 1530 and toyed with further Pacific exploration, but eventually retreated to his estate at Cuernavaca. The rest of his life was a battle against a flood of accusations and he died in Spain after a seven-year attempt to refute them. //— Hugh Bicheno//

//Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566) was a Spanish priest, social reformer, and historian. He was the principal organizer and champion of the 16th-century movement in Spain and Spanish America in defense of the Indians.//

Bartolomé de Las Casas, the son of a merchant, was born in Seville. Apparently he did not graduate from a university, although he studied Latin and the humanities in Seville. The facts of his life after 1502 are well known. In that year Las Casas sailed for Española in the expedition of Governor Nicolás de Ovando. In the West Indies he participated in Indian wars, acquired land and slaves, and felt no serious qualms about his actions, although he had been ordained a priest. Not until his fortieth year did Las Casas experience a moral conversion, perhaps the awakening of adormant sensitivity as a result of the horrors he saw about him. His early efforts at the Spanish court were largely directed at securing approval for the establishment of model colonies in which Spanish farmers would live and labor side by side with Indians in a peaceful coexistence that would gently lead the natives to Christianity and Christian civilization. The disastrous failure of one such project on the coast of Venezuela (1521) caused Las Casas to retire for 10 years to a monastery and to enter the Dominican order. He had greater success with an experiment in peaceful conversion of the Indians in the province of Tezulutlán - called by the Spaniards the Land of War - in Guatemala (1537-1540). Las Casas appeared to have won a brilliant victory with the promulgation of the New Laws of 1542. These laws banned Indian slavery, prohibited Indian forced labor, and provided for gradual abolition of the //encomienda// system, which held the Indians living on agricultural lands in serfdom. Faced with revolt by the //encomenderos// in Peru and the threat of revolt elsewhere, however, the Crown made a partial retreat, repealing the provisions most objectionable to the colonists. It was against this background that Las Casas met Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda, defender of the //encomienda// and of Indian wars, in a famous debate at Valladolid in 1550. Sepúlveda, a disciple of Aristotle, invoked his theory that some men are slaves by nature in order to show that the Indians must be made to serve the Spaniards for their own good as well as for that of their masters. The highest point of Las Casas' argument was an eloquent affirmation of the equality of all races, the essential oneness of mankind. To the end of a long life Las Casas fought passionately for justice for his beloved Indians. As part of his campaign in their defense, he wrote numerous tracts and books. The world generally knows him best for his flaming indictment of Spanish cruelty to the Indians, //Brief Account of the Destruction of the Indies// (1552), a work based largely on official reports to the Crown and soon translated into the major European languages. Historians regard most highly his //Historia de las Indias,// which is indispensable to every student of the first phase of the Spanish conquest. His //Apologética historia de las Indias// is an immense accumulation of ethnographic data designed to demonstrate that the Indians fully met the requirements laid down by Aristotle for the good life. Lewis Hanke is the principal American authority on Las Casas; see especially his //Bartolomé de Las Casas: An Interpretation of His Life and Writings// (1951) and //Aristotle and the American Indians//(1959). Other studies of //Las Casas include Alice J. Knight, Las Casas: "The Apostle of the Indies"//(1917); Marcel Brion, //Bartolomé de las Casas: "Father of the Indians"// (trans. 1929); and Henry Roup Wagner, //The Life and Writings of Bartolomé de las Casas// (1967). An account of Las Casas is in the lively and colorful narration of the adventures of Spanish, Portuguese, and English explorers by Louis Booker Wright, //Gold, Glory, and the Gospel: The Adventurous Lives and Times of the Renaissance Explorers// (1970).–1506). On the morning of Oct. 12, 1492,**Christopher** **Columbus** stepped ashore on an island in what has since become known as the Americas. The arrival of his ships in the Western Hemisphere was one of the pivotal events in world history. It opened up a new world for Europeans and initiated the spread of Western civilization to a new hemisphere. But if these lands were a new world for Europeans, …
 * Further Reading**

(1475?–1541). The conquest of Peru by an obscure adventurer is one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of the New World. Until he was nearly 50 years old, **Francisco** **Pizarro**, serving as a minor Spanish official on the Isthmus of Panama, had nothing to show for years of toil and peril but a small holding of land. Little more than a decade later, he had conquered the fabulously wealthy… (1450?–99?). An Italian explorer sailing for England, **John** **Cabot** was the first European to reach the shores of North America after the Vikings. England later claimed all of North America on the ground that **Cabot** was the first explorer to reach the mainland. The details of **Cabot**'s life and voyages are a subject of debate among historians. It is believed that he was born Giovanni**Cabot**o… |||| * **Interesting Facts and information about famous Spanish Conquistadors** > Francisco Vazquez de Coronado** || || || || || == **Spanish Conquistadors** == ** Spanish Conquistadors ** **The Renaissance & Elizabethan Age of Exploration to the New World was dominated by the Spanish Conquistadors. The success of the Spanish Conquistadors in acquiring monopolies on much of the Eastern spice trade and their expeditions to the New World brought great wealth and power to Spain. The new discoveries made by the Spanish Conquistadors brought untold riches in terms of gold and silver and spices and it also brought power and influence...** **The Spanish word Conquistador means conqueror. The Conquistadors were Spanish Soldiers and Explorers - 'el conquistador'** **Spain had successfully taken the Iberian peninsula from the Muslim Moors after nearly eight hundred years of conflict. This victory was referred to as the 'reconquista'. The conflict with the Muslim Moors had been seen as a continuation of the Medieval Crusades. The crusades were a series of religious Holy Wars which had been given the blessing of the Pope. They were fought by Roman Catholic soldiers. The Spanish explorers / soldiers saw their mission to conquer new lands as a natural extension of the Medieval crusades. Roman Catholic Priests and Friars always accompanied the Spanish explorers who were expected to convert heathen natives to Christianity. The explorer / soldiers who travelled to the New World adopted the name 'Conquistadors'.** **The motives of the Spanish Conquistadors and their patrons were prompted by:** **The people of Spain adhered to the Catholic religion. Many were fanatical about their religion - the Spanish Inquisition was an example of this. The idea of spreading the Catholic faith to heathen races was seen as a primary reason for the Spanish Conquistadors to undertake voyages of discovery.** ** The Attitudes of the Spanish Conquistadors to the Natives- the Encomienda system ** **The attitude of the Spanish conquistadors to the natives was that they were savage and pagan. The Spanish government had decreed that the Encomienda system should be established in the New World - it came to signify the oppression and exploitation of the Native Indians, although this was not their original intent. The the Encomienda system was similar to the Medieval Feudal system. The primary purpose of the Encomienda system was to indoctrinate the Indians in the Catholic faith. The Indians were expected to pay a tribute to the Spanish Conquistadors in return for protection and religious instruction. The Encomienda system was totally abused - the Conquistadors were thousands of miles away from Spain and they behaved as they saw fit. The natives were abused, oppressed, exploited, ill-treated and decimated by the Spanish Conquistadors. The Indians lost their freedom, their rights, their culture and their religion. The Spanish Conquistadors were feared and hated and the very name 'Conquistador' still conveys these terrible impressions - 'el conquistador'. The Encomienda system was replaced by new laws in 1542.** A biography and timeline about the most famous Spanish Conquistadors have been developed with facts, history and information. They can be accessed by clicking one of the following links: ** ||  **Picture of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado, a famous Spanish Conquistador** || ** Famous Spanish Conquistadors **
 * **Famous Spanish Conquistadors in the New World**
 * **Hernan Cortes, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de Leon - 'el conquistador'**
 * **Francisco Pizarro, Hernando de Soto,
 * **[|The Age of Exploration]** || **[|Elizabethan Era Index]** ||
 * Who were the Spanish Conquistadors? **
 * The History of the Spanish Conquistadors **
 * The Motives of the Spanish Conquistadors **
 * **Wealth - gold, silver and spices**
 * **Power**
 * **Prestige**
 * **Increasing opportunities for Spanish trade**
 * **Spreading the Catholic Religion to heathen natives**
 * **Building a Spanish Empire**
 * Famous Spanish Conquistadors
 * **[|Francisco Pizarro]**
 * **[|Vasco Nunez de Balboa]**
 * **[|Juan Ponce de Leon]**
 * **[|Francisco Vasquez de Coronado]**
 * **[|Hernando De Soto]**
 * **[|Hernando Cortes]**
 * **[|Juan de Onate]**
 * **[|Panfilo de Narvaez]**
 * **[|Cabeza de Vaca]**
 * **[|Juan de Onate]**
 * **[|Lucas Vazquez de Ayllon]**
 * **[|Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo]** ||

**Timeline of Famous Spanish Conquistadors in the New World** ** |||||| **List of Famous Spanish Conquistadors in the New World** Chile** || Guatemala Peru Mexico** || Venezuela** || South America** || || || Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán with his reinforcements, but found it in a state of uproar, as one of his lieutenants, __[|Pedro de Alvarado]__, had ordered a massacre of Aztec nobility in his absence. Aztec Emperor Moctezuma was killed by his own people while trying to placate the crowd and an angry mob chased the Spanish from the city in what became known as the Noche Triste, or “sad night.” Cortés was able to regroup, re-take the city and by 1521 he was in charge of Tenochtitlán for good. Cortés’ Good Luck Cortés never could have pulled off the defeat of the Aztec Empire without a great deal of good luck. First of all, he had found Gerónimo de Aguilar, a Spanish priest who had been shipwrecked on the mainland several years before and who could speak the Maya language. Between Aguilar and a woman slave named Malinche who could speak Maya and Nahuatl, Cortés was able to communicate effectively during his conquest. Cortés also had amazing luck in terms of the Aztec vassal states. They nominally owed allegiance to the Aztec, but in reality hated them and Cortés was able to exploit this hatred. With thousands of native warriors as allies, he was able to meet the Aztecs on strong terms and bring about their downfall. Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán with his reinforcements, but found it in a state of uproar, as one of his lieutenants, __[|Pedro de Alvarado]__, had ordered a massacre of Aztec nobility in his absence. Aztec Emperor Moctezuma was killed by his own people while trying to placate the crowd and an angry mob chased the Spanish from the city in what became known as the Noche Triste, or “sad night.” Cortés was able to regroup, re-take the city and by 1521 he was in charge of Tenochtitlán for good. Cortés’ Good Luck Cortés never could have pulled off the defeat of the Aztec Empire without a great deal of good luck. First of all, he had found Gerónimo de Aguilar, a Spanish priest who had been shipwrecked on the mainland several years before and who could speak the Maya language. Between Aguilar and a woman slave named Malinche who could speak Maya and Nahuatl, Cortés was able to communicate effectively during his conquest. Cortés also had amazing luck in terms of the Aztec vassal states. They nominally owed allegiance to the Aztec, but in reality hated them and Cortés was able to exploit this hatred. With thousands of native warriors as allies, he was able to meet the Aztecs on strong terms and bring about their downfall. He also benefited from the fact that Moctezuma was a weak leader, who looked for divine signs before making any decisions. Cortés believed that Moctezuma thought that the Spanish were emissaries from the God Quetzalcoatl, which may have caused him to wait before crushing them. When Christopher Columbus landed in Puerto Rico in 1493, he didn’t tarry. Actually, he spent a grand total of two days here, claiming the island for Spain, christening it San Juan Bautista (Saint John the Baptist), and then moving on to richer pastures. One can only imagine what the island’s native tribe thought of all this. The Taíno Indians, an advanced society with a developed agriculture, had been living on the island for hundreds of years; they called it Borikén (today, Boriquén remains a symbol of native Puerto Rico). They would be left to ponder Columbus’s actions for several years, as Spanish explorers and conquistadores largely ignored the island in their continued conquest of the new world. Ponce de León Then, in 1508, Juan Ponce de León and a force of 50 men came to the island and established the town of Caparra on its northern coast. He quickly found a better location for his fledgling settlement, an islet with an excellent harbor that he named Puerto Rico, or Rich Port. This would become the name of the island, while the town was renamed San Juan. As governor of the new territory, Juan Ponce de León helped lay the foundation of a new colony on the island, but, like Columbus, he didn’t stick around to enjoy it. After only four years into his tenure, Ponce de León left Puerto Rico to pursue the dream for which he is now most famous: the elusive "fountain of youth." His hunt for immortality took him to Florida, where he died. His family, however, continued to live in Puerto Rico and flourished along with the colony their patriarch founded. The Taíno, on the other hand, didn’t fare so well. In 1511, they revolted against the Spanish after discovering that the foreigners weren’t gods, as they had originally suspected. They were no match for the Spanish troops, and as their numbers dwindled due to the familiar pattern of subjugation and intermarriage, a new labor force was imported to replace them: African slaves started arriving in 1513. They would become an integral part of the fabric of Puerto Rican society. Early Struggles Puerto Rico’s growth was slow and arduous. By 1521, there were roughly 300 people living on the island, and that number reached only 2,500 by 1590. This was only partly due to the inherent hardships of establishing a new colony; a large cause of its sluggish development lay in the fact that it was a poor place to live. Other colonies in the New World were mining gold and silver; Puerto Rico had no such fortune.
 * There were many Spanish Conquistadors to the New World
 * **Name of Conquistador** || ** Dates ** || **Land** ||
 * **Hernan Cortes** || **1518 - 1522** || **Mexico** ||
 * || **1524** || **Honduras** ||
 * || **1532 - 1536** || **California** ||
 * **Vasco Nunez de Balboa** || **1510 - 1519** || **Panama** ||
 * **Juan Ponce de Leon** || ** 1508 ** || **Puerto Rico** ||
 * || **1513** || **Florida** ||
 * **Francisco Pizarro** || **1509 - 1535** || **Peru** ||
 * **Hernando de Soto** || **1539 - 1542** || **Florida & South East United States** ||
 * **Francisco Vazquez de Coronado** || ** 1540 - 1542 ** || **Arizona and New Mexico** ||
 * **Cristobal de Olid** || **1523 -1524** || **Honduras** ||
 * **Gonzalo Pizarro** || **1532 - 1542** || **Peru** ||
 * **Juan Pizarro** || **1532 - 1536** || **Peru** ||
 * **Hernando Pizarro** || **1532 - 1560** || **Peru** ||
 * **Ines Suarez** || **1541** || **Chile** ||
 * **Pedro de Valdivia** || **1540 - 1552** || **Chile** ||
 * **Diego de Almagro** || **1524 - 1535 1535 - 1537** || **Peru
 * **Pedro Menendez de Aviles** || **1565 - 1567** || **Florida** ||
 * **Pánfilo de Narvaez** || **1527 - 1528** || **Florida** ||
 * **Pedro de Alvarado** || **1519 - 1521 1523 - 1527 1533 - 1535 1540 - 1541** || **Mexico
 * **Diego Velazquez de Cuellar** || **1511 - 1519** || **Cuba** ||
 * **Sebastian de Belalcazar** || **1533 - 1536** || **Ecuador and Colombia** ||
 * **Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada** || **1536 - 1537 1569 - 1572** || **Colombia
 * **Martin de Ursua** || **1696 - 1697** || **Guatemala** ||
 * **Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba** || **1517** || **Yucatan** ||
 * **Martín de Goiti** || **1570 - 1571** || **Manila, Philippines** ||
 * **Miguel Lopez de Legazpi** || **1565 - 1571** || **Philippines** ||
 * **Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba** || **1517** || **Yucatan** ||
 * **Juan de Grijalva** || **1518** || **Yucatan** ||
 * **Francisco de Montejo** || **1527 - 1546** || **Yucatan** ||
 * **Francisco de Orellana** || **1541 - 1543** || **Amazon River** ||
 * **Juan de Salcedo** || **1570 - 1576** || **Philippines** ||
 * **Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca** || **1527 - 1536 1540 - 1542** || **South West United States
 * **Lucas Vasquez de Ayllon** || **1524 - 1527** || **East Coast United States** ||
 * **Diego de Nicuesa** || **1506 - 1511** || **Panama** ||
 * **Name of Conquistador** || ** Dates ** || **Land** ||
 * **List of Famous Spanish Conquistadors in the New World** ||

Leif the Lucky. His name has been variously spelled as Leaf or Leif Ericson, Ericsson, Erickson, Erikson or Eriksson; in Norwegian, Leiv Eriksson den Hepne; in Old Norse, Leifr Eriksson. ew-Brunswick

The first people of New Brunswick were **Native** **Americans** of the Algonquian group. There were two tribes—the Micmac of the east shore and the Malecite, or Maliseet, of the south shore and the St. John River valley. Many **Native** American place-names—Miramichi, Nepisiguit, and Restigouche—were adopted by both the French and English settlers.

he //Philippines// **e Aztec Empire** The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incane Aztec Empire**
The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incane Aztec Empire**
The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incan Empire**
In 1527, Francisco Pizarro entered into Peru, where, with his small band of 175 men armed with an ineffecti **e Aztec Empire** The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incan Empire**
In 1527, Francisco Pizarro entered into Peru, where, with his small band of 175 men armed with an ineffective cannon, took over the entire [|Incan Empire]. Quickly after Pizarro landed on the shores of Thubes, on May 13, 1532, he began to advance toward the Empire's capitol. As Pizarro's group advanced, they were confronted by roughly fifty-thousand Incan warriors within the town square of the capitol city, Cajamarca, who were bent on destroying Pizarro's band. However, the Inca did not attack, rather, Pizarro asked the Inca's leader, Atahualpa, to meet with him and his body guards unarmed, and both the Inca and Pizarro's men stood at a standstill. Accepting Pizarro's offer was the Inca's worst mistake. Pizarro knew that if he had the Emperor he would have the entire Incan Empire, and all the gold which it held (Pizarro had originally set off from Spain for the city of gold). Shortly after meeting with Pizarro, Atahualpa's gold headband was torn form his head, and with the blast of a cannon, Pizarro's men slaughtered all of the Inca's within the square of Cajamarca. Atahualpa attempted to bargain with Pizarro for his life, offering him a room filled with gold (roughly 17 feet by 22 feet by 9 feet), but shortly after Atahualpa showed Pizarro the room he was murdered.

**Spanish Immigration**
During the late 16th century, 200,000 Spaniards immigrated into South America. Quickly the landscape of South America began to change, with imported plants, large sugar plantations, vast estates, and imported animals over-taking the native landscape. Bureaucracy and government also took hold quickly in South America. The Spanish established the encomiendas, where the government granted conquerors the right to employ groups of Indians. The encomiendas, in truth were a form of legalized slavery. Relegated to practical slave labor within sugar cane plantations and mining caves, the native population of Peru declined from 1.3 million in 1570, to 600,000 in 1620. In Meso-America the circumstances were no different. The population of Indians went from 25.3 million in 1519, to a scant 1 million in 1605. Though forced labor played the largest part in the decimation of the Incan and Aztec, disease is by no means minor within this time frame. Widespread epidemics of small pox and other diseases were not uncommon, and claimed the lives of millions. On the psychological front, historians and psychologists have offered another reason for the decimation of the Incan and Aztec populations, namely the Indians had lost the will to survive. With the extreme and quick loss of culture, accompanied by the pressure of Christian missionaries and laws preventing the practice of any form of native religion (if they did there were strong repercussions even death), the Indians were, by all means, slaves to the Spaniard immigrants. **e Aztec Empire** The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incan Empire**
In 1527, Francisco Pizarro entered into Peru, where, with his small band of 175 men armed with an ineffecti **e Aztec Empire** The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incan Empire**
In 1527, Francisco Pizarro entered into Peru, where, with his small band of 175 men armed with an ineffecti **e Aztec Empire** The Spanish landed upon the shores of Meso-America in February of the year 1519, in the area of [|Vera Cruz]. By November of that year, the Spanish fleet, commanded by Hernando Cortez, entered into Tenochtitlan and simply arrested the Emperor of the Aztec, Montezuma. Within the time span of two years, Cortez dismantled the Aztec monarchy and gained control of all of Tenochtitlan, and many of it's surrounding territories. Why was the Aztec Empire taken so quickly by the Europeans led by Cortez? There are many factors to consider in answering such a question. Of the most important is the time in which Cortez entered into Tenochtitlan. Prior to his arrival, the Aztec had seen many astrological phenomena which seemed to portend the collapse of the empire itself. These portents of doom ranged from a comet seen in the day time, to the destruction of two temples. In addition to these omens of doom, Cortez arrived at harvest time, when the Aztec were generally not prepared for war, although there were battles. Also, the Tlaxcalans helped Cortez fight the Aztecs. Also, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl was going to return and destroy the Aztec empire. Quetzalcoatl was seen as a man with light hair, and light colored skin, and it was thought by the Aztec, that Cortez was the returning Quetzalcoatl. Outbreaks of epidemics also helped to weaken the Aztecs. As a result of all of these factors, the Aztec were ripe for an invasion, and Cortez succeeded in decimating the once great Aztec empire.

**The Incan Empire**
In 1527, Francisco Pizarro entered into Peru, where, with his small band of 175 men armed with an ineffective cannon, took over the entire [|Incan Empire]. Quickly after Pizarro landed on the shores of Thubes, on May 13, 1532, he began to advance toward the Empire's capitol. As Pizarro's group advanced, they were confronted by roughly fifty-thousand Incan warriors within the town square of the capitol city, Cajamarca, who were bent on destroying Pizarro's band. However, the Inca did not attack, rather, Pizarro asked the Inca's leader, Atahualpa, to meet with him and his body guards unarmed, and both the Inca and Pizarro's men stood at a standstill. Accepting Pizarro's offer was the Inca's worst mistake. Pizarro knew that if he had the Emperor he would have the entire Incan Empire, and all the gold which it held (Pizarro had originally set off from Spain for the city of gold). Shortly after meeting with Pizarro, Atahualpa's gold headband was torn form his head, and with the blast of a cannon, Pizarro's men slaughtered all of the Inca's within the square of Cajamarca. Atahualpa attempted to bargain with Pizarro for his life, offering him a room filled with gold (roughly 17 feet by 22 feet by 9 feet), but shortly after Atahualpa showed Pizarro the room he was murdered.

**Spanish Immigration**
During the late 16th century, 200,000 Spaniards immigrated into South America. Quickly the landscape of South America began to change, with imported plants, large sugar plantations, vast estates, and imported animals over-taking the native landscape. Bureaucracy and government also took hold quickly in South America. The Spanish established the encomiendas, where the government granted conquerors the right to employ groups of Indians. The encomiendas, in truth were a form of legalized slavery. Relegated to practical slave labor within sugar cane plantations and mining caves, the native population of Peru declined from 1.3 million in 1570, to 600,000 in 1620. In Meso-America the circumstances were no different. The population of Indians went from 25.3 million in 1519, to a scant 1 million in 1605. Though forced labor played the largest part in the decimation of the Incan and Aztec, disease is by no means minor within this time frame. Widespread epidemics of small pox and other diseases were not uncommon, and claimed the lives of millions. On the psychological front, historians and psychologists have offered another reason for the decimation of the Incan and Aztec populations, namely the Indians had lost the will to survive. With the extreme and quick loss of culture, accompanied by the pressure of Christian missionaries and laws preventing the practice of any form of native religion (if they did there were strong repercussions even death), the Indians were, by all means, slaves to the Spaniard immigrants. article The entire body of law promulgated by the Spanish crown during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries for the government of its kingdoms (colonies) outside Europe, chiefly in the Americas; more specifically, a series of collections of decrees (cedulas) compiled and published by royal authorization, culminating in the Recopilación de las leyes de los reinos de Indias (1680). From the beginning of the colonization of the Americas, Castilian law constituted the basic **[|private law] ** in the colonies, but, because special conditions prevailed there, the Spanish crown legislated specifically for the Indies (America), in the area of **[|public law] **. Thus, an important aspect of such legislation was the adaptation of Castilian administrative and judicial institutions to the governmental needs of __the New World__. The **[|Laws of Burgos] ** issued on Dec. 27, 1512, by Ferdinand II, the Catholic, regulated relations between Spaniards and the conquered Indians, particularly to ensure the spiritual and material welfare of the latter, who were often severely treated. The New Laws of the Indies (1542) of Charles I, which sought to correct the inadequacies of the previous code, met with armed resistance from the American colonists and were reissued in a weaker version in 1552. In the same year a commercial code was promulgated for the Casa de Contratación ( **[|Board of Trade] ** ). In 1563 the powers and procedures of the colonial audiencias (courts) were defined. The Ordinances Concerning Discoveries, issued in 1573, forbade unauthorized operations against independent Indian peoples. Attempts at general codification in the 16th century proved inadequate. In 1624 work was begun on the code, which finally emerged as the Recopilación. The undertaking was supervised by two noted jurists: Rodrigo de Aguiar y Acuña and, later, Juan Solórzano Pereira. Before its eventual promulgation in 1681, it was further edited and abbreviated by Fernando Jiménez Paniagua. It contains 6,377 laws in nine books of uneven length, subdivided into 218 títulos, or chapters. In brief, the contents of the books are: (1) **[|church government] ** and education; (2) the **[|Council of the Indies] ** and the audiencias; (3) political and military administration—viceroys and captains general; (4) discoveries, colonization, and municipal government; (5) provincial government and lower courts; (6) Indians; (7) penal law; (8) public finance; and (9) navigation and commerce. Subsequent new legislation, especially that issued in the later 18th century under Charles III (1759–88) concerning commerce and administration, made the Recopilación obsolete. Recodification was begun in 1805 but never  finished; instead, the last two editions printed in the 19th century (three were printed in __the 18th century__ ) contained only supplementary sections of revised legislation. In this form the code was applied to the remnants of Spain’s old colonial empire (Cuba, **[|Puerto Rico] **, and the Philippines) until their loss in 1898. The Recopilación has been criticized for its many inconsistencies, periodic inexactness in phrasing, and excessive attention to trivial and ceremonial matters and to commercial regulations, which were virtually unenforcible, and for depriving colonials of a responsible role in government and commerce. Yet it was the most comprehensive **[|law code] ** ever instituted for a colonial empire and set forth humane (if often ignored) principles for treatment of Indians. "
 * //[[image:http://cache.eb.com/eb/thumb?id=128519 width="50" height="66" align="left" caption="Photograph The Philippines were named after King Philip II of Spain." link="http://kids.britannica.com/ebi/art-125765/The-Philippines-were-named-after-King-Philip-II-of-Spain?articleTypeId=31"]] In 1521 Ferdinand Magellan, a Portuguese explorer working for Spain, arrived in the Philippines on ships that were making the first circumnavigation of the globe. He first landed in the central ...  [[image:http://kids.britannica.com/bcom/images/dot.gif width="1" height="5"]]//****//Native Americans//** were not particularly exploitable as slaves, **...** King Philip II of //**Spain**//, with reduced resources, mounted the Spanish Armada, **....** the U.S. in its revolution against Britain, although he //**did**// not like "Republicans." **...**Section 4: p. 78, "Society in New Spain."

**__Websites that could be used for your research:__** @http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/spanish-conquistadors.htm

@http://www.pbs.org/opb/conquistadors/mexico/adventure2/a1.htm

@http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/theconquest/a/09armsconquest.htm

@http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/latinamerica/topics/spanish_conquest.html

@http://kids.britannica.com/

@http://encarta.msn.com/

@http://everything2.com/title/Peninsulares

@http://www.answers.com/

@http://www.about.com/

**Included below is an example of researching, cut and pasting important information, paraphrasing the information, citing the website, and posting on your wiki for your group presentation.

Mr. Martin-section 5: pp. 78-80, "Harsh Life for Native Americans." A key point that I found interesting is found on page 79 and how the priest Bartolome de Las Casas tried to intercede on behalf of the Native Americans for better conditions. I used the website:** ****http://latinamericanhistory.about.com/od/theconquest/a/09armsconquest.htm****

** In the search box at the top of the page, I typed in "Bartolome de Las Casas," and was given different options of researching this individual and I chose the first option. **


 * <span style="font-weight: normal; msobidifontfamily: 'Times New Roman'; msobidifontsize: 12.0pt; msobidifontweight: bold; msobidithemefont: minor-bidi;">I found something very interesting in that it showed that Las Casas did more than petition the government for better conditions for the Native Americans, he actually tried to do something about. It also showed me that throughout history, there were always people who were involved with social justice even with the chance of placing themselves in great harm.

(From the website) First Experiments: Las Casas convinced Spanish authorities to allow him to try and save the few remaining Caribbean natives by taking them out of slavery and placing them in free towns, but the death of King Ferdinand in 1516 and the resulting chaos over his successor caused these reforms to be delayed. Las Casas also asked for and received a section of the Venezuelan mainland for an experiment: he believed that he could pacify the natives with religion, not weapons. Unfortunately, the region that was selected had been heavily raided by slavers, and the natives’ hostility to the Europeans was too intense to overcome.

The Verapaz Experiment: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> In 1537, Las Casas wanted to try again to show that natives could be controlled peacefully and that violence and conquest were unnecessary. He was able to convince the crown to let him send missionaries to a region in north-central Guatemala where the natives had proved particularly fierce. His experiment worked, and the natives were brought under Spanish control peacefully. The experiment was called Verapaz, or “true peace,” and the region still bears the name. Unfortunately, once the region was brought under control, greedy colonists took the lands and enslaved the natives, undoing almost all of Las Casas’ work. <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> This is an example of my paraphrasing the above section from the website, citing my source, and how it would look on your expert group wiki: <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Arial','sans-serif'; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"> **

A key point that I found interesting is found on page 79 and how the priest Bartolome de Las Casas tried to intercede on behalf of the Native Americans for better conditions. I found something that I found very interesting section very interesting because it showed that Bartolome did more than petition the government for better conditions for the Native Americans, he actually tried to do something about. It also showed me that throughout history, there were always people who were involved with social justice even with the chance of placing themselves in great harm.
 * Mr. Martin-section 5: pp. 78-80, "Harsh Life for Native Americans."**

Las Casas found that even with his interventions on behalf of the Native Americans, he needed to show the government that more needed to be done. He was allowed to take the remaining Caribbean natives to Venezuela to start a free town, but his first attempt failed due to slave traders and hostility from the local natives. His second attempt found him using missionaries in Guatemala to subdue the natives using peaceful means and was successful. That area of Guatemala is still called "true peace." Unfortunately, the greed of the colonists undid Las Casas work as they took native's land and enslaved many of the residents. (Retrieved on November 1, 2009 from [] )