Spanish Conquest Research Paper

Restall, Matthew. Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. New York: Oxford University Press, Inc., 2003

Meanwhile Cortes was busy killing the natives who had previously lived in the Americas. He even sent some of his highest men

On Aug. 3, 1492, Columbus sailed from Palos, Spain, with three small ships, the Santa María, commanded by Columbus himself, the Pinta under Martín Pinzon, and the Nina under Vicente Yanez Pinzon. After stopping at the Canary Islands, he sailed due west from Sept. 6 until Oct. 7, when he changed his course to the southwest. On Oct. 10 a small rebellion was quelled, and on Oct. 12 he landed on a small island in the Bahamas. He took possessions for Spain and brought natives aboard, discovered other

In the book The Conquest of America by Tzvetan Todorov, Todorov brings about an interesting look into the expeditions of Columbus, based on Columbus’ own writings. Initially, one can see Columbus nearly overwhelmed by the beauty of these lands that he has encountered. He creates vivid pictures that stand out in the imagination, colored by a "marvelous" descriptive style. Todorov gives us an interpretation of Columbus’ discovery of America, and the Spaniards’ subsequent conquest, colonization, and destruction of pre-Columbian cultures in Mexico and the Caribbean. Tzvetan Todorov examines the beliefs and behavior of the Spanish conquistadors and of the Aztecs.

The Spanish were the first European settlers in the Americas when Christopher Columbus in October 12, 1492 while searching for a new route to Asian Indies, discovered new land. Columbus wrote to the king of Spain telling him that the Americas was kind of heaven, full of thousand of different kind trees, with prosperous land. This letter has helped understand the motives of the Spaniards for colonizing the Americas, the virgin continent, untouched lands, full of gold and precious metals as Columbus described in his letter. Columbus also told King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella that the natives we simple, timid people who went about naked and lived simple lives in an environment like that of the Garden of Eden, and that they can also be made Christians. The monarchs saw this as an opportunity to impose their modes of civilization upon this vast population, justifying the colonization of the New World as the white man’s duty. Motivating and accelerating the occupation to the Americas. Since in fact the Spaniard kingdom initial motives to venture out into the oceans were richness and to acquire goods that were rarely available. The Monarchs Ferdinand and Isabella were also wanted to establish missionaries to purify and reform.

In 1532, an exploration led by spanish conquistador Francisco Pizarro Conquered the Incan Empire. Pizarro, along with his army captured and killed the last Incan emperor Atahualpa in 1533.The Incas kindly welcomed the spanish into their Empire, when they suddenly set a trap for the unsuspected Incas.

To begin with, Christopher Columbus had already landed upon the Caribbean Islands in 1492 and his arrival had led many other European countries to conquest and invade the Native Americans land. Hernando Cortes was initially assigned to go on an Expedition to Mexico by the Spanish royal government and landed on the Island of Cozumel in 1519. After sailing into Veracruz and taking over it through force he made his way through the city of Tenochtitlan. Carrasco writes that upon arrival of the Aztec capital the Europeans were wonderstruck by the enormous

During the late 1400s, Christopher Columbus’s began his journeys to the New World. Because of his travels, there was an exchange of culture ideas and societal changes between the Old World and the New World. This exchange is generally referred to the Columbian Exchange, because of Columbus being a pioneer in the exchange. Ultimately, because of the Columbian Exchange, the global community made its first attempts to address the issue of human rights, the Europeans became wealthier due to exotic crops, and the Native Americans suffered great loss.

The rise of a powerful government and the enforcement of religious orthodoxy were factors that help established the Spanish Empire.

Before Cuba became a nation, Cuba was first a Spanish colony. In 1492, Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer, claimed Cuba as a colony of Spain after he was sent by the Spanish monarchy to find a route to Asia, specifically Southeast Asia. Columbus enlisted the help of the native people in Cuba, known as the Taino, to find consequential resources on the island for Spain. The Tainos’ willingness to aid Columbus caused the native people to become enslaved under Spanish rule. Despite the encouragement from Hatuey, a Taino leader who tried warning fellow Taino the horrors of Spanish subjugation, uprisings to remove the Spanish failed. In 1570’s, the economic success of the farming industry fueled Spain to import Africans to work as slaves.

The Spanish Conquer The conquer of the Aztec Empire is viewed as a bloody battle. The Aztec Empire had placed trust in the Spaniards, but were overthrown by their allies. The thought of greed and disbelief created the distrust. The three ways of success that contributed to the Spanish conquest of Aztec Empire in the early 1500s began with the trustworthy relationship between the two leaders Moctezuma and Cortez, the trust began to falter with the Spanish due to the thought of losing everything if the alliance diminishes, and then the defeat of the Aztec Empire was very brutal and savage.

His desire to travel west was the push of competition with Portugal and the ottomans to find a quicker route to the Asian market. Upon his arrival he finds a very different people who he thinks of as lesser people. He outlined a vision of their conversion and use as laborers. The native Americas are lowered from their normal status to that of children and fools. The Spanish empire sends conquistadors to take control of these new lands for Spanish control. Cortés and Pizarro are sent and effectively wipe out Aztec and Incan cultures and empires, although disease such as small pox most likely killed more Americans than actual Spanish soldiers. In the place of these empires viceroys are set up, and Spanish culture is forced upon the natives. Natives are forced to convert to Christianity and put in labor programs. All theses changes ,however, took place over decades and not

The Aztec-Spanish War was more than a war leading to the demise of the Aztec empire; rather it was one of the most remarkable and significant wars of European history, beginning the colonization of Mesoamerica. The Spaniards who came to the New World were known as conquistadors, Spanish for “conquerors”. Hernando Cortez, one of the most ambitious Spanish conquistadors, left Cuba in 1519 with 500 men, 11 ships, horses, and countless other provisions. The exploratory mission, supported by the governor of Cuba: Diego de Velásquez, soon turned into one of conquest. Driven by the pursuit of gold, glory and god, Cortez was determined to use any means necessary in his desire to conquer one of ancient history’s most prominent civilizations: The Aztecs.

One example of how the Europeans shaped life in the Americas is by conquering the Aztec Empire. In 1519, Spaniard Hernando Cortés landed on the coast of Mexico along with 508 conquistadors and dreams of riches. Cortés knew that it would be fairly easy to conquer the Aztecs since the empire consisted of several hundred groups that had been forced to follow the Aztec rule and despised their conquerors. As the conquistadors continued to the capital, they made alliances with these groups of unhappy natives. Out of fear that Cortés was an Aztec god, sent to take over his position, Montezuma II, the Aztec emperor, sent the conquistadors valuable gifts to persuade him to leave but only managed to increase their cravings for riches. Within months,

Upon Christopher Columbus’ return from his first trip to the Americas, a debate broke out between the Spanish and Portuguese as to who possessed ownership of the new lands. In June of 1494, the issue was settled via the Treaty of Tordesillas. By the middle of the 18th century though, the dispute was raging once again. For more than a century, Portuguese in the Americas had been gradually pushing westward; in doing so, they encroached on territory theoretically belonging to Spain. This resulted in the countries engaging in consistent armed conflict. In hopes of settling the ongoing conflict, Spain and Portugal would sign a new treaty.