Spanish Exploration Dbq

1519: a Spanish armada of five ships set sail that would soon be the first to circumnavigate the globe. Their captain, a Portuguese noble, was an accomplished student of cartography and astronomy. Europe’s cravings for spices sent Columbus to Asia, and into the barrier that was the Americas. Magellan’s expedition sought to find a way through, on a mission to bring a new trade route and immense wealth to Spain. Through the crew’s starvation, two mutinies against him, and his harsh personality and lack of accomplishment, Magellan proved his life was not worth saving.

The letter written in 1524 by the Aztec Priests in response to the Spanish was mainly for the Aztecs people to “defend the legitimacy of their own customs and how most Aztecs did not want to renounce their own religion in favor of Catholicism.” Also, if they did listen to the Spanish king’s rule, they would be going against their own God. The Aztec Priests made sure to list numerous of examples to why they went against the Spanish who were trying to change their religious believes. For instance, in the letter the Priests stated, “you say our gods are not true gods. The new words that you put utter are what confuse us; due to them we feel foreboding. Our makers [our ancestors] who came to live on earth never uttered such words. They gave us

The reading “An Aztec account of the Spanish Conquest” is mainly about a story when Hernan Cortes came for the first time at Tenochtitlan (nowadays Mexico City). The Aztecs believes that when Hernan Cortes arrive they believe the he was Quetzalcoatl, the main god in the Aztec culture. Cortes were friendly invite to the Aztec city as the most important guest, the Aztec people made a big party to celebrate the return of their god, but the Aztec people did not know Cortes intentions of conquer the empire. Later the Aztecs were betrayed by Hernan Cortes. Cortes’s army began to attack the city and at the end they take over the city.

Hernando Desoto was exploring the land and wanted to claim the new world to gain for himself. Spain was a powerful nation and sent their people to explore

Rationale: Anyone who has studied history of the Americas’ knows that it was founded by Christopher Columbus in 1492 however, he could not have explored the whole continent by himself. Who are the other Spanish explores and what are they famous for?

The Spaniards were making a loud clamor and had way better weapons to defeat the aztec empire. Their spears glinted in the sun, and their

They were also extremely disliked and distrusted by the dominant powers in the area. Nonetheless the Aztec empire was also feared because of their reputation to have very strong warriors and to sacrifice many people. They had truly peculiar beliefs, such as their intense worship in the sun, which they believed would only rise with the sacrifice of a live human being. The Aztecs were very developed when it came to their knowledge technologically. They had plenty of knowledge of stone-working, which profited them significantly when it came to the buildings of their temples.

The Aztec culture were people that were called Pre-Columbian Mesoamerican. Also, they lived in the 14th, 15th, 16th centuries they would called themselves Mexica. Montezuma was the ruler of the of the Aztecs and mostly everyone feared him. I would have described Montezuma has a curious persona and he wants to know what everyone else is doing because he has spy's, so he knows what other people or armies are doing. He was a good leader because he had plenty of knowledge and smartness.

The Aztecs were fearsome warriors and smart, worshipping their sun god. When Cortes came, they believed him to be the sun god coming back, so the Aztecs welcomed Cortes and gave him gold. But when a fight broke out, the Aztecs knew that Cortes wasn’t the god. In 1519 the Aztecs surrendered and gave up their land to the new governor Cortes and his people. In the end, Cortes won the war and the Aztecs lost the war and their wealth and culture and many was forced into labor.

Many today now know that the theme of the Spanish exploration was God, glory and gold, however, most do not know what sparked all of the explorations to begin with. New Mexico became a target when explorers realized how much land the state had. This allowed for speculation that maybe the more land available, the more resources there were to be found. (Like God, Glory and Gold) On top of the huge land mass, there were perfect weather conditions constantly, allowing for settlers to prepare for building permanent homes (Roberts 7). As more and more details about the state spread, more settlers showed up. Relationships between the Pueblo and Spanish strengthened, starting the search for the "Three G's", beginning in the 1500's (Etulain 20-23).

Have you ever had questions about the Aztecs like “ Who were the Aztecs” and “Why are they so special?” Well, those questions will be answered in my report.

Contemporary Europeans learned about the Aztecs largely from the frequent reproduction of illustrations of the Aztecs slaughtering their own. They did not understand the meanings of these sacrifices and were just taught of their hatred and ruthlessness. The Europeans impressions of the Aztecs were that they were murderous monsters. The artists

In 1520s the Spanish began to explore California. They wanted to map the coastline of California and find a safe harbor for Spain. It was not until 1776 that a safe harbor was claimed for the Spanish empire. The beginning theory was the California was an island, but through Spanish expeditions that theory was proven wrong.

The satirical fashion in which Cortes is portrayed expresses a clear message of lack of political support (Sullivan). The Spanish cross, flag, and sword shown in the top left corner of the mural give a three-fold message of religious, political, and militant influence used to conquer the natives of the New World. Religious justification was a guise claimed by the Spanish to use the “heathen” Indians for their political and financial gain. Cuauhtémoc, the last of the Aztec emperors, is shown in submission to a dominant conquistador representing the Spanish victory over the Aztecs (Souter). The Spaniards are adorned in ornate armor with recognizable European hats. In contrast, the Indians are shown demoralized, bound as if they are animals. Also, Rivera paints the conquistadors branding the Indians like livestock dehumanizing their race and effectively wiping out their identity. All the images mesh creating a distain for the infiltration of the Spanish and the erasing of the Aztecs.

During this time the Spanish wanted to conquer every island they could, they had control of to many islands and not even supplies and people to maintain and control all the space. They also begin believing that Jesus died for the sin of all men so they were more tempted to do worse things because they could be forgiving. During this time they were experiencing a small ice age time period causing captains to run they ship aboard ice caps causing major problems. This made it very hard for them to travel for goods and exchange things or to discover new lands.