Spanish New World Empire Essay

The Spanish American War, also known as “The Splendid Little War,” was a short-lived conflict between the United States and Spain in 1898. This war was a pretext for the Philippines War. During this time period Spain had control over several territories within the Caribbean because they were still a colonial power. Although Spain had control of the territories of Cuba and the Philippines, the inhabitants began to grow more and more rebellious as time passed. With the tension building between Spain and its territories, the United States was in a position to become their ally and help them fight to win their independence and gain territory within the Caribbean and Pacific at the same time. United States involvement is said to have risen

Before the English ventured to Roanoke Europeans explored and settled the New World. The Spanish were the most successful in settling the New World. They conquered most of Central and South America. Their main objective was to convert all of the Indians to Christianity. “Spain’s claim to posses the Americas was based on discovery, conquest, and settlement, but even more important, it was founded on the sacred enterprise of extending the Catholic faith to (in Spanish eyes) “barbarous” native peoples” (Horn 12).

In the 19th century the scramble for control was under way when the Americans, Japan, and the Germans entered, other countries struggling with their empires. In the late nineteen century became a new age of imperialism in where technology and communications brought empire’s within reach. Many counties were joining the hunt fort new colonies, Americans preferred an indirect imperialism. The concept was first popularized during James K. Polk presidency, where he led the United States into the Mexican-American War of 1846. America’s version was that to “export products, ideas, and influence”, they viewed it as a “pure” version so they can share their values of democracy, and Christianity.

Columbus, the first Spanish explorer to reach America, initially thought that the he had landed in the East Indies, which had been his ultimate goal. “His sea wanderings would have been written off as an expensive failure, once it was realized that he had not found the illusive water route to India, had it not been for the discovery of gold on Hispaniola in 1493”(Nash, 18). Once it became known that there were gold and other precious metals on this continent, people from Spain began to journey to America in hopes of gaining immense wealth. The Spanish claimed Panama, Mexico, parts of South America, and southern areas of what is now North America and these expeditions were typically led by military figures. The Spanish viewed America as land to be conquered and they viewed Native Americans

Cortés came not to the New World to conquer by force, but by manipulation. Bernal Díaz del Castillo, in the "Conquest of New Spain," describes how Cortés and his soldiers manipulated the Aztec people and their king Montezuma from the time they traveled from Iztapalaopa to the time when Montezuma took Cortés to the top of the great Cue and showed him the whole of Mexico and its countryside, and the three causeways which led into Mexico. Castillo's purpose for recording the mission was to keep an account of the wealth of Montezuma and Mexico, the traditions, and the economic potential that could benefit Cortés' upcoming conquest. However, through these recordings, we are able to see and understand Cortés'

Soldier and conqueror Bernal Díaz del Castillo in his book The True History of the Conquest of New Spain labeled Hernán Cortés “a valiant, energetic, and daring captain” and compared him to the likes of Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, and Hannibal. Hernán Cortés was an ambitious conquistador and eventually defeated the mighty Mexican empire. A problem, however; emerges when distinguishing between the rational and romanticized versions of Cortés’ exploits. Bernal Díaz was present during the conquest, but his account was written much later and cannot be expected to be unbiased. Modern interpretations of Cortés can piece together all document and find that he stretched the truth to further his own gains. Cortés’ personality, goals, and actions have been interpreted differently since the days of the conquest, and have changed the way the conquest has been understood.

The Spanish campaign against the Aztecs started on February, 1519 and on the 13th of August 1519, the Spanish were victorious. Hernan Cortes had rallied a coalition army of Spanish forces and rivals of the Aztecs, including the Totonacs, the Tlaxcaltecas and Texococans to fight against the Aztecs. The siege of Tenochtitlan was the final battle between the Aztecs and the Spanish and lasted for eight months. The entire campaign lasted for around 2 and a half years.

Christopher Columbus is an internationally celebrated explorer, due to his voyages to Central America during the Age of Discovery, a period between 15th and 16th centuries where explorers would be supported by countries to claim land. Columbus was an Italian explorer, on a conquest for gold and riches, who was sponsored by the monarchs of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, to travel to Southern Asia. Columbus proposed the idea of traveling from East to West, rather than traveling along the borders of countries and continents, such as Africa and Asia, to Eastern countries for gold, spices, and other riches. When Columbus succeeded in making land fall, he thought he landed in Southern Asia, but rather he landed in

Christopher Columbus was an Italian navigator and explorer. In hopes to find a new passageway to India, he sailed across the Atlantic, in the Santa Maria. The purpose of Christopher Columbus's voyage was to find a quicker route to Asia; however, Columbus failed in this attempt. Instead of finding Asia, he found the “New World”. Columbus is known for opening up the Americas to new European colonization. Columbus proved to the Spanish monarchy how many advantages there would be if they agreed to work through their foreign relationship.

Who were the Aztecs? Why were they considered to be an empire even greater than the Romans? And how was Hernan Cortes able to defeat them? These are some of the questions that people ask about these indigenous people. These people are known as the Aztecs but originally called themselves Mexica. They came to Mexico in the early thirteenth century and from there they started to develop a social structure and government consisting of priests, kings, peasants, and soldiers. Besides having a very organized society the Aztecs had a very large and intimidating army consisting of full time soldiers and peasants. By 1427 A.D. the Aztec empire became the dominant group and controlled most of central Mexico. Considering how advanced and large the

Within the religious aspect of the Western Civilization, there were specific omens reported after the Conquest of Aztec. Most of the omes were disasters and people didn’t know whether to believe them or not, according to the document Omens of Doom. An example of a religious omen recorded was Omen 1. In this omen it was said that: “According to legend, the Aztecs believed that the god Quetzalcoatl had sailed east to join the sun god, warning that he would later return to reclaim his kingdom. The Aztecs believed that this could occur in the year One Reed (1519) and that god could take on many different forms. Including a pale skinned, bearded man.”

Christopher Columbus was an overrated Historical Figure because he didn’t prove the Earth is round. It’s nearly certain that in the 1490s, no one thought the earth was flat. in keeping with historian “no educated person in the history of Western Civilization from the third century B.C. onward believed that the Earth was flat.” That was because of scientists, philosophers and mathematicians who, as early as around 600 B.C., created observations that Earth was spherical.

La Isabela is known to be the first European colony in the new world. It is named after Queen Isabela. The expedition was lead Christopher Columbus and accompanied by about 1500 men along with supplies such as livestock, seeds for planting crops, and tool and supplies necessary to establish a colony. The expedition was lead in 1493, after Christopher Columbus first voyage from 1491-1492. When he first landed on the east bank of the Bajabonico River he encountered the Tiano Indians. He took some gold from the Tiano to convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabela to fund a second, larger expedition.

Christopher Columbus was an excellent navigator, naturally talented who completed four voyages across the Atlantic Ocean that lead to general European awareness of the Americas. “Columbus was seemingly a natural pilot, who knew how to take advantage of the winds and currents, and who learnt almost intuitively how to sail out the trades and back with the westerlies.” (Cohen 15) These voyages and efforts to establish

Historical Significance (1 point): As for historical significance, the foremost was the immense devastation, certain regions in Germany lost up to 30% of their people. Additional areas lost an despicable amount of more than 50% of there people.