The Influence Of The Spanish Conquistadors

There were initially two to ten million natives in the United States prior to European contact. Those numbers dwindled down drastically in the years that Europeans came and started colonizing. The Europeans came to explore the New World in search of land, spices, gold, God and glory. Among these colonists were the Spanish and they colonized most of the southwest of the United States. Evidence of their settlements can still be seen today in the missions scattered across the land. These missions were started with the purpose of converting the Native Americans to Christianity. Now, imagine living your entire life with a particular set of beliefs, based on your ancestors and culture, and a group of foreigners come and proclaim that your views are all wrong and that you must follow their beliefs for the salvation of your soul. This is exactly what the Spanish did to the Natives. The relationship between the two parties were strained and rife with tension due to the conversion of the natives and the constant abuse doled out by the Spanish. This subsequently led to the disintegration of native life and culture.

Every artist's dream is to create something that leaves a lasting impression. The Last Conquistador follows the story of a sculptor who does exactly that. John Houser spent nearly a decade painstakingly crafted a 34-foot tall equestrian statue featuring the infamous Spanish conquistador Juan de Oñate y Salazar. Following in the footsteps of his father who assisted in the carving of Mount Rushmore, Houser's fantasy of leaving his mark in one of the largest bronze equestrian statues in the world finally became a reality (Valadez). However, what an artist attempts to express and what message is truly received may not be one and the same. While the Hispanic elite of El Paso praised (and funded) the magnificent piece, the Acoma were horrified by the towering symbol of oppression and genocide looming overhead. This film not only provides a window into the conflict and controversy surrounding Houser's work, but also showcases several aspects of Texas political culture and highlights the dismissive attitude toward Native American culture that is still prevalent today.

1). The Nations of Europe sought to expand their empire because they were on the verge of overpopulation.Between 1550 and 1600 the population grew from three million to four million people. Also, England and Spain were at a war for power. The Spanish attempts at colonizing the New World had been extremely successful, for they had gained both wealth and power. The English did not see such success, as their ships would crash, be lost to the seas, or their colonization efforts would cease to be useful. Through the Spaniards control over the Americas they had gained a massive naval army, noted as the Spanish Armada. The Spanish attempt to invade England in 1588 failed which lead to the beginning of the fall of the Spanish empire in the New World.

Maybe too much credit is given to Cortés as one of the greatest Spanish conquerors who developed effective strategy to defeat the Aztecs. Restall see this as somewhat of a myth accounting for the failure of historians to look at history before the 1519 (Restall, 19). Restall says “However, too often, without any direct evidence, the actions of Conquistadors after the 1519– 21 invasion of Mexico are taken as deliberately imitating Cortés, while pre-1519 patterns are ignored.” Whatever the case for whom should be given the credit for the strategy used to defeat the Aztecs; one must admit Cortés was able the win the trust of the people and use the Aztecs’ fear of him to control their empire. Cortés harbored fear of his own. Elliott says, “Cortés felt some uneasiness, when he reflected that it was in the power of the Indians, at any time, to cut off his communications with the surrounding country, and hold him a prisoner in the capital.” The Omens of the Aztecs betrayed them and caused them to see the arriving settlers as gods. They were not prepared to defend themselves against the advanced weapons of the Spanish. Much like the Aztecs, the Mayans faced hard times at the hands of the Spanish conquerors, but their defeat came much easier to the Spanish.

Mexico was one of the main points of the conquistadors’ conquest. Mexico was home to two of the biggest Pre-Colombian civilizations, the Aztecs and the Mayans. The Mayans and Aztecs both faced the wrath of the conquistadors, as they were both conquered very easily due to the Spanish’s advanced weaponry. After conquering the natives, the Spanish would rule over that land for anout 300 years. This new ruling came with new foods, races, animals, and changes that effected the natives.

The Spanish explored Florida and the American Southwest mainly for 3 reasons. Gold, glory, and god. These conquistadors came mostly to expand their wealth, fame, fortune, and maybe to expand their religion. “These soldiers came west to expand their wealth, stature, and empire, or for ‘Gold, glory and god’”. (According to the second paragraph of Arizona experience gold glory god) Also, current day Arizona was thought to have been the seven cities, which was a fabled place that was made of gold. One of the main explorers in the Southwest was Cabeza de Vaca, who was one of the survivors of the trip that also documented the voyage.

Representation” by Michael Schreffler argues that “ . . . early modern rhetoric and iconography . . . constructed a distorted view of painting in Aztec Mexico and entangled it in the conventions of colonial historiography” (407). This essay is effective because of its thorough examination of the accounts that explain a painting made by the Aztec’s at San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday of 1519.

It is easy to mistakenly interpret the fall of Tenochtitlan as a one-sided ravaging, a destruction handed down from the higher power that was the Spanish. The label “conquistador”, or conqueror, given to the Cortés’ forces, reflects such a belief. However, the interactions between the Aztecs and Conquistadors and between Cortés and other natives as depicted in Cortés’ Second Letter and the compilatory Florentine Codex reveal that the exchange that transpired in Tenochtitlan was more complicated than an unprovoked vanquishing on the part of the Spanish. Further analysis of these two texts reveals that Cortés is not the destructive conqueror one would assume him to be, and that the Aztecs may be partially responsible for their own demise.

Rodeos are full of energy. They can be very dangerous in the process of having fun. Protective gear is recommended for some of the events. There are many different competitions that can suit all ages. There is also a lot of history behind each of the events.

They made a loud clamor as they marched. this quote shows they had better weapons than the Aztec Empire, because the Aztec Empire only has weapons to kill animals and the occasional person. “For their coats of mail and their weapons clashed and rattled. Some of them were dressed in glistening iron from head to foot; they terrified everyone who saw them.” The spaniards were very intimidating to the Aztec empires eye, as is states in the text they were terrified, which they actually really felt. While this reason shows why the spanish won there is also another reason, and this reason states that the Aztec Empire got Sick from all the diseases that the spaniards brought over to the new world. The spaniards had brought over all kinds of diseases that the Aztec empire was not immune to. “But

As a new and mysterious world awaits to be discovered, daring conquistadors leave their home country of Spain in a journey of exploration. Two men by the name of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca set sail to thwart the untrustworthy Cortez who, behind the backs of Narvaez and Cabeza de Vaca, sailed to the New World with half of Narvaez’s crew in search of treasures. However, the journey would prove to be treacherous as the conquistadors would have to encounter hostile Native Americans and strange terrain they have never seen before. Throughout the expedition, future encounters between the Native Americans and conquistadors were heavily influenced by the personalities of the individuals and past experiences the Native Americans faced.

The Spanish conquistadors who vanquished Cuba in the 16th century are known for the suffering they caused among conquered peoples. Yet, the same brute force that exploited native populations is also responsible for Cuba’s development into a flourishing colony. On October 28, 1492, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus discovered Cuba on his first voyage to the “New World.” Impressed with the beauty, natural resources, and prime location of the island, Columbus returned to Cuba on his second voyage in 1494. Nineteen years later, Spanish conquistador Diego Velasquez conquered the island under the command of Columbus’ son Diego Columbus.

Because the Indians and Spanish lived in different areas in Latin America, the Indian culture and society did not change significantly. Or did there society change?

“They were the two spearheads of the two mutually strange civilizations, confronting each other for the first time after centuries of separate history.” When the Spaniard’s first set foot into the Aztec Empire in 1519, Cortés and Moctezuma’s confrontation revealed the inherent differences that existed between the two cultures. These two leaders examined each other and came to see that behind the two cultures lied centuries of separate history, and that on this day two alien planets had finally discovered each other. The Spaniard’s main advantages over the the Aztecs have been widely documented by western scholars as relating primarily to their possession of three thing: guns, germs and steel. Most historical narratives describe technologically advanced Spanish conquerors that brought with them from the “Old World” horses, steel and gunpowder, giving them an important upper hand against the Aztec warriors who bore stone-edge weapons. In addition, most scholars agree that tne of the most destructive factors were the germs that the Aztecs had never been exposed to. However, when the Spaniards came to conquer the Aztec Empire, one of the lesser known advantages that they had was the ability to understand this unfamiliar world. Unlike the Aztec king, Moctezuma, who had never seen Europeans, sailing ships, horses, steel blades, or body armor before, the Spanish conquistador, Cortés, recognized the similarities between the Aztec Empire and his own world based on his experience with

1. Three arguments’ that Juan Gines de Sepulveda used to justify enslaving the Native Americans were for gold, ore deposits, and for God’s sake and man’s faith in him. 2. Three arguments that Bartolome de las Casas gave in attacking Spanish clonial policies in the New World were the Indians eating human flesh, worshiping false gods, and also, he believed that the Indians were cowardly and timid. 3. For comparisons that Sepulveda used, in lines 1-7, to express the inferiority of the Indians was their prudence, skill virtues, and humanity were inferior to the Spanish as children to adults, or even apes to men. Comparisons he used to dismiss the significance of the Indians