Spain just wanting to be like any powerful European nation. They wanted to spread religion so they can get to heaven quicker, conquer new land for work, and find unique supplies to sale. The exploration era appear and they found a way to do all these three objectives. The Spanish didn 't arrive in Mexico with peace but greed and evil. Spain did something good for their country and brought honor to their King but what most people forget is the evil things they did to the Aztecs.They didn 't come to Mexico for a peaceful exploration but to finish their three objectives; force their religion on the Aztecs, conquer the Aztecs by being cruel to them, and gain supplies from them for money and to be recognize as a good Spaniard. Their …show more content…
One of the good deeds was converting anyone to Christianity. However there was a few explorers weren 't really trying to impress God but their King. If an explorer was able to bring gold and wealth to their king then explorer was granted to be the governor of the new land and some gold. The rule was that if any explorer found gold in the New World they had to give one fifth of their gold to the
king. The rest would go to the explorers and their crewmen. The explorer that represented Spain to explore the New World was Hernan Cortes. Yet Cortes wasn’t working for King Charles I of Spain but the governor of Cuba, Diego Velasquez. Cortes and Velasquez had shared some explorers together. Yet Velasquez stayed away from Cortes. Velasquez admire Cortes’s intelligence but feared his obsession with gold (Conrad 51). Velasquez believed that Cortes was capable to traveling to the New World and made him the commander but decided to cancel the trip but before he could Cortes had sailed off with his men and ships. Hernan Cortes left with 500 men and 11 ships to Mexico (Szaley).
In 1519, Hernan Cortes arrived in Mexico with his ships and his men. This was the turning point in history for the Spanish and the Aztecs. The Aztecs had worshipped Cortes as a god mostly because their God, Quetzulacoat was to arrive the same time as Cortes did. In the point of view of Cortes, he saw them as savages
Spanish explore and colonized America for 3 reasons,1 to fine the economic reason 2 for the political reason 3 for the religious reason. The reason that the Spanish colonized was that so they could build there trading post routs and to expand their military control and to turn there native people to religious belief . They followed there economic method to damage local industry restricted trade prohibited manufacturing and slowed town growth in order to create an economic environment where the Spanish manufacturing were at a huge advantages. The voyages of Christopher Columbus were sponsored by Spain failed to reach the forest east but lead a huge Spanish empire of silver from the Potosi mines to Spain financing. Both Spains political domination
The Aztecs, part of modern day Mexico, were once the epitome of fine culture. They began their rule of southern and central Mexico during the 14th century and practiced an incredibly wealthy lifestyle. Nonetheless, this rule began to deteriorate when Spanish explorers disembarked at Tabasco and Vera Cruz on April 21st 1519. When the Spanish voyagers first arrived, they were welcomed warmly, respectfully and received Godlike treatment. Montezuma, the ruler at that time, believed that the Spanish military leader, Hernán Cortés, was the great god Quetzalcoatl. The Spanish took advantage of this Aztec belief and conquered Mexico within two years. By 1521, the Aztec culture was officially eradicated and a new culture, consisting of a
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.
Although each country had their own motives for why they wanted to come explore the "New World", they shared some similar intentions. The Spanish wanted to bring Christianity to American for the non believers, and to attain the fortunes that American obtained. They sent their army of soldiers known as the conquistadores. The conquistadores focus was mainly to find gold and slaves; they did not pay much attention to creating permanent settlement. As they became more ambitious for gold, there was nothing but pure disaster by the conquistadores. They burned villages, apprehended women to be their servants. Since the Spanish was causing such chaos, it alerted the Spanish King back in Spain. He made Bartolome de Las Casas, who was a Dominican Priest; head of a newly office to protect the Indians in 1516. Though the idea was noble, it did not last long. Throughout 1500 and 1650 the Spanish acquired tons of gold and silver. They shipped about 181 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver to Spain from the New World; back then this made them the richest state in Europe.
During the sixteenth century Spain had control over land in the Caribbeans and America that was ten times the size of Spain. One of the most famous conquerors was a man by the name of Cortes. His first target was the Aztec Empire one of the richest empires in America. After a very bloody battle Cortes successfully conquered the empire “converting” its people to Christianity and taking their gold. From this Cortes became on of the richest men in the world. This event inspired many others to do the same with many choosing the life of a conquistador to find their riches in the new world. The amount of conquistadors started to make Spain worry if they were to try and rule New Spain and that they were killing more Indians instead of converting
The Aztec people felt very strong about their beliefs in gods and superstitions. Montecuhzoma the independent ruler of the Aztec empire swayed his people to believe in the power of gods and idols and live a spiritual life. This ultimately was a turning point for the Aztecs and is where the Spanish once again gained advantage over the Aztecs. While the Aztecs were faithful to their beliefs it made them powerless an easy take down. Superstitions played a huge factor in the Aztecs first encounter with the Spanish people. In 1519 when the Aztec people saw sight of something coming from a distance in the water, they believed it was Quetzalcoatl (Leon-Portilla, 18). Quetzalcoatl was a legend to them that promised to come back. Montecuhzoma misread the situation and sent messages and gifts in hopes that it sent a gesture to welcome the gods onto their land. This was a big mistake that Motecuhzoma made by opening his arms to the Spanish people upon their first encounter together (Leon-Portilla, 63). This is just one case where the Aztec people poorly used their judgement. However, Motecuhzoma did come to realize the behavior of the Spaniards or “Gods”. When the Spaniards held the gold given by the Aztecs their greed became noticed in the eyes of the Aztecs. The Natives described them as monkeys. They soon caught on that the Spaniards were not gods and heroes and more so barbarians
Hernan Cortez was a Spanish conquistador that landed in Mexico in April of 1519. Upon his arrival, he met a native woman named Dona marina. Dona marina spoke many languages and was eventually Cortez’s interpreter when he found the Aztec empire. It was because that the Aztecs saw Cortez as some god and the weapon differences that he took advantage of that and killed off everyone leading to a defeated Aztec empire Cortez eventually claimed Mexico for Spain. Cortez is important to history because he began the European
The final Spanish conquistadors’ motive that greatly affected the people living in the new world was glory. This motive is plain to see in documents 3 and 5. In document three Cortez talks about how the war that he and his men are fighting in will bring them fame. In document five it’s the same thing it is Cortez who is plowing through the Indians land conquering everybody for respect in Spain. Now when you look at how did this affect the Native Americans you see that the Spanish conquistadors’ obsession with glory ended up harming Indians because the Spanish wanted conquer Indian lands so that they could win respect back in Spain.
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.
- Cortes actions played a vital role in helping establish Spanish settlement in the new world. He and his fleet of about 600 men traveled into Mexico in hopes of finding gold as well as glory. During his time in Mexico he persuaded Indian societies who were rivals of the Aztec Empire, to join his force to take over this mighty empire. He used terror and intimidation to do so along the way. After a few years he took down the Aztec Empire, which opened the door for other explorers to invade the new world as well in their hopes of finding gold as well.
Hernando Cortes landed in Mexico in 1519 and entered Tenochtitlan, city of the Aztecs. The Native Americans here welcomed the Spaniards into the city with the belief that the Sun god had returned to save the people and allowed them to stay for some time there and apparently to move about most areas of the city freely. These Natives did display a much more sophisticated and technologically advance society
Cortez and his force arrived in Tenochtitlan on November 8th, 1519. Tenochtitlan was the capital of what we know today as Mexico. Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world at that time. Tenochtitlan was run by the Aztecs. Cortes then met Montezuma, the Aztecs’s emperor. Montezuma and the Aztecs thought Hernan Cortes was a god. They thought he was Quetzalcoatl. Cortez was there at the right time because the god was supposed to arrive the same year Cortes was there. Since they thought he was a god they would do anything for his command. Later on Montezuma suspected Cortez not to be the god. He gave him gold and jewels to try and get him to leave. It had the opposite affect and increased the Spaniards greed. Cortez then captured Montezuma as hostage to prevent the Aztecs attacking.
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'
In 1511, Hernan Cortes first served as a soldier on an expedition to Cuba. He then helped establish a town in Cuba called ‘Bayamo’. This was one of his first main impacts on the Americas that is still felt today. After 7 years Diego Valasquez named Cortes Captain of an expedition to Mexico, but they had an argument and Valasquez revoked Cortes’ status. Cortes’ ignored orders and traveled to Mexico anyways with about 500 men and 11 ships. His focus was to overthrow the Aztec ruler Montezuma II in the Aztec capital ‘Tenicotillan’. Then in July 1519
Spain was a global superpower in matters of wealth and their successes stemming from the arts and academia to travel and territorial conquests. Of these accomplishments, their most prized achievement was acquiring a heavy portion of Latin America where their influence originated from the northern borders of Mexico deep into South America. They abused the resources they found, cheated the natives all the while demolishing their culture and population. In turn this gave birth the rise of a number of rebellions by the oppressed against the conquistadors to take back the land and implement laws and social standards that benefited the people and return to them the rights that they had been