Transcript The Spanish Conquistadors Conquer the Aztecs

The Spanish Conquistadors
Conquer the Aztecs
The Conquistadors
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Conquistadors were 15th century
Spanish explorers and conquerors
who sailed across the uncharted
oceans
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desire to explore new worlds
to gain political power
to win fame and fortune
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shipwreck
disease
starvation
warfare
death
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find gold
convert new souls to Christianity
claim new territories for the King
and the glory of their country
The price of conquest was high
The Conquistadors' mission was
to:
How Did They Get There?
New Technologies
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The conquistadors needed to be able to
steer their ships and find their way with very
unreliable maps.
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the caravel was a lighter, faster ship than
the ships that the Spanish had used earlier;
the first ocean-going ship able to sail into the
wind without the use of oars.
used a magnetic compass with a
magnetized needle that always pointed north.
That and the North Star were their main
directional guides.
They also needed to be able to measure the
distance traveled in order to follow their
course and get back home again.
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Quadrants were used to measure the angle
between the horizon and the sun or stars, to
get the latitude position.
The Astrolabe -Another way to figure out
latitude was to use an astrolabe to measure
the height of the North Star or the noon sun.
Dead Reckoning-To figure out how far east
or west a ship was from its home port, ship's
captains calculated by "dead reckoning." They
estimated and kept a record of their direction
(with the compass), time (measured by
hourglass, which 10-12 year old boys on ship
had to turn every 30 minutes), and speed
(which they mostly guessed
Voyage to the Unknown
It seems impossible to us in these
days of space travel, instant
communications, and satellite
mapping to think that there was
once a time when people in
Europe had no idea what most of
the world was like or how to map
it.
 Even once they had figured out
that the world was round, they
had no idea what lay beyond the
Atlantic Ocean to the west, or how
far the ocean even extended.
 Only by setting off on dangerous
expeditions could the
conquistadors find out and expand
their knowledge about the
Unknown.
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Hernan Cortes
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Hernan Cortes was only seven years old when
Christopher Columbus first sighted the New World.
In 1506, at the age of 22, he joined a force of
soldiers and sailed to the port city of Santo
Domingo on the Spanish-controlled island of
Hispaniola, in the Caribbean Sea. Cortes was given
a grant of land with native Indians to serve him.
Although he would have preferred to go off to seek
gold and adventure, Cortes was persuaded by the
Spanish governor to settle down and run his estate.
He moved to Cuba in 1509 and in 1511 he agreed
to help Diego Velazquez in the Spanish conquest of
Cuba. In battles there, he proved to be a capable,
brave soldier. In return, Governor Velazquez
rewarded Cortes for his service by giving him an
even larger grant of land and more Indian slaves.
When news arrived about the Mayan Civilization on
the Yucatan peninsula and the fact that explorers
had found treasures of silver and gold there, the
atmosphere in Cuba became more and more like a
"Gold Rush." Governor Velazquez decided to send
an expedition to Yucatan. On October 23, 1518 he
chose Cortes as its commanding officer.
The Cortes Expedition
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Cortes prepared for his expedition by
using his own money to buy muskets,
ammunition, crossbows, navigational
instruments and supplies.
He pulled together an army of
Spaniards, promising them gold, land,
and Indian slaves. After all his money
was gone, he borrowed money from
friends and mortgaged his plantation.
Governor Velasquez became
concerned that Cortes' expedition was
becoming larger than was originally
planned.
Velasquez decided to relieve Cortes of
his command, but Cortes' brother-inlaw killed the messenger carrying the
governor's orders.
Helpers
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On February 18, 1519 Cortes' expedition set
sail from Cuba. Smooth sailing brought them
to Cozumel, an island off the coast of
Yucatan. There, Cortes found Geronimo de
Aguilar, a Spaniard who had been
shipwrecked from a previous expedition.
Aguilar spoke the local Maya language and
joined the expedition.
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Cortes sailed along the coast of Yucatan and
stopped at a large native settlement by the
Tabasco River. The native Mayas asked the
expedition to leave, wanting "neither war
nor trade." After a battle and an easy victory
because of Spanish weapons, Cortes was
able to destroy the local idols. The leaders
promised to obey Cortes and brought him
gifts of fruit, birds, ornaments made of gold,
and 20 women to cook tortillas and serve
them, including a woman named Malintzin,
who would become an important key in the
conquest of the Aztecs.
The Two Worlds Meet
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"A ball of stone comes out shooting
sparks and raining fire. It makes
smoke that smells of rotten mud.
When the ball of stone hits a tree, the
trunk splits into splinters, as if it has
exploded from the inside. They cover
their heads and bodies with metal.
Their swords are metal, their bows are
metal, their shields and spears are
metal. Their deer carry them on their
backs, making them as tall as the roof
of a house…We are powerless against
him. We are nothing compared to
these strangers." – Anonymous Aztec
Eyewitness
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Cortes and his expedition set off to
meet Montezuma. The expedition
marched over 400 miles inland. They
scaled two mountain ranges and
crossed a plain with stagnant water.
Constantly threatened by native
people who vowed to kill them and eat
their flesh with chili peppers, the
Spanish soldiers begged Cortes to turn
back.
Early Victories
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Cortes' expedition
entered the Tlaxcalan
region. Over 50,000
Tlaxcalans fought the 400
Spaniards and were
defeated as a result of
the superior Spanish
weapons and horses.
Cortes rewarded the
Tlaxcalans, who offered
to provide Cortes with
10,000 warriors for his
march on Tenochtitlan.
The First Occupation of
Tenochtitlan
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The Spanish entered the city of Tenochtitlan to
meet Montezuma. Coincidentally.Montezuma
greeted the Spanish with an elaborate ceremony
and thousands of attendants. "This is what our
kings and those who ruled this city told us: that you
would come to assume your rightful place.
Welcome to your kingdom, lords!" Montezuma said
on first meeting Cortes.
The Aztecs housed the Spanish in a wondrous
palace. When Montezuma asked Cortes what it
would take to make the Spanish leave his empire,
Cortes replied, "We Spanish suffer from a disease
of the heart, which can be cured only by gold."
Cortes decided to take Montezuma hostage, falsely
claiming that the emperor had ordered an attack on
his forces on the coast.
When Governor Velazquez of Cuba realized that
Cortes was no longer following his orders, he sent a
large army to arrest him. Cortes took 100 of his
men and returned to the coast, where he easily
defeated Velazquez's army, ensuring his free reign
in Mexico.
Back in Tenochtitlan, Cortes' captain, Pedro de
Alvarado, gave permission for the Aztecs to
celebrate a festival. As the unarmed worshippers
danced and sang, the Spaniards suddenly attacked
the Aztecs. Alvarado later explained the attack by
stating that he thought the Aztecs were going to try
to free Montezuma.
The Aztecs Fight Back
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The Aztecs quickly cut off supplies of food
from the Spanish and attacked the palace
where they were holding Montezuma. When
Cortes received news that the Aztecs had
attacked and imprisoned his soldiers, he
returned from the coast to Tenochtitlan.
In a desperate move, the Spanish and their
Tlaxcalan allies decided to take advantage
of a dark, rainy night to escape from
Tenochtitlan. Cortes loaded seven horses
and 80 Tlaxcalan porters with gold from the
treasure house and gave the rest of the
heavy gold to his soldiers.
A woman getting water from the lake
spotted the escaping Spaniards and the
Aztecs quickly launched a surprise attack. To
prevent the Spaniards from escaping, the
Aztecs removed the drawbridges on the
causeway, but Cortes' carpenters had built
portable bridges
Cortes' Return to Tenochtitlan
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Cortes retreated to Tlaxcala, where he
gained new troops and supplies from
Cuba, trained new Tlaxcalan allies, and
planned an attack by water on
Tenochtitlan. Cortes gained control of
the towns around the lakeshore. After
Christmas 1520, Cortes led an army of
16,000 men back to Tenochtitlan.
The Aztecs, under their new leader
Cuauhtemoc, were ready and had built
barricades of rubble and removed the
bridges in the causeways. They had
also put sharpened stakes underwater
in the canals. As the Aztecs prepared
for war, smallpox continued to
devastate the native population of
Tenochtitlan.
The Final Battle
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Cortes attacked Tenochtitlan from three
directions at once with 13 new ships. The
Aztecs had more than 200,000 canoes. It
took Cortes three months to reach the
sacred center of Tenochtitlan.
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The fighting was so fierce that the lake water
turned red with blood. Aztec soldiers
sacrificed Spanish soldiers and rolled their
heads along the causeways. The Spanish
could not move "without treading on the
bodies and heads of dead Indians.“
In the final all-out attack on the center of
the city, 15,000 Aztecs died that day alone.
Emperor Cuauhtemoc and his last few
supporters tried to escape in a canoe, but
were captured by the Spaniards. The siege
of Tenochtitlan was over. In the Aztec
calendar, this was the first day of the Great
Feast of the Dead, a month of traditional
lamentation and remembrance.