Post on 17-Jan-2015
description
The First Global Age:Europe, the Americas, and Africa
Conquest in the Americas
First Encounters
• 1492 Christopher Columbus landed in the West Indies
• Encountered the Taino people• Lived in villages• Grew corn, yams, and cotton• Friendly and generous toward the Spanish
First Encounters cont.
• Settled on the islands of Hispaniola• Seized the gold ornaments worn by the Tainos,
then made them pan for gold• Forced them to convert Christianity• Natives unknowingly exposed to European
Diseases– Smallpox, measles influenza
The Conquistadors
Hernan Cortes• Landed in Mexico 1519 with 600 men, 16
horses and cannons• Arrange alliances with discontented groupsMoctezuma (Aztec Emperor)• Believed Cortes was the god-king• Sent gifts of gold and silver
Fall of the Aztecs
• In 1521 Cortes captured and destroyed the Aztecs
• Spanish later built Mexico City on the Aztec Capital
Incas
• Francisco Pizarro• Arrived in Peru in 1532• Spanish destroyed the Incas after demanding
treasures
Reason for Spanish Victory
1. Superior military technology2. Division and discontent among the Indians 3. Disease brought by the Europeans weakened
the Aztecs and Incas4. Many Indians believed that the disasters they
suffered marked the world’s end