European Conquests By the late 1400s Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas.
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European Conquests • By the late 1400s Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas.
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Transcript of European Conquests By the late 1400s Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas.
European Conquests
• By the late 1400s Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas.
• In 1519 a Spanish army led by Cortez landed in Mexico in search of gold and riches.
• With 600 soldiers he conquered the Aztecs in 2 years with superior weapons and horses.
• Diseases such as small pox and measles also killed the native Americans.
• Another Spaniard, Francisco Pizarro, took a small group of 180 soldiers to Peru in 1532 in search of Inca gold.
• The Spanish crushed the Inca and captured the ruler, Atahualpa, ransomed him and eventually killed him.
Colonial Latin America
• Spain became an empire with the wealth taken from the Americas.
• This led to other European countries to also want wealth and resources and they colonized other parts of the Americas.– Portuguese – Brazil– France, Britain & the
Netherlands took parts of North & South America and the Caribbean.
European Rule
• European countries set up colonial governments.
• Spread Christianity
• Used natives to produce cash crops (exports: cotton, tobacco, sugar)
• Many native Americans died because of disease and this led to Africans and Indians being enslaved and brought to work in the Americas.
Independence
• By the late 1700s native Americans wanted independence from the European rulers.
• Haiti was the first to revolt successfully against France in 1804.
• In 1817 Jose de San Martin led forces to control Argentina, Chile and finally Peru.
• In 1819 Simon Bolivar led the fight against Spain for present day Venezuela, Columbia, Ecuador and Bolivia.
• Mexico gained independence in 1821.
• Spanish and Portuguese rule ended in the 1820s but conflicts over religion, territory and wealth let to decades of unrest, instability and military rule.
Political & Economic Challenges
Exporting Products
• Today Latin America exports:– Bananas, sugar, coffee, copper and oil.
Latin America Today
• Today almost all nations in Latin America are democratic. (Except Cuba).
• The governments are facing many challenges including: – Crime– Corruption, – Population growth– Rich and poor gap– Illegal drug producing
