4- The Spanish Conquest

2 theories about why the natives were wiped out

1. Great Man Theory- spanish conquered by sheer force, sees Columbus and Cortez as heroes

   • WRONG- they were actually just lucky

   • it sees the natives as deficient in some way

2. Contingency- the stars happened to align with fortuitous factors that made this possible

Christopher Columbus

• mariner from Genoa, hired by Ferdinand and Isabella to try sailing West to reach Asia

• first landed amongst Taino people in 1492, he still thought China was nearby so a trading post would be beneficial, calls it Hispaniola (started kidnapping and enslaving natives)

• Nicolas de Ovando next ruler of Hispaniola, sets up Encomienda system (so the Spanish are exploiting the labor of American people)

Conquest of Mexico- Tenochtitlan (16th century)

• Diego de Velazquez hires Hernan Cortes to find Tenochtitlan, meets Malintzin (Dona Marina) upon arrival to the Yucatan peninsula who speaks both Mayan and Spanish

• Tlaxcala was independent city-state who squirmish with the Spanish, ends in draw, fashion alliance with Cortes and take him to Tenochtitlan (now Cotes has a vast army and the Tlaxcalans hated the Aztecs)

• Emperor of Tenochtitlan, Moctezuma II, gives gifts to Spanish to demonstrate power, Cortes takes it to mean submission

• Spanish kill some of the Aztecs because they though they were worshipping idols, Aztec leader banishes them, “La noche triste”

• Cortes makes new ruler, Cuauhtemoc, tell the Aztecs that Cortes is new ruler and sets up Encomienda system

Conquest of Peru (1533)

• Francisco Pizarro hears about the Inca Empire and wants to conquer them like Cortes did the Aztecs

• Inca are in middle of civil war at this time

• emperor, Atahualpa, refuses to surrender to Pizarro, Spanish take him as prisoner and execute him

• It takes 30 years of fighting for the Spanish to conquer the Incas

How did the Spanish take over?

• Technology (not really)

  • had guns but doesn’t mean much because Spanish were so outnumbers

• Religion

  • Europeans claimed “Indians saw us as gods”

  • we should be skeptical because Aztec sources don’t support this

• Alliances

  • Spanish had a divide and conquer strategy (it was really natives fighting natives)

  • Cortes allied with natives against Aztecs

  • Incas were already having civil war when Pizarro arrived

• DISEASE