Spanish Conquest and Aztecs

The Spanish Conquest of the Aztecs

The voyages of Christopher Columbus

Towards the end of the 15th century, great voyages of exploration were being undertaken by the Portuguese and Spanish ,as they sought new sea routes between Europe and Asia. This period became known as the Age of Exploration. While the Portuguese sailed southward towards the tip of Africa, the Spanish looked to the west, across the Atlantic ocean.

At this time, much of the world beyond Europe and Asia was unknown to Europeans, and navigating through unknown oceans was incredibly dangerous. Sailors could use the Sun and stars to tell their latitude (how far north or south they were), but there were no reliable ways to establish longitude (how far east or west they were).

Nevertheless, the promise of wealth and riches from finding a new trading route to Asia was strong enough to outweigh the danger. European powers were seeking to expand their empires and establish foreign territories. They did this to gain wealth, power and religious converts. The explorers were attacked by the prospect of material wealth, and the adventure that new lands promised.

Spain’s rulers, desperate to be more powerful than their European neighbours, were prepared to fund a risky voyage led by an Italian explorer, Christopher Columbus. On August 3rd 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, in Spain, with three ships — the Niña, the Pinta and the Santa Maria — hoping to find a shortcut to the ‘spice lands’ of the East Indies (South Asia) and reach the fabled lands of Cathay (China) and Cipango (Japan).

In October of that year, however, he landed in the Caribbean islands that are the present-day Bahamas, Cuba and Haiti. He thought that Cuba was Cipango (Japan) or perhaps part of the mainland Asia. In further voyages between 1493 and 1504, he landed on other islands in the Caribbean, and searched the Orinoco river in South America for a fabled passage into the Pacific. Having failed to find the passage, Columbus returned home in poor health. He died in 1506, still believing that he had achieved his aim of discovering a western route to Asia.

Timeline

1492: Columbus establishes a settlement in Hispaniola (modern Haiti and Dominican Republic).
1517-1518: Spanish explore the Yucatán Peninsula and parts of Mexico; hear stories of gold and advanced native societies.
1518- 1521: Hernán Cortés leads the conquest of the Aztecs. After a fierce battle, the Aztec capital falls.
1530-1533: Francisco Pizarro leads 180 men to conquer the Inca Empire. They capture the Inca ruler and take the city of Cuzco. Resistance ends in 1572.

Motivations for conquest

Gold

Spanish explorers sought wealth through gold, silver and other valuable resources. They plundered riches from Aztec and Inca civilisations and melted down artefacts. Wealth was also gained through tribute, taxes, forced labour and cash crops like tobacco.

Spain aimed to spread Christianity to Indigenous peoples. Catholic missionaries accompanied expedition to convert locals. The encomienda system claimed to protect and convert natives but often led to slavery.

Glory

Conquering new lands brought prestige to Spain and personal status to explorers. Explorers hoped to find powerful civilisations to defeat and claim fame for their discoveries. Colonisation expanded Spanish influence across the Americas.

The Spanish Conquest of the Americas: The Aztecs

The people of Mesoamerica and South America lived in a world of isolation for thousands of years until confronted by strangers from the East (the Spanish). Mesoamerica was the area of Central America before the arrival of the Spanish.

Colonisation: The act of establishing a colony in another country.

Colony: Settlement in a country that’s controlled by another country from which the settlers came.

At first they were an unimportant people but in the 15th century the Aztecs gradually built up a large empire.

However, the Aztec empire was not an ‘empire’ like the Roman Empire, which was ruled from one city. The Aztecs conquered the surrounding peoples. However, the Aztecs did not usually rule other nations. Instead they forced them to pay tribute (goods like gold, feathers, weapons and precious stones).

The Aztec empire was more like a collection of states dominated by the Aztecs. Furthermore the conquered people had to send soldiers to serve the Aztec emperor when they were needed.

According to the legend, the Aztecs settled at a place where they saw an eagle perched on a cactus with a snake in its mouth. They took this as a sign from their god that they should settle there. The Aztecs called the place Tenochtitlan, which means place of the cactus.

Aztec society

1) The king

a military man elected from within the royal family
No one could look directly at the king

2) The snake woman

actually a man
advisor to the king

3) Pilli

the royal family
hereditary nobles and priests
great warriors

4) Calpulli

Groups of families governed by a council of the heads of households (the basis of trade groups in the towns)
included the macehualli and the mayeques

5) Macehualli

city dwellers
could rise to great warrior status by capturing four or more enemy warriors

6) Mayeques

serfs who worked the farms

7) Slaves

usually bought
used for human sacrifice — could not be sacrificed unless they had belonged to at least three owners who had to sell them because of bad behaviour
Sometimes mayequens sold themselves into slavery for paying off debts

Gender roles

Women:

cared for the household
could not have position of power
could do crafts, run businesses, control property
received legal protection from marital abuse
automatically received custody if marriage ended

Men:

did physical work
forced to join army when needed

Children:

start work roughly at the age of 5
girls married in mid-teens
boys married late teens/early twenties

Education:

free for all
taught religious rituals, singing, dancing, music
oral tradition
schooled from early teens till marriage