Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, known as the Spanish–Mexica War, was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas. There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquerors, their indigenous allies and the defeated Aztecs. I…
What was the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire?
What tribes did the Spanish conquer? There were two ancient civilisations in central and South America which the Spanish were particularly interested in. Both the Inca Empire of Peru and the Aztec Empire of Mexico held many riches. The Aztecs were the first great Native American civilisation with which the Spaniards came into contact. Click to see full answer.
Was the conquest of Spain a native Civil War?
May 28, 2020 · The subsequent Spanish-Tlaxcalan alliance proved to be a crucial factor in the ultimate downfall of the Aztecs. Next came a dangerous interlude at the great ceremonial center, Cholula. Warned by la Malinche that a plot was afoot to ambush and capture the Spaniards, Cortés outfoxed the Cholulan caciques (native chieftains), engineering a surprise attack in the …
What role did indigenous allies play in the Spanish conquest?
5 Why were the Spanish able to conquer the Aztecs? 6 How did the Spanish conquered the Aztecs? 7 Why were the Spanish able to conquer the Native American tribes so easily? 8 How did Spanish missionaries serve as conquerors for the Spanish empire? 9 How did Spanish influence those they conquered? 10 Why did Spanish establish these colonies? 11 ...
Was Spanish conquest a politics of Empire?
The Spanish used the element of surprise on the Incas the Spanish walked into the Inca civilization without being know of by the Incas because of the civil war and diseases (Cartwright 2010). The Spanish tried to get Atahualpa to vow his loyalty to the Spanish empire but when he refused and threw the bible down the Spanish attacked and captured him.
Who did the Spanish conquer?
the Aztec empireBetween 1519 and 1521 Hernán Cortés and a small band of men brought down the Aztec empire in Mexico, and between 1532 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro and his followers toppled the Inca empire in Peru. These conquests laid the foundations for colonial regimes that would transform the Americas.
What two groups were conquered by the Spanish?
The two most famous conquistadors were Hernán Cortés who conquered the Aztec Empire and Francisco Pizarro who led the conquest of the Incan Empire. They were second cousins born in Extremadura, where many of the Spanish conquerors were born.
What did the Spanish empire conquer?
The Spanish Empire between 1492 and 1892, expanded across most of Central America, the Caribbean, Mexico, and much of North America. In its conquest of the New World, the Spanish subdued and defeated the Inca civilization of Peru, the Aztecs of Central America, and the Maya civilization of the Yucatan.
Which group of natives did the Spanish conquistadors conquer?
The conquistadors gained large amounts of silver and gold by conquering the Aztec and Inca empires, and even more by setting up mines to dig out the huge deposits of silver discovered in Mexico and Peru between 1545 and 1595.
How did Spain conquer the Aztecs?
Spanish conquistadores commanded by Hernán Cortés allied with local tribes to conquer the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. Cortés's army besieged Tenochtitlán for 93 days, and a combination of superior weaponry and a devastating smallpox outbreak enabled the Spanish to conquer the city.
How did the Spanish view the Aztecs?
The Spanish had a positive effect on Aztec civilization because they helped modernize the society. They introduced the Aztecs to domestic animals, sugar, grains, and European farming practices. Most significantly, the Spanish ended the Aztec's practice of human sacrifice.
Was Christopher Columbus Spanish?
Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer who stumbled upon the Americas and whose journeys marked the beginning of centuries of transatlantic colonization.Oct 4, 2021
Why did Spain conquer South America?
The crown created civil and religious structures to administer the vast territory. The main motivations for colonial expansion were profit through resource extraction and the spread of Catholicism through indigenous conversions.
Why was Spain so powerful?
In the 1500s, during the Age of Exploration, Spain became the most powerful country in Europe and likely the world. This was due to their colonies in the Americas and the gold and great wealth they acquired from them.
Who defeated the Incas?
conquistador Francisco PizarroAfter years of preliminary exploration and military skirmishes, 168 Spanish soldiers under conquistador Francisco Pizarro, his brothers, and their indigenous allies captured the Sapa Inca Atahualpa in the 1532 Battle of Cajamarca....Spanish conquest of the Inca Empire.Date1532–1572LocationWestern South America2 more rows
How were the Spanish able to conquer the Aztecs and Incas?
The spanish conquered the great Aztec and Inca empires by bringing diseases to kill most of them off quickly, scaring them with the horses, and using their more advanced superior weapons to kill them.
What happened to the Aztecs after they were conquered?
In May 1521, Cortés returned to Tenochtitlán, and after a three-month siege the city fell. This victory marked the fall of the Aztec empire. Cuauhtémoc, Cuitláhuac's successor as emperor, was taken prisoner and later executed, and Cortés became the ruler of a vast Mexican empire.
What is the Malinchista?
The moniker by which she is mostly commonly known, la Malinche, gave rise to the modern-day term malinchista used in reference a Mexican who takes a fancy to anything of foreign origin. Meanwhile, back in Tenochitlán, Moctezuma was in a quandary as to how to best deal with the unwelcome strangers.
When did the Spanish conquer Mexico?
The Spanish Conquest (1519-1521) April 21, 1519 — the year Ce Acatl (One Reed) by Aztec reckoning — marked the opening of a short but decisive chapter in Mexico’s history. On that day a fleet of 11 Spanish galleons sailing along the eastern gulf coast dropped anchor just off the wind-swept beach on the island of San Juan de Ulúa.
Who discovered the Western Hemisphere?
In the wake the “discovery” of the Western Hemisphere by Christopher Columbus (1492), Spanish and Portuguese explorers continued the quest for riches in the New World.
What was the Spanish conquest of Mexico?
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, also known as the Conquest of Mexico or the Spanish-Aztec War (1519–21), was one of the primary events in the Spanish colonization of the Americas . There are multiple 16th-century narratives of the events by Spanish conquistadors, their indigenous allies, and the defeated Aztecs.
Where did the Spanish settle?
The Spanish had established a permanent settlement on the island of Hispaniola in 1493 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus. There were further Spanish explorations and settlements in the Caribbean and the Spanish Main, seeking wealth in the form of gold and access to indigenous labor to mine gold and other manual labor. Twenty-five years after the first Spanish settlement in the New World, expeditions of exploration were sent to the coast of Mexico.
Who was the leader of the Spanish army in 1521?
The Spanish campaign against the Aztec Empire had its final victory on 13 August 1521, when a coalition army of Spanish forces and native Tlaxcalan warriors led by Cortés and Xicotencatl the Younger captured the emperor Cuauhtémoc and Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Aztec Empire.
What was the Spanish weapon used for?
In the words of Restall, "Spanish weapons were useful for breaking the offensive lines of waves of indigenous warriors, but this was no formula for conquest... rather, it was a formula for survival, until Spanish and indigenous reinforcements arrived.".
Who was the first Viceroy of New Spain?
In 1535, Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor (who was as the King of Spain known as Charles I), named the Spanish nobleman Don Antonio de Mendoza the first Viceroy of New Spain. Mendoza was entirely loyal to the Spanish crown, unlike the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés, who had demonstrated that he was independent-minded and defied official orders when he threw off the authority of Governor Velázquez in Cuba. The name " New Spain " had been suggested by Cortés and was later confirmed officially by Mendoza.
What happened in 1515?
1515 – Texcocan monarch Nezahualpilli dies; Cacamatzin succeeds to the throne; the rebellion of Ixtlilxochitl. 1517 – Expedition of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba to the Yucatán coast. 1517- City of Cholollan secedes from Tlaxcalteca Alliance, becomes a tributary state of the Aztec Triple Alliance.
Who wrote the opera La Conquista?
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is the subject of an opera, La Conquista (2005) and of a set of six symphonic poems, La Nueva España (1992–99) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero .
How many people did the Aztecs sacrifice?
Aztecs, who were yearly sacrificing up to ~100,000 people empire wide, including children. As you can understand, after a hundred or so years of having your youth, women, children murdered in altars, camaraderie towards the fellow natives who rule you goes out of the window.
Who conquered Tenochtitlan?
It wasn’t Cortez and his men who massacred the ~200,000 Aztecs when Tenochtitlan was conquered by ~1000 Spaniards and their ~80,000 Native american allies – it was their allies .
Overview
Spanish expeditions
The Spanish had established a permanent settlement on the island of Hispaniola in 1493 on the second voyage of Christopher Columbus. There were further Spanish explorations and settlements in the Caribbean and the Spanish Main, seeking wealth in the form of gold and access to indigenous labor to mine gold and other manual labor. Twenty-five years after the first Spanish settlement in …
Significant events in the conquest of Mesoamerica
Historical sources for the conquest of Mexico recount some of the same events in both Spanish and indigenous sources. Others, however, are unique to a particular primary source or group narrating the event. Individuals and groups laud their own accomplishments, while often denigrating or ignoring those of their opponents or their allies or both.
Sources for the conquest of Mesoamerica
The conquest of Mexico, the initial destruction of the great pre-Columbian civilizations, is a significant event in world history. The conquest was well documented by a variety of sources with differing points of view, including indigenous accounts, by both allies and opponents. Accounts by the Spanish conquerors exist from the first landfall at Veracruz, Mexico (on Good Friday, 22 …
Further Spanish Wars of Conquest
After hearing about the fall of the Aztec Empire, Tarascan ruler (Cazonci) Tangaxuan II sent emissaries to the Spanish victors (the Tarascan state was contemporary with and an enemy of the Aztec Empire). A few Spaniards went with them to Tzintzuntzanwhere they were presented to the ruler and gifts were exchanged. They returned with samples of gold and Cortés' interest in the Tar…
The Aztecs under Spanish rule
The Council of the Indies was constituted in 1524 and the first Audiencia in 1527. In 1535, Charles V the Holy Roman Emperor (who was as the King of Spain known as Charles I), named the Spanish nobleman Don Antonio de Mendoza the first Viceroy of New Spain. Mendoza was entirely loyal to the Spanish crown, unlike the conqueror of Mexico Hernán Cortés, who had demonstrated that he was independent-minded and defied official orders when he threw off the authority of Governor …
Cultural depictions of the Aztecs
The Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is the subject of an opera, La Conquista (2005) and of a set of six symphonic poems, La Nueva España (1992–99) by Italian composer Lorenzo Ferrero.
Cortés's conquest has been depicted in numerous television documentaries. These include in an episode of Engineering an Empire as well as in the BBC series Heroes …
See also
• Aztec warfare
• Aztecs
• Aztec influence in Spain
• Historiography of Colonial Spanish America
• History of Mexico City