4.1 Notes World History Spain Builds and American Empire

Christopher Columbus, an Italian explorer was funded by the Spanish Monarchy to find an alternate route to the East by traveling around the world westward.
He was looking for a route that Spain did not have to share with Portugal who had begun sailing around Africa in search of the wealth of Asia.
On October 12th 1492, Columbus landed in the Bahamas. It wasn’t where he wanted to go, but who doesn’t like the Bahamas?
At first he was unaware that he had even made a miscalculation and that is why he called the natives, Indians, after the East Indies.
He soon realized though that he had found a completely different place than he had been seeking. He named it San Salvador or “Holy Savior.”
Columbus was interested in gold, and found none on San Salvador. This led him to other lands that he claimed in the name of Spain.
These lands were called colonies, or land controlled by another nation.
Soon other explorers took to the seas.
Amerigo Vespucci called the land he found, the New World, later a map maker would name the land America, after Amerigo Vespucci.
Ferdinand Magellan set sail to circumnavigate the globe, and though he died before the end of his journey is credited in history as the first man to do so.
Things turned from Discovery to conquest at this point in history.
Hernando Cortez landed in Mexico. He was what became known as a Conquistador, a fusion between explorer and warlord.
Conquistadors were primarily interested in finding gold and silver.
Natives who saw these armored men riding on strange and never before seen animals, (Horses), carrying sticks that shot fire,(guns)thought that the conquistadors were Gods.
Cortes conquered the Aztecs in their capitol of Tenochtitlan.
At first Montezuma, the Aztec ruler, thinking Cortes was a god agreed to share their gold with him.
The Spanish were not satisfied, and attacked the Aztecs, killing many with their superior weapons.
The Aztecs managed to beat the Spanish back but eventually lost, and were taken over.
Other than superior weaponry the Spanish brought foreign disease to the shores of America. Many natives died simply because they had not been immune to these commonplace sicknesses.
Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas of Puru.
Pissarro was even worse than Cortes. He didn’t bother pretending to be nice. He ambushed and kidnapped Atahualpa the Incan ruler and ransomed him for gold.
He then killed Atahualpa when the Incas paid him what he asked.
Demoralized by the death of their leader the Incans fled to Cajamarca, and allowed their capital , Cuzco to fall without a struggle. In 1533.
This began the pattern of bloody Spanish Conquest in the New world.
The Spanish lived among conquered people, and imposed their will upon them. They often formed relationships with the natives. Their offspring were called mestizos.
Spanish controlled the land, and forced Native Americans to work for them in a system that became known as Encomienda.
The Spanish authorities granted power to Spanish landlords to use the Native Americans to work the land, as farmers or miners.
Christian Missionaries wanted to spread the word of God to Native Americans and pushed hard for better treatment of Native Americans by Spanish Nobles.
After a time the Encomienda system was abolished and Spain satisfied its need for farm and mine workers by enslaving Africans.