A Brief History of Spanish ColonizationBY: BRANDON WHITSIT

Table Of Contents:

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Table of Contents.................................................................................Pg: 1Outline.................................................................................................Pg: 2About the Author.................................................................................Pg: 3 Chapter 1: Spanish Colonization.........................................................Pg: 4Chapter 2: Christopher Columbus......................................................Pg: 5Chapter 3: The Effects of The Voyage of Christopher Columbus.......Pg: 6Chapter 4: Hernando Cortes...............................................................Pg: 7Chapter 5: The Aztec Empire...............................................................Pg: 8Chapter 6: The Conquest of the Aztecs................................................Pg: 9Chapter 7: Francisco Pizarro................................................................Pg: 11Chapter 8: The Inca Empire.................................................................Pg: 12Chapter 9: The Conquest of the Inca Empire.......................................Pg: 13Chapter 10: Conclusion and Assessment..............................................Pg: 14Resources...............................................................................................Pg: 15

Outline:

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The purpose of this book is to teach students about the role Spain played in European expansion, thus it gives the reader a brief overview of historical events that played out in Spain beginning in around 1469. Students will go through this book reading, watch-ing the video clips, doing the review questions (Where this applies), and finally taking a short quiz over the material at the end. Also as a side note all of the images have some sort of short description with them once they are clicked on. This is simply an aid such that readers can see the relevance of the images that are included within this ebook. This book would be a good resource for students to obtain some brief, over view, knowledge about each topic, it is meant as a means to begin teaching students European Expansionism. Overall it is a resource that is meant to give students a big picture view of Spain’s role in European Expansionism.

About The Author

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Brandon Whitsit, an aspiring teacher, is a student at Indiana University in Bloomington. He was born in Goshen, Indiana on April 19th, 1995. Ever since he can remember he has had a desire to learn about the past. Naturally result-ing from this he has made it his goal to one day become either a United States, or World History high school teacher. He wrote this ebook as a resource to be used by teachers or students to teach, or help learn about the role of Spain in the period of European Expansionism. Brandon will continue with his studies at Indiana University in order to one day achieve his dream of becoming an educator.

Spanish Colonization

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CHAPTER 1

In October of 1469 two kingdoms inhabit-ing the Iberian Peninsula would be united. This unification would not be caused by the hand of a conqueror, or by the writing of a treaty, but by two individuals consenting to take the others hand in marriage. King Ferdinand of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile would together change the bounds of History in many ways, the first of which is the unification of their two kingdoms creat-ing the nation of Spain. Together these two monarchs would do great things, they would create the Spanish inquisition, expel the Moors from their last stronghold in the Iberian Peninsula, and they would unwit-tingly know change the world forever by pro-viding funding to the famous navigator and explorer Christopher Columbus.

The Spanish monarchy would rise out of the unification of the kingdoms of Aragon and Castile. However there was still an issue they wished to address. This issue was the various re-ligions represented with in Spain. In 1478 the Spanish monarchs would institute what is most famously known as the Spanish Inquisition. The Spanish Inquisition was created in order to in-sure the legitimacy of those whom converted from Judaism and Muslim to Catholicism. Those who would not convert to Catholicism were or-dered to leave the country. Eventually the Span-ish would proceed to conquer the last stronghold held by the Moors (mostly Muslims) in the Ibe-rian Peninsula.

Eventually after 780 years of influence in the Iberian Peninsula the Moorish kingdom would fall before the forces of the Spanish Mon-archy. The last stronghold of the Moorish king-dom was the city, fortress, of Grenada. The last refuge of the Moorish Civilization would fall to the Spanish on January 2nd 1492 after the Span-ish monarchs agree to provide funding to Chris-topher Columbus. This would result in the forced migration of the remaining Spanish Mus-lims if they decided not to convert to Catholi-cism.

During this time period there was a bus-tling trade in the east known as the Spice trade. Now, one may ask what does this have to do with the Spanish Monarchy? The answer to this ques-tion is quite simple whatever European power could get in on this trade would become fairly wealthy in spices which they could use as a sig-nificant economic advantage over other coun-tries. So when a man named Christopher Colum-bus, would go to the Spanish Monarchy, bring-ing forth his idea that if one crosses the Atlantic they will eventually run into Asia, they were not hesitant in providing him with funding. Because of the unification of the two Kingdoms of Aragon and Castile Spain had the funding to provide Co-lumbus with therefore they do in fact end up funding Columbus’s voyage. This will lead to

Christopher Columbus

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CHAPTER 2

After the death of his wife, Columbus would travel to Spain where he would enunciate his idea that if you go far enough across the Atlantic Ocean it will lead you to Japan and Asia. He would go to the king of Portugal at-tempting to gain support for his idea of taking a voyage across the Atlantic to discover whether or not this was true. However in this instance he would be denied. De-spite this Columbus would plead his case to the Spanish Monarchy where he would be provided with the fund-ing, ships, and men he would need in order to cross the Atlantic.

Columbus left Spain in 1492 with three ships, the Santa Maria, Pinta, and the Nina. Columbus would be forced to make a stop at the Canary Islands in order to repair his ship and resupply. The voyage would be fraught in near disaster, many of his men would begin to come down with diseases and illnesses, and the since the world was much larger than Columbus calculated the voyage took approximately five weeks. After finally landing on the island of Hispaniola there would be an incident in which the Santa Maria would become ship-wrecked. This would result in Columbus leaving about 40 of his men behind when he sailed back towards Spain.

Columbus would return to Spain with information about a native population that had not been heard of before prior, as well as of land had yet to be discovered by a European power. As a result of this he was made the Governor of the island of Hispaniola. Columbus also brought back with him riches of gold that made his journey in the eyes of the Spanish monarchy a success.

Biography of Christopher Co-lumbus:

In 1451, in the republic of Genoa (located in modern day Italy), Christopher Columbus was born. Little is really known about Columbus’s early life and even his birth is debated, however it is thought that he was born to Domenico Colombo, and Susanna Fon-tanarossa, who were middle class citizens. It is fairly obvious that Columbus was provided with a good edu-cation for the time, as he was able to speak several dif-ferent languages and he also had some knowledge of classical literature.

It is said that Christopher Columbus first went to sea when he was of 14 years of age. This would continue throughout his life. During the 1470’s when Columbus was around 19 years old he went on various trading trips in Northern Europe, Iceland and the Aegean Sea. He would eventually marry Filipa Moniz Perestrello, who would give him a son, Diego, in approximately 1480.

The Effects Of The Voyage Of Christopher Columbus.

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CHAPTER 3

Columbus’s Voyages would have profound impacts on the future of Spain, not only as a country, but as an Impe-rial power. After the discovery of Hispaniola and the Ba-hama archipelago Spain would eventually become the most powerful Imperial power in the world during this time period. Gold that Columbus had traded for with the natives of the various islands would be sent back to Spain causing the country to grow richer, along with this crops that had never been seen before in Europe would eventually make their way over increasing the options for the peoples dietary needs. Not only would the Country grow richer, but other great people and explorers would rise up out of the Spanish People.

Hernan Cortes who will be discussed in more detail later on, is a famous conqueror and explorer. It is because of Christopher Columbus that Cortes would be able to discover the Great Aztec Empire, conquer them and be able to send more riches back to Spain. Had Columbus not have discovered Hispaniola and the surrounding ar-eas Cortes would have never of been able to go to Hispaniola where he persuades the later governor there to lend him ships and the men he would need to set up his own colony. It was the supposed wealth of the New World that would bring Cortes to central Mexico, it was his greed that would result in the discovery of an entire empire, but it would also result in the end of one of the greatest empires to ever exist in the Americas.

Similarly without the discovery of Columbus how could the conqueror of the Inca Empire Francisco Pizarro have gone to the New World? Without Columbus history may have remained as it was for most of the century, unchanging besides for minor changes in kingdoms and empires, and who knows when someone else would have sailed the Atlantic? Arguably without Christopher Columbus the course of History would have been com-pletely different.

Review 1.1

Check Answer

How was the Spanish kingdom created (united)?

A. Through an agreement forged through treaty.

B. Through the Marriage of two Monarchs.

C. Through a War between Castile and Aragon.

D. None of the above

Hernando Cortes

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CHAPTER 4

Hernando Cortes was born into a well-respected military family in 1485. As a child he was rather sickly other than that, and the fact that he was well edu-cated, not much is known about his childhood. He would eventually go to the University in Salamanca to study law. However upon hearing the various tails of the new world he would eventually drop out of the University and travel to Hispaniola in order to seek a fortune.

In 1503, at the age of 19, Cortes arrived on the Is-land of Hispaniola. This would be just the start of his journeys in the New World. Due to the connections his family had, once he arrived on the island he was given land and servants from the native population to work for him. As his health improved Cortes would begin training as a soldier, and eventually take part in subjugating parts of Hispaniola that had managed to stand against the Spanish subjugation thus far. In do-ing this he would distinguish himself as a ruthless fighter and a great leader. This would end up distin-guishing him from other soldiers as well as impress Diego Velázquez who would select Cortes to aid in his expedition to Cuba.

The purpose of the expedition in Cuba was to essentially do the same thing they had already done in Hispaniola. This in-cludes subjugating the Natives of the island to the will of the Spanish as well as taking the land and establishing settlements of their own. The expedition of Cuba would turn out to be full of military misconduct, such as massacres. However this would fit Cortes as in Cuba he managed to continue to distinguish himself eventually becoming governor of the small city of Santiago.

Eventually Cortes would decide that he desired to go forth to the mainland and cre-ate his own settlement there. Once arriving in Mexico Cortes would create a settlement in what is now modern day Veracruz. In or-der to ensure that his settlement was suc-cessful and to prevent his men from going back to Cuba and alerting Velazquez Cortes would have the ships that he brought to the mainland burned.

After he successfully conquered the Aztec empire, Cortes would be ordered to be shipped back to Spain. This was a result of his practices towards the Aztec’s as well as the mistrust that was created between him and the Spanish Monarchs when he cre-ated the settlement at Veracruz. Cortez would be forced to remain in Spain where he would eventually die in December 1547.

The Aztec Empire

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CHAPTER 5

The Aztec religion was one that was based on the idea of human sacrifice. In order to keep the sun rising, the Aztecs believed that they must grant the God’s human sacrifices. One of the Aztecs most important deities was the god Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl was a god that was depicted as a feathered serpent, they be-lieved that he was the one who had created humans as the other gods had sacrificed themselves for various purposes.

The Aztec society was separated into two classes, the upper class consisting of nobility, and the common people. The Aztecs also had slaves, however much like in Africa slaves in this society were actually treated well. Also being a slave was not hereditary, if ones par-ents were a slave it did not mean that they themselves were meant to be slaves.

Montezuma II was the ninth and final em-peror of the Aztec empire. He would meet his demise by the hand of Hernando Cortes. It is estimated the Montezuma was born in 1466 and he ruled from approximately 1502-1520. Whether Montezuma was a harsh ruler or a crafty industrious ruler is always in debate. Historians must always consider that there were factions of the empire that turned against them and allied themselves with the Spanish. Mostly what Montezuma is famous for how-ever is that he met the Spanish in peace giving them kingly gifts of gold, his hospitality how-ever would be turned against him resulting in his own death.

This is a map that shows the size of the Aztec Empire when Cortes arrived in Mexico.

GALLERY 8.1

When Cortes arrived in the main continent he would learn about a powerful and wealthy empire that already existed. This empire would come to be known as the Aztec Empire. At the time that the Spanish arrived in Mexico, the Aztec empire was at its peak. The empire expanded from the Pacific Ocean to the Gulf of Mexico. The capital of this great empire was known as Tenochtit-lan and it was a city of wealth and power.

The Aztec empire was created when three power-ful cities created an alliance. The cities were Tenochtit-lan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These three cities would rule over the valley of Mexico until they were conquered by Cortes. Tenochtitlan would become the most power-ful of these cities resulting in it becoming the heart or capital city of the Aztec Empire. The Aztec empire was fairly militaristic, they would often conquer their neigh-bors. However rather than taking direct control over them they would simply allow the places they con-quered to keep their own local government, although they would be required to pay tribute to the three cities, with most of this tribute being sent to Tenochtitlan.

The Conquest Of The Aztecs

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CHAPTER 6

The Aztec empire was created when three pow-erful cities created an alliance. The cities were Te-nochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These three cities would rule over the valley of Mexico until they were conquered by Cortes. Tenochtitlan would become the most powerful of these cities resulting in it becoming the heart or capital city of the Aztec Empire. The Aztec empire was fairly militaristic, they would often conquer their neigh-bors. However rather than taking direct control over them they would simply allow the places they conquered to keep their own local govern-ment, although they would be required to pay tribute to the three cities, with most of this trib-ute being sent to Tenochtitlan.

The Aztec empire was created when three pow-erful cities created an alliance. The cities were Te-nochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. These three cities would rule over the valley of Mexico until they were conquered by Cortes. Tenochtitlan would become the most powerful of these cities resulting in it becoming the heart or capital city of the Aztec Empire. The Aztec empire was fairly militaristic, they would often conquer their neigh-bors. However rather than taking direct control over them they would simply allow the places they conquered to keep their own local govern-ment, although they would be required to pay tribute to the three cities, with most of this trib-ute being sent to Tenochtitlan.

Once they arrived in the Aztec’s most powerful city Te-nochtitlan the Spanish would be welcomed with open arms. Montezuma would welcome them into his city giv-ing them gifts of gold while Montezuma himself would be covered in gold jewelry which would give Cortes grounds to believe that the Aztecs had more riches stashed away elsewhere. On the first night the Spanish spent in Tenochtitlan, Cortes would demand that the Az-tec’s pay tribute to Spain, also that they would give up their own religion and convert to Catholicism. Monte-zuma was known to refuse this offer albeit in a reason-able manner. This would result in Cortes capturing Mon-tezuma as he feared that the Aztec’s would no longer trust the Spanish after hearing his demands. This would result in many minor skirmishes occurring in the city and within one of these skirmishes the Spanish would eventually kill Montezuma. This would eventually give Cortes control over the city of Tenochtitlan.

Because Cortes was going against orders in creating his settlement in Veracruz he would have to not only worry about dealing with the Aztecs but also some Span-ish forces as well. This would result in Cortes having to eventually return to the Coast in order to defeat another Spanish Army. Due to his cruel tactics he was able to eas-ily defeat this army sent by his counterpart Velazquez with many of the soldiers of that army joining him after the battle. During this time the Aztecs would rebel un-der a new emperor Cuitláhuac, who would force the Spanish forces Cortes left in Tenochtitlan from the city. This would result in the Spanish alliance with the city of Tlaxcala.

The Conquest Of The Aztecs Continued

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One question that one must ask about the turn coat city of Tlaxcala is why would they go over to the side of a people that they did not know betraying their own people? There are many possible explanations for this the main explanation being fear of being sacrificed as the Aztec religion often demanded.

From this point on Cortez due to the advan-tage of diseases killing many Aztecs, superior weaponry, and cruelty tactics manages to con-quer the major cities of the Aztec empire even-tually leading him back to Tenochtitlan. After laying siege to Tenochtitlan Cuitláhuac would surrender to Cortes. This would result in the end of the Aztec empire as well as Cuitláhuac’s own life.

The Conquest of the Aztec empire would give Spain even more wealth than they had already discovered. This would eventually continue to lead other countries in Europe to try their hand at discovery in the New World.

REVIEW 9.1

Check Answer

How did Cortes manage to defeat the Aztec Em-pire?

A. Cortes had superior weaponry.

B. The Aztecs were plagued by European diseases.

C. The Aztecs believed that Cortes was one of their Gods.

D. All of the above

Francisco Pizarro

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CHAPTER 7

In roughly 1475 Francisco Pizarro would be born in Trujillo, Spain. Pizarro’s early life would not be very pleasant, he was born as the illegiti-mate child of an infantry Colonel in the Spanish army. Not much is really known about Pizarro’s early life, however it is often speculated as he was an illegitimate child in an impoverished area that he was poorly cared for as well as poorly educated. Pizarro would spend his early life herding his father’s swine adverse to learn-ing to read. As he came of age Pizarro like Cortes would hear tales of the New World and thus in 1510 he would go to the New World to seek his fortune.

In 1510 Pizarro traveled to Urabá, Colombia with the Spanish explorer Alonzo de Ojeda. This voyage would prove for the most part unprofit-able, however for Pizarro it proved that he could be relied on in rough situations. Pizarro would eventually join Vasco Núñez de Balboa on a jour-ney in which they would march to and discover the Pacific Ocean however as Balboa claimed to have seen the Ocean first it is he who was given credit for the discovery. After this Pizarro would stay in Panama where he would eventually be-come mayor of Panama City. Here his fortunes would change economically.

In 1528 Pizarro would go back to Spain seek-ing funding so that he may conquer the people whom they knew lived somewhere in the south. He would eventually win over the support of Charles V and received funding to accomplish this endeavor. In 1532 Pizarro would discover the Inca Empire following which he and his brothers would over throw the Inca emperor Atahualpa and thus conquering Peru. After this he would establish the modern day capital of Peru Lima. As time passed tensions would begin to rise between the Conquistadors who had conquered the Inca Empire. Because of this the Conquista-dors would be split into two rival factions. One of these factions was run by Pizarro himself, the other was run by a former ally Diego Almagro. There would eventually be a battle between these factions that Pizarro and his brothers would emerge victorious from. After their vic-tory Almagro would be executed by Pizarro’s brother Hernando Pizarro. His death would not go unpunished however as men from Almagro’s forces would assassinate Francisco Pizarro in June of 1541 in Lima, Peru.

The Inca Empire

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CHAPTER 8

The Inca Empire was easily the largest empire in the New World at its time. The empire itself spanned nearly the entire South American continent. The empire itself was created through threats, promises and loose ties. However this did not stop it from being one of the wealthi-est empires of its time. When the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1532 they would discover a bustling empire with tem-ple of Gold. The empire itself contained approximately 10 million people, with 100’s of different languages spoken within. None the less the empire was not only the largest in the New World but the largest out of the New World and Old combined. The empire itself was not very old his-torian’s debate the start of the empire so it is said to have been 50 and 100 years old at when Pizarro had its last em-peror killed.

Like the Aztec’s the Inca’s religious practices would be considered repulsive to those in the Old World. The Inca’s worshipped the Sun god Inti, and similar to the be-lief of the mandate of heaven or divine right the Inca’s be-lieved that their ruler was the son of Inti, and because they were given the right to rule by that god they ruled over the rest of the people. The Inca’s also practiced hu-man sacrifice fairly similar to the Aztec’s.

The capital of the Inca Empire was the city of Cusco. This city was the most wealthy within the Empire and of a grandeur such that Pizarro would claim that the buildings and the city itself was similar to the grandeur of Spain. The peo-ple of the Inca Empire did not have a style of writing however they did have a system of put-ting knots in ropes to keep track of how much individuals had to pay for their taxes. The In-can empire also had a system of roads that would be used by messengers during times of conflict. Also the Inca Empires army could be created out of all of the males in the empire as all males were required to go into battle at least once as to be prepared for any source of conflict that may arise.

The last emperor of the Inca Empire was Ata-hualpa. Atahualpa came into power after the death of his father Huayna Capac from Small-pox which accompanied the arrival of the Span-ish. Atahualpa did not come into power without the use of force however as he obtained power by defeating his half-brother Huáscar. Huáscar was older and by rights was the rightful heir to his father’s throne however he was defeated by Atahualpa in a civil war and thus was killed. Ata-hualpa would not however be able to rule his empire for long as when the Spanish arrived in 1532 Pizarro would capture Atahualpa and hold him ransom, however instead of letting him go free Pizarro has him killed after receiving the ransom.

The Conquest Of The Inca Empire

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CHAPTER 9

When Pizarro arrived in the Inca Empire in 1532, the Empire had just seen the end of being ravaged from a Civil war. This along with other factors including the ruthlessness of the Spanish Conquista-dors, the disease they brought with them, and superior weaponry would give them major advantages as they sought to conquer the Inca Empire.

Fairly similar to Cortes and the Aztecs, Francisco Pizarro upon ar-riving in the Inca Capital city of Cusco would demand tribute as well as that the leader of the Empire Atahualpa convert to Catholicism. Just like the Aztecs however the new Em-peror would refuse to convert. Following in Hernando Cortes footsteps this would result in Pizarro taking Atahualpa hostage however unlike Cortes Pizarro decides to hold Atahualpa for ransom as well. The Inca’s would end up giving Pizarro around 24 tons of gold in order to set their new Emperor free. However instead of releasing Atahualpa after receiving the ransom Pizarro has the Emperor killed through strangulation. This would be the beginning of his mis-sion of conquering the Inca Empire. The main factors that would once again provide the Spanish with an advantage over their foes would be the old world diseases the natives bodies had no way to adjust to sweeping across the land killing thousands, the ruthlessness of their tactics such as the killing of Atahualpa after receiving the ransom, and weapons that could cause massive damage to the enemy from a distance such as cannons.

After Atahualpa was killed, the brittle ties that had once held the empire together, promises, threats, and loose alli-ances fell apart. Catholic priests would come to the New World demanding that the people of what was once the larg-est empire of the world convert from their own heathen religion to Catholicism. Christianity would soon replace the old ways, and the once mighty children of the sun would collapse.

Review

Check Answer

Cortes and Pizarro are two fairly similar figures which of these was a difference between the two?

A. Pizarro was ill-treated as a child.

B. Pizarro did not seek his fortune in the New World.

C. Pizarro was less violent.

D. None of the above

Conclusion And Assessment

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CHAPTER 10

The discovery of the New World would bring a new Nation into the Spotlight. The newly formed Spanish Monarchy would change the course of History by funding Christopher Columbus and bringing into contact two worlds that had been separated to develop apart for thousands of years. When these two worlds began to clash however the New World would not be able to stand up to the old. Ancient traditions would be de-stroyed as the Spanish began their period of Colonization in the New World. The old world would be intro-duced to Crops they had never seen before changing their diets and way of life forever. As the Spain would continue to explore the New World, finding more and more wealth, other European nations would begin to take notice eventually resulting in the Expansion of Portugal, Britain, and France into this New World as well. It is thanks to the creation of the Spanish monarchy that history would become the way it is today for better or worse. Without the first steps taken by Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile the two different worlds may have remained separated for a longer period of time, and who knows how that would have affected history?

Quiz

Resources:

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Ferdinand and Isabella: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferdinand_II_of_AragonA short Biography of Christopher Columbus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My8Vd-NZ8QoColumbus and the Spanish Monarchs: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabella_of_CastileHernando Cortes: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hernán_CortésMap of the Aztec Empire:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_EmpireThe Spanish in the Aztec Empire:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_EmpireThe Symbols of the Aztec Empire:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_EmpireThe Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_EmpirePizarro and his men:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_PizarroPizarro:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francisco_PizarroThe Incan Empire (map)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_EmpireMachu Pichu:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_EmpireCusco:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inca_Empire

A Brief History Of Spanish Colonization

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Brandon Whitsit

This ebook provides its readers with an overview of Spain’s role in the period of European Expansionism. This big picture overview of Spanish involvement in Expansionism includes an overview of the historical significance of: Ferdi-nand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, Christopher Columbus, Hernando Cortes, and Francisco Pizarro. The unification of Spain would change the World forever, this book expresses how the Spanish Empire would change the course of history .