Chapter 4Section 1 Notes

Strangers on the CoastThe Spanish conquistador HERNAN CORTES

landed on the Yucatan Peninsula in what is now MEXICO in 1519. He and his crew of more than 600 soldiers had come to find RICHES and to claim the land for SPAIN.

Through the MAYAN people who greeted him, CORTES learned of the mighty AZTEC empire.

Before marching off to find the AZTECS, CORTES claimed MEXICO for SPAIN and the ROMAN CATHOLIC church.

Hernan Cortes

Yucatan Peninsula

Cortes in TenochtitlanCORTES and his troops arrived at the Aztec capital

of Tenochtitlan in November 1519.The Aztec ruler, MONTEZUMA, tried to appease

the Spanish by giving them GOLD. However, the Spanish wanted more GOLD, and fighting soon broke out between the two groups.

The Aztec fought hard, but many of them soon fell to European DISEASES such as SMALLPOX and MEASLES.

Cortes conquered the Aztecs in 1521. He destroyed Tenochtitlan and ordered that a new city, MEXICO CITY, be built on the site.

Montezuma

Tenochtitlan

Pizarro and the IncasIn 1531, the Spanish conquistador

FRANCISCO PIZARRO marched on the Incan Empire in South America.

By 1535, PIZARRO had conquered the empire and made it a SPANISH colony.

SOUTH AMERICA held far more gold than MEXICO, and the former Incan empire became SPAIN’S richest colony.

Francisco Pizarro

Incan Empire

Machu Picchu

Machu Picchu

Atahualpa