Latin AmericaEuropean Conquest

Although others made it to the Western Hemisphere first,

Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in 1492.

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer,

who sailed for Spain

Conquistadors would search the New World for riches and claim the land for

Spain.

After Columbus made his journey west to the new world, a rivalry developed

between Spain and Portugal.

A Line of Demarcation was settled upon at 50 Longitude, as a way of preventing �

war.

Moctezuma was the leader of the Aztecs when the Spanish arrived to the New World. He demanded much from his

people.

When Cortes arrived in Mexico, he found many of the Aztecs were willing to assist him overtake

Moctezuma.

By 1521, the

Aztecs were

defeated by Cortes

Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador who sailed to

South America, in 1531.

By 1835, Pizarro had conquered most of the Incan empire, which

included the capitol of Cuzco.

It only took 15 years for the Spanish to defeat 2 powerful

empires in America. The Spanish had more powerful weapons, and they brought disease to America, which the Native Americans had

never experienced.

New Spain and Peru were the 2 most important provinces in

Spain’s American empire.

Mestizos, who were Spanish/Native Americans,

lived on the outskirts of town.

People of power lived near the city. They were of

Spanish descent.

Native Americans lived along the country side.

At first, Native Americans were forced to work on the large

plantations, known as haciendas.

Soon, it was to include working in the mines.

Within the first 50 years, the Native American population

went from approximately 25,000,000 to 3,000,000.

Any ideas why this happened?

What do you think it lead to?

If you said the reasons for decline in population of Native Americans were:

Malnutrition, overwork or European diseases, you would be right!

And without the Native Americans to work the mines and haciendas, the

Spanish began to bring African slaves to the new world.