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Conquest of America Fall 2020 - Fall

The document summarizes the Spanish conquest and control of the Americas beginning in the 15th century. It describes the Aztec and Inca empires and how the Spanish were able to conquer them, taking the Aztec ruler Moctezuma captive and killing the Inca king Atahualpa. It then discusses how the Spanish established political control through systems like the encomienda and mit'a and established a race-based class system. Cultural mixing occurred as native populations were converted to Catholicism and through intermarriage between Spanish and natives.

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Hamza Mubashir
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13 views

Conquest of America Fall 2020 - Fall

The document summarizes the Spanish conquest and control of the Americas beginning in the 15th century. It describes the Aztec and Inca empires and how the Spanish were able to conquer them, taking the Aztec ruler Moctezuma captive and killing the Inca king Atahualpa. It then discusses how the Spanish established political control through systems like the encomienda and mit'a and established a race-based class system. Cultural mixing occurred as native populations were converted to Catholicism and through intermarriage between Spanish and natives.

Uploaded by

Hamza Mubashir
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPT, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Conquest and Control in the

Americas
• Peoples in the
Americas
• Conquest of Mexico
and Peru
• Establishing Control
—Labor Systems
• Mixing Cultures
• New Amsterdam
People in the
Caribbean
and South
America
People in Central America/Mexico—Aztec Empire and Mayan area
Aztec conquest—
Triple Alliance
dominated by
Tenochtitlán
What was the Spanish Experience in the Caribbean?
When the
Conquistadors
First Arrived:
Disorder
• 1494 starving
Spaniards pillage
native villages
• Tainos revolt
• Spaniards enslave
them
Columbus demands tribute in
gold from every male over 14
years
• Those who didn’t comply had their hands
chopped off so they bled to death
Encomienda
Spanish crown officially gives labor of Indian
villages to the Spanish Encomenderos
More rational recruitment of labor than
pillaging—keeps Spanish from rebelling
Enslave natives
Tenochtitlan
Tenochtitlan
• Planned City
• 4 times larger than
Seville, the largest city
in Spain—200,000-
300,000 people
• Cleaner than Spanish
cities with public
latrines on boats
• City was a sacred
tribute to Huizipotochtli
• Polytheistic Aztec
religion:

• Quetzalcoatl
• Tonatiuh the sun god,
Huitzilopochtli the
war god, Xipe Totec
the god of springtime
and growth, Tlaloc
the rain god, and
Centeotl the corn god
Xipe Totec
CONQUEST OF MEXICO AND
PERU
• How did it happen?—What do the
documents say?
Search for
more RICHES
• Hernan
Cortés
• 600
armed
soldiers
Vs. Aztec
warrior
s
Translator:
Dona Marina (La Malinche)
Warns Cortes of plot to ambush him in Cholula
Gain Alliances
• Totonacs
• Kingdom of
Tlaxcala
• Together with the
Spanish they stage
a sneak attack in
Cholula
Moctezuma welcomes Cortes in
Tenochtitlan
• Cosmic signs
foretold the
return of
Quetzalcoátl
• Cortes takes Moctezuma captive
• Spanish attack Aztecs during a religious
ceremony
• Aztecs rebel
• Full-scale war erupts and Spanish Flee
• Smallpox decimates Aztec population
• 1521
Spanish
conquer
Mexico
"The Conquest of Tenochtitlán," from the Conquest of México series
Mexico, second half of seventeenth century
• Inca Empire
Pizarro in Peru
• 175 Spaniards vs.
50,000 Incan
warriors
• Pizarro calls for
private meeting
with Inca leaders
and king
Atahualpa
Kills the
King
Establishing Control
of a Distant Empire
• What does the Spanish crown need to do?
By Giggette - This image was created with Adobe Photoshop., CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=32530381
Political
Leaders
• Viceroys:
Administrators and
representatives of
Spain
Cultural Mixing in the Americas
American Conversion to Catholicism
MUSIC OF GUADALUPE: VIRGEN DE LOS INDIOS
The Virgin of Guadalupe appeared in a vision to the Nahua Indian
Juan Diego in December 1531 (10 years after Cortez’ conquest
of Tenochtitlan). This music is written in praise of her.
Pope John Paul II made Juan Diego the first Native American
Saint on July 31, 2002.
This music brings together indigenous American and colonial
Spanish musical styles—this is perhaps the first formation of an
American Hispanic culture.
The manuscripts for the music have been collected from archives
across Latin America. The instruments include pre-contact
instruments like the Aztec double flute, drums, rainstick,
rattles, etc.
Racial Mixing: Mestizo
Mulatto

• Result: race-based class system


Labor Systems reinforce class
and race distinctions
• Haciendas—estates owned by white
Spanish Peninsulares, Criollos
• Native population placed in debt, worked
for low pay
Silver Mining with the Mitá
System
• Spanish Viceroy in Peru implements this
Incan system in Potosi:
• Indian communities obliged to send
workers to the mines (1/7 of adult male
population per village per year)—earn a
small wage
• Many died in the “mountain that eats men”
1545 Potosi discovered—until 18th century produced 150,000
tons of silver
Patio process using mercury to extract silver from ore in
places such as Potosí, Peru and Zacatecas, Mexico—revived
silver production starting 1554
Image: Hacienda Nueva de Fresnillo, Zacatecas,by Pietro Gualdi, 1846.
Manila Galleons from the Philippines—brought
commodities from Ming China to Mexico and silver to
China—GLOBAL TRADE
Spread of culture between China,
Mexico and Europe
Ming Vase and Mexican Chocolate Jar (both ca. 1700)

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