Latin America European Conquest

Although others made it to the Western Hemisphere first, Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World in He traveled across the Atlantic, hoping to find a shorter route to East Indies and Asia.

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.

New Spain and Peru were the 2 most important provinces in Spain’s American empire.

Native Americans lived along the country side. They were forced to work on the large plantations, known as haciendas.

Soon, it was to include working in the mines.

People of power lived near the city. They were of Spanish descent.

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

Christopher Columbus was an Italian explorer, who sailed for Spain

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

Francisco Pizarro was a Spanish conquistador who sailed to South America, in 1531.

By 1535, Pizarro had conquered most of the Incan empire, which included the capitol of Cuzco.

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

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.

Mestizos, who were Spanish/Native Americans, lived on the outskirts of town.

Large plantations owned by Spaniards or the Catholic Church were known as haciendas.

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.