The Spanish Conquistadors Conquer the Aztecs

1. The Spanish Conquistadors Conquer the Aztecs

2. The Conquistadors • Conquistadors were 15th century Spanish explorers and conquerors who sailed across the uncharted oceans • desire to explore new worlds • to gain political power • to win fame and fortune • The price of conquest was high • shipwreck • disease • starvation • warfare • death • The Conquistadors' mission was to: • find gold • convert new souls to Christianity • claim new territories for the King and the glory of their country

3. How Did They Get There?New Technologies • The conquistadors needed to be able to steer their ships and find their way with very unreliable maps. • the caravel was a lighter, faster ship than the ships that the Spanish had used earlier; the first ocean-going ship able to sail into the wind without the use of oars. • used a magnetic compass with a magnetized needle that always pointed north. That and the North Star were their main directional guides. • They also needed to be able to measure the distance traveled in order to follow their course and get back home again. • Quadrantswere used to measure the angle between the horizon and the sun or stars, to get the latitude position. • The Astrolabe -Another way to figure out latitude was to use an astrolabe to measure the height of the North Star or the noon sun. • Dead Reckoning-To figure out how far east or west a ship was from its home port, ship's captains calculated by "dead reckoning." They estimated and kept a record of their direction (with the compass), time (measured by hourglass, which 10-12 year old boys on ship had to turn every 30 minutes), and speed (which they mostly guessed

4. Voyage to the Unknown • It seems impossible to us in these days of space travel, instant communications, and satellite mapping to think that there was once a time when people in Europe had no idea what most of the world was like or how to map it. • Even once they had figured out that the world was round, they had no idea what lay beyond the Atlantic Ocean to the west, or how far the ocean even extended. • Only by setting off on dangerous expeditions could the conquistadors find out and expand their knowledge about the Unknown.

5. Hernan Cortes • Hernan Cortes was only seven years old when Christopher Columbus first sighted the New World. In 1506, at the age of 22, he joined a force of soldiers and sailed to the port city of Santo Domingo on the Spanish-controlled island of Hispaniola, in the Caribbean Sea. Cortes was given a grant of land with native Indians to serve him. Although he would have preferred to go off to seek gold and adventure, Cortes was persuaded by the Spanish governor to settle down and run his estate. • He moved to Cuba in 1509 and in 1511 he agreed to help Diego Velazquez in the Spanish conquest of Cuba. In battles there, he proved to be a capable, brave soldier. In return, Governor Velazquez rewarded Cortes for his service by giving him an even larger grant of land and more Indian slaves.When news arrived about the Mayan Civilization on the Yucatan peninsula and the fact that explorers had found treasures of silver and gold there, the atmosphere in Cuba became more and more like a "Gold Rush." Governor Velazquez decided to send an expedition to Yucatan. On October 23, 1518 he chose Cortes as its commanding officer.

6. The Cortes Expedition • Cortes prepared for his expedition by using his own money to buy muskets, ammunition, crossbows, navigational instruments and supplies. • He pulled together an army of Spaniards, promising them gold, land, and Indian slaves. After all his money was gone, he borrowed money from friends and mortgaged his plantation. • Governor Velasquez became concerned that Cortes' expedition was becoming larger than was originally planned. • Velasquez decided to relieve Cortes of his command, but Cortes' brother-in-law killed the messenger carrying the governor's orders.

7. Helpers • On February 18, 1519 Cortes' expedition set sail from Cuba. Smooth sailing brought them to Cozumel, an island off the coast of Yucatan. There, Cortes found Geronimo de Aguilar, a Spaniard who had been shipwrecked from a previous expedition. Aguilar spoke the local Maya language and joined the expedition. • Cortes sailed along the coast of Yucatan and stopped at a large native settlement by the Tabasco River. The native Mayas asked the expedition to leave, wanting "neither war nor trade." After a battle and an easy victory because of Spanish weapons, Cortes was able to destroy the local idols. The leaders promised to obey Cortes and brought him gifts of fruit, birds, ornaments made of gold, and 20 women to cook tortillas and serve them, including a woman named Malintzin, who would become an important key in the conquest of the Aztecs.

8. The Two Worlds Meet • "A ball of stone comes out shooting sparks and raining fire. It makes smoke that smells of rotten mud. When the ball of stone hits a tree, the trunk splits into splinters, as if it has exploded from the inside. They cover their heads and bodies with metal. Their swords are metal, their bows are metal, their shields and spears are metal. Their deer carry them on their backs, making them as tall as the roof of a house…We are powerless against him. We are nothing compared to these strangers." – Anonymous Aztec Eyewitness    • Cortes and his expedition set off to meet Montezuma. The expedition marched over 400 miles inland. They scaled two mountain ranges and crossed a plain with stagnant water. Constantly threatened by native people who vowed to kill them and eat their flesh with chili peppers, the Spanish soldiers begged Cortes to turn back.

9. Early Victories • Cortes' expedition entered the Tlaxcalan region. Over 50,000 Tlaxcalans fought the 400 Spaniards and were defeated as a result of the superior Spanish weapons and horses. Cortes rewarded the Tlaxcalans, who offered to provide Cortes with 10,000 warriors for his march on Tenochtitlan.

10. The First Occupation of Tenochtitlan • The Spanish entered the city of Tenochtitlan to meet Montezuma. Coincidentally.Montezuma greeted the Spanish with an elaborate ceremony and thousands of attendants. "This is what our kings and those who ruled this city told us: that you would come to assume your rightful place. Welcome to your kingdom, lords!" Montezuma said on first meeting Cortes. • The Aztecs housed the Spanish in a wondrous palace. When Montezuma asked Cortes what it would take to make the Spanish leave his empire, Cortes replied, "We Spanish suffer from a disease of the heart, which can be cured only by gold."Cortes decided to take Montezuma hostage, falsely claiming that the emperor had ordered an attack on his forces on the coast.  • When Governor Velazquez of Cuba realized that Cortes was no longer following his orders, he sent a large army to arrest him. Cortes took 100 of his men and returned to the coast, where he easily defeated Velazquez's army, ensuring his free reign in Mexico. • Back in Tenochtitlan, Cortes' captain, Pedro de Alvarado, gave permission for the Aztecs to celebrate a festival. As the unarmed worshippers danced and sang, the Spaniards suddenly attacked the Aztecs. Alvarado later explained the attack by stating that he thought the Aztecs were going to try to free Montezuma.

11. The Aztecs Fight Back • The Aztecs quickly cut off supplies of food from the Spanish and attacked the palace where they were holding Montezuma. When Cortes received news that the Aztecs had attacked and imprisoned his soldiers, he returned from the coast to Tenochtitlan. • In a desperate move, the Spanish and their Tlaxcalan allies decided to take advantage of a dark, rainy night to escape from Tenochtitlan. Cortes loaded seven horses and 80 Tlaxcalan porters with gold from the treasure house and gave the rest of the heavy gold to his soldiers. • A woman getting water from the lake spotted the escaping Spaniards and the Aztecs quickly launched a surprise attack. To prevent the Spaniards from escaping, the Aztecs removed the drawbridges on the causeway, but Cortes' carpenters had built portable bridges

12. Cortes' Return to Tenochtitlan • Cortes retreated to Tlaxcala, where he gained new troops and supplies from Cuba, trained new Tlaxcalan allies, and planned an attack by water on Tenochtitlan. Cortes gained control of the towns around the lakeshore. After Christmas 1520, Cortes led an army of 16,000 men back to Tenochtitlan. • The Aztecs, under their new leader Cuauhtemoc, were ready and had built barricades of rubble and removed the bridges in the causeways. They had also put sharpened stakes underwater in the canals. As the Aztecs prepared for war, smallpox continued to devastate the native population of Tenochtitlan.  

13. The Final Battle • Cortes attacked Tenochtitlan from three directions at once with 13 new ships. The Aztecs had more than 200,000 canoes. It took Cortes three months to reach the sacred center of Tenochtitlan. • The fighting was so fierce that the lake water turned red with blood. Aztec soldiers sacrificed Spanish soldiers and rolled their heads along the causeways. The Spanish could not move "without treading on the bodies and heads of dead Indians.“ • In the final all-out attack on the center of the city, 15,000 Aztecs died that day alone. Emperor Cuauhtemoc and his last few supporters tried to escape in a canoe, but were captured by the Spaniards. The siege of Tenochtitlan was over. In the Aztec calendar, this was the first day of the Great Feast of the Dead, a month of traditional lamentation and remembrance.