Download The success of the conquistadors

The success of the
conquistadors
• Spanish explorers heard stories of wealthy
kingdoms in the Americas
• They hoped to find gold and other treasures
there.
• Conquistadors agreed to give Spain one fifth
of any treasures they found.
Cortes Conquers the Aztecs
• He headed of Tenochtitlan with 500 soldiers and
16 horses.
• Aztec spies saw them coming. They had never
seen horses before.
• Moctezuma’s spies described the Spanish as
“Supernatural creatures riding on hornless deer,
armed iron, fearless as Gods”
• Moctezuma thought Cortes might be God
Quetzalcoatl
• Quetzalcoatl had promised to return rule the
Aztecs.
• Moctezuma welcomed Cortes and his soldiers
Cortes Conquers the Aztecs
• Cortes tried to convince Moctezuma to surrender
to Spain and then seized him as a hostage.
• After a brief period of peace, Spanish soldiers
killed some Aztecs.
• Then the Aztecs rebelled against the Spanish.
• By the end of the fighting , Moctezuma was dead,
and Cortes and his army escaped.
• With the help of the Aztecs’ enemies, Cortes
defeated the Aztecs in 1521
Pizarro conquers the Incas
• He was also a Spanish Conquistador.
• He heard stories about the rich Incan Empire.
• In 1531, Pizarro sailed to Pacific coast of South
America with a force of 180 Spanish soldiers.
• The Spanish captured and killed the Incan
emperor and many other Incan leaders.
• By 1535 Pizarro had conquered most of the
Incan empire, including the capital, Cuzco