Download How did the Conquistadores conquer the Aztecs and the Incas?

2/15 Aim: How did the
Conquistadores conquer the
Aztecs and the Incas?
Do Now: Analyze the
painting to the left.
Describe what you
see happening.
Then, complete the
journal entry on your
handout.
The Conquistadores (conquerors)
• Lured to the new world by rumors of gold.
• 1519-1521 Hernando Cortes, of Spain, hears
that the Aztecs have a wealthy empire in
central Mexico. He conquers Montezuma and
his empire with 600 men and with the help of
Aztec enemies from surrounding villages.
• 1533 Francisco Pizarro, also of Spain,
conquered the Incan empire with 200 men.
How did they do it?
• The Spanish had superior weapons including guns and
cannons. The Natives had only bows and arrows.
• Disease including measles, mumps, and smallpox, killed
hundreds of thousands by the time Cortes Launched his
counter attack. A similar situation occurred with Pizarro
and the Incas.
• Cortes, with the help of his translator La Malinche, learned
that some natives resented the Aztecs and he convinced
the Natives to fight on his side.
• The Aztecs may have believed that Cortes was a god,
and invited him in to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.