Conquistadores• “To serve God and his

majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness and to grow rich as all men desire to do.”

• Hernán Cortez• Francisco Pizarro• Ponce de Leon• Cabeza de Vaca• Hernando de Soto• Francisco Vázquez de

Coronado

Aggressive Expansion

•April 21, 1519 he landed at Veracruz.• Cortez sent a ship back to Spain and burned the rest to avoid a mutiny.•Cortez allied with enemies of the Aztecs as he marched with his men to Tenochtitlan.•Cortez took 600 men, 15 horsemen, and 15 cannons, along with 3,000 Tlaxcalteca warriors to Cholula where Cortez ordered thousands murdered before he burned part of the city.•November 8, 1519: Cortez and his large force arrive at Tenochtitlan and are welcomed peacefully. •The Aztecs gave the Spanish much gold and more was plundered before Cortez took Montezuma, the Aztec king, hostage.•Cortez fought both opposing Spanish armies and the Aztec before his force and native allies defeated the Aztec in 1521.

Cortez

Francisco Pizarro• February 13, 1502: Sailed from Castile with

the largest fleet to the New World.• 1513: Crossed Panama and became one of

the first Europeans to see the Pacific Coast of the New World.

• 1524: Expedition to conquer Peru fails.• 1526: Second expedition creates foothold but

ordered back to Panama. Appeals to King and Queen.

• 1532: With royal support conquers Peru and the Incas.

Ponce de Leon

• Fought for the Spanish against the Moors in the Reconquista of 1492.

• September 1493: Joined Columbus’ 2nd expedition to the New World.

• Became the first governor of Puerto Rico.

• Led the first European expedition of Florida and is associated with the legend of the Fountain of Youth.

Cabeza de Vaca • Career in the Spanish military.• March 1528: Landed with

expedition near present day Tampa Bay.

• Proceeded by land and met a number of Indian tribes.

• 1532: Three members left. Become the first Europeans in the Southwest.

• 1536: Find another group of Spaniards.

• Estevan, the African slave that was with the party led a later expedition back in search of El Dorado.

Hernando de Soto

• 1514: Sailed to New World.

• Captain in De Soto’s army and a hero of the conquest.

• Inspired by de Vaca, in May 1539 he landed 9 ships with 620 men and 220 horses in Florida.

De Soto (continued)• Inspired by de Vaca he landed

in Florida with a large expedition.

• Explored portions of Georgia, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and Texas.

• Discovered the Mississippi River.

• Hostile relations with Indians.

1519-1522

Francisco Vázquez de Coronado• 1535: Left Spain for Mexico.• Governor of a province of

New Spain who sent an expedition led by Friar Marcos de Niza and Estevanico (the slave) toward New Mexico.– De Niza returned and told

about Cibola, a city of gold from which you could see the Pacific Ocean.

• Coronado began to assemble a new expedition to find the fabled Seven Golden Cities.

The Expedition

• 1540-1542: Explored New Mexico and the Southwest.

• “Conquered” Cibola which was not rich.• Explored the Zuni, Colorado, and Rio Grande

Rivers and found the Grand Canyon. • The search for Quivira (a region rumored to

be rich and full of gold) took Coronado all the way to Kansas. He found mostly poor tribes and pueblos.

• Encountered Zuni, Quivira (Wichita), and Hopi Indian tribes and began both conquests and conversions to Christianity.

Viceroyalty of New Spain

• 1535-1821.• Viceroy in Mexico City governed territory in

the name of the King of Spain.• Created to keep control of new territory for

Spain and out of the hands of men like Cortez.• Viceroy’s sent explorer’s, increased lands, and

increased the wealth of the new territories and the Spanish Empire.

Native Slaves

• Natives were captured and forced to work-fields, mines, etc.

• Disease and overwork killed many natives.

• New slaves were needed.

SLAVERY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vo-JejTp7O4

• Begun by the Portuguese.• Africans were resilient to diseases that Natives

of the Americas were not.• Worked sugar cane fields.• Brought by the millions to the New World.

Encomienda

• Spain granted a specific number of natives.

• Teach the natives Spanish and Catholicism; in exchange the natives lived and worked on the person’s land.

• Encomiendas were given to conquistadors, soldiers, and even royal natives.