Spanish Conquest of the Americas

Spanish Conquest of the Americas

1. Aztec Culture

   • Human Sacrifice
     • remove a persons heart while they were still alive
     • prisoners were usually sacrificed
     • blood of a human was food for the sun
     • without this food the sun could not fight the darkness to rise the next day
   • Gods
     • Sun God=most important
       • Huitzilopochtli
     • Quetzalcoatl
     • Tezcatlipoca=first sun god
     • Tlaloc
   • Creation myth
     • the Earth was created five times by the gods
     • Earth was destroyed four of the five times
     • human sacrifice was needed to keep Huitzilopochtli moving across the sky as he was very weak

2. Inca Culture

   • Origin
     • Originated from Cuzco, Peru as a small community
       • 1300's
     • Manco Carpac-first leader
       • Leader is called Sapa Inca
   • Expansion
     • 1438 Pachacuti becomes Sapa Inca
     • Invites those he conquered to join Inca
     • Son takes over and continues to expand
     • becomes biggest empire in the world at the time
   • Lake Titicaca
     • Sacred
     • 3000m above sea level
     • was believed that Manco Carpac emerged from the water there
   • Farming
     • Ordinary people were given land to grow food
     • Terrace farming
     • In turn for land, men worked in the army or building roads or bridges
   • Gold
     • very skilled at working with gold and silver
     • Lapis Lazuli and precious stones were inlaid
     • Gold= tears of sun
     • Silver= tears of moon
   • Roads
     • Surfaces were not paved as they did not have the wheel
     • Terrain= mountains,jungle,desert
     • no horses or cattle
   • Machu Picchu
     • discovered in 1911 by Bingham
     • built around 1450
     • city high in the Andes
     • Many theories of purpose: defence, temple,retreat built by and for the Inca ruler Pachacuti

3. Contact with The Inca

   • Outline
     • Spanish conquistadors led by Francisco Pizarro
     • 167 soldiers
     • Peru in 1532
     • After 40 years they had successfully conquered all of the Inca empire
   • Effects
     • disease (such as small pox) kills 93% of Inca population
     • Christianity
     • Language-Spanish
     • Incan culture lost
     • many Inca made slaves

4. Contact with the Aztecs

   • Outline
     • Hernando Cortes: leader of Spanish
     • 11 ships and 450 men
     • Lands in Veracruz on 22 April,1519
     • Aztecs believed the Spaniards were gods-returning.
     • Quetzalcoatl thought to have white skin and beard
     • Cortes arrives in Tenochtitlan in Nov 1519
     • takes Montezuma hostage to maintain control
     • flee in October 1520-the Sad night
     • Returns in May 1521 and after 80 days of fighting captures Tenochtitlan on 13 August 1521
   • Effects