How did the conquistadors defeat the Aztecs?
Spanish conquistadores commanded by Hernán Cortés allied with local tribes to conquer the Aztec capital city of Tenochtitlán. Cortés’s army besieged Tenochtitlán for 93 days, and a combination of superior weaponry and a devastating smallpox outbreak enabled the Spanish to conquer the city.
What led to the downfall of the Aztecs?
Lacking food and ravaged by smallpox disease earlier introduced by one of the Spaniards, the Aztecs, now led by Cuauhtemoc, finally collapsed after 93 days of resistance on the fateful day of 13th of August, 1521 CE. Tenochtitlan was sacked and its monuments destroyed.
What did Cortes do to the Aztecs and their land?
Cortés Defeats The Aztecs He used deadly force to conquer Mexico, fighting Tlaxacan and Cholula warriors before turning his attention on the ultimate prize: taking over the Aztec Empire. He entered Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital home to ruler Montezuma II, on November 8, 1519.
Why did the Spanish want to conquer the Aztecs?
Cortes wanted to conquer the aztecs for gold glory and god. Because of these things, many people in the Aztec Empire were unhappy. Some of them helped the Spanish conquistadors take over the Empire.
Which best explains the fall of the empire of the Aztecs?
Which is the best explanation for the fall of the Aztec Empire? Aztec enemies allied themselves with Spanish invaders.
What happened to Aztecs after Spanish conquest?
By August of 1521, the glorious city of Tenochtitlan was in ruins. The Aztec lands were renamed “New Spain” and the colonization process began. Conquistadors were replaced by bureaucrats and colonial officials, and Mexico would be a Spanish colony until it began its fight for independence in 1810.
Why did the Spanish conquered the Aztecs?
The conquest of Mexico began with an expedition to search for gold on the American mainland. In 1519 Cortés led about 450 men to Mexico and made his way from Veracruz on the Gulf Coast to the island city of Tenochtitlan, the stunningly beautiful Aztec capital situated in Lake Texcoco.
What did the Spaniards do to the Aztecs?
They introduced the Aztecs to domestic animals, sugar, grains, and European farming practices. Most significantly, the Spanish ended the Aztec’s practice of human sacrifice. The Aztecs sacrificed human victims on each of their 18 annual festivities, according to the New World Encyclopedia.
Why were Spanish conquistadors so successful?
The conquistadors were successful for several reasons. They were brave and daring men driven by a powerful desire for wealth. In some cases they were very clever. In addition, they had horses, guns, and steel weapons, none of which the native people had.
What happened during the Spanish conquest?
Between 1519 and 1521 Hernán Cortés and a small band of men brought down the Aztec empire in Mexico, and between 1532 and 1533 Francisco Pizarro and his followers toppled the Inca empire in Peru. These conquests laid the foundations for colonial regimes that would transform the Americas.
Why did the conquistadors want to defeat the Aztecs and Incas?
In the early 1500s, Spanish forces sailed across the Pacific and conquered the Aztec and Incan civilizations, even though the invading armies were greatly outnumbered by the indigenous population. This conquest was due, in part, to differences in technology and experience.
How did conquistadors conquer the Aztecs and the Incas?
Spanish weaponry was far superior to anything used by the Aztecs or Incas. Cortés and his men used over a dozen large portable guns, mainly for their shock value against the Aztecs. Pizarro’s conquest of the Incas was also made possible by the use of gunpowder, a substance the Incas didn’t have at their disposal.
What happened after the Spanish conquered the Aztecs?
How did Spanish defeat Aztecs and Incas?
The Spanish were able to defeat the Aztec and the Inca not only because they had horses, dogs, guns, and swords, but also because they brought with them germs that made many native Americans sick. Diseases like smallpox and measles were unknown among the natives; therefore, they had no immunity to them.
How were the conquistadors able to defeat the Aztecs and Incas so easily?
What were the conquistadors looking for?
The Spanish Conquistadors were some of the first men to travel to the new world. They got their name from being both conquerors and explorers. They were mostly in search of gold and treasure.
What were the motives of the Spanish conquistadors?
Spanish Conquistadors: Motives Cortes conquered the Aztecs and in doing so secured himself a fortune. Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas and in doing so became wealthy. The second reason was to spread Christianity. At this point in Spanish history, most of the people claimed to be Catholic and were zealous.
What did the conquistadors achieve?
During the Age of Discovery, conquistadors sailed beyond Europe to the Americas, Oceania, Africa, and Asia, colonizing and opening trade routes. They brought much of the Americas under the dominion of Spain and Portugal.
What was the conquest of the Aztecs like?
As such, many view the conquest as the clash of two societies and ways of life. The Aztec Empire was a powerful collection of city-states in what is today modern-day Mexico. It began as an alliance of three city-states, known as the Aztec Triple Alliance, which included: Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan.
How did the fall of the Aztec Empire affect the Spanish Empire?
The fall of the Aztec Empire was the key event in the formation of the Spanish Empire overseas, with New Spain, which later became Mexico.
When did the Spanish conquistadors come to the Aztecs?
In 1519, more Spanish conquistadors arrived, but this time they were led by Hernan Cortés. In the years before the arrival of the Spanish into the territory of the Aztec Empire, the Spanish had been exploring the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean during the European ‘Age of Exploration’.
Who ruled during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire?
During the period of the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire, it was ruled by Moctezuma II. Moctezuma II became the ninth tlatoani and ruler of Tenochtitlan in 1502. When he came to power he continued the campaigns of conquest and expanded the Aztec Empire even further than it had already in the previous decades.