1. Other exploreres were inspired to go to the sea and explore.
1.1. Pedro Alvares Cabral reached the shores of modern-day Brazil and claimed the land for his country.
1.2. Amerigo Vespucci explored South America and said it was not part of Asia but a 'new' world.
2. The Protuguese in Brazil
2.1. Colonists began settling on the Brazil coast lines, and they found little gold and silver.
2.2. They cleared out large forest land and built giant sugar plantations.
3. Span's influance expands
3.1. Spains American colonies was the richest most powerful nation in the world in the 16th century.
3.1.1. Spanish priests worked to spread Christianity in the Americas and pushed for better treatment for Native Americans.
3.2. Oppostion to the Spanish method of colonization not only came from Spanish priests but from natives themselves.
3.2.1. At the end of the 17th century natives in New Mexico fought Spanish rule.
3.3. Other European nations had begun to establish their own colonies in the Americas.
4. Competition for wealth in Asia prompted Christopher Columbus to make a daring voyage from Spain in 1492.
4.1. Sailed west across the Atlantic in search of an alternate trade route to Asia.
4.2. Ended up on an island in the Caribbean and not the East Indies.
4.2.1. To his surprise he was greeted by a group of people called the Taino.
4.2.2. He returned to Spain with reports and the Spanish were delighted and embarked on a second voyage.
4.2.2.1. Columbus was now an empire builder, and intended to transfer the island into colonies.
5. Spanish conquests in Mexico
5.1. in 1519 Hernando Cortes landed on the shores of Mexico.
5.1.1. He had many followers who were known as conquistadors.
5.2. Rumors of gold and silver went around, sucking people into explore Mexico.
5.3. After marching for weeks through difficult mountain passes Cortes stumbled on the Aztec captial of Tenochtitlan.
5.3.1. The emperor was convinced that Cortes was a god wearing armor and agreed to give him a share of the empires existing gold supply.
5.3.1.1. Cortes lied and said he had a disease of the heart that only gold can cure.
5.3.2. Cortes's men eventually killed alot of Aztec warriors, and eventually conqured the Aztecs in 1521.
5.3.2.1. First advantage of battle was the Spanish had superior weaponry, second they were able to enlist the help of various native groups, third the natives could do little to stop disease.
6. Spanish conquests in Peru
6.1. Another conquistador, Francisco Pizarro, marched a small force into South America and conqured the Incan Empire.
6.2. Pizarro and his army met the Incan ruler Atahualpa and his army.
6.2.1. Atahualpa offered to fill a room once with gold and twice with silver for his release, but the Spanish strangled the Incan king anyway.
7. In building their new American empire the Spaniards drew from techniques used uring the reconqista of Spain.
7.1. The Spanish settlers to the America's were known as peninsulares, and they were mostly men.
7.1.1. Peninsulares mixed with Native amerians were called Mestizo.
7.2. Under the system of Encomienda natives farmed, ranched, and mined for Spanish landlords.
7.2.1. The landlords recieved the rights to the natives labor from the Spanish rulers.