Conquest and Colonial Order

Pre-Columbian Civivilizations

Mayan Civilization

• Mexico and Guatemala
• classic period 200-900 CE
• 900 "collapse"

Aztecs

• Conquered neighboring people and created the empire.
• By 1500 Tenochtitlán had 200,000 inhabitants
• Mexica left local nobles in place in exchange of tribute

Tenochtitlan

Aztec Empire

Rout of Columbus

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Aztecs & InCAs

• Rose to power a century before the Spaniards arrived.
• Theocracies
• Mexica left local nobles in place in exchange of tribute
• Inca gotherned directly
• Runners/network of roads

MACHU Picchu

Conquest/ Invasion

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• Fall of Moorish Granada (1492)
• United Catholic Spain
• Spaniards outnumbered but had cannons, firearms, steel swords, horses, attack dogs, DISEASES

Pizzarro

• 1521Cortes captured Moctezuma and Tenochtitlan
• Francisco Pizarro captured Inca Atahualpa and Cuzco in 1532
• 85%-90% populations died

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• Gold artwork melted into gold bars
• Atahualpa pays a ransom filling a room with gold and silver (still ends up murdered)

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• Gold and silver from the Americas used in baroque churches in Spain
• The land and indigenous people given to conquerors
• Christianization
• Sugar plantation in Brasil and Caribbean
• The Catholic Church largest land owner

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• New Spanish colonies lasted for 300 years
• The wars of indepandence
• Latin America at 200

Bartolome de las Casas

• Dominican Friar
• Described the crimes against native people

The Columbian Exchange

• To Europe: corn, potatoes, tomatoes, syphilis
• To the Americas: horses, cattle, pigs, chicken, wheat, grapes, small pox

exchange

Questions

• Which foods (not ingredientes) wouldn't we have without Columbian exchange?

What are some general patters of the Spanish conquest?

How does the painting about the burning of the idols both reject and affirm the Aztec heritage?