The Conquered Incas

The Spanish Conquest was lead by Francisco Pizarro to defeat the Incas by 1535. The Incas were of a small community that survived in the mountains of southern Peru. The powerful ruler Pachakuti took control of the entire Inca community. Pachakuti created a highly centralized government. Pachakuti extended the boundaries of the Inca Empire to Ecuador, central Chile, and the edge of the Amazon basin. He divided up the land into 4 parts, and each part was ruled by a governor. The governors that were chosen to govern each quarter were usually related to the royal family. Then, at the top of everything, the emperor was believed to descend from the sun god. The Inca nation/empire was still growing when the Spanish came who were lead by Francisco Pizarro. Even though Pizarro was quite similar to Cortes, he has steel weapons, gunpowder, and horses. Since the Incas were affected by the smallpox already and they do not have any immunities to any kind of European disease, it was an advantage for Pizarro. The king died of smallpox and his sons were fighting over who can have the throne which led into a civil war. Pizarro fought against Atahualpa, who had defeated his brother’s army. Atahualpa struggled in fighting against Pizarro because he had only stones, arrows, and spear which could not conquer Pizarro’s guns and cannons. Pizarro and his soldiers along with other allies took over the Incan capital. Pizarro established a new capital at Lima to start a new colony for Spain.  

The Encomienda System

The administration of the Spanish Empire was very important during this time. The Spanish policy towards the Indians of the New World was confusing, misguiding, and cruel exploitation. Queen Isabella of Spain issued the encomienda system that was permitted the conquering Spaniards to collect tribute from the Indians and use them as slaves/laborers. The holders of the encomienda system were to protect the Indians, pay them wages, and supervise their spiritual needs because the Indians paid the holders/nobles/owners tribute. Settlers were free to apply the paternalistic system of the government as they wished. Other Spaniards, who disobeyed or ignored the encomienda system, cruelly used the natives to pursue their own interests and use them to the point to see the natives suffer. These poor natives were put to work on plantations or in the gold and silver mines. In the lives of these natives, they suffer from forced labor, starvation, and disease that was fearful. Because of the diseases that were in Europe, the natives were struck not only by smallpox, measles, and typhus from the explorers and conquistadors. Besides making natives suffer, other people like Dominican friars raised their voices to protect these innocent Indians. Because of the publications that were published by Bartholome de Las Casas, the government finally realized how badly the natives were treated and decided to abolish the encomienda system.  Besides the brutal encomienda system, the Spanish developed the viceroy and the audiencias. The viceroy is basically a government system and the audiencias is an advisory group that also functions as supreme judicial bodies.

The Defeat of the Aztecs

The Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire was lead by Hernan Cortes. He led this expedition into the city of Tenochtitlan with a small group of soldiers. As he passed by, he made alliances with many of the city-states nearby since the city-states are angered by how cruel the Aztecs are. The one state that the Aztecs cannot defeat was the Tlaxcala. When he arrived, he received a friendly welcome from the Aztec king, Moctezuma, Moctezuma believed that Cortes was a representative of Quetzalcoatl, the god who had departed from his homeland centuries before and was promised that he would return. When Cortes was there, Moctezuma offered gifts of gold to Cortes and his crew, also Moctezuma gave the “foreigners” a palace to use while they were there. But after awhile, Cortes became harsh and cruel. He took Moctezuma hostage and went to destroy the city. The natives or the population of the Aztecs revolted and wanted to drive the intruders-Cortes and his army- out of Tenochtitlan. Even though many of Cortes’s army was killed, but the Aztecs encountered more problems than the Spaniards. The fact was that when the Spaniards arrived here in Tenochtitlan, they already have a deadly inside of them, which was the smallpox. Since the Aztecs have never encountered this problem and yet they are not immune to this disease, it was a great disaster. Many of the Aztecs fell sick and died. Because of smallpox, Cortes was supplied with more troops from the nearby city-states. Also, due to the conditions of smallpox, Cortes won Tenochtitlan as a claimed land for Spain.

Treaty of Tordesillas

The Treaty of Tordesillas was signed at Tordesillas and divided the newly discovered lands into separate Portuguese and Spanish spheres of influence. The lands were separated into that most of South America fell within the Spanish sphere; also the route across Atlantic was only for the Spanish. And east of the route of Cape of Good Hope, it was reserved for the Portuguese. Also, the Treaty of Tordesillas was trying to settle an argument that was created after Christopher Columbus came back. This new line gave Portugal an automatic control most of the Indian Ocean. The Tordesillas line was located 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde Islands. Portugal gained the control of Brazil or known as “the larger portion of South America”. But, on the other hand, Spain gained control most of the New World. The pope granted his official recognition of this treaty in 1506. Both Spain and Portugal have to remain loyal to this treaty. Portugal went along with this treaty by going deep into Brazil, but to Spain felt that they were not gaining anything out of this treaty. The discoveries of the New World had little mineral wealth, which also caused many diseases and the discomfort.

Biography

Hello, my name is Ferdinand Magellan and I was born in Sabrosa, Portugal to Rui de Magalhaes and Alda de Mesquita in the year of 1480. When I was 10, my parents died and became a page at the Queen’s royal court since my family is well connected with the royal family. Becoming a page gave me an advantage; my advantage was that I could become well-educated and learned about the Portuguese exploration during this time. When I turned 25, I enlisted myself in a fleet of 22 ships that was going to be shipped to Francisco de Almeida as the first viceroy. Because of some accusations that were made, I lost the privilege of being employed by the Portuguese. After Columbus, I decided to do something similar. But, to get to the Spice Islands I have to travel through the New World to reach there. I presented this to the king of Portugal, Manuel I, but he rejected my plan. So after I got rejected, I went to the Spanish king for his help.

I persuaded the Spanish king (Charles I) and I was granted a large sum of money. I was so excited. I used the money to find the perfect route that will lead me to the Spice Islands. I left Spain to find the Spice Islands with five ships and 250 men. Since I am a Portuguese, my shipmates plotted death plans on me but luckily they get sent to prison or get executed. I couldn’t really do anything because I am sailing for Spain not Portugal. After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean for a long time, we finally reached Rio de Janeiro to restock supplies for each ship. Sailing past the south coast of South America, my fleet and I finally reached the Pacific Ocean. But when we were sailing through the south tip of South America, the weather was really horrible so we had to wait until the weather got better so we could continue our journey. Well as the weather got better, I personally sent Santiago to go check the way to get through the Pacific Ocean.

We finally found a way to get through the Pacific Ocean.  Since, we lost another ship because they decided to abandon the journey and took many of the supplies that were needed.  The rest of the ships including my ship passed through the strait that I call the “Strait of All Saints” which leads me and my fleet to the Pacific Ocean.  During the time that we were sailing to reach the Spice Islands, we suffered immensely for food and we were short of supplies. When we reached Guam, I restocked the supplies for the ships and the necessities that we needed. Instead of finding the Spice Islands, we were at the Philippines and for some reason befriended the king there. My crew and I were persuaded by the king to defeat their rival, Lapu-Lapu. My crew and I succeeded in becoming the first ones to sail around the world or in other words circumnavigated the world.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwzoH2a-E4A