conquistadors 1513-1528

• Isthmus of Panama


  A narrow strip of land, with sea on both sides
• Conquistador


  An armed adventurer and explorer who went to the New World looking for gold, glory and power
• Spanish empire building in the west

  1. Columbus showed lands across Atlantic with treasure

  2. Conquistadors and settlers followed, claiming new territories for Spain
• Balboa founded first permanent settlement on mainland America: Santa Maria de la Antigua del Darien
• Balboa led expedition across Isthmus of Panama, made first sighting of Pacific Ocean by a European, and claimed Pacific Ocean and surrounding lands for Spain
• Balboa's exploration opened up long-term possibilities for Spanish expansion into the New World by revealing the existence of the Southern Sea and claiming it for Spain
• Pedrarias replaced Balboa as governor, had Balboa arrested and executed for treason
• Significance of Panama


  • Closest point between Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea
  • Camino Real overland treasure route between coasts
  • Fertile land and sea teeming with fish
  • Well-situated port for Spanish treasure ships
• Most inhabitants of Darien settlement forcibly removed to Panama, remaining Spaniards massacred by natives
• Pattern of Spanish empire building

  1. Exploration and desire for gold and treasure

  2. Exploitation of natives

  3. Claiming land for Spain
• Velázquez and 300 conquistadors pursued Hatuey, a native chief living in Haiti, who had fled to Cuba with 400 natives to escape Spanish cruelty
• After strong native resistance, Hatuey was captured and burned alive in 1512
• A massacre at Caonao in 1513 resulted in thousands of natives being killed
• The conquest of Cuba was complete by January 1514 and Velázquez founded several towns, including Santiago de Cuba which became the capital
• Spaniards were rewarded with land which they worked on the encomienda system, and Cuban natives were used as slaves, forced to work in gold mines, fields and as house servants
• The native population of Cuba fell from 350,000 in 1514 to little more than 3,000 by 1555, due to deaths from malnutrition, disease, overwork and suicide
• Bartolome de las Casas, a priest and historian who travelled with Velázquez to Cuba, turned against Spanish policies and spent the rest of his life working for good treatment of the natives
• In 1518, King Charles I of Spain put Ferdinand Magellan in command of a fleet of five ships to find a sea route to the spice islands of the East Indies by sailing west
• Magellan and his ships managed to circumnavigate the world between 1519 and 1522, claiming the Philippines for Spain and finding a western route to the spice islands
• This was important as it meant Spain could claim the spice islands and brought prestige to Spain, but came at a cost with only one ship and 18 sick men returning out of the original 270 men and 5 ships
• Bartolome de las Casas: 'Once all the inhabitants of this island [Cuba] found themselves in the same hopeless predicament as those on Hispaniola [Haiti] - that is, they were either enslaved or foully murdered.'
• Bartolome de las Casas: 'There was one royal official who, when he was allotted 300 natives, worked them so hard that, at the end of three months, only thirty were still alive, the other two hundred and seventy having perished down the mines.'
• Flotilla


  A small fleet of ships or boats
• Cortes faced many problems when he landed in Mexico
• Bernal Diaz del Castillo: 'We came upon a great courtyard, which had some chambers and great halls, and had three houses of idols. Cortes took possession of the land, for His Majesty and in his royal name, in the following manner: his sword drawn, he dealt three stabs to a large ceiba tree as a sign of possession. The tree was in the square of that great town and he said that if there were one person who contradicted him he would defend his possession with the sword.'
• Cortes' expedition to Mexico, 1519


  1. Sails from Cuba

  2. Fights Tabascan natives and takes control of city of Pontonchon

  3. Makes peace with Tabascans and allies with them

  4. Given Mayan woman Malinche, who acts as an interpreter

  5. Met by cheering natives at Cempoala and allies with them

  6. Lands on Yucatan Peninsula and claims land for Spain

  7. Re-establishes a Spanish settlement at Vera Cruz

  8. Sinks his ships

  9. Fights Tlaxcalans - enemies of the Aztecs - makes peace and allies with them
• Malinche


  • Daughter of a native chief, became Cortes' mistress and interpreter, could speak several native languages
• By the end of September 1519, it seems that Cortes had not decided whether to attack the Aztec Empire, or attempt to ally with it
• Cortes sinking the Spanish ships


  Cut off his line of escape back to Cuba or Spain, signified his commitment to exploring and conquering Mexico
• The natives were afraid of Spanish firepower and Spanish horses, neither of which they had seen before. Many natives regarded the invading Spaniards as gods, and believed they were able to perform magic.
• It was generally the custom in Mexico to receive strangers hospitably. Cortes and his men had been given many gifts, as well as food.
• The native tribes fought each other as well as the Spanish. Many of the native tribes hated the Aztecs.
• Malinche


  A woman captured by the Spanish conquistadors, who became an interpreter for Cortes and his mistress
• Malinche acted as interpreter for Cortes for several more years before she married a Spanish nobleman, Juan Jaramillo
• Cortes built a house for Malinche and their son in Coyoacan, just south of Tenochtitlan
• Tenochtitlan


  • It was the capital city of the Aztec Empire, believed to have around 300,000 inhabitants and was bigger than any European city at the time
  • It was built in the middle of Lake Texcoco and was reached by giant causeways
• The Aztecs had been building an empire in Mexico for hundreds of years before the Spanish arrived
• Flower wars


  • They were partly ritual wars, fought according to a set of rules, and where warriors were able to display their skill in traditional, hand-to-hand fighting
  • A long-running flower war could become increasingly deadly
• Some of the native tribes, for example the Tlaxcalans and the Cholula, were in a permanent state of war against the Aztecs
• Montezuma's Aztec spies had probably been tracking Cortes and the conquistadors ever since they landed on the mainland