Conq

• Age of Exploration


  Period of European exploration and colonization of the world, especially the Americas
• Causes of the Age of Exploration

  • Rulers hoped new lands would bring them wealth and power
  • Explorers hoped to gain new riches and titles
  • Marco Polo encouraged exploration of the East
  • Explorers wanted to convert people to Christianity
  • Ptolemy's Geographia influenced explorers
• Ship construction and navigation

  Enabled the journeys of the Age of Exploration
• Portuguese Exploration


  • Led by Prince Henry the Navigator
  • Aimed to find a route to the riches of Asia and the spice trade
  • Bartholomew Diaz rounded the Cape of Good Hope
  • Vasco De Gama sailed to India
  • Pedro Cabral reached the coast of Brazil
  • Portugal controlled the sea trade between Europe and Asia
• Spanish Exploration


  • Inspired by Christopher Columbus
  • Hernán Cortés conquered the Aztec Empire in Mexico
  • Francisco Pizarro conquered the Inca Empire in Peru
• Treaty of Tordesillas


  Divided the world between Spain and Portugal, with Brazil going to Portugal and the rest of the Americas to Spain
• Cortés and the Aztecs

  • Cortés gathered tribes and led 100,000 men against the Aztecs
  • Destroyed the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan
  • Aztecs were forced to work in mines or fields
  • Cortés rebuilt Tenochtitlan into Mexico City
• Pizarro and the Incas

  • Pizarro captured and killed the Inca emperor Atahualpa
  • Captured the Inca capital of Cuzco
  • Discovered gold and silver mines in Peru and Bolivia
• Impact on the people of the Americas

  • Slave trade
  • Plantations
  • Spanish system of haciendas and encomienda
  • Changes in religion, language, economy, architecture, and clothing
• Impact on Spain


  • Spain became the richest country in Europe
  • Huge influx of gold and silver caused inflation
• Historians estimate that the population of New Spain had decreased from 25 million in 1492 to 1.25 million in 1600
• Sugar was also known as 'white gold' due to the slave trade
• People at the time worshipped the three Gs - gold, glory and God