January 29th 2012

[4thAshley]

• Spanish Conquistadors
  • Spanish term meaning conqueror
  • Were soldiers, explorers, and adventurers at the service of the Spanish Empire
  • Were very holy people who would generally pray before going to battle
  • Most famous are Cortes and Pizarro, but we will also look at Coronado
  • Were very obsessed with their honor and reputation
  • Spanish soldiers had a reputation for rowdiness and duels weren’t uncommon
• Cortes
  • Born to a family of lower nobility
  • His father was an infantry Capitan for Spanish army
  • He is 2^nd cousin once removed with Pizarro
  • Conquered the Aztec Empire
  • Aztec thought he was Quetzalcoatl
• Pizarro
  • Spanish Conquistador
  • Conquered Incan civilization
  • Only had 168 men 27 horses and 1 cannon
  • Got the defeated soldiers form the Incan civil war to fight for his side
  • 2^nd cousins once removed from Cortes
• Reasons for Spanish conquering Aztecs and Incas
  • Treasure
  • Slaves
  • Thought Mesoamerican rituals were devil like
  • They didn’t like polytheism
  • Human sacrifice was sort of frowned upon by Spanish and others around the world
  • Wanted land to set up colonies
• Issues with splitting the treasure
  • The division of the treasures produced bloody conflicts, such as the one between Pizarro and Almagro
  • After Peru fell to Spain, Francisco Pizarro told Almagro, before they became enemies to go to the Inca Empire’s northern city of Quito to claim it
  • Their fellow conquistador Sebastian de Belalcazar who had gone forth without Pizarro’s approval, had already reached Quito.
  • The arrival of Pedro de Alvarado from Mexico in search of Inca gold further complicated the situation for Almagro and Belalcazar
  • Alvarado left South America in exchange for monetary compensation from Pizarro
  • Almagro was executed on 1538, under Pizarro’s orders
  • In Lima in 1541, supporters of Diego Almagro II assassinated Francisco Pizarro.
  • Belalcazar in 1546 ordered the execution of Jorge Robledo, who governed a neighboring province in yet another land related vendetta
  • Belalcazar was tried, convicted, and condemned for killing Robledo and other offenses pertaining to his involvement in the wars between armies of conquistadors and was then killed.