Question

1. Use the Internet or other resources to research the Aztecs and their relationship to Cortes; and the Incas and their relationship to Pizarro.

2. Explain how the Aztecs and Cortes interacted with each other, and what happened as a result of their meeting.
3. Also, explain how the Inca and Pizarro interacted with each other, and what happened as a result of their meeting.
4. Analyze the impact each explorer (Cortes and Pizarro) had on the people he conquered, by explaining how the economy and the lives of the people changed.
Explain how Spain profited from these voyages.

Answer 1

2.When Cortés expedition was sailing around the Yucatán peninsula they rescued a shipwrecked spaniard Jerónimo de Aguilar, that had been living among the Maya for years and was fluent in Maya. So, he had news that there was a rich kingdom (the aztecs) to the west.

When the expedition reached Tabasco, the spanish fought against the Tabasco cacique, they won a battle, and got as a gift some slave women. One of these women was La maliche. She was propably a princess or an important lady that the aztecs took captive, and sold or gave to the Tabasco cacique. She was an enemy of the aztecs, and she spoke both nahuatl (the aztec language) and mayan.

When the spanish were in contact with the aztecs, Cortes communicated to them talking to Jerónimo, then him to Maliche, and she to the aztecs. She eventually learned spanish and Jerónimo was not needed anymore in the communication channel.

Malinche was of noble blood, was educated, spoke two languages, and knew the political conflicts and believes of the aztecs.

She was able to explain Cortés that aztecs believed he was Quetzalcoatl, was able to close alliances with the Tlaxcaltecs enemies of the aztecs, discovered an aztec ambush in Cholula, and was lover of Cortés. She was the mother of one of first mestizos. The result was the conquer of Mexico and the creation of the New Spain kingdom. A kingdom that was result of Cortés vision and the complex interactions of two cultures that created a new one.

3.On this day in History, Pizarro Executes Last Inca Emperor on Aug 29, 1533. ... Francisco Pizarro was the son of a Spanish gentleman and worked as a ... The Spanish christened the new land Peru, probably after the Vire River. ... On November 16, Atahuallpa arrived at the meeting place with an escort of several thousand.

4.I briefly learned about the Aztec and Inca's and from what I know, Cortes and Pizarro were both Spanish conquistadors. Cortes conquered the Aztec empire brutally, killing many common people as well as soldiers, much of Aztecs wealth was taken away and the Aztec people lived under Spanish rule for approximately 300 years. Hope that help!

Answer 2

2. The Aztecs and Cortes were on friendly terms, but after one of Cortes' lieutenants attacked the Aztecs, they were at war, which ended with the destruction of the Aztec Empire.

3. The Inca weren't impressed by Pizarro's forces, but the Spanish ambushed the Incan leader and defeated them.

4. Cortes and Pizarro represented the end of the Aztec and Inca civilizations. Their people became subjects of the Spanish crown.

Spain funded their empire with the mineral wealth extracted from their American colonies.

Step-by-step explanation:

2. When the Aztecs first met the Spanish Conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes in 1519, they were deeply impressed. According to Aztec chronicles of the Conquest of Mexico, they had a hard time understanding what they were seeing. They described the Spanish ships as moving mountains, they didn't know what horses were, they were impressed by iron armor, and were terrified by firearms. Also, Aztecs thought some of the Spanish resembled images from their legends. They referred to Cortes as Quetzalcoatl, the legendary feathered serpent god that was supposed to return someday. Cortes' lieutenant, Pedro de Alvarado, was called Tonatiuh, the sun god, after his blonde hair.

When the Spanish arrived in the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs gave a lavish reception to the Spanish party. They first accomodated them in one of their temples and treated them well. However, when Cortes left the city to fight off another Spanish party, Alvarado massacred hundreds of Aztecs during a religious celebration, fearing that he and his men were about to be attacked. When Cortes came back, the Aztecs attacked the Spanish and routed them out. From then on, they were both at war. The Spanish mustered their forces and that of other indigenous allies who were at war with the Aztecs, and sieged Tenochtitlan for months. The last Aztec leader, Cuauhtemoc, surrendered the city in 1521, signalling the conquest of Mexico.

3. When the Spanish arrived at the territory of modern Peru in 1532, the ruling Inca Empire was in the midst of a civil war over succession to the throne. Atahualpa, the Incan ruler, had just defeated his brother over it. Francisco Pizarro, the Spanish leader, asked for a meeting with the triumphant Incan emperor, and it was granted. The Inca didn't fear the Spanish, as they were less than 200 men, while the Inca army was a vast force numbering over 100,000 warriors. However, when Pizarro met Atahualpa, he sent a signal to his men to charge and fire on the unsuspecting Inca. The shock of the cavalry troops and the gunfire, which had never been seen before by the Inca, stunned them and they were massacred. Pizarro captured Atahualpa during the ambush, which meant the beginning of the end of the Inca empire.

4. Cortes and Pizarro represented the end of the Aztec and Inca civilizations, respectively. The defeated empires and their peoples became subjects of the Spanish crown, and measures were put into action to destroy the vestiges of their civilizations and adapt them to Spanish customs, especially into Christianity. The economies of the Aztecs and Inca became integrated into the larger imperial economy. For the indigenous people the conquest was a disaster, as new diseases killed almost 90% of their population. Also, the Spanish Conquistadors were given encomiendas, or a group of natives to work their lands.

Spain profited handsomely from the conquest of the Americas. It is calculated that the Spanish extracted around 180 tons of gold and 16,000 tons of silver, which represented more mineral wealth that had been previously available in the whole of Europe.