American Dominance In The 1500s

World domination has been a common trait for Europeans in the 1500’s. Each countries’ ruler had a goal of conquering more land than their enemy conquered. This led to bloody wars and tense times among many countries. The Spanish rulers inferred that winning land on their continent would be difficult, as a result, they decided to send conquistador, Francisco Pizarro and his crew across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World. When Pizarro and his crew reached South America, they took over the Incan’s land by having better resources, mechanical advantages, and having more experience than the Incas. Resources has always played a key role in World History. On November 16, 1532 at the Peruvian Highland town of Cajamarca1, Pizarro had brought along

One major device that helped the Spanish in conquering the Incas was the handgun. In 1378, Europeans started to use handguns called ‘hand cannons.’ Over the years, the design and the firepower increased. As a result, the Spanish had brought over their better weapons to the New World 154 years later. One major advantage of the gun was that it could kill from a distance and it was more deadly than the weapons used by the Incans. Since the weapons the Incas used were stone, bronze, or wooden clubs, maces, hand axes, and slingshots4, it was less likely the Spanish soldier would get hurt quickly or brutally. In addition to the mechanical advances, the Spanish also had better armor. Steel armor5 was more effective at deflecting axes and stones from injuring a soldier. The Incas had worn standard quilted armor6 to deflect the bullets shot by the Spanish. As a result, nothing could stop the bullets from hitting the Incan soldiers. Furthermore, all the materials brought to the New World came on a ship, which allowed people to cross bodies of water in fewer days. The ships carried artillery, people, food, animals, water etc. across the Atlantic Ocean. Since the Incas had not yet created ships, there would be no way to cross any body of water. In addition, with better navigational tools, it became easier for the Europeans to cross the Atlantic Ocean. The compass allowed the captain of the ship to steer the ship in the correct direction. This helped in reduce the amount of days spent on the ocean. All these mechanical advances helped the Europeans in conquering and exploring new