Compare And Contrast The Aztec And American Empires

Early modern interactions between various European entities and indigenous peoples of the Americas, Africa and Asia focused on resources and power. The Europeans had a drive for control over territory and ultimately over the people in these various regions. The French, English, and Dutch sought to displace indigenous people and establish colonies in North America; however, the Spaniards and Portuguese focused on South America and modern-day Mexico. In the early 1500s, two powerful Spanish conquerors displaced and destroyed the Aztec and Inca Empires, but did not stop there. The Portuguese sought to overtake African kingdoms, and while they made alliances, they were quick to destroy said alliances when it benefitted them. Matteo Ricci and Francis

He did not do this alone, furthermore he was aided by various other indigenous tribes who sought to take down the Aztec empire. The Aztec empire, while much more populated than Cortes’s army, did not have modern weaponry as the Spaniards did. Similarly, Francisco Pizarro destroyed and overtook the Inca empire in 1533. At first, Pizarro enlisted the help of the Incas in search for gold, however the minute they deliver what he wanted he “strangled him [the Inca ruler] and decapitated his body” (BZS, 505). Previously, the Spaniards and the Portuguese had signed the Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494. This Treaty gave the Spanish power over most of the Western Hemisphere, allocating Brazil and parts of South America to the Portuguese. Around this time through the late 1580s, the Portuguese relied heavily on slave labor, similar to Columbus. When they could no longer enslave the indigenous people (due to death in high numbers) they sought to bring over Africans to do the farming and gold mining for them beginning in the 1520s. Furthermore, this treaty was what allowed the Spanish to come and take over the indigenous empires in Mexico and the southern part of North America. One of the most notable revolts against the Spanish was in 1622 when the indigenous people

East Asia benefitted from American crops and the trade with various European entities stimulated their economy. While the Portuguese and the Spanish played a large role in Chinese trade, they did not control the internal affairs. The internal affairs were controlled by the Quin and Han dynasties until the Ming dynasty took over. At this point China was the leader in many different trading routes. The Spanish were the ones who introduced China and Japan to American crops, which thrived in their soil. In return, the Chinese merchanted supplied the VOC with silk (furthering the silk trade). In the Americas the indigenous peoples were forced to convert to Christianity, in Africa many kingdoms accepted Christianity, and in Asia there was a similar response. A Jesuit named Matteo Ricci established the Jesuit Catholics in China. Instead of forcing the native people to convert, he immersed himself in Chinese language and culture. This made him more respectively and compelling for people to convert to his religion. Similarly to Ricci, Francis Xavier continued the Jesuit mission in Japan. However, he and the Christianity converts experienced backlash from the Japanese