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How Did Cortez Become Known As One Of The Most Powerful Conquistadors

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In this essay, it will be discussed to what extent has Cortez become known as one of the most prominent and powerful conquistadors of his time. After the success of Christopher Columbus, many more Spanish explorers set sail to the Americas. They sailed in ships called caravels which could sail into the wind and carry heavy cannons. When the Spanish explorers arrived in the Americas or the Caribbean they were vastly outnumbered by the indigenous population. Despite being outnumbered by the Natives, the Spanish managed to defeat the natives as they had advanced weaponry such as guns which intimidated the Natives as the Guns were loud, and when shot there were sparks. They had horses and brought diseases to the Americas and the Caribbean. The word conquistador means ‘conqueror’ in Spanish. One of the prominent conquistadors of the 15th to 18th century was Hernan Cortez. Furthermore, Cotez was described as cruel and power-hungry with much ambition. Cortez’s encounter with the Aztecs was brutal and inhuman, despite the Aztecs being the strongest empire in the whole of Central America, …show more content…

To this day majority of Central and South America practice Christianity, they wear western clothes, speak Spanish and follow their values. They outbred so much of the indigenous population that Latins look like their colonizers compared to when the Spaniards landed. Spain and other European countries that took part in colonization are successful today because of their colonies and the bloodshed of the indigenous, those colonies are now left to suffer the after-effects of colonization economically after they became independent and were left to fend for themselves while Europe prospered and they were left to rebuild their history. If the conquistadors could see the extent of their suffering led to they be proud as they were ambitious and power-hungry. Unfortunately, Cortez was successful, he did wonders for the

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Some factors that best explain the success enjoyed by the 16th century conquistadors in conquering Native American empires include riding horses, wearing helmets, advanced weaponry, intimidation, strategy, and disease. Riding horses allowed the conquistadors to move fast and carry their weapons with them, causing fear in the Natives and their defeat. The conquistadors wore helmets that helped protect their heads from the Native American retaliation; this is a very vulnerable part of the body when not protected. Advanced weapons such as guns were terrifying to the Native Americans instilling fear in them and put them at a disadvantage in fighting off the conquistadors. Conquistadors were also armed with very perfected swords that were much

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Unlike DBC Pierre, Clendinnen has a more rigid contextual application to her history, having studied Anthropology and therefore approaching the Aztecs through the intensely human aspect, in the manner of history from below. In dealing with the reasons for defeat of the Aztec Empire, Clendinnen focuses on the intensely intimate and brutal cultural practices of battle and further war. She focuses intensely on the cultural forces, as defined by humans, in losing the war - and she raises the question of the adaptability of the Aztec Empire to the Spanish terms of engagement. She provides interesting insight into the inability for both the Spanish or the Aztecs to understand one another; clearly influenced by her background in Anthropology. Undoubtedly, her contextualisation of the downfall through the insuperable cultural clash and demands of ritual, that is hand to hand combat only and the criminal death system in battle is reflective of her familiarity with Anthropology - certainly her character dissection of Cortes is done in an intense, anthropological detail.

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In The Americas, a myriad of Native American empires fell victim to conquistadors. During the Spanish Conquest, there were three important terminated empires. First; the Aztec. Aztecs faced a vast number of difficulties in the upbringing of their new domain. Before all else, they trekked through the deserts of South America by command of their war god, Huitzilopochtli.

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In reaction to the death of the 39 men, the Spanish started to use scare tactics and violence to assert their authority to the Taino, and Columbus kidnapped Caonabo, the leader of the Taino, and ransomed him for his life (Reardon, PowerPoint 11, Lecture Two). The tactic of ransom was also used by Cortés when he seized Montezuma, the leader of the Mexica, and held his life for ransom to extort the Mexica to do his bidding. The conquistadors were also often able to acquire information about the Native American societies they were about to encounter by using people inside or who had encountered those societies before. For example, Cortés used a Mexica girl named Malintzin as a translator and was able to acquire information about the Mexica people and resources from her. This information helped the conquistadors better understand their enemy in order to assess their strengths and

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The strong tactics of the Spanish Conquistadors, the mistakes of Montezuma, and disease lead to the defeat of the Aztec army of 200,000 men. The Spanish Conquistadors had the advantage over the Aztecs, using the allies they had and the technology they used in battle. Montezuma, the ruler of Tenochtitlan made a mistake when the Spanish Conquistadors arrived, by thinking they were Gods.. The conquistadors also brought over diseases, which whipped out most of the Aztec army leading to a slight setback for the Aztecs. The Aztecs then, had no chance against the Spanish.

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The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.

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In Francisco Pizarro’s case, they took down the Incas. Cortez and Pizarro met a difficulty when facing enemies. Both explorers only had a couple hundred soldiers. Most small armies would not have been able to dismantle such a large and expansive empires. Despite that, they still eradicated the Incas and Aztecs.

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They didn’t feel as if the Native population mattered, and quickly enslaved them, “...the extraction and appropriation of gold and other riches by the ‘conquistadors’ was marked by violence and based on 〚exploitation〛of the Indigenous population” (SAIIC). The conquistadors saw the Native population as savage, and in need of control and ruling. To the Spanish, they were less than human; some saw them as in need of religious conversion, to others they were wild, and to many they were faceless. “The official religion 〚appeased〛the ‘conquistadors’ consciences… only 45 years〚later〛, the Catholic Church recognized the Indigenous peoples as human beings” (SAIIC). Any doubt conquistadors had about killing and enslaving thousands were hushed by the Church, which was benefiting off the slaughter and slavery.

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When thinking of the Spanish Conquest, two groups often come to mind: the Spaniards and the Native Americans. The roles of each of these groups and their encounters have been so heavily studied that often the role of Africans is undermined. As Matthew Restall states in his article Black Conquistadors, the justifications for African contribution are often “inadequately substantiated if not marginalized [as the] Africans were a ubiquitous and pivotal part of the Spanish conquest campaigns in the Americas […]” (Restall 172). Early on in his article, Restall characterizes three categories of Africans present during the Conquest – mass slaves, unarmed servants of the Spanish, and armed auxillaries (Restall 175).

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In contrast to England, Spain never attempted to convert their conquered civilizations to Christianity or Catholicism. Spanish cruelty naturally created hateful relationships between the Conquistadors and Aztecs, unlike the situation in the New Americas. The English methods varied from Spanish in that the British used conquered citizens to expand their economy while Spain raped Aztec women, killed men and stole the wealth of the civilization. The Spanish and British expansion into the New World provided new opportunities for the two cultures in trade, religion and expansion.

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In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.

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The Spanish were able to colonize Mexico without much resistance.” After the smallpox epidemic, the Aztecs were even more vulnerable. The Spanish exploration and conquering of Tenochtitlan was to gain power for the Spanish empire, but the city’s people were somewhat considered rebellious, and consequently, Cortes needed to conquer/kill the people first. By taking down the people of the city, Cortes was exposed to the city’s great treasures for his reward of gold; he retrieved all the gold he could, and travelled back to Spain where he was labelled a hero for his acts of

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Spanish colonialism in the Americas in the sixteenth century contrasted by three powers; the conquistadors, monks and the crown. All three powers’ aim was the same; to make Indians’, Christian and to take them as servants rather than killing them. Nevertheless, if the operation of these three powers examined carefully, their manner of implementation is different. While conquistadors are apparently more aggressive than the other two, the crown is weak in terms of controlling the situation and the monks are ‘caring’ in terms of Christianity and the humane attitude.

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