Spanish Conquest Chapter 1 Summary

The beginning of European expansion and colonization began when Christopher Columbus discovered the “New World” in 1942. During the “Age of Exploration”, Spanish conquest was motivated by the phrase “ Gold, Glory, and God”, but also, competition. This first European conquests were between Spain and Portugal, so in 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was signed. The Treaty of Tordesillas was an agreement between these two countries in which a line is drawn, Line of Demarcation. The Line of Demarcation was all of the discoveries that were it be found on the west of the line will be colonized by Spain, while all of the discoveries found on the east, will be colonized by Portugal. Although, Portugal was not happy because most of the findings were on the west of the line, Spain’s side. In 1506, the line moved one thousand, one hundred and eighty five miles, allowing Portugal to colonize an area of Brazil. Even though the line was moved so the Portuguese had more land, Spain was still thriving. In

The people who are fighting for Spain’s colonization campaign were called conquistadors. The two types of conquistadors where horsemen(cavalry) and foot soldiers(infantry). The horsemen had an advantage than the foot soldiers because they were higher from the ground, used swords and spears, and found empires that were unfamiliar with this kind of warfare. The foot soldiers could had more weapons available because they are able to use two hands. This is giving them an advantage to the cavalry because they have to use one hand to fight, and one hand to control the horse. The Spanish infantry used heavy, steel armor, swords, and crossbows. Since they had these weapons and different strategies of warfare, allowed Spain to conquer more lands for their