Western Civilization

The Spanish Empire in the New World

The Spanish conquerors known asconquistadorswere

hardy individuals motivated by a typical sixteenth-

century blend of glory, greed, and religious zeal. Although

authorized by the Castilian crown, these groups were

financed and outfitted privately, not by the government.

Their superior weapons, organizational skills, and deter-

mination brought the conquistadors incredible success.

They also benefited from rivalries among the native peo-

ples and the decimation of the native populations by

European diseases.

EARLY CIVILIZATIONS IN MESOAMERICA

Before the Spaniards arrived in the

New World, Mesoamerica (modern

Mexico and Central America) had al-

ready hosted a number of flourish-

ing civilizations. Beginning around

300 C.E. on the Yucatan peninsula,

a people known as the Maya (MY-

uh) had developed one of the most

sophisticated civilizations in the

Americas. The Maya built splendid

temples and pyramids, were accom-

plished artists, and developed a so-

phisticated calendar, as accurate as

any in existence in the world at that

time. The Maya were an agrarian

people who cleared the dense rain

forests, developed farming, and built

a patchwork of city-states. Mayan

civilization came to include much of

Central America and southern Mex-

ico. For unknown reasons, Maya civ-

ilization began to decline around

800 and collapsed less than a hun-

dred years later.

Sometime during the early twelfth

centuryC.E., a people known as the

Aztecs began a long migration that

brought them to the Valley of Mex-

ico. They established their capital at

Tenochtitlan (tay-nawch-teet-LAHN),

on an island in the middle of Lake

Texcoco (now the location of Mexico

City). For the next hundred years,

the Aztecs built their city, construct-

ing temples, other public buildings,

houses, and causeways of stone

across Lake Texcoco to the north,

south, and west, linking the many islands to the main-

land.

The Aztecs were outstanding warriors, and while

they were building their capital city, they also set out

to bring the entire area around the city under their

control. By the early fifteenth century, they had

become the leading city-state in the lake region. For

the remainder of the fifteenth century, the Aztecs con-

solidated their rule over much of what is modern Mex-

ico, from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean and as far

south as the Guatemalan border. The new kingdom

was not a centralized state but a col-

lection of semi-independent territo-

ries governed by local lords.

SPANISH CONQUEST OF THE AZTEC

EMPIRE In 1519, a Spanish expedition

under the command of Hernan

Cortes (1485–1547) landed at Vera-

cruz, on the Gulf of Mexico. He

marched to the city of Tenochtitlan

(see the box on p. 335) at the head

of a small contingent of troops (550

soldiers and 16 horses), on the way

making alliances with city-states that

had tired of the oppressive rule of

the Aztecs. Especially important was

Tlaxcala (tuh-lah-SKAH-lah), a state

that the Aztecs had not been able

to conquer. In November, Cortes

arrived at Tenochtitlan, where he

received a friendly welcome from the

Aztec monarch Moctezuma (mahk-

tuh-ZOO-muh) (often called Monte-

zuma). At first, Moctezuma believed

that his visitor was a representative

of Quetzalcoatl (KWET-sul-koh-AHT-

ul), the god who had departed from

his homeland centuries before and

had promised someday to return.

But the Spaniards quickly wore

out their welcome. They took Mocte-

zuma hostage and proceeded to

pillage the city. In the fall of 1520,

one year after Cortes had arrived,

the local population revolted and

drove the invaders from the city.

Many of the Spaniards were killed,

but the Aztecs soon experienced new

disasters. As one Aztec related, “At

about the time that the Spaniards

GUATEMALA

EL

SALVADOR

HONDURAS

BELIZE

YUCATÁN

La Venta

Palenque Tikal

Copan

Gulf of Chichén Itzá

Mexico

Pacific

Ocean

0 100 200 Miles

0 200 400 Kilometers

Lands of the Maya

Texcoco

Tlaxcala

Cholula

Tula

Tenochtitlán

Capital of

Aztec Empire

Gulf of

Mexico

Pacific

Ocean

Az

tec

(^) La
nds
0 100 200 Miles
0 200 400 Kilometers
The Aztec Empire
334 Chapter 14 Europe and the World: New Encounters, 1500–1800
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