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Why did Columbus lead the first expedition to America?
Columbus wanted to find a quicker and cheaper route to the Indies, which was rich with gold, spices, and other goods.
What happened during the Columbian Exchange?
The Columbian Exchange was the big transfer of plants, animals, foods, and ideas between the Americas and Europe that started after Columbus’s voyages.
How did Cortes and his men defeat the Aztecs?
Although Cortes and his men were outnumbered by the Aztecs they had many advantages. One was that they had advanced tools like muskets and metal armor. They also had horses which the natives had never seen before! Additionally, the Spanish had many allies (such as Dona Marina). One invisible ally of the Spanish was a disease called smallpox. This disease was new to the native people and caused many natives to die.
After Cortes and the Aztecs, another great empire was conquered by the spaniards conquistadors. Which one? Who led this expedition?
After the conquest of the Aztec Empire, Pizarro and his men went to South America to conquer the Incan Empire.
What do you know about the kingdom of Cibola?
As the Spanish continued to explore America, they heard many stories of gold and riches, such as about a rich kingdom called Cibola located far to the north of Mexico. This story was told by Esteban de Dorantes, an African sailor who had been enslaved. In 1539, he joined an expedition to find the kingdom of Cibola, but did not find it.
Historians believe that he was killed by the Zuni people in what is now New Mexico. After Esteban’s failed expedition to find Cibola, the governor of New Spain sent Francisco Coronado to find it! Yet, he did not find the cities either… because they did not exist!
What do you know about the society of New Spain? Were people equal?
New Spain was a hierarchical society, which is a community where people and groups are organized into different levels or ranks, like a pyramid.
If you were a Native American, what would life in an encomienda look like?
Life as a Native American living on an encomienda was difficult. Native people were forced to work as farm workers, miners, and servants.
After exploring South America, he realized this was not part of Asia, but a new continent. Later, mapmakers named North and South America after him.
Amerigo Vespucci
In 1513, he became the first European to see the Pacific Ocean from the Americas.
Vasco Núñez de Balboa
Portuguese explorer who led the first expedition to sail around the world.
Ferdinand Magellan
This empire ended when Spanish explorers arrived and conquered them in 1521, but their culture and traditions are still important in Mexico today.
The Aztec Empire
This was the amazing capital city of the Aztec Empire, built on an island in the middle of Lake Texcoco in Mexico.
Tenochtitlan
He was the emperor of the Aztec Empire when the Spanish explorers arrived in the early 1500s. He ruled from the capital city, Tenochtitlan, and was respected as a powerful leader.
Moctezuma
He was a Spanish explorer who led the expedition that eventually conquered the Aztec Empire in the early 1500s.
Hernando Cortés
She was an Indigenous woman from Mexico who helped the Spanish explorer Hernán Cortés communicate with Native peoples by acting as a translator.
Doña Marina
They were Spanish soldiers and explorers who traveled to the Americas in the 1500s to claim land and riches for Spain.
Conquistadors
He was an enslaved North African explorer who became a key figure in the Spanish quest for the mythical "Seven Cities of Cíbola" in the American Southwest.
Esteban
He led the expedition that conquered the Inca Empire in South America.
Francisco Pizarro
A journey made for a special purpose.
Expedition
A movement of people, plants, animals, diseases, and ways of life between Eastern and Western Hemispheres.
Columbian Exchange
A Spanish conqueror
Conquistador
A group of people forming a community
Society
A large piece of land, usually given to its owners by the king of Spain.
Encomienda
A large farm, whose workers live on the land that they work.
Plantation
A religious settlement where a group of Missionaries lives and works
Mission