Why did the Spanish explore the West?
In 1492, Christopher Columbus’s expedition was funded in the hope of bypassing Portugal’s monopoly on west African sea routes, to reach “the Indies.” A division of influence became necessary to avoid conflict between the Spanish and Portuguese.
What were the main reasons the Spanish sailed west to the New World?
The Spanish Empire The motivations for colonial expansion were trade and the spread of the Christian faith through indigenous conversions.
Why did the Spanish conquered the Americas?
Christopher Columbus arrived in 1492 after sailing the ocean blue in a quest to find a faster trade route to Asia. They wanted riches and the eternal glory of being really cool by discovering the better water highway to Asia. They also wanted to spread their religion, Catholicism.
What was Spain’s main goal in the new world?
Motivations for colonization: Spain’s colonization goals were to extract gold and silver from the Americas, to stimulate the Spanish economy and make Spain a more powerful country. Spain also aimed to convert Native Americans to Christianity.
Why did the Spanish conquered the Aztecs?
The Aztecs no longer trusted Montezuma, they were short on food, and the smallpox epidemic was under way. More than 3 million Aztecs died from smallpox, and with such a severely weakened population, it was easy for the Spanish to take Tenochtitlán.
What are two reasons why Spain wanted to conquer the Americas?
Why were the Spanish able to defeat the Aztecs and Incas?
The Spanish were able to defeat the Aztec and the Inca not only because they had horses, dogs, guns, and swords, but also because they brought with them germs that made many native Americans sick. Diseases like smallpox and measles were unknown among the natives; therefore, they had no immunity to them.
How did the Spanish conquer South America?
The Treaty of Tordesillas in 1494 drew a north-to-south line through South America. Spain gained territory west of the line, while Portugal retained the lands east of the line, including the east coast of Brazil.
What was the Spanish conquest of Mexico?
The Spanish Conquest. That was also the time that Spanish adventurers were swarming by the hundreds to the West Indies, following the discovery of the Americas in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. The first contact with Mexico occurred in 1517, when explorer Francisco Hernández de Córdoba landed on the Yucatan coast.
How did the Spanish gain power in the New World?
The Spanish gained an early foothold in the colonies, quickly becoming the most powerful European power in the New World. In the European race to colonial dominance, the Treaty of Tordesillas legitimized Spain’s holdings in the New World, indicating Spanish primacy over Portugal.
What inspired the Spanish to explore the New World?
Columbus’s discovery opened a floodgate of Spanish exploration. Inspired by tales of rivers of gold and timid, malleable native peoples, later Spanish explorers were relentless in their quest for land and gold. Spanish explorers with hopes of conquest in the New World were known as conquistadores.
How did the west come to dominate the world?
Many theories purport to explain how the West became dominant. For example, that Europe became industrialized more quickly and therefore became wealthier than the rest of the world. Or, that when Europeans began to travel the world, people in other countries did not have the immunity to fight off the diseases they brought with them.