HIST 2112 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: Inca Empire, Encomienda, Firecracker
Document Summary
Into the interior: spanish, french and british initial settlements. First europeans to set foot on u. s soil were vikings. Natives drove them off the climate was too harsh so they left, not driven off by natives. Spanish were the first to colonize north america. Ferdinand pushed muslim forces out of spain (catholic reconquista: specific motivations for colonization. Eliminate middle east to have direct connection to china. Wanted wealth for many things: the conquistadores. Castillo (conquistador) wanted to spread religion and get rich. Soldiers of fortune employed by the spanish king. Hernando cortez lands in veracruz, mx looking for gold. Cortez found indian groups that hate the aztecs. Captured the aztec leader and overthrows the empire. New spain was one of them: the encomienda system. Land that spanish king granted to conquistadores. Gave cortez massive land and 23,000 slaves. Couldn"t reward them too much so that they don"t go independent: royal bureaucracy.
