Do you still agree with what you thought after reading the primary sources? Spanish interest soon shifted from the Caribbean to the American mainland, where settlers hoped to find more resources to exploit. These conquests laid the foundations for colonial regimes that would transform the Americas.
The conquest of Mexico began with an expedition to search for gold on the American mainland. They seized the emperor Motecuzoma II, who died in during a skirmish between Spanish forces and residents of Tenochtitlan. Native allies also provided Spanish forces with logistical support and secure bases in friendly territory. New York: Longman, , — In Mexico the Spaniards profited from internal problems within the Aztec Empire.
In the early s unrest ran rampant among many recently subdued tribes, who were forced to pay tribute and furnish sacrificial victims for their Aztec overlords. Before marching against the Aztec capital, he destroyed his ships to prevent his men from turning back. In a few battles the Spanish horses, firearms, steel armor, and tactics produced decisive victories. Malinche then informed Montezuma, as if in confidence, that he must cooperate or die.
The bold scheme worked temporarily, but soon the Aztecs rebelled, renounced their emperor as a traitor, stoned and killed him when he tried to pacify them, and ultimately drove a battered band of terrified Spaniards from the city in the narrowest of escapes.
Finally, after fearful slaughter, some 60, exhausted and half-starved defenders surrendered. Most tribes in Central Mexico then accepted Spanish rule; many who resisted were enslaved.
Like the Caribbean Indians, the people of Mexico had no precedent by which to judge these strange visitors. Other Indians saw the Spaniards as powerful human allies against the Aztecs, who had imposed their rule during the previous century. Soon a major battle was raging in and about the capital between the Spaniards and the supporters of the Aztecs. At one point the Aztecs gained the upper hand, destroying half the Spanish force and four thousand of their Amerindian allies and offering their gods a sacrifice of fifty-three Spaniards and four horses, their severed heads displayed in rows on pikes.
When the capital fell, the conquistadors overcame other parts of Mexico. Upper Saddle River, N. He opened communication with nearby communities and then with Moctezuma II , the Aztec emperor. His forces then marched on the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan modern Mexico City , where Moctezuma welcomed him. The Spaniards were driven out of Tenochtitlan and nearly wiped out, but they ultimately returned and laid siege to the city.
When the British arrived at the White Rumors had abounded for years that a natural cross of snow lay hidden high in the rugged mountains of Colorado. Many claimed to have On August 24, , Mark David Chapman is sentenced to 20 years to life for the murder of John Lennon, a founding member of The Beatles, one of the most successful bands in the history of popular music.
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Though full of ominous language, many found the purpose of the act unclear. In , the Red Scare still raged in the United States. Although Senator Joseph Live TV. This Day In History. History Vault. In addition, many Aztecs were killed by an epidemic of smallpox, a disease new to them, brought by the Spaniards.
For years, Mexico, then known as New Spain, was ruled as a Spanish colony. The colony's wealth lay in its silver mines and agriculture. The Indians taught the Spanish how to cultivate corn, tomatoes, and cacao from which chocolate is made , crops unknown in Europe.
The Spanish, in turn, introduced sugarcane, wheat and rice, and large-scale cattle and sheep raising. But only a relative few enjoyed the colony's prosperity. The ruling minority was composed of colonists born in Spain. They were the great landowners, who controlled all important government posts and dominated commercial enterprises.
The criollos , or Spaniards born in the colony, were next in importance. Although often wealthy, they were allowed only minor government offices. Next came the mestizos, who frequently worked as supervisors or storekeepers or served as soldiers or parish priests. At the bottom were the Indians, who labored in the mines or on the large estates under conditions of virtual slavery. The resulting conflict sparked the Mexican independence movement, whose first leader was a priest, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla.
On the evening of September 16 the date commemorated by Mexicans , , Hidalgo summoned his parishioners to revolt. His army, composed mainly of mestizos and Indians, grew rapidly and won a number of victories, but they were eventually defeated by royalist troops in Hidalgo was captured and executed. After two years of fighting and several victories, in , Morelos called together a congress, which declared Mexican independence and drafted a constitution.
But Morelos was defeated in battle soon after. In he, too, was executed, leadership of the movement passing to Vicente Guerrero. Although independent, Mexico had as yet no real government. Iturbide seized power in , declaring himself emperor. Their successful revolt overthrew Iturbide and, in , made Mexico a republic.
For a short period the country enjoyed constitutional rule under Guadalupe Victoria, its first president, and Guerrero, its second. Mexico's progress to nationhood, however, was to be slow and difficult. Conflicts between conservatives and liberals weakened and divided the country.
The conservatives supported a strong national government and sought to maintain their traditional privileges; the liberals advocated decentralized rule, sharply diminished church influence, and broad social reforms. In l the presidency passed to Santa Anna, who dominated the country's life for more than twenty years.
It was a time of political turmoil, with numerous governments succeeding one another. Foreign wars also sapped the country's strength. A dispute with France over Mexican debts brought French troops to Veracruz in The French were repulsed, but in a war with the United States , Mexico lost nearly half of its territory.
The liberals exiled Santa Anna in and began to lead the country out of chaos. Conservatives violently opposed the constitution, and Mexico was plunged into a three-year civil war known as the War of the Reform But the conflict had bankrupted the country.
The British and Spanish soon departed, but France's emperor Napoleon III, urged on by the conservatives, seized the opportunity to establish a monarchy in Mexico.
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