Conquest Of Mexico And Peru

Question 1

What factors enabled Cortes’ conquest of the Aztecs?

Answer 1

–divisions among indigenous people of Mexico (alliances w/ people who hated Aztecs)

searching for gold

• -seized Montezuma II
• -he built ships and placed Tenochitlan under siege until surrender
• -steel swords, muskets, cannons, horses
• epidemic disease

Question 2

What factors enabled Pizarro’s conquest of the Inca?

Answer 2

• -dispute in the Inca ruling house (factions)
• -subjects of Incas didn’t like the Incas taxes
• disease
• called the Incan rulers together in conference and then seized and killed most
• take Cuzco (capital) very quickly

Question 3

Initially, who was responsible for the conquest of the Americas within Spanish society?

Answer 3

freelance adventurers  (conquistadors) 
like cortes and pizarro

Question 4

As time went on, the Spanish monarchy extended its control over its American colonies.
How then, were the Spanish colonies administered?

Answer 4

• 2 main centers of authority (Mexico and Peru)
• each governed by a viceroy
• –viceroys were checked by audiencias
• capital= Mexico City
• administration was hard b/c transportation and communication difficulties
• communication with the king was hard

Question 5

2 main centers of authority

Answer 5

• Mexico (New Spain)

- Peru (New Castile)

Question 6

viceroy

Answer 6

representatives/responsible to the king of Spain

• with considerable power
• reviewed by audiencias–report to the king
• governed New Spain and New Castile

Question 7

new capital

Answer 7

Mexico City

-on top of Tenochtitlan

Question 8

new city of Peru

Answer 8

Lima

• Cuzco was too high altitude
• coast for Spanish shipping

Question 9

audiencias

Answer 9

review and give a report to the king about the viceroy

university educated lawyers

Question 10

how did the Treaty of Tordesillas divide the conquest of the New World?

Answer 10

1494 the Spanish and Portuguese signed it
–divided the world along imaginary North South line 370 leagues west of the Azores and Cape Verde Islands

• Spanish can conquer west of it
• Portugal could conquer east of it

-Portugal claimed Brazil and Spanish got everything else in western hemisphere

Question 11

How did the Portuguese govern their New World colonies?

Answer 11

• the Portuguese king makes vast land grants to Portuguese nobles
• expecting them to develop and colonize their holdings
• later he dispatches a governor to oversee affairs and implement royal policy

Question 12

compare life in colonial cities to their rural counterparts

Answer 12

CITIES:
-cities became european style with cathedrals and churches
-language: Spanish and Portuguese
RURAL:
-indigenous ways of life
-language: native

Question 13

How did the Spanish and Portuguese view the Western Hemisphere?

Answer 13

As a land to exploit and administer

- rather than to settle and colonize