The New World and Spanish Conquistadors

In the 1500s Spanish Conquistadors traveled across the Atlantic Ocean to the New World and conquered its native people. Though these early exploration Spain was able to acquire vast territory and wealth.There were many conquistadors in this time period, one of the more well known conquistadors was Francisco Pizarro. Francisco Pizarro helped spread the Spanish language and culture to Peru and many other countries.

The Age of Exploration is a time period between the 15th century and the 17th century. During this period Europeans went out on voyages to find new things such as trading routes, goods, and trading partner. The Spanish on the other hand went out to find new land and gold for Spain. One group of Spanish explorers were known as the Conquistadors. They were made up of soldiers, explorers, and conquerors. The Conquistadors went to all sorts of different places such as Mexico, Cuba, and Peru, and conquered many civilizations such as Aztecs and Incas.Some of the more famous Conquistadors were Francisco Pizarro, Hernando Cortez, Francisco de Orellana, Deigo de Almagro, and Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca. With the idea of getting rich and spreading the Spanish culture throughout the world, Francisco Pizarro went to explore Peru.

When Francisco Pizarro set out on his quest, he arrived in Peru in 1532. Upon his arrival, Pizarro found the Inca civilization in a fragile state due to a civil war. Two Inca brothers, Atahualpa and Huascar were in a power struggle to become the absolute ruler of the Inca Empire. In the end Atahualpa was victorious, however the empire was weaken and in its prime for a take over. In 1533 Francisco Pizarro and his army of 180 soldiers took advantage of the situation by kidnapping Atahualpa and holding him for...

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...ro became the ruler of the Incas, they believed in gods and goddess and nature but after he came they converted to Christianity. Francisco taught Spanish to the native people but before he taught them, they spoke a dialect called Quecha. A lot of things change when Pizarro was in control. The native traditions and customs began to become more like the Spanish ways.

Without the voyages of the Conquistadors in the 1500s, the New World would probably not be the way we know it today.One of the Conquistadors, Francisco Pizarro changed Peru in many ways, some of it good but on the other hand some of it was not so good. He brought the western culture and religion to a place where it previously did not exist. Unfortunately, in order to accomplish this a whole civilization had to be annihilated. Some see him as a savage invader, while others see him as a conquering hero.