Wait a second!
More handpicked essays just for you.
More handpicked essays just for you.
Spanish colonization of South America
Spanish and British colonization
Spanish colonial empires in the new world
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
Francisco De Montejo was a Spanish conquistador in the time period of the conquest of the Aztec Empire with Hernan Cortes. Francisco was born in Salamanca, Spain in 1479. In 1514 Francisco moved to the Island of Cuba, while in Cuba he helped established Havana the Modern capital of Cuba today.
In the next few years he became a member of the Juan de Grijalva expedition that explored the coast of Yucatan. After the exploration of the Yucatan Peninsula, Montejo was they sent back to Spain by Cortes to report the account to the king. In 1523 Montejo returned to Mexico with his son and several relatives.
In new Spain Montejo tried to carry out the conquest of the Yucatan Peninsula, but was commissioned by Cortes to return back to Spain for the second time. While staying in Spain for a long time he then married a rich widow name Sevillia, Dona Beatriz Alvarez.
In the next year he acquired the right
…show more content…
license to complete the conquest from the king. When Montejo began his conquest back into the Yucatan he took his troop and march through the territory. When arriving, he was met by a wet, muddy environment which weaken the his troops. They cross through the Territory for six months threw tribes and Mayan cities until they reached Chichen Itza. With scarce resources Montejo commanded his men to continue forward. Montejo was forced retreat back to New spain for reinforcements. In Veracruz, Cortes advised Montejo to colonize the west coast of the Yucatan better than the east. Montejo didn't take the advice that cortes gave him and yet proceeded to evacuate the eastern Yucatan to concentrate on the west. In 1528, Montejo sent two men Alonso de Avila and Juan Enriquez de Guzman from Tabasco to the area of Chiapas, Alcalan and lujan, until both made it to Champion city which was conquered in 1530.
While the two men were traveling Montejo stayed in Tabasco preparing the conquest of the interior. He unfortunately failed and left his son as head of the government of Campeche and immediately returned to New Spain for reinforcements.
In 1541, Montejo son, Montejo the Younger addressed the acienci mayan city of T-ho. It was conquered by force and the name was changed to Merida, this city would then become the basis of Spanish domination in the area. Montejo the youunger and his cousin, finished the conquest of the Yucatan in 1546. In the same year Montejo the younger father francisco took the government of the Yucatan.
With power that he received and the entire area completely conquered, he the continued his work and managed the government. He favored the instillation of several missions. Introduced traded of new plants, promoted cotton, and publicized Indian
skills. Because of the practice of blatant nepotism and how he treated and exploited the indians, Montejo was impeached by the franciscan order. The court found Montejo guilty of all the charges brought against him. Montejo then lost all of his posts, perks, and packages . He then returned to Spain and lived in Poverty, then died.
Guillermo González Camarena was a Mexican electrical engineer who was the inventor of a color-wheel type of color television, and who also introduced color television to Mexico,
From a proud Conquistador, to a castaway, a slave and trader, and then medicine man, Cabeza de Vaca was the first European to explore much of the southern coast of Texas. Cabeza was a 37 year old military veteran in 1527 when he left on the Narvaez Expedition to find gold and colonize the Gulf Coast. He was the expedition’s treasurer. Cabeza de Vaca was enslaved by Indians in 1528 when one of the rafts the crew made crashed on present day Galveston island, he then escaped in 1530 and joined/was enslaved by another tribe called the Charrucos until his escape with 3 other survivors in 1534. He then walked to Mexico City. Cabeza survived this ordeal because of the incredible patience he had, his skills of diplomacy and goodwill, and his amazing wilderness survival skills.
Many countries have the pleasure of celebrating Independence Days. These historic holidays are filled with nationalistic celebrations and delicious traditional food. In Chile, the natives celebrate their break from Spain with Fiestas Patrias. In Mexico, the president begins the celebration by ringing a bell and reciting the “Grito de Dolores” and he ends his speech by saying “Viva Mexico” three times.
“The Conquest of New Spain” is the first hand account of Bernal Diaz (translated by J.M. Cohen) who writes about his personal accounts of the conquest of Mexico by himself and other conquistadors beginning in 1517. Unlike other authors who wrote about their first hand accounts, Diaz offers a more positive outlook of the conquest and the conquistadors motives as they moved through mainland Mexico. The beginning chapters go into detail about the expeditions of some Spanish conquistadors such as Francisco Hernandez de Cordoba, Juan de Grijalva and Hernando Cotes. This book, though, focuses mainly on Diaz’s travels with Hernando Cortes. Bernal Diaz’s uses the idea of the “Just War Theory” as his argument for why the conquests were justifiable
Cortes was able to conquer the Aztecs for several very different reasons. In combination these reasons allowed him to have the upper hand in the conquest of Mexico. Arguably these reasons can be sorted into six different categories. The various causes for Cortes' success will be assessed in a climax pattern. To begin with the Aztecs had a harsh tribute system that was not popular among the people of Mexico. This cruel tribute system allowed Cortes to act as a liberator. Furthermore, with the Spanish brought several diseases into Mexico in witch they were immune to but the Aztecs were not. The spread of diseases such as small pox reduced the Aztec population and furthered Cortes' success unintentionally Also Marina was a tribal girl given as a gift to Cortes, she proved invaluable in translating local dialects in combination with Geronimo de Aguilar. Also an important aspect of his success was due to Montezuma's belief that Cortes was Quetzakoatl. A predominant reason for the Spanish success was due to their weaponry especially their armour and firepower. Perhaps the most important reason of all was that of Cortes' Indian allies such as the Tlaxcalans who made up the majority of his combined army. All these reasons worked together to allow Cortes, originally with 508 men to conquer the Aztec Empire of millions of people.
...l Paso, Texas with his third wife. His original residence in New Mexico was burned down in 1994. He then moved to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico and Uruapan, Michoacan where he met his third wife. His memoirs once only available in Spanish in 1978, published by Mexico’s Fondo Cultural Economico was republished in 2000.
In 1539 Hernando de Soto and five hundred adventurers began on a journey of exploration that would take 4 years and would travel through 10 states in the southeast United States. His goal was to discover a source of wealth, preferably gold, and around his mines establish a settlement. During his travels through La Florida he encountered numerous groups of native peoples, making friends of some and enemies of others. His expedition was not the first in La Florida; however, it was the most extensive. In its aftermath, thousands of Indians would die by disease that the Spaniards brought from the Old World. De Soto would initially be remembered as a great explorer but, would be later viewed as a destroyer of native culture. However, in truth de Soto was neither a hero or a villain but rather an adventurer.
gave to the people of the country, he took power from the government and let the
Carlos Montezuma died on Wednesday, January 31, 1923 from pulmonary tuberculosis. He was living on the reservation. He was buried in Fort McDowell. Carlos Montezuma was a Yavapai and is an extraordinary American hero. He was a hero in history fighting for the rights of American Indians and a hero to the White American showing all what an American Indian could be in a time when they were not valued.
When the Spaniards arrived on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico in 1519, they encountered the advanced society of the Aztecs. With Tenochititlan at its capital, the Aztec empire was vast. The Aztecs had substantial wealth from trading and extensive payments of tribute from conquered peoples. Bernal Diaz in his The Conquest of New Spain comments, "We were dazzled at the richness of the country that we passed through" (282). The Spaniards encountered a powerful, advanced people in the New World, making Cortes and his crew of approximately 600 seemingly ensured of defeat. The Aztec religion lends much to Spanish success in conquest.
Jose’ Marti’ was born in Havana, Cuba to poor Spanish immigrates. Marti’ fled to New York to be with people that had also escaped. Jose’ Marti’ became a great lawyer and worked with many court cases in Cuba. Jose’ Marti’ died as a heroic man and then the Spanish troops just killed him in cold blood.
A little about Montezuma: Montezuma was the fifth and last king of the Aztec empire before the Spanish in early 16 C.E. He was born on 1466 C.E and died at 1520 C.E.
From the things he earned in Hispaniola he set a goal to find an island that is know as present day Puerto Rico were he had heard rumors from the Indians that there was gold buried there and also that it was a rich island. So he lead an expedition and he worked his magic on this island were he stayed, built a stone mansion and stayed for many years then returned to Hispaniola. The trouble that had started in 1509 had caused Juan Ponce de Leon many problems because of the Spanish monarchy and its politics. This problem would cause him to move away from the land of the Indies where he had great success. So the son of Christopher Columbus took over because he had the right to inherit all of his fathers charters that he gave the Spanish Crown.
Swelled with success and assertiveness, Gonzalez and his troop moved into the region’s interior, but encountered resistance from an army of Niquiranos. Outnumbered, Gonzalez and his troops decided to retreat. They returned to Panama with large quantities of gold and pearls, thus reporting their find and eventually naming the region Nicaragua. Consequently, this of course created gold fever among many Spanish conquistadors. Within a few months, several Spanish forces invaded Nicaragua and each was led by a conquistador. Francisco Hernández de Córdoba, sent by the governor of Panama, Pedrarias, approached from Costa Rica. Pedro de Alvarado and Cristóbal de Olid- came from Guatemala through San Salvador and Honduras. However, Córdoba, eventually completed the Nicaraguan conquest effort. Whereas most invaders were interested only in gold, Cordoba came in with more permanent goals: He wanted to colonize Nicaragua. In order to do this, he needed to establish permanent settlements, thus leading to the founding of Granada and Leon in
Hernan Cortez was a very famous explorer. He was born in Medellin, Spain in 1485. Hernan Cortez set sail for the new world at 19 to win an empire for Spain. After spending a few years in Hispaniola, he joined Diego Velazquez’s expedition to Cuba in 1511. He overthrew the Cuban leader and convinced the Cuban soldiers to join him. The conquistador set sail to Mexico in 1518 to defeat the Aztec empire. He finally took the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, in 1521. King Charles I appointed him governor of New Spain in 1522. Hernan Cortez retired to Spain and died in 1547 at 62 years old.