1. 
atrocities during the colonization period
Social Studies for 9th – Teacher: Mauricio Torres

2. Strange News
 “…people with white skin and yellow hair, clad
completely in iron, who rode “deer” as tall as a
house and had dogs with burning yellow eyes…”

3. Spaniards
 Columbus´ first meeting with
natives began a cycle of
encounter, conquest and death
that would be repeated
throughout the western
hemisphere.
 Most of these “conquistadores”
were usually criminals, low-
lifes, convicted
felons, thieves, murderers or
simply: men with no regard for
human life.

4. In the name of God
 Columbus met with the Taino people in the
Caribbean. At first relations were friendly, but
afterwards they soured.
 The Taino, out of ignorance, they offended the
Spanish when they failed to pay proper respect to
Christian symbols.
 Columbus felt superior, and thought he could decide
their fate.
 This same type of encounters, were repeated over
and over, by waves of conquistadores coming into the
New World
 Attracted by the promise of riches as well as religious
zeal, a flood of adventurers soon followed.

5. Guns, Horses and Disease

6. Guns, Horses and Disease
 Spanish Conquistadores
barely numbered in the
hundreds. Natives numbered
in the millions.
 Their guns and cannons were
superior.
 Metal armor provided them
with better protection
 Horses frightened the natives
as well as being useful in
battle.
 Diseases to which Americans
had no immunity or
resistance, wiping out 90% of
the population in the
Caribbean.

7. Cortés & México
 Cortés and the Aztecs:
 Cortés was a landowner in Cuba.
 He heard of failed expeditions but believed he could
do better where none had achieved anything.
 He landed in México with 600 men, 16 horses and a
few cannons. He marched on to Tenochtitlán, the
Aztec capital.
 He arranged alliance with the Aztecs’s enemies.

8. Cortés & México
 Cortés and the Aztecs:
 In the meantime, he was
thought to be a God by
the Aztecs’s. For that
reason many gifts were
given to him by these
people, in order to please
him, and keep him away.
 He was interested in gold
and silver, not religious
gifts.
 He reached the Aztec
capital and was dazzled
by the grandeur of the
city.

9. The fall of Tenochtitlán
 As with the Tainos, the relationship with the Aztecs
grew strained very early.
 He sought to conquer them and convert them to
Christianity, while he scorned their religion.
 Tensions rose, fighting began.
 Cortés came back and assaulted the capital, which
was later demolished, in order to build México city.
 Smallpox decimated the Aztec population.

10. Pizarro Takes Perú
 After the civil war in the Incan
Empire, Pizarro arrived in Perú. He
followed tales of riches and gold.
 Pizarro wanted for Atahualpa to be his
vassal and convert to Christianity. The
Inca refused both.
 Allied with Huascar’s followers, he
captured Atahualpa:
 The held him hostage, asked for
ransom, got paid, but killed him anyway.

11. Resistance
 Despite continuing resistance, Pizarro and his
followers overran the Inca heartland.
 They ha superior weapons, and once again, the
natives were weakened by European diseases.
 Only a few generals fought back, like Rumiñahui.
 Afterwards, Pizarro conquered the whole
Empire, gaining for Spain, land that today
represents modern Ecuador and Chile.

12. Effects: Spain
 With fewer men, but more
firepower, the Spaniards had
accomplished a remarkable
feat.
 They seized goods, two
empires and had enslaved
many natives.
 They made them mine for
gold, killing thousands in
the process.
 The wealth that came form
the Americas made Spain the
world’s greatest power.

13. Effects: Natives
 For most of them, these events marked the
end of the world.
 With thousands of them dying, they
thought that their gods were weaker and
therefore converted to Christianity in order
to end their own suffering.
 Still, natives continued to fight back:
 The Mayas fought Spanish rule for
centuries.
 The Incas rose in rebellion every now and
then (Túpac Amaru).
 They maintained many aspects of their
culture .

14. Ask yourself
 How did a small number of conquistadores conquer
huge native American empires?
 In what way did the Spanish conquest affect native
Americans who survived?
 How might the history of Europeans be different if
the Indians had not been killed by disease?

15. Facts on Pizarro
 He was born in Trujillo, Spain, the illegitimate son of
Gonzalo Pizarro, an infantry colonel, and Francisca
González, a woman of poor means.
 His exact birth date is uncertain, but is believed to be
sometime in the 1470s, probably 1471.
 Scant attention was paid to his education and he grew
up illiterate.
 He was a distant cousin of Hernán Cortés.
 Pizarro founded the city of Lima.

16. Comparing both Conquests
 When historians compare Pizarro's and Cortés's
conquests of Peru and Mexico, they usually give the
palm to Pizarro because he led fewer men, faced
larger armies, and was far from Spanish outposts in
the Caribbean which could have supplied
men, arms, and provisions.

17. Bibliography
 Ellis, E. G., & Esler, A. (2009). World History. (P.
Hall, Ed.) Upper Saddle River, New Jersey, US:
Pearson Education INC.
 Wikipedia. (n.d.). Wikipedia - Francisco Pizarro.
Retrieved May 2012, from Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pizarro
 Images taken from Google.