Christopher Columbus’s initial voyage to America whetted the appetites of many European countries. Power-hungry leaders sponsored many expeditions to the New World in the hopes that they would get a share of the riches. As travel between Europe and America became more frequent, small settlements and trading posts were established along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts, including present-day Florida through Central America. Explorers discovered great amounts of precious metals and natural resources, but it was not enough the quench their growing thirst for more wealth.
In 1519, Hernan Cortés was commissioned by the governor of Cuba to expand the Spanish empire into Mexico. Cortés, an aspiring conquistador (conqueror), gathered an army of about six hundred soldiers who shared his dreams of military glory and riches.
During his journey to Mexico, Cortés encountered an Indian slave named Malinche. She was fluent in several languages, including Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Aztecs. Through Malinche’s conversations with many people ruled by the Aztecs, Cortés learned that the capital, Tenochtitlan, was overflowing with gold and silver and other riches. He also discovered that the empire was riddled with conflict and turmoil, and he formed military alliances with local people who resented the Aztecs for their human sacrifices and forced tribute.
As Cortés approached Tenochtitlan, emperor Montezuma II sent diplomats to meet the Spaniards with gifts. Cortés accepted the small tokens but boldly told the Aztec ruler that he and his men had a disease of the heart that only gold could cure. Though apprehensive, Montezuma welcomed Cortés into the capital because he believed that he was the legendary god Quetzalcoatl, whose return was predicted to signal final days of Tenochtitlan. Cortés and his men held Montezuma as a virtual prisoner, and plundered the vast wealth of the region. Cortés, for example, forced Montezuma to provide Indian laborers to mine more gold. Although Cortés and his small army were greatly outnumbered, they could do most anything they desired because they ruled the empire through Montezuma. They also continued to enjoy the allegiance of non-Aztecs and controlled the more powerful military weapons. Guns, swords, knives, and even horses amazed and frightened the Aztecs.
In 1520, the Aztec people, weary of their servile status and angry at Montezuma for his failure to protect them, attacked the Spaniards and drove them out of the city. Montezuma was killed, probably by his own people, during this uprising. Cortés, however, eventually regrouped and staged a bloody assault on the capital that lasted through much of 1521. The violent battles, combined with a smallpox epidemic that same year, killed many Aztec warriors and caused the once powerful Aztec empire to crumble. The great temples in Tenochtitlan were destroyed and Christian churches were constructed in their places.
The Spanish empire grew rapidly after the fall of the Aztecs. Between 1522 and 1528, Spanish forces overpowered groups in Yucatan and Guatemala. In the 1530s, Francisco Pizarro led a group of Spanish soldiers through Panama and into Peru where they battled the Incas. The conquistador decimated the Incan Empire quickly and with relatively little effort because he and his warriors focused their fighting on the heart of the empire, the ruling family. Once the people realized that the Inca, to whom they pledged their allegiance, was no longer in control, they retreated and the empire collapsed. The Spaniards successfully carried out their plan to rule much of the New World. However, their greed and shortsightedness regarding the future of the Americas eventually took its toll.