Following Columbus there was a ow of Spanish navigators and migrants into America. They tried to colonize the Central and Southern regions of America. They used their military power, gunpowder, and horses to do it. From the local people, they collected tributes. They made the indigenes work in the gold and silver mines. After the first discovery, the Spanish established a residential center there. They made the local people work there. With the help of the local chiefs, they made explorations into the interiors of the country and tried to nd new gold mines.
Cortes and the Aztecs: Cortes and his warriors were known as Conquistadores. They attacked Mexico. In 1519, Cortes went from Cuba to Mexico. There he established a friendship with a group called Totonacs who wanted to secede from the Aztec rule. The Aztec ruler Montezuma sent an officer to meet Cortes, the officer was terrified at the zeal for war shown by the Spaniards, their gunpowder and horses. Montezuma was made to believe that Cortes was a reincarnation of some deity and he has come to take revenge on him.
Even then the Aztecs resisted the Spaniards. In a battle called The Night of Tears, some 600 conquistadores and Tiaxcalans, their allies, were killed. Cortes was forced to retreat to Tlaxcala. He then made fresh plans against the new king of the Aztecs Cuauhtenoc. By this time many Aztecs began to die from the small pox the Europeans had brought with them. With just 150 soldiers and 30 horses, Cortes moved into Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs felt their end was near and the Aztec king surrendered. Later he was executed.
Cortes completed the conquest of Mexico and then he became the Captain-General of Spain in Mexico. From Mexico, the Spaniards extended their control to Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Honduras.
Pizarro and the Incas: Pizarro was quite different from Cortes. He was a poor man with no education. He joined the army and in 1502 he reached the Caribbean. He had heard that the Inca Empire was full of gold and silver. He tried many times to reach there from the Pacific. Once when he was returning home, he happened to meet the Spanish king. He showed the king some Inca golden plates with beautiful carvings on them. The greed of the king was roused. He promised Pizarro that if he conquered the Inca Empire, he would make him the governor of the place. Pizarro tried to follow the path of Cortes. But when he found that the situation was different in the Inca Empire, he was disappointed.
in 1532, after an internal conflict, Atahualpa occupied the throne of the Inca Empire. At this time Pizarro appeared and trapped the king. The king promised to give Pizarro enough gold to fill a room if he was left free. This was the highest ransom ever recorded in history. But Pizarro did not succumb to this offer. He killed the king and his followers looted the entire Inca Empire. They also occupied it.
