Spanish Explorations

Spanish Explorations Chapter 3, Lesson 3

Lesson Objectives • Describe the aims, obstacles, and accomplishments of Spanish explorers. • Trace the routes of Spanish explorers.

Vocabulary • Grant • Conquistador • Reform • Reformation • Counter-Reformation • Missionary

The Spanish Explore Florida Reasons Spanish Explorers Sailed to the Americas • To find adventure • To get rich • Glory and fame • Convert Native Americans to Christianity

The Spanish Explore Florida • The Spanish emperor encouraged expolrers by offering large sums of money called grants. • The Spanish explorers were called conquistadores, or “conquerors”. • The conquistador Juan Ponce de Leon set out to find a rumored Fountain of Youth on the island of Bimini, but founded what is now the state of Florida instead in 1513.

The Spanish Explore Florida(continued) • Ponce de Leon returned to Florida in 1521 to start a settlement. • He was wounded by native people and later died from those wounds. • He become the first Spanish explorer to set foot on land that became the United States.

Ponce de Leon Discovers Florida

Early Conquistadores • In 1519, Spain sent Hernando Cortez to find gold in the land of the Aztecs (present day Mexico). • The Aztec Empire covered 80,000 square miles and reigned over as many as 5 million people. • With and army of 650 soldiers and the help of native tribes who disliked the Aztecs, Cortez was able to conquer the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan.

Early Conquistadores(continued) • One reason Cortes was able to defeat such a vast empire with so small an army was that the Aztecs thought he might be Quetzalcoatl, an Aztec god that had promised to return at about the same time Cortez came. • Other reasons for Cortes’s success were: • The Spanish had horses. • The Spanish had guns and armor. • Europeans brought new diseases

Early Conquistadores(continued) • Mexico City was built on the ruins of Tenochtitlan and became the capital of Spain’s new empire. • The Spanish continued to look for gold. They heard of a fabled “city of gold”, which motivated Vasquez de Coronado and others in 1540 to explore to find it. • Coronado did not find a city of gold, but his explorations into the North American continent led to increased land claims for Spain.

Expeditions Continue • Francisco Pizarro conquered the Incas on the western coast of South America in 1531. • Hernando de Soto explored the Southeastern United States in 1539. He and his men were the first Europeans to see the Mississippi River. • Because of de Soto and others, Spanish land claims now covered much of the southern half of what is now the United States.

Missionaries in America • The Catholic Church in Europe had a great deal of power in the 1500’s. • Some people, including a German priest named Martin Luther, began to call openly for reforms, or changes, in the Church. This period of reforms was called the Reformation. • Luther was forced out of the Catholic Church, but he and his followers became known as Protestants.

Missionaries in America(continued) • As a result of the Protestant reformation, the catholic Church tried to keep its power through efforts now called the Counter-Reformation. • During the Counter Reformation, the Catholic Church banned books that went against their teachings and punished people who protested Catholic laws. • Catholic missionaries were sent to the Americas to convert Native Americans to the Catholic Church in order to gain new followers.

Spanish Explorations