1. The Spanish Empire in the
Americas
Paige Ellis

2. Diego Vasicuio- Peru
• Time Period:
– Born in the 1580’s
– Died in the 1670’s
• Location:
– The village of Salamanca
• Group:
– Native
• Gender:
– Male
• Occupation:
– Cult leader/Priest
• General History:
– For most of his life, Diego
was the chief priest and
cult leader of the God
Sorimana.
– Father de Prado, the
parish priest, discovered
that people were still
worshipping idols, and
ordered them to stop.
– The cult pretended to
repent, but continued
worshipping Sorimana in
secret

3. Martín Ocelotl- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Born in 1496
• Location:
– Mexico
• Group:
– Aztec Indian
• Gender:
– Male
• Occupation:
– Cult Leader
• General History:
– He came from a family of
priests.
– He foretold the coming of
the Europeans.
– When they did come, he
was baptized to escape
persecution, but he
continued his old
practices.
– He still had a reputation
as a sorcerer, and he
was put on trial and
imprisoned.

4. Juan de Morga/ Gertrudis de
Escobar- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Middle years of the 17th
Century
• Location:
– Central Mexico
• Group:
– Mulatto Slaves
• Gender:
– Juan- Male
– Gertrudis- Female
• Occupation:
– Slaves
• General History:
– Juan was born a slave
and escaped several
times, but he was caught
and punished.
– He made a pact with the
devil to overcome his
master’s cruelty.
– Gertrudis was also born
into slavery, and was
sold to a plantation.
– Her master was cruel
and she endured many
floggings for attempting
to escape.

5. Isabel Moctezuma- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Born in 1509
– Died in 1550
• Location:
– Tenochtitlan
• Group:
– Aztec Indian
• Gender:
– Female
• Occupation:
– Heiress/Princess
• General History
– She was the illegitimate
daughter of the Aztec
emperor Moctezuma II.
– She was married 5 times
and bore many children,
including an illegitimate
child with Cortés.
– She converted to
Catholicism and served
as an example to the
natives of an Indian
woman who bridged the
gap between the
Spaniards and Indians.

6. Beatriz de Padilla- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Born around 1620
• Location:
– Guadalajara
• Group:
– Mulatto
• Gender:
– Female
• Occupation:
– Mistress/Mother
• General History:
– She was an unmarried
ex-slave, with a mulatto
mother and white father.
– She was accused of
poisoning one lover and
driving the other insane,
and using sorcery to
make important men fall
in love with her.
– A priest fell in love with
her and left his entire
estate to her when he
died.

7. Miguel Hernandez- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Born in 1550
– Died in 1604
• Location:
– Mexico
• Group:
– Mulatto
• Gender:
– Male
• Occupation:
– Muleteer
• General History:
• He was a free mulatto
who got an education
• He built and expanded a
freighting business.
• He earned most of his
income selling mules
and bringing goods to
markets in the south.
• He earned an excellent
reputation in the
business world, despite
his background as a
mulatto.

8. Enrico Martinez- New Spain
• Time Period:
– Born in 1557
– Died in 1632
• Location:
– Mexico
• Group:
– European
• Gender:
– Male
• Occupation:
– Printer
• General History:
– He was an educated
immigrant from
Seville who wanted to
make a fortune in the
New World.
– Wrote a book on
science that risked
getting him in trouble
with the Inquisition.
– He built a drainage
system for the city
that failed, and he
was imprisoned for
“sabotaging his own
work”

9. Tula, the Mythical Beginning
• By 1000 AD, the largest civilization in the
Americas was the Toltecs, in Tula, but they
dispersed in the 12th century.
• There were now dozens of tiny domains,
living not too far from each other.
• The Mexica people migrated into the area
and settled in Tenochtitlan.
• They chose a prince from another tribe to
lead them, and a dynasty was founded.
• Two other tribes formed an alliance with the
Mexica, and they formed the Aztec empire.

10. The Empire Builders
• In 1440 Moctezuma I came to power, just in
time for several natural disasters and wars to
ravage the land.
• In an effort to appease the gods and prevent
the end of the world, he made perpetual war
with the surrounding peoples, and sacrificed
the prisoners.
• In the process, the Aztec empire expanded.
• The empire was sustained through the use of
violent force and terrorizing the conquered
peoples into paying tribute.

11. The Aztecs, Conquering
Heroes
• They performed ritual sacrifices to:
– Feed the gods, whom they believed were mortal.
– Uphold a policy of terror and kill off the most
dangerous conquered people.
– Allow divine power to manifest itself, uniting god
and man.
• Warriors were constantly pushing the
borders, and when Moctezuma II came to
power, he focused on conquering new lands.
• Before the Europeans arrived, the Aztec
influence covered almost 78,000 square
miles and millions of people.

12. The Clash of Two Worlds
• At the beginning of the 16th century, the
Aztecs were anxious because various signs
led them to predict a calamity.
• The Spanish arrived in 1517, headed by
Cortés, and Moctezuma was unsure whether
to treat them as gods or enemies.
• Cortés united with the Aztecs’ enemies.
• When Cortés and Moctezuma finally met,
Moctezuma was friendly.
• Cortés’ forces killed many of the Aztec rulers.
• Was ensued, and the Aztecs lost.

13. From Resistance to
Collaboration
• Cortés ordered an end to idolatry, human
sacrifice, and polygamy, and tried to enforce
Christianity.
• The daughters of Aztec nobility were married
off to the conquistadors.
• The nobles learned to use weapons, ride
horses, and conduct business and legislation.
• They adapted the European alphabet,
learned latin, and translated European texts
into their own language.

14. Aftermath of the Conquest
• After about a century under Spanish rule, the
Indians invented a new combination of
Catholicism and their native practices.
• By the 18th century, a common culture
developed, that mixed all kinds of beliefs.
• They also picked up negative aspects of
Spanish culture, like alcoholism and
prostitution.
• In the 19th century, the crown abolished all
legal difference between Indians and
Spanish.

15. Viceroyalty of New Spain
• New Spain was established after the
conquest of the Aztecs
• The capital, Mexico City, was built out of the
former Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan.
• Its territory included much of North America,
Central America, and the Spanish East and
West Indies.
• It was ruled by a viceroy in Mexico city, who
governed on behalf of the king.
• In 1821, Mexico and Central America
declared their independence from Spain,
forming the Mexican Empire.

16. Spanish Conquest of the Inca
Empire
• When the Spanish arrived in Peru in 1528,
the Inca Empire included about 16 million
people, all under direct control of their
Emperor, Atahualpa.
• The empire was weakened by civil war,
difficult terrain, and smallpox.
• The first meeting between Francisco Pizarro
and Atahualpa was tense, and ended in a
battle at Cajamarca.
• It grew into a war in which Atahualpa was
executed, and Spain conquered the Incas.

17. Viceroyalty of Peru
• It was created in 1542, and contained most of
Spanish-ruled South America.
• Smaller viceroyalties were created at the
expense of Peru’s territory, and Spain did not
resist when Portugal expanded Brazil across
the meridian.
• National independence movements
eventually caused the viceroyalty to crumble
in the early 1800’s.
• The modern-day republics of Peru, Chile,
Colombia, Panama, and others were formed
from the former viceroyalty.