Main Factors Which Enabled Spain To Conquer The New World

The conquering between Spain and the native American’s started in 1492 more then 500 years ago when Christopher Columbus was funded by the Spanish king named Ferdinand and queen Isabella to find a new route to Asia sailing west side of the world. The Spanish wanted to bring Christianity in the new world because they wanted to expand the Spanish culture by exploring trade, knowledge, wealth, empire and resources. There are numerous factors that enabled to Spain to conquer the new world such as diseases by spreading germs, military advancements in guns, religion and beliefs of god, resources for greed and wanted gold to be wealthy.

The Spanish people were very harsh and intelligent, they brought deadly diseases, war and enslavement to the indigenous people. During the arrival of European settlers, they brought diseases in which the Inca and Aztecs did not have immunity for. The Spanish brought diseases that wiped out mounds of the civilization from diseases such as measles, whooping cough, chicken pox, plague, smallpox diphtheria and influenza. By spreading these diseases, it made the natives powerless and easier to conquer. Christopher Columbus was sent for a main reason which was to spread Christianity, since the incas and Aztecs denied to changed their religion a war began. The Spanish people had advanced military equipment such as big weapons, guns, loaded ships, horses and dogs. There were two main weapons, one for attacking from a distance and the other one was by using your hands. The Spanish had more advanced tools that they used, they even used animals to travel and attack the enemy. The incas had many different types of weapons including bows and arrows, wooden swords, bone tipped spears, wooden slings and stones, copper battle axes and dart throwers. They also would wear shields to protect them however their military equipment wasn’t as stabled as the Spanish weapons. This factor was one of the main factors that enabled Spain to conquer the new world because half of their civilization died from diseases.

Religion was one of the main factors which made it easier for the Spanish to conquer the new world. The Aztecs and incas both believed in many different gods and in human sacrifices. The Aztecs believed in order for the sun to rise daily, they needed to make human sacrifices to give the sun strength. This ritual was an extremely bad practice for their civilization because it meant that their population was decreasing therefore, they did not have enough people to conquer the Spanish. The Spanish people believed that their ritual such as human sacrificing was dreadful, which made them have more reason to conquer the new world. The kings were very respected within their civilization and were even considered a part of their god. Therefore, Hernan Cortes took advantage of their belief as he was believed to be the Aztec god Quetzalcoatl, that would return one day. He used their religion as an advantage to conquer the new world.

When the Spanish were conquering the new world, they discovered gold and resources such as tobacco, sweet corn and potatoes. As the Spanish reached at the new world, the native people were welcoming therefore they exchanged resources such as glass beads, cotton balls, parrots and spears. In Spain they had low amount of gold so they would greed for gold and steal. The Spaniards created a plan to colonise the Inca and Aztec empire to steal the gold by doing this they successfully conquered both colonization. Fransisco Pizzaro used Hernan Cortes’s method of conquering the Aztecs by enslaving the ruler of Inca, Atahualpa until they don’t give greed such as gold and silver. Once Pizzaro received his wishes, he then killed the ruler of the Inca and conquered the Inca empire leading to the end of Inca civilization. This factor was an important factor that enabled Spain to conquer the new world.

In conclusion, the Spanish conquered the new world by using five main factors which are diseases as germs, military advancement in guns, religion and beliefs of god and resources for greed and gold. More than half of the Inca and Aztec population died due to diseases rather than violence or war. The two main conquistadors that conquered the new world is Hernan Cortes who conquered the Aztec empire and Fransisco Pizzaro, conquered the Inca empire by using a similar process.

Reference

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