Reasons For European Expansion

Economics

FoodEuropean diet

Luxury Items

Spicesaccess blockedOttoman Empire

Political Centralization

• By 1500 Modern Nations forming• Spain:

• Marriage of Ferdinand of Aragorn and Isabella of Castile 1469

Religion

• Proselytize

• Battle Stress

Technology

• Caravel– 2-3 masted ship

• Compass– C. 1300 A.D.

• Cannon– Crecy 1342

Warfare

• Why is it that small numbers of Europeans consistently defeat native

people in their own lands?

Warfare

Western Way of War

– Beginnings

– Progress

– Divorce from Spirituality and myth

Renaissance

• Rediscovery ofScience

Human Potential

Test Case:Hernando Cortez 1485-1547

• Life of a Spanish Noble

• Setting Sail– Landing in Cuba

Hernando Cortez 1485-1547

• Invasion of Mexico– Vera Cruz– Tlaxcala

Spanish War in the New World

• Weapons– Steel based

armor/weapons

– Arquebus

– Calvary

– Attack Dogs

Aztecs 1200-1521

• Settled Central Mexico c. 1200 as mercenaries

• Inherited Toltec science

• Concept of Zero • Complex

Astronomy

Aztecs 1200-1521

• Tenochtitlan– Pop 250,000

– Chirpa

– Causeways

Aztecs 1200-1521

• Aztec WarfareWeapons

– Macuahitl – Spear Thrower

(atatl)– Hand Spear– Narcotics– Animal Kinship

Military Purpose

Aztecs 1200-1521

• Sacrifice

Fall of Tenochtitlan

• Montezuma II

• La Noche Triste

• Siege