Effects of Spanish Exploration
Previously you learned that Spain and Portugal were trying to set up colonies in the Americas. Now, you will learn the effects of their attempts to colonize .
Effects of Spanish Rule in North and South America:
1.Conquistadores Claim Land and Treasure (1500s)
- Hernando Cortes and Francisco Pizarro took over lots of land from Native Americans in South America and North America.
- Cortes took land from the Aztecs in what is today Mexico. (1521)
- Pizarro took land from the Incas in what is today Peru. (1531)
- Ponce de Leon claimed Florida for Spain (1513)
TheColumbian Exchange was another effect. This involved an exchange of plants, goods, ideas, and diseases from Europe to the Americas.
This exchange benefitted Europeans more than Native Americans because Europeans spread smallpox , a deadly disease, to Native Americans when they came into contact with them.
Missionaries converting Native Americans to christianity, specifically Catholicism was another effect. This was often done by force.
Native Americans were also forced into slavery by the Spanish wen they colonized the Americas.
The Spanish established a system of social hierarchy, where pure Spanish people had all of the power and mixed races(mestizos) or Native Americans had little.