The Spanish Conquistadors

From the moment of Christopher Columbus discovery of lands previously unknown to Europe in 1492, the New World captured the imagination of European adventurers. Thousands of men came to the New World to seek fortune, glory, and land. For two centuries, these men explored the New World, conquering any native people they came across in the name of the King of Spain (and the hope of gold). They came to be known as the conquistadors. Who were these men? Definition of Conquistador The word conquistador comes from Spanish and means he who conquers. The conquistadors were those men who took up arms to conquer, subjugate, and convert native populations in the New World. Who Were the Conquistadors? Conquistadors came from all over Europe. Some were German, Greek, Flemish, and so on, but most of them came from Spain, particularly southern and southwestern Spain. The conquistadors typically came from families ranging from the poor to the lower nobility. The very high-born rarely needed to set off in search of adventure. Conquistadors had to have some money to purchase the tools of their trade, such as weapons, armor, and horses. Many of them were veteran professional soldiers who had fought for Spain in other wars, like the reconquest of the Moors (1482-1492) or the Italian Wars (1494-1559). Pedro de Alvarado was a typical example. He was from the province of Extremadura in southwestern Spain and was the younger son of a minor noble family. He could not expect any inheritance, but his family had enough money to purchase good weapons and armor for him. He came to the New World in 1510 specifically to seek his fortune as a conquistador. Armies Although most of the conquistadors were professional soldiers, they werent necessarily well-organized. They were not a standing army in the sense that we think of it. In the New World, at least, they were more like mercenaries. They were free to join any expedition they wanted to and could theoretically leave at any time, although they tended to see things through. They were organized by units. Footmen, harquebusiers, cavalry, and so on served under trusted captains who were responsible to the expedition leader. Conquistador Expeditions Expeditions, such as Pizarros Inca campaign or the countless searches for the city of El Dorado, were expensive and privately financed (although the King still expected his 20 percent cut of any valuables discovered). Sometimes the conquistadors themselves chipped in funds for an expedition in the hopes that it would discover great wealth. Investors were also involved: wealthy men who would provision and equip an expedition expecting a share of the spoils if it discovered and looted a rich native kingdom. There was some bureaucracy involved, as well. A group of conquistadors could not just pick up their swords and head off into the jungle. They had to secure official written and signed permission from certain colonial officials first. Weapons and Armor Armor and weapons were crucially important for a conquistador. Footmen had heavy armor and swords made of fine Toledo steel if they could afford them. Crossbowmen had their crossbows, tricky weapons which they had to keep in good working order. The most common firearm at the time was the harquebus, a heavy, slow-to-load rifle. Most expeditions had at least a few harquebusiers along. In Mexico, most conquistadors eventually abandoned their heavy armor in favor of the lighter, padded protection the Mexicans used. Horsemen used lances and swords. Larger campaigns might have some artillerymen and cannons along, as well as shot and powder. Loot and the Encomienda System Some conquistadors claimed that they were attacking the New World natives to spread Christianity and save the natives from damnation. Many of the conquistadors were, indeed, religious men. However, the conquistadors were far more interested in gold and loot. The Aztecs and Inca Empires were rich in gold, silver, precious stones, and other things the Spanish found less valuable, like brilliant clothes made of bird feathers. Conquistadors who participated in any successful campaign were given shares based on many factors. The king and the expedition leader (like Hernan Cortes) each received 20 percent of all loot. After that, it was divided up among the men. Officers and horsemen got a larger cut than foot soldiers, as did crossbowmen, harquebusiers, and artillerymen. After the King, officers, and other soldiers had all gotten their cut, there was often not much left for the common soldiers. One prize which could be used to buy off conquistadors was the gift of an encomienda. An encomienda was land given to a conquistador, usually with natives already living there. The word encomienda comes from a Spanish verb meaning to entrust. In theory, the conquistador or colonial official receiving an encomienda had the duty of providing protection and religious instruction to the natives on his land. In return, the natives would work in mines, produce food or trade goods, and so on. In practice, it was little more than slavery. Abuses The historical record abounds in examples of conquistadors murdering and tormenting native populations, and these horrors are far too numerous to list here. Defender of the Indies Fray Bartolomà © de las Casas listed many of them in his Brief Account of the Devastation of the Indies. The native populations of many Caribbean islands, such as Cuba, Hispaniola, and Puerto Rico, were essentially wiped out by a combination of conquistador abuses and European diseases. During the conquest of Mexico, Cortes ordered a massacre of Cholulan noblemen. Only months later, Cortes lieutenant Pedro De Alvarado would do the same thing in Tenochtitlan. There are countless accounts of Spaniards torturing and murdering natives to obtain the location of the gold. One common technique was to burn the soles of someones feet to get them to talk. One example was Emperor Cuauhtà ©moc of the Mexica, whose feet were burned by the Spanish to make him tell them where they could find more gold. Famous Conquistadors Famous conquistadors who have been remembered in history include Francisco Pizarro, Juan Pizarro, Hernando Pizarro, Diego de Almagro, Diego Velazquez de Cuellar, Vasco Nunez de Balboa, Juan Ponce de Leon, Panfilo de Narvaez, Lope de Aguirre, and Francisco de Orellana. Legacy At the time of the conquest, Spanish soldiers were among the finest in the world. Spanish veterans from dozens of Europeans battlefields flocked to the New World, bringing their weapons, experience, and tactics with them. Their deadly combination of greed, religious zeal, ruthlessness, and superior weaponry proved too much for native armies to handle, especially when combined with lethal European diseases, such as smallpox, which decimated native ranks. Conquistadors left their marks culturally as well. They destroyed temples, melted down golden works of art, and burned native books and codices. Defeated natives were usually enslaved via the encomienda system, which persisted long enough to leave a cultural imprint on Mexico and Peru. The gold the conquistadors sent back to Spain began a Golden Age of imperial expansion, art, architecture, and culture. Sources Diaz del Castillo, Bernal. The Conquest of New Spain. Penguin Classics, John M. Cohen (Translator), Paperback, Penguin Books, August 30, 1963.Hassig, Ross. Aztec Warfare: Imperial Expansion and Political Control. The Civilization of the American Indian Series, First Edition Edition, University of Oklahoma Press, September 15, 1995.Las Casas, Bartolomà © de. The Devastation of the Indies: A Brief Account. Herma Briffault (Translator), Bill Donovan (Introduction), 1st Edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, February 1, 1992.Levy, Buddy. Conquistador: Hernan Cortes, King Montezuma, and the Last Stand of the Aztecs. Paperback, 6/28/09 edition, Bantam, July 28, 2009.Thomas, Hugh. Conquest: Cortes, Montezuma, and the Fall of Old Mexico. Paperback, Reprint edition, Simon Schuster, April 7, 1995.

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The Civil Rights Of The United States - 902 Words

Jury duty is a constitutional and fundamental right guaranteed to American citizens. Jury service is a way for citizens to directly participate in the judicial system. Jury duty and jury trials have been around for so long that people take it for granted. The jury was one of the factors that caused the American Revolution because the English common law system did not allow alleged criminals to have the sixth amendment rights that the United States has today. In fact, The Declaration of Independence charged that King George III deprived the colonists of a trial by jury (United States Federal Judicial Center, n.d). The Founding Fathers of the United States established the role of the jury and the right to trial by jury in most criminal and civil cases in the Constitution but that clearly cannot be fulfilled unless there are people serving on a jury. The Constitution holds the Fifth, Sixth, and Seventh Amendment, which are the amendments that involve the right to trial by jury. First, the Fifth Amendment provides for grand juries in criminal cases that hear the evidence from the prosecutor and decide whether to issue an indictment. Second, the Sixth Amendment declares, â€Å"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed (U.S. Const. amend. VI).† Third, the Seventh Amendment states that a jury can be requested in civil cases if the matter of theShow MoreRelatedThe Civil Rights Of The United States Essay1653 Words   |  7 PagesThe United states has been called the, â€Å"Land of The Free† since its independence was won from Great Britain, however, until 1965 â€Å"Free† only applied to a select demographic, white, land owning males. The most largely discriminated demograp hic before 1996 and somewhat even so today is the African American population. 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Debunking the Bermuda Triangle free essay sample

Jorge Thompson Debunking the Bermuda Triangle The Bermuda Triangle is a triangular area in the Atlantic Ocean right off of the southeast coast of the United States. Legend has it that many people, ships, and planes have mysteriously vanished in this area because of the area’s mystical properties. These properties have formed several theories for the disappearances. They carry little validity and fail to take into account simple scientific and logical facts. The Bermuda Triangle can be easily explained by simple facts and there is no mystery that needs to be solved. The Bermuda Triangle legend began when several Navy planes vanished on a training mission during a severe storm in 1945. The legend continued to grow over the years as many more vehicles disappeared in the area. Instead of attributing the accidents to natural storms or instrument error, believers explain the incidences as the acts of evil extraterrestrials, residue crystals from Atlantis, magnetic fields, or methane gas. The easiest way that the Bermuda Triangle can be disproven is by investigating the assumptions of the believers. Some of the explanations for the Bermuda Triangle seem to be scientific in nature. The magnetic disturbance and methane gas explanations both use scientific language in order to assert the claims. The theories are not substantiated by the mere use of scientific language. In fact, they are discredited after finding that there is not any evidence behind them. The magnetic theory is easily disproven. The Bermuda Triangle is claimed to be one of the two places on earth that a magnetic compass points toward true (and not magnetic) north. The difference between true and magnetic north is known as compass variation and can cause variations as much as 20 degrees. The area where true and magnetic north are equal is called the Agonic Line. This line is supposedly the cause of the anomalies in the triangle. The Agonic Line moves slowly over time as it responds to the Earth’s rotation. At present, the line is now on the west side of the Florida panhandle while the disappearances continue to happen in the triangle area. The second â€Å"scientific† theory is the methane explanation. This theory was introduced by Monash University in the American Journal of Physics and stated that methane deposits on the ocean floor produced vast gas bubbles which were capable of sinking ships and crashing airplanes. This theory has some validity to it, but only in limited situations. â€Å"For a large methane bubble to be produced quickly, it would probably have to be released by a catastrophic drop in pressure† (Deming). This dramatic drop in pressure is possible if a submarine landslide occurs, but these slides are few and far in between, making this theory unlikely. Scientific language does not make a science. Arguments â€Å"†¦mean nothing without evidence, experimental testing, and corroboration† (Shermer 49). The claims simply do not meet the burden of proof. The extraterrestrial argument is easily debunked by this fallacy as well. There is simply no evidence to support the claims of extraterrestrial interference. Believers may say that there is no evidence to support these skeptical arguments. There may not be evidence to support the skeptical arguments, but this does not make the claims of the believers true. The Bermuda Triangle has another simple and non-mysterious explanation. There is some dispute about the exact area that comprises the triangle. The general consensus is that the points on the triangle are Miami, the island of Bermuda, and Puerto Rico. Some estimates include the Andes and the Gulf of Mexico in the triangle. The area is about the size of Texas. An exact number of incidents that have occurred in the area is unknown. A rough estimate is about 200 to 1,000 incidents in the past 500 years. A more conservative estimate is given by Howard L. Rosenberg. â€Å"During the past century more than 50 ships and 20 aircraft sailed into oblivion in the area known as the Devils Triangle, Bermuda Triangle, Hoodoo Sea, or a host of other names† (Rosenberg 13). This estimate was published in 1974 and it is reasonable to assume that traffic has increased since then. However, according to the Navy, the incidences in the Bermuda Triangle are not more numerous than any other area. â€Å"To see how common accidents are at sea, you can examine some of the recent accident reports of the National Transportation Safety Board for  ships  and  aircraft† (The Bermuda Triangle). The reports show hundreds of incidents occurring all over the world. Few take place in the triangle area and those that do take place in the area are easily explainable by such things as engine failures or running out of fuel. One of the aircraft accident reports concerns an in-flight engine failure and subsequent ditching of a Cessna aircraft This is the type of accident that would likely have been attributed to mysterious causes in the Bermuda Triangle†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (The Bermuda Triangle). The accidents in the triangle happened because of human error, meteorological factors, or instrument failure, not because of mystical properties. Facts are important to reinforce a ny argument or claim. The facts surrounding some of the stories about the disappearances or crashes in the Bermuda Triangle do not exactly correspond on all points. Some of the crashes do not have any surviving witnesses to explain exactly what happened. The public has relied on speculation and superstition to fill a need for an explanation where that need could have just as easily been filled with logical and scientific reasoning. Natural events such as hurricanes and tropical storms can crash airplanes and ships and are much more easily proved than aliens planning to destroy humanity. Some of the basic facts and supposed evidence that support the Bermuda Triangle phenomenon do not make logically sound arguments, but they do make sensational stories.