Summarize the interaction the people of the Caribbean, Aztec, and Inca had with the exploring Spanish.

Hernan Cortes -

-Steel swords, muskets, cannons, and horses offered Cortes and his men some advantage over the forces they met and help to account for the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire

-His expedition benefited from division among forged alliances with people who resented domination by the Mexica, the leaders of the Aztec empire

Epidemic Disease -

-Epidemic disease also aided Spanish efforts, for example in the siege of Tenochtitlan

Francisco Pizarro -

-Experienced similar results when he led a Spanish expedition from Central America to Peru

-Pizarro had a tiny force that was able to topple the Inca empire

-Many subjects of the empire despised the Incas overlords and tax collectors and put up little resistance to Pizarro’s forces

-Epidemic disease also discouraged resistance

-Pizarro and his army actually faced more threats from fresh Spanish interlopers than from native people

Spanish Colonial Administration-

-Spanish administrators established two centers of authority in the Americas - Mexico (New Spain) and Peru (New Castile)

-Viceroys were the king’s representatives in the Americas and they wielded considerable power

-A review of courts known as audiencias were established by Spanish kings to make sure that viceroys would not build personal power bases

Viceroys largely determined policy within their jurisdictions, partly because of the difficulty of communicating with the central government in Spain