Exam 2021/2022
Hernando Cortez Pt.1:
• Lead Spanish group from Cuba in search of China/India
• Arrives in Mexico in 1519 (same year the GOD Quetzalcoatl was predicted to
arrive)
Hernando Cortez Pt. 2:
• Thinking he was possibly the God (Quetzalcoatl) the Aztecs sent him gifts)
Hernando Cortez Pt. 3:
• Later destroyed the Aztec Empire with his boats and with the Tlaxcalan
allies (had 149,000 men who hated the Aztecs) after the Aztec
population had been devastated by European Disease.
Montezuma
• Obsessed with Quetzalcoatl and believed Cortez to be him
• He is taken hostage and the Aztec people begin to rebel
• He is killed and Cortez and his men flee the city at midnight, but half of
his men don’t make it.
After Fleeing the Aztec city:
• Cortez and his surviving men spend the next 18 months living with the
Tlaxcalan andbuild small boats in preparation for an attack on the Aztec
capital.
Reasons for Aztec Conquest:
• Due to the time of Cortez arrival, they believed he may by Quetzalcoatl
(God) and instead of attacking him, they brought him gifts of gold and
welcomed him into theircapital.
• After Cortez and his men fled from the Aztec city, 75% of the Aztec
population died due to European disease.
• Months later, Cortez returned and laid siege on the city for 80 days, starving
of the
remaining Aztecs.
1521:
• The former Aztec empire became the Spanish Empire and Europe would
suddenly gain a huge wealth.
1531:
• The Inca Empire falls to Francisco Pizarro after being devastated by
, European disease
• Spain now has access to the wealth of two major American Empires
Emperor Charles I and V:
• Descended from the Habsburg Family
Charles I:
• Was born in 1500
, • Mother is Juan La Loca
• Father was Philip The Handsome
• Said to be born under the same signs as Caesar Augustus - Great Roman
emperor
Charles I Believed...:
• Believed that if he could convert enough people to Christianity that the
second coming ofJesus would occur.
Juana La Loca:
• The daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella the Catholics
Philip the Handsome:
• Had many affairs, son of emperor Maximillion (I) and Marie of Burgundy
Eurocentric Economy:
• Blaut argues that as the conquest of the Americas continues, Europe gains
a huge economics advantage and the economic trade center shifts from
the Indian Ocean to Europe, especially as Europe uses its American wealth
to take control of the trade centers in the Indian Ocean region.
Protocapitalism:
• Occurs when trade becomes the primary economic practice
• Trans-regional trade replaces agriculture as the economic engine of society
• Middle classes tend to grow
Capitalism:
• Occurs when the middle classes take political power for themselves
Protocapitalism to Capitalism:
• Blaut argues that the new wealth from the Americas allows Europe to
develops a growing middle class who will take political power for
themselves and develop Europe into a set of capitalist states.
Weber - Rise of Capitalism:
• Weber unlike Blaut argues that the wealth coming in from the Americas
was not enough to end feudalism on its own and develop capitalism.
• Argues that it was up to the people of Europe to develop ideas/beliefs that
they could
overthrow the rulers and that the middle class could hold political power.
Weber:
• He noticed and argues that the transition to capitalism happened in