Title: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Headings: The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
The Turning Point: European Conquests of the Americas (1492-1800)
Content: There are many reasons why Europeans succeeded in conquering diverse nations and empires of the Americas. First, the Spaniards and Portuguese employed cutting-edge sailing and navigational technology to reach, explore, and shuttle back and forth from the Americas. Cortez benefited from several other Eurasian technological advantages when his small band of six hundred Spaniards defeated the enormous Aztec empire. Conquistadores used steel swords and armor against the wooden clubs and cotton armor of the Aztecs. The original Americans had no answer for cannons and other firearms, such as arquebuses. Also, the Aztecs had never seen or used horses, and they found them terrifying to face in battle. Furthermore, Europeans benefitted from living in literate cultures that could easily record and pass down detailed knowledge about navigation, technology, and conquest. But, most importantly, Europeans brought with them deadly diseases that devastated the Aztec and the Inca, and indeed all the native people in North and South America. Massive demographic catastrophe occurred wherever Europeans made contact with indigenous Americans. The pattern was set with the Taino, whom Columbus met on his first voyage to the island of Hispaniola.