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How Did The Conquistador Contribute To The Downfall Of Native Americans

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Conquistador is the spanish word for "conqueror";in English, the word usually refers to the leaders of the Spanish conquests of Mesoamerica and Peru in the sixteenth century. The conquistadors were travelers from Europe who attacked the Native Americans of South America in the late sixteenth century. Before the Spanish's reign of terror and destruction Cortés sent a messenger to meet with the King who sent presents to dissuade him from coming to Tenochtitilán, where he eventually met with him.Cortés did not like being surrounded by Aztec warriors and took the king Montezuma II captive. This led to the downfall of the Native Americans who were conquered and devastated by the Europeans. As a result, The Native American culture was devastated …show more content…

"The Maya victory against the gun-bearing Europeans, however, could not save them from the spread of the terrible diseases these men brought- including smallpox, measles,and influenza. The native Mesoamericans had no immunity or resistance to diseases common in Europe…within the next hundred years 90 percent of the Mesoamericans had died of disease or in battle" (Rise and Fall of the Maya, 14). The Europeans not only enslaved a king and conquered the land belonging to the Native Americans, they also killed 90 percent of the population by their diseases they carried over from Europe. In a way the Europeans destroyed the Aztec empire, when the second to last emperor succumbed to smallpox. Another way the invaders from Europe destroyed the Native Americans culture was by leveling their buildings and burning the rest. The Europeans who were also trying to convert the Aztecs to Christianity burned as many Aztec books they could find and destroyed many artifacts.(Aztec …show more content…

The conquistadors felt that after they defeated the Native Americans they deserved rewards and in turn used them as unpaid laborers. Others forced the Amerindian groups to pay tribute to the conquistadors. "The Amerindians, in turn, were to pay tribute to the conquistador. Conditions for the various Amerindian groups differed: some suffered and even died while working under conditions similar to slavery; others simply began paying tribute to the Spaniards" (Aztec Poetry,11). Because of the working conditions some of the enslaved people were forced to endure many didn't survive while the Amerindians who paid tribute got trained in Christianity and the Spanish language to be protected. (Aztec

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