Juan De Oñate: The Last Conquistador

In the late 1400's, conquistadors started their first voyages to the “New World”. They sought gold, resources, and to convert any indigenous peoples they came across. The Spanish, the conquistadors were heroes for spreading Catholicism and returning new resources. Yet, from the point of view of the natives and Bartholome de Las Casas, they were villains. The conquistadors massacred the natives; enslaving those who escaped. The conquistadors were no heroes. By the early 1500’s, the Spanish were already conquering more land by killing more natives for gold and greed.

Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conqueror. He was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain. He died on December 2, 1547. He invaded Mexico in 1519, and he conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521. His parents’ names were Martin Cortez and Catalina Pizarro Altamirano. Hernan Cortes was a hero that conquered the Aztec Empire.

Diego de Almagro was born in Almagro, Spain in the year 1475. He was the son of Juan de Montenegro, but was considered an illegitimate child. As a result, he most likely spent his childhood with other relatives. He was put to work in the fields until about age fifteen; this meant that he received no schooling whatsoever. At a fairly young age he set off to seek his fortune, but instead he became a wanderer and ended up killing a man in a brawl. Afterwards, he made the decision to enter the Spanish Navy. Though the years in which he served in the navy are unrecorded, it is probable that he stayed in service for a considerable amount of time before he left the country to join an expedition to Central America.

Conquistadors: A Conquistador is a leader in the Spanish conquest of the Americas. They were individuals whose weapons, organizational skills, and determination brought them remarkable success. Hernan cortes was a very important conquistador because he defeated the Aztec empire, and took over Mexico for Spain. Francisco Pizarro was an also an important conquistador because he brought over weapons, gunpowder, and horses and he discovered the Incas and then he conquered the Inca empire. Francisco Vasquez de coronado was an explorer and a conquistador who led a large voyage from Mexico to present-day Kansas.

Conquistador, written by Buddy Levy about the famous ventures of Hernan Cortes, places the reader in the 16th century, or the era c.1450-c. 1750 ce. During this time, the idea of exploration was spreading quickly, as kingdoms and empires in Europe sought to expand their territory. Portugal, with Spain following after, led the way for exploration as they headed south. Spain, however, ventured west, driven by a patriotic attitude of expanding past their borders. Levy tells the story of Hernan Cortes, originally setting sail from Spain, as he sailed from Cuba to the shores of Mexico in 1519, eager about the discovery of new lands. Cortes, as well as many other explorers during this time, was inspired by the Three G’s: God, gold, and glory. He planned to conquer the new lands for Spain, to convert the natives to Catholicism, and to obtain the riches of the land, mostly gold.

The book I, Juan de Pareja took place during the 17th century in Spain, where Juan de Pareja was a slave. This was during the Renaissance where art was becoming more popular. Everyone at this time, then started to believe science and how everything works and focusing on themselves even more(humanism). Juan was enslaved for about 45 years but was then freed by his master Diego because he felt remorse he did not free him sooner. Another reason was that he developed sympathy and mutual affection for Juan and his master had an opportunity and a chance to free him from slavery . Juan was born into slavery and his mother, Zulema died when he was five years old and his mother never told him who his father was. He assumed that his father was a white

Diego was said to be a well known jokester, “plump master of Cuba who was said to be first-in-line to conquer Mexico,” as said in the book along with being money hungry, he went on two consecutive expeditions in two years leaving no supplies or money to go to another to follow a lead on the famous dream of El Dorado. Desperately, Velazquez convinced a wealthy man by the name of, Hernan Cortes, to fund and lead the expedition with responsibilities of bringing a substantial amount of treasures to him to give to the King of Spain in return of fame and fortune. Hernan Cortes was a very “vivacious, likable, and literate; he could even pepper his speech with Latin.” However, Cortes ambitious behaviour got the best of him when he departed from Velazquez before he could arrive on the boat before departing onto their journey, for Cortes wanted to take all the credit and treasures for himself and took the boat and crew, leaving with no contact for over two months. Velazquez wants to give Cortes the benefit of the doubt decided to wait to hear word from him, however, gave up when there were rumours of Cortes and his men meeting some Native Americans whom gave them large amounts of wealthy possessions and gave them shelter and became allies; soon Cortes sent samples of the treasures to the King to receive more funds and crew members to help the mining of the silver and gold that was plentiful in those

Cabeza de vaca had a purpose for taking sail in 1527. Cabeza de vaca wanted to establish settlements along the gulf coast. Cabeza de vaca's ship went off course so they had to build rafts and leave the ship after they left the ships a strong wind blew them out into the open sea. Some people say he landed in modern day galveston. Which he was healed captive as a slave for a tribe called charrucos, he was healed as a healer. Cabeza de vaca survived because of his respect for native americans, his success as a healer , and his wilderness skills/survival skills.

Hernan Cortes was born on 1485 in Medellin, Spain. Medellion was neighbored by Estramuda, which was known for the large amounts of conquistadors that hailed from there (Herrick 130). Estramuda and the surrounding towns were also known for being strong supporters of the estemadura shrine which was the original inspiration for the name Guadalupe. Hernan Cortes first landed on Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti) in 1504, he came with 600 men with the sole purpose of setting an establishing position in the Americas (Hamnett 59). There three

His foundation was a priest, nevertheless he had interest in political and social discussion ( New World). When he was first called upon to a parish, he brought along his ideas with him. Miguel Hidalgo was a normal commoner, passion for literature, learned several indigenous languages, wrote in Aztec, organized local communities, received a bachelor’s for theology in 1773 and, ordained in 1778 (New World). His earlier career was very uneventful only consisted of becoming a parish priest for the town of Dolores. That being said, his later years were his peak of his course, he will soon change the country’s beliefs for the next decade. Dolores, the town that his Cry occurred, was filled with parishioners for Miguel that agreed and supported him, even if called upon to fight with him. Miguel was not really a person the looked upon violence but did believe in certain occasions it will be needed. The beliefs of this individual were different at first, no one really knows when his ideas about the Spanish monarchy changed, but many assumed that it occurred when Ferdinand VII was thrown out of his throne and replaced by Bonaparte (New World). As a result, he became the leader for the development of rebelling from the new Spanish monarchy. Miguel became the main chief for the battles, and marchers even though he was not an military commander ,people trusted him. He marched for days,nights,weeks, and months as finally he battled for the Capital, Mexico City. His efforts were not strong enough and some say not wise. His leadership along side with Allende was enough for thousands of men agreed to fight for their liberty. When he was finally captured and executed, his accomplishments were seen by “All the city's dignitaries and officials” as a representation of the wave of the future.(New World). This

Juan Ponce De Leon was born in Santervas De Campos, Spain on 1460. Juan led a european expedition for gold and gave the state Florida its name, and went on to become the first governor of Puerto Rico. Let’s go back to his childhood, He was born in a poor but noble family, became a soldier and fought against the Moors in Granada. Ponce De Leon was known for his hard work, ambitiousness, and ruthlessness. He is also known for when he built a small financial empire that helped advance spanish colonization in the Caribbean.

A boy named “Juan,” has been a slave ever since he was a child. He is from African descent, but now lives in Spain with his mother. Early in the book, his mother soon dies, leaving Juan all by himself, since his father was not there to support him. Right now, he is owned by a wealthy Madrid women, due to the death of Juan’s mother. This does not last long, because soon she dies too from the plague. Juan has been lucky so far, because his masters were more generous than most.

Don Juan de Onate, wrote the letter after the expedition took place, the subject of the document included the travels to the new colony and the hardships that were endured. He described the culture, religion and living conditions of the indigenous people. Although gold was not found, other riches were to be had, such as furs, mines, foods to harvest and wildlife. Don Juan de Onate also told of his commitment to Spain and the

Trekking through the land of mosquitoes and cannibals for your country, crossing raging rivers, and living with Natives are all things that Cabeza De Vaca had to do to reach Mexico City. Cabeza was on a conquest to establish settlements along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico lead by the conquistador, Narvaez. Cabeza was one of the four that survived out of 300 men. How did Cabeza De Vaca survive? Cabeza survived because of his respect for the Indians, using his wilderness skills, and success as a healer.

Unhappy with the taxes and how his people were treated by Spain, Miguel Hidalgo Y Costilla made a strong speech and gained a large army. He took a stand against the Spanish and fought for the independence of his people. This ultimately led to Mexico’s independence and Hidalgo is remembered as a hero and a great founder of the