Unit Summary Question

The discovery of the Americas and the exploitation and eventual demise of the Natives was caused by the Spanish ambition to gain riches in the non-European lands. The main motivation of the European nations to venture outside of the European world was greed. There had been a great deal of explorers that reached India and returned with great riches. These riches are what first motivated the power hungry nations of Europe. Specifically, one of the people that caused the fascination with the riches of the non-European world was Marco Polo, he voyaged to China and spread stories of its valuable goods, such as silk and pearls. After Victor de Gama discovered a route to India in 1498, Spain wanted to find an alternate route because of its rivalry with nations such as Portugal. India intrigued many European nations because of all of its alleged wealth in spices as well as jewels. These wide spread stories of wealth there, and the inability to sail on the known route to India lead the Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella, to give Columbus three ships in order to find a new trade route to India. Once the Americas were "discovered" greed motivated the conquistadores to exploit the natives. One example is Cortes with the Aztec people. Cortes took 600 Cuban volunteers and conquered the Aztec capital city of Temotchtitclan. Cortes was inspired to go on this expedition by his own personal greed and want of more power and wealth. By conquering the Aztecs Cortes lead to their demise, mostly due to epidemics such as small pox. Cortes and other Spanish conquistadores paved the way for many other nations to spread their power over to the Americas, soon Spain would no longer be the dominant nation there. This shows how the Spanish paved the way for other nations to exploit the natives, leading to their eventual downfall.