Spanish Conquest of the Inca Empire
But today many civilizations of the new world have perished, 500 years ago, they were invaded by superior beings that were not from their own world. Those who made this invasion were the people of the old world who laughed at the question before…. NEW WORLD Towards the end of the 15th century, Renaissance Spain was witnessing major changes that would affect the next part of its history. The Iberian peninsula, feeling the pain with the judgments of the Inquisition, It achieved a political unity when the kingdoms of Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile were united.
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Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire |
The most important power that united the different kingdoms of Spain was the Reconquista. Reconquista, which means "Reconquest, Retrieval", It was a general name given to the activities of the Catholic Iberian Kingdoms to completely expel the Muslims from the peninsula. 700-year-old attempt to expel Muslims from Spain, united the kingdoms here under the roof of Catholicism and the united kingdoms of Spain took Granada in 1492 and completed the conquest movement again.
Spanish Conquest of the Americas
The society, which was newly shaped around these developments, embarked on new searches within the framework of the rising Spanish identity, militarism and deep Catholic loyalty. If we look at Europe in general, the continent had a backward economic system compared to the east during the Middle Ages.
Towards the end of the Middle Ages, that is, towards the 15th century, although Western Europeans attained a certain population density and economic level, the political structures in this continent, Especially countries such as Spain and Portugal were stuck at the very edge of the economic system of the known world, where the world ends, as can be seen on the map. Raw materials and wealth were in India, in China, in the east. The flow of the economy was from east to west.
The trade routes on this flow were in the hands of the Turks and other Muslim states. Westerners organized the Crusades in the 12th and 13th centuries in order to break this; They tried to establish trade colonies in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Black Sea. But these attempts did not bring final results. In other words, despite their progress, they could not get the share they wanted from the economic cycle. At this point, the Renaissance and, of course, the spread of knowledge came to their aid. Dozens of sailors and adventurers, in pursuit of the knowledge that the east of India would be reached as they went west from the ocean under their noses, sailed west with great hopes.
The Fall of the Aztec Empire
They had to somehow get to the east and get directly to the source of wealth. Then in 1492, Christopher Columbus, who was engaged in exploration activities on behalf of the monarchs of Spain, set foot on the islands in the Caribbean Sea. Columbus thought his destinations were part of India. But it was soon realized by Europeans that the lands they set foot on were not India but a hitherto unknown and unexplored continent. Now, the balances would change completely, the cards would be dealt again, and the history of mankind would drift into a completely different place...
The newly discovered lands aroused great excitement and joy among the Spaniards. Discovering new places one after another has increased the attraction of this place. Untouched lands, unlimited land to cultivate, hundreds of thousands of people who can be used as labor force, Unimaginable gold and precious stone, pagan communities to be Christianized were waiting for the people of the ancient world. This wealth made the mouths of the Hidalgos, the penniless nobles, thieves, brigands, vagrants, disgraced merchants, greedy soldiers and missionary priests, especially in Spain.
These groups, who flocked to the new continent in the name of the king and religion, set foot on the mysterious continent as "conquistadors", that is, the conquerors of the new world. “We are here to serve God and our ruler. But we also came for the riches here.” Of course, the first thing that the "conquistadors" who said "conquistadors" encountered were the local people of this place, that is, the owners of the continent. Native Americans were stunned when they encountered these people, whom they believed came from the sky. They did not know what to do, many of them could not even resist.
The people of the old continent were far superior to the natives. While the natives had chiseled sticks; The newcomers had rifles, metal armor and weapons, the horses they fought on, the germs to which the natives were not immune, and most importantly, the knowledge… The encounter of the people of these two different worlds turned into an invasion. The Spanish conquerors who realized that the communities they encountered were much weaker than their own; they began to slaughter the natives en masse, to scare them with unimaginable tortures and enslave them.
Spanish Conquest of the Aztec empire
This was legitimate for conquerors who sought gold and personal power. If you ask what made this legitimate for them, the only thing that justified the invasion and massacre was “it could be done!!”… Yes, although it is a very sad truth, these conquerors, who were "the calf-naked of the lands and seas", were doing all this simply because they could "do". Thousands of kilometers away from the known world, there was no authority, no court that could judge them for what they did, no power that could stop them.
Spanish Conquistadors
It should not be forgotten that human beings; While he is so far from control, morality, ethics and conscience in vast lands, he can turn into a murderer when he is alone with his humanity at a stage where he thinks that no one sees him. And that's what happened to the Spanish conquistadors. The cruelty of loneliness, combined with the greed for gold and power, created the worst possible scenario for the locals…Hernan Cortez and Montezuma Hernan Cortez, a Hidalgo, was just one of many Spaniards who burned with enthusiasm for discovery.
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