How Did Latin America After 1492

Shortly after 1492 when Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue, death ravaged the great empires and civilizations that the Aztecs and Incas built. Women, children, and the rich culture suffered at the hands of the Spaniards. Despite all of the destruction, it lead to what many call today, Latin America. However, not just one event created Latin America, it was a large collection of many. All of the events that happened after 1492 were due to a difference of knowledge, technology, and immunity between the Spanish and Natives. The events may have unfolded differently if it was not for the prior knowledge, previous conquests, advanced technology, war strategy, and immunity to smallpox that the Spanish held. The most important piece of what …show more content…
When the Aztecs surrounded Cortes and his men, they anticipated having the upper hand. Afterall, Cortes had under two hundred men, while they had thousands. However, when the battle began the cotton armor, bows and arrows, rocks, and javelins were futile against the metal armor, heavy metal swords, muskets, and canons. The Spaniards lost only two men, whereas the natives lost nearly eight hundred (2.). In another battle, a Franciscan missionary, Bernardino de Sahagun describes the accounts of native elders during a bloody festival. The Aztecs had invited the Spanish into their home to a ceremonial festival. Although completely unarmed, the Spanish proceeded to block the exits and, “they stabbed everyone with iron lances and struck them with iron swords” (4.). Even once the Aztecs gathered their weapons, their “barbed darts, spears, and tridents” (4.) were no match for the Spaniards technology. Due to the difference in weaponry, the Spaniards were nearly untouched while they demolished the indigenous …show more content…
After all, religion drove the majority of the conquest. For example, after capturing a native lord they, “told him as much as [they] could in the short time... about the Lord and about our Christian faith, all of which was new to him. The friar told him that, if he would only believe... he would go to Heaven there to enjoy glory and eternal rest, but that, if he would not, he would be consigned to Hell, where he would endure everlasting pain and torment” (1.). Nearly every step of the way religion or belief was a part of the great conquest. The intensity of belief that each culture held may have caused a clash of religions. In fact, when Atabaliba and Pizarro first met a priest explained to Atabaliba that, “I am a Priest of God, and I teach Christians the things of God, and in like manner I come to teach you. What I teach is that which God says to us in this Book. Therefore, on the part of God and of the Christians, I beseech you to be their friend, for such is God's will, and it will be for your good” (5.). The Spaniards full-heartedly believed that God’s will backed what they were doing and justified their actions. One could argue that perhaps without such strong faith in religions, the initial greetings may have been different and without “God’s will” they may have