Cortés captures Tenochtitlan and massacres the population.
1519
Cortés and Spanish conquistadores arrive at Tenochtitlan.
1510 1512 Michelangelo
finishes painting the Sistine Chapel in Rome.
1515 1517
Luther nails his 95 Theses on the door of Wittenberg Church in Germany.
1520 1525 1530 1536
Henry VIII has Anne Boleyn beheaded in England.
1535 1541
Pizarro is murdered by his own men
1540 1530
Francisco Pizarro arrives at Cajamarca and meets the Inca leader Atahualpa.
Atahualpa is strangled to death by Pizarro who then takes control of the Inca capital of Cuzco.
4
At the consecration of the Great Pyramid of Tenochtitlan in 1487, 84,000 people were sacrificed to the gods worshipped by the native population in just four days!
5
After the first Spanish arrived in the Caribbean, the population of the native Taíno people fell from 500,000 in 1493 to 2,000 in 1515 (just over two decades) because of Spanish violence and European diseases.
1493 1515
CONSIDER THIS When you have completed this chapter, discuss the following points with your partner, in small groups or with your class. 1. Consider the reasons why the Europeans wanted to expand their empires. 2. How would you feel if you were a European soldier or adventurer? How would you feel if you were from the native Aztec or Inca population?
3. What role did religion play in the exploration of the New World? 4. Do you think the benefits of the exploration of the New World outweigh the costs?
My Portfolio See Sources & Activity Book pages 71 – 81 for linked activities.