Original Promptcreate am instructional resource for this content SSWH10a — Explain the roles of explorers and conquistadors.
ESSENTIAL IDEA: European sponsors and explorers sought routes and trade, while conquistadors helped establish colonial control over American lands and peoples.
Why Europeans sought sea routes
By the 1400s, European merchants and rulers wanted greater access to Asian spices and other valuable goods. Trade already connected Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Europe, but European buyers oft...
This learning resource explores the motives and impacts of European explorers and conquistadors during the age of exploration. It addresses the desire for wealth, the spread of Christianity, and national glory as primary motivations behind exploration. It highlights key figures such as Prince Henry of Portugal, Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco da Gama, Christopher Columbus, and Spanish conquistadors like Hernán Cortés and Francisco Pizarro. The document discusses the transition from trade exploration to conquest, detailing how alliances with indigenous people, the impact of epidemic diseases, and forced labor systems contributed to the downfall of major empires like the Aztecs and Incas. Students are encouraged to analyze and compare the roles and consequences of these historical figures in relation to global trade and indigenous cultures.