These terms and questions will guide students as they read ?Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest.? Filling in the chronological list of dates will enable students to understand the order in which events unfolded in Spain and in America, and answering the questions will encourage students to think critically about the readings in the chapter.

Worksheet -- Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest

As you read the article Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest write a phrase for each of the following dates that will help you understand the chronology of the Spanish involvement. You will notice that these dates do not necessarily appear in this order in the article.

  • 4th century BCE
  • 700s
  • 1300
  • 1479
  • 1488
  • 1491
  • 1492
  • 1492
  • 1497
  • 1519
  • 1530
  • 1542
  • 1550
  • 1600s

The following vocabulary terms may be new to you. You will have heard of some before, but you may not recognize their significance in the events before and after Spanish exploration. As you write a phrase for each of these, think about why each word or phrase is important in understanding this chapter.

  • Iberian Peninsula
  • Aragon
  • Portugal
  • Castile
  • Berber
  • Moors
  • Granada
  • Reconquista
  • Ferdinand II of Aragon
  • Isabella of Castile
  • al-Andalus
  • Crusades
  • Prince Henry ?the Navigator?
  • Bartholomeu Dias
  • Cape of Good Hope
  • Vasco da Gama
  • Genoa
  • East Indies
  • Columbian Exchange
  • Hispa¤ola
  • Hernan Cortes
  • Conquistadores
  • Aztec
  • Moctezuma
  • Tenochtitlan
  • Quetzalcoatl
  • Inca
  • Francisco Pizarro
  • Atahualpa
  • Huitzilopochtli
  • Bartoleme de Las Casas

"The Reconquista and the origins of Spain"

  1. What were the three kingdoms that were located on the Iberian peninsula?
  2. What three religious groups were involved in what is called the Reconquista?
  3. What was the result of the Reconquista?
  4. How did the Reconquista affect the Spanish views about themselves and those they conquered?

"Into the 'New World'"

  1. How did the Europeans and East Asians know about each other?
  2. Why were the goods from East Asia so expensive?
  3. Why did Spain agree to finance Columbus when so many other European countries had turned him down?
  4. Why did the plants and animals in the Western hemisphere evolve so differently from those in the Eastern hemisphere?

"Conquest by Sword and Germs"

  1. Why is the term ?Indians? an example of the confusion of Columbus?
  2. What does Columbus? journal entry tell you about him?
  3. How did disease have an impact on what would become the institution of African slavery in the New World?
  4. Extra thinking: In 1519, Hernan Cortez brought horses to the New World. In what ways, positive and negative, did that event change the lives of Indians?
  5. How did the Aztec fear that Cortez might be a god affect the Spanish conquest?

"Blood and Gold"

As you read the next section, "Blood and Gold," you will learn about some even more disturbing aspects of the conquest.

  1. What practice in Tenochtitlan did Cortes and his men find disturbing?
  2. Why did the Aztecs practice this?
  3. How did the Spanish force the Aztecs to convert to Christianity?

The next part of this section comes from a primary source or eyewitness account. Please consider and answer the following basic questions as you read.

  1. Who wrote it?
  2. How did de Las Casas get his information?
  3. Was he in a position to have witnessed the events?
  4. How do you know?
  5. When was it written?
  6. Where was it written?
  7. Why do you think de Las Casas wrote this?

Now, answer the following specific questions about the account:

  1. Who are the sheep that de Las Casas writes about?
  2. Why do you think de Las Casas referred to them as sheep?
  3. What is the contrast that is made with the Spaniah?
  4. How many Indians does de Las Casas estimate have been killed in both the mainland and the islands?
  5. What reasons does he give for the killing?
  6. De Las Casas describes many atrocities that were perpetrated by the Spanish. Why do you think he was so graphic in his descriptions of the events?
  7. Did the writing of de Las Casas have any effect on what was happening?

Worksheet: Teacher's guide

As you read the article Spain and America: From Reconquest to Conquest write a phrase for each of the following dates that will help you understand the chronology of the Spanish involvement. You will notice that these dates do not necessarily appear in this order in the article.

4th century BCE
Alexander the Great?s empire connected Greece and India
700s
Moors, Berber Muslims from North Africa, had conquered most of the Iberian Peninsula
1300
Muslims controlled only Granada, a very small area in the south of Spain
1479
King Ferdinand II of Aragon and Queen Isabella of Castile married
1488
Bartolomeu Dias sailed all the way around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, proving that there was an ocean route around the continent
1491
The year before the Old World became aware (or perhaps re-aware) of the New World
1492
Reconquest of Spain was finished, Moors and Jews had been expelled from Spain
1492
The first voyage of Columbus who sailed for Spain and landed in the New World instead of Asia
1497
Vasco da Gama followed Dias? route, then sailed north and east to India -- opening up the riches of Asia to Portugal
1519
Hern n Cort‚s arrived in Mexico from Cuba
1530
Francisco Pizarro landed in Peru
1542
Bartoleme de Las Casas wrote about the treatment of the Indians by the Spanish
1550
Spain controlled a good deal of North and South America and was a major force in Europe
1600s
Spain was the most powerful country in Europe

The following vocabulary terms may be new to you. Some you will have heard of before, but may not recognize their significance in the events before and after Spanish exploration. As you write a phrase for each of these, think about why each word or phrase is important in understanding this chapter.

Iberian Peninsula
A peninsula in Europe that holds the countries of Spain and Portugal, two of the most powerful countries in the Age of Exploration
Aragon
A small kingdom in the Iberian Peninsula that bordered France and the Mediterranean in the 1400s
Portugal
A kingdom on the Iberian Peninsula bordering the Atlantic Ocean
Castile
A large rural kingdom in the middle of the Iberian Peninsula in the 1400s
Berbers
Muslims, called Moors, from Northern Africa who had invaded the Iberian Peninsula in the 700s
Moors
Berber Muslims
Granada
A small region in Spain that was the only area controlled by the Moors by 1300
Reconquista
Spanish term that denotes the Christian kingdoms retaking the Iberian Peninsula from the Moors during the time between 700 and 1492
Ferdinand II of Aragon
Became the King of Spain when he married Isabella of Castile, uniting their kingdoms
Isabella of Castile
Became the Queen of Spain when she married Ferdinand II of Aragon, uniting their kingdoms
al-Andalus
Arabic word for Muslim-controlled Iberia
Crusades
Religious wars that brought Europeans into contact with goods from the East
Prince Henry ?the Navigator?
The Portuguese leader who encouraged exploration in the 1400s
Bartholomeu Dias
Sailed around the southern tip of Africa, the Cape of Good Hope, in 1488
Cape of Good Hope
The southern tip of Africa
Vasco da Gama
Sailed around the southern tip of Africa to India in 1497
Genoa
Independent city-state in northern Italy, birthplace of Columbus
East Indies
The islands of southeast Asia, including Indonesia
Columbian Exchange
The exchange of crops, people, animals, ideas, and diseases between the Old World and the New World after the Columbus voyage
Hispa¤ola
Present-day Haiti and the Dominican Republic
Hernan Cortes
Conqueror of the Aztecs in Mexico in 1519
Conquistadores
Spanish term for the Spanish conquerors
Aztec
Powerful indigenous culture of Mexico and Central America that was conquered by Cortez in 1519
Moctezuma
Leader of the Aztecs
Tenochtitlan
Capital city of the Aztecs
Quetzalcoatl
A fair-skinned Aztec god who was prophesied would return from the east. The Aztecs may have believed that Cortes was this god
Inca
Indigenous people of South America, particularly in the area of Peru, who were conquered by Pizarro in 1530
Francisco Pizarro
Spaniard who, with his small army, conquered the Inca in 1530
Atahualpa
Incan leader who was captured by Pizarro
Huitzilopochtli
Aztec god to whom human sacrifices were dedicated
Bartoleme de Las Casas
Spanish priest who wrote of the Spanish cruelty to the native people of Mexico and the Caribbean in the early 1500s

"The Reconquista and the origins of Spain"

  1. What were the three kingdoms that were located on the Iberian peninsula? Castile, Portugal, Aragon
  2. What three religious groups were involved in what is called the Reconquista? Muslims, Christians, Jews
  3. What was the result of the ReconquistaThe Muslims and Jews were forced to convert to Christianity or leave the Iberian Peninsula

Citation

"Reading guide: Spain and America." NCpedia. Accessed on December 21st, 2024. https://ncpedia.org/anchor/reading-guide-spain-and.