The big idea: In just over thirty years small Spanish forces toppled two of the largest empires in the Americas.
Hernán Cortés brought down the Aztecs of Mexico by 1521, and Francisco Pizarro overthrew the Incas of Peru by 1533. They came for three things: gold, God and glory.
You need to picture the world these men came from. Spain in 1519 had just finished the Reconquista, and thousands of soldiers were looking for a new war and new riches.
The same year Columbus reached the Caribbean, 1492, Spain became hungry for land, wealth and Christian converts across the ocean.
The men who sailed west were not royal armies. They were mostly private adventurers called conquistadors, who funded their own expeditions and expected to be paid in gold and land.
Because they risked their own money, they were desperate to find treasure and would take huge gambles to get it.
Spot it: three motives (Gold, God, Glory): Gold (wealth) · God (spreading Christianity) · Glory (fame and status). Almost every motive fits one of these three — plus the opportunity created by weaknesses inside the empires themselves.
Omens, Quetzalcoatl and Moctezuma's hesitation
So far you have the Spanish side of "opportunity" — steel, horses and disease. But Spanish and Aztec chronicles written after the conquest also describe something harder to weigh: a set of omens said to have troubled Moctezuma II in the years before Cortés arrived, and a belief that the newcomers might be connected to the god Quetzalcoatl.
The Quetzalcoatl / returning-god story: According to accounts recorded after 1521, Aztec priests reported a run of bad omens in the decade before Cortés landed — comets, a temple burning, strange voices at night. Some later sources claim Moctezuma feared Cortés might be Quetzalcoatl, or his emissary, returning from the east as legend foretold.
If Moctezuma believed this even partly, it could explain why he sent gifts instead of attacking immediately, and why he let Cortés march all the way to Tenochtitlán in 1519 rather than blocking him on the coast.
Why historians argue about this: Treat the omens story with care — it is a debated factor, not a settled fact.
The main accounts come from after the conquest (for example the Florentine Codex, compiled decades later under Spanish supervision), so some historians argue the "returning god" idea was invented afterwards to explain the Aztec defeat, or shaped to fit Spanish expectations of a superstitious enemy.
Others argue the omens reflect a real mood of anxiety and uncertainty in Tenochtitlán, whatever their exact religious meaning, and that this hesitation was a genuine part of the context that made the conquest possible — alongside weapons, allies and disease, not instead of them.
- Quetzalcoatl — feathered-serpent god linked in legend to a promised return from the east; some post-conquest sources link Cortés's arrival to this myth
- Omens — comets, fires and other signs Aztec priests reportedly reported to Moctezuma before 1519, read as warnings of disaster
- Moctezuma's hesitation — his cautious, gift-giving response to Cortés, which some link to religious uncertainty rather than simple miscalculation
- Historians' debate — later, Spanish-supervised sources make the omens story hard to verify, so its real weight in explaining the conquest is contested
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To understand the conquest you have to separate two things. The motives are why the Spanish wanted to invade, and the context is what made it possible for so few men to win.
Both matter, because ambition alone would have failed without the weaknesses the Spanish found waiting in the Americas.
Gold — the hunger for wealth
The strongest motive was treasure. Spain wanted gold and silver, and individual conquistadors expected to grow rich from what they seized.
The encomienda system also let leaders reward followers with the labour of conquered peoples, so the promise of land and workers pulled men across the ocean.
God — spreading Christianity
The Spanish crown and church saw conquest as a holy mission to convert local people to Catholic Christianity. This grew directly out of the Reconquista, when fighting non-Christians was seen as God's work.
Missionaries travelled with the armies, and belief in a religious duty helped the Spanish justify the violence they used.
Glory — fame, status and rivalry
Many conquistadors were from poor or minor noble families and wanted to rise in the world. Conquest offered titles, honour and a place in history.
Cortés and Pizarro were also rivals for fame, and Pizarro was inspired to seek his own empire after hearing of Cortés's success in Mexico.
The context that made it possible: Motives explain the wanting; context explains the winning. The Spanish had steel swords, guns, cannon and horses the Americans had never faced. They found local allies who hated their rulers, such as the Tlaxcalans, who joined Cortés against the Aztecs.
Most deadly of all was disease: smallpox swept through Mexico in 1520 and killed huge numbers, including the Aztec ruler Cuitláhuac.
Motives (why the Spanish invaded)
- Gold — the drive for treasure, silver and personal riches
- God — a religious mission to convert people to Christianity
- Glory — the hunger for fame, noble titles and status
- The encomienda system, which rewarded conquerors with land and labour
Context (why so few men won)
- Superior weapons — steel, gunpowder, cannon and horses
- Local allies such as the Tlaxcalans, who resented Aztec rule
- Smallpox and other diseases that devastated native populations
- Internal weakness — the Incas were recovering from a bitter civil war
| Year | Event | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| 1492 | Reconquista ends; Columbus reaches the Americas | Spain gains a warlike, Christian, expansionist outlook |
| 1519 | Cortés lands in Mexico and reaches Tenochtitlán | Contact with the Aztec Empire and its ruler Moctezuma II |
| 1521 | Fall of Tenochtitlán | The Aztec Empire collapses under Spanish and allied attack |
| 1532 | Pizarro captures Atahualpa at Cajamarca | The Inca ruler is seized just after a civil war |
| 1533 | Execution of Atahualpa; Spanish take Cuzco | The Inca Empire falls under Spanish control |
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How this is tested (Paper 1): Paper 1 is source-based, but you also use your own knowledge. The motives and context of the conquest are exactly what you draw on for the 9-mark judgement question.
The classic task asks you to judge which reason mattered most, so don't just list motives — weigh them against each other.
'The desire for gold was the main reason for the Spanish conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires.' Using your own knowledge, evaluate this claim.
Model answer plan
See the mark-by-mark plan — for / against / judgement, with marking guidance — in study mode.
Common mistakes: Don't just describe the conquest by narrating Cortés or Pizarro — marks are for explaining reasons and reaching a judgement. And always separate the motives (why they invaded) from the context (why they won).