istoryworld
Events relating to america
The editor of a pamphlet proposes that the recently found continent should be named America after the explorer Amerigo Vespucci
Vasco Núñez de Balboa reaches the Pacific coast and claims the ocean for the king of Spain
The Spanish complete the conquest of Cuba and establish the town of Havana
Montezuma welcomes Hernan Cortes to his capital, Tenochtitlan, under the impression that he is the returning god-king Quetzalcoatl
The Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortes lands on the coast of Mexico with 600 men, 16 horses and about 20 guns
Cortes and his tiny force capture Montezuma, ruler of the mighty Aztec empire, in his palace at Tenochtitlan
Cortes loses control of Tenochtitlan and has to escape in haste with his men during 'the Sorrowful Night'
After a little more than a year Cortes recaptures Tenochtitlan and finally establishes Spanish control over Mexico
The Inca emperor, Huayna Capac, dies in an epidemic of a western disease, smallpox
Ruling respectively from Cuzco and Quito, Huáscar and Atahualpa compete for the empire of their father, Huayna Capac
The conquistadors, settling on land granted to them after the conquest, begin the long process of European emigration to America
Francisco Pizarro sails from Panama to attempt the conquest of Peru
Atahualpa defeats and kills his half-brother Huáscar, thus winning control of the entire Inca empire
The Aztec Virgin of Guadalupe appears to an Indian near Mexico City and tells him she is 'one of his kind'
Francisco Pizarro leads 168 men, with about 30 horses, into the territory of the Inca empire
Pizarro and his tiny force ambush and massacre the Inca court in Cajamarca, capturing Atahualpa himself alive
Atahualpa agrees to buy his freedom from the Spaniards with a room full of gold and another of silver
Although the ransom has been paid, Atahualpa is executed by the Spaniards — who ensure that he dies a Christian
The Spanish conquistadors capture and sack the Inca capital of Cuzco, high in the Andes
French explorer Jacques Cartier charts the Gulf of St Lawrence and, in 1525, explores up the river as far as Montreal
Cartier, welcomed by the Huron Indians, gives their island in the St Lawrence river the name of Montreal
Manco Inca begins a siege of the Spaniards in Cuzco that lasts for a year
With the end of the siege of Cuzco, and the flight of Manco Inca, the Spanish have full control of Peru
Francisco Vasquez de Coronado penetrates far north and west of Texas in an expedition searching for gold
New Laws are passed in Spain, in an attempt to protect the Indians on the encomiendas of Spanish America
