First, the spread European diseases killed millions of Native Americans. Second, the Spanish were skilled soldiers and sailors and had superior weapons. Third, Spain made alliances with Native Americans who were enemies of the Aztecs and the Inca.
The massacre or enslavement of millions of Native Americans and the colonization of these lands for more than 300 years. It also meant these subjugated peoples had to adopt the language, religion and culture of their new conquerors.
There is a common misconception that Cortes alone annihilated the Aztecs with superior weaponry and a false belief that he was mistaken for the god Quetzalcoatl; the truth is the Aztecs knew he was a man, but he made an alliance with the Tlaxcalan nation, who were bitter enemies of the Aztecs and provided more than 100,000 warriors to help Cortes during his conquest. Also, when contact was made, inadvertently someone from Cortes' crew started an epidemic of smallpox that utterly ravaged the Aztec homeland; it is stated that from a population of 20 million in 1518, after 1521 there were only 2 million people living in Mexico. After such event, the Spanish found relatively easy to mow down the remaining Aztec forces.
It took them 2 years (1519 - 1521) to subdue Mexico into a colony. It remained like this for the following 300 years (1521 - 1821) until the Mexican War of Independence (1810 - 1821) came to an end.
They conquered Mexico. Immediate results included the slaughter of all native American civilizations and the annexation of Mexico as part of the Spanish Empire in 1521.
they were in search of gold
Yes. That's why they speak Spanish there.
No, because it was Pizarro, his cousin and fellow conquistador. Cortes was the Spanish conqueror of Mexico.
Peru: Francisco Pizarro. In Mexico: Hernan Cortes
Conquest.
Mexico and Peru, in that order.
Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th century.
Only Brazil; Mexico, Cuba and Peru were influenced by Spanish culture.
One of the Spanish conquerors of Mexico and Peru in the 16th Century
Peru and Mexico
In Mexico, the Aztec; in Peru, the Inca
The three largest Spanish-speaking countries by population are Mexico, Colombia, and Spain.
Brazil does not belong; it is a country where Portuguese is spoken (contrary to Peru, Cuba and Mexico, where Spanish is spoken).
By conquest , pillage and burn. Both Mexico and Peru were conquered by Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, respectively. Then, both countries remained as overseas colonies of the Spanish empire for more than 300 years.