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In 1451 Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy.  He had three brothers and one sister. As a child Columbus worked at his father's cheese stand. He began to explore very early in his life. As a child he would travel around Europe.

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Columbus was asking all around Europe for somebody to fund his voyage. He talked to the leaders of Portugal, Venice and England but they all turned him down. It wasn't until he asked King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella in 1492 that he got the money to fund his trip. The contract said that they would get 90% of everything that he found and he would get the remaining 10%. He could not find anything in the Bahamas and was not able to pay them back.

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Columbus sailed to America in 1492 hoping to find an easier path to the Indies. He new about the gold and  valuable spices and he wanted them for more money. He traveled around the world because of dangerous oceans and accidentally landed in the Bahamas and thought it was the Indies. He spent his time exploring the Bahamas and found many new things that he brought back to Europe.

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Christoper Columbus died in 1506. He probably still thought that he had reached the Indies when he died. He can be remembered for connecting the Americas with Europe and populating America. People have very different views on Columbus. Some people think that he is a hero and some think he is a villain but there is no denying his amazing achievements as an explorer and how he inspired others to do the same.

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Francisco Pizarro was born in 1474 in Trujillo, Spain. He lived on the island of Hispaniola for many years as a colonist. His early life was miserable due to the fact that his parents never got married so he lived with his grandparents. He worked as a pig herder for many years. Although he faced many challenges when he was young, he was ambitious and sought to improve his life.

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Hernando Cortes was born in 1458 in Medellin, Spain. He joined an expedition to Cuba in 1511 at the age of 19. Years later in 1519 Cortes was supposed to lead an expedition to Mexico but it was cancelled Diego Velazquez. He ignored the orders and went to Mexico with 500 men and 11 ships.

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Cortes had heard of all of the riches in the Aztec empire. He had heard the the Aztecs were wealthy and more advanced than any other European nation was at the time. Cortes was also the leader of other civilizations at the time and wanted even more power. Many people in the European nation were Christians at the time and he wanted to covert Christianity. Cortes knew that he would gain public fame from conquering the Aztecs.

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Cortes conquered the Aztecs in 1521. He only had 500 men but the Aztecs had many so it was very surprising that he was able to defeat the Aztecs. The first reason is that the Spanish had guns, horses and steel weapons and armor. This gave them a huge advantage because the Aztecs have never seen guns, horses and steel swords and armor. As a result the Aztecs were frightened and did not dare to go near the Spanish. In addition the Aztecs were able to quickly over power the Spanish but one of the Spanish men had smallpox form an earlier war. When the Aztecs looted the body they too caught the disease.The Aztecs didn't know how to cure smallpox, which caused smallpox to spread, Killing 25% of the empire.The Aztec chain of command was in ruins. The emperor, Cuitl'ahuac, died of smallpox and there was no order. At first the Aztecs didn't fight back because they thought that Cortes and his men were ancient legends that spoke of white-bearded gods.

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Pizarro heard of the many riches in the new world which motivated him to set sail. His first expedition was in 1524 but failed. It wasn't until 1526 did he reach the boarder of the Inca empire where he realized the rumors of gold were true but was forced to turn back. When he asked for the funding to go the third time he as turned down as the governor of Panama lost faith in him. Luckily he was able to convince the King of Spain to fund his trip.

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Pizarro finally arrived in South America in 1532 where he established his first Spanish settlement. Pizarro only a few hundred men while the Incas had thousands but the Incas had been weakened from internal battles. The leader of the Incas had just died and there was a civil war going on between the two brothers, Atahualpa and Huascar. Atahualpa won and when heard the news of Pizarro he wasn't worried. This allowed Pizarro to get into the heart of the Inca army. In addition many of the Inca army had been killed due to smallpox diseases that the Spanish had brought over and Pizarro had more advanced weapons. Pizarro also had a strategy. Pizarro had read a book on Cortes about how he defeated the Aztecs by kidnapping the leader. He knew if there was no leader, there was no order so he kidnapped there leader. Pizarro had many advantages when fighting the Incas and as a result he won.

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Francisco Pizarro died in 1541. To some he is a hero for conquering the Incas but to others in Peru he is a monster, murdering and enslaving people. In downtown Lima there is a statue of him and some streets and businesses are named after him. Although he was a murderer it is difficult to not show admiration to him for he took down one of the world's largest civilizations.

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On December 2, 1547 Hernando Cortes Died at the age of 62. Cortes is seen as a villain in Mexico for killing the natives and enslaving them. However, in Spain he is admired for his great achievements. He has inspired others to come to the new world which led to further depopulation of the natives.

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Hernán Cortés Biography 1484 - 1547 http://www.cloudbiography.com Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro was a Spanish Conquistador born in Medellin, Castile who led an expedition to the Americas. Hernán Cortés' expeditions brought an end to the Aztec Empire in mainland Mexico by bringing the region under the rule of the King of Castile in early 16th Century.