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Difficulty: EasyEuropean Exploration and Spanish Conquest

"They told us that in the interior there were many people and much gold and silver, and that we would find there more wealth than we could imagine..."

— Álvar Núñez Cabeza de Vaca, Spanish explorer, *La Relación*, 1542

Which of the following Spanish goals in the New World is most directly reflected in Cabeza de Vaca's account?

  1. The desire to locate valuable mineral resources and extract wealthAnswer
  2. B
    The intention to establish trade relations with a culturally uniform indigenous population
  3. C
    The plan to distribute direct ownership of American lands to settlers through the encomienda system
  4. D
    The effort to import crops such as maize and potatoes from Europe to plant in the Americas

Answer

The desire to locate valuable mineral resources and extract wealth
The correct answer is correct because the Spanish explorer's reference to searching for 'gold and silver' and finding 'wealth' directly reflects the economic motivations that drove Spanish colonization in the Americas.

Step-by-Step Solution

1
Analyze the stimulus excerpt
The excerpt explicitly highlights the search for 'gold and silver' and the pursuit of 'wealth'.
Identifying key details in primary sources helps determine the historical motivations of the author.
2
Connect the excerpt's details to broader historical trends
The pursuit of precious metals was a central economic motivation for early Spanish exploration and conquest.
Connecting specific details to general trends allows for correct conceptual categorization.

Key Concept

Motivations for Spanish exploration and conquest in the Americas
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Topics

European Exploration and Spanish Conquest

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