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Compare And Contrast The Spanish Conquistador Hernan Cortes

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The foundations of the discourse of the other were formulated alongside two independent Spanish expeditions of the New World. In 1492, Christopher Columbus not only sailed the ocean blue, but he also went about initiating the embryonic stages of the discourse of the other through his encounters with the Taino Indians. A little under thirty years later, Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes would be responsible for the downfall of the Aztec civilization and with it, Cortes would add new dimensions to the otherness of the indigenes of the New World. Both expeditions created a new mode of contextualizing the encounters between the New World and the Old World. This new mode of contextualization is the discourse of the other and was born through a …show more content…

There is a scene that depicts the Spanish encountering a burning indigenes village which they promptly raid for resources such as food. At one point during the raid, the Spanish stumble upon the remains of a conquistador and find his skull in a nearby pot, to which they quickly assume that the Indians who had inhabited this village were cannibals. The Spanish then fled the village upon sight of this skull. The Spanish did not hesitate in employing the trope of cannibalism upon seeing the dead conquistador, which is an obvious nod to the same theory of indigenes cannibalism that Columbus employed to the extent that it became a term not only associated with the indigenes but rather a defining term of the indigenes. Similar again to Columbus’ experience, the notion of natives of this village being cannibals is quite unlikely considering the one resource the village had that the Spanish coveted, that of stockpiles of food. Thus, in an expedition that consists of the competing and often interchangeable narratives of Gold of God, there is the apocryphal rhetoric of the indigene’s cannibalism that seems to be as pivotal as gold in holding together the discourse of the

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Even though Columbus and Cortés share the same intention of the letter, the tone and the style of the letter is disparate. Cortés illustrates in detail, exclusively by presenting his military and leadership side, to persuade the king to let Cortés stay alive. On the other side, Columbus 's goal of the letter was to inform Santangel that this was a great investment, but also longs more fund for the future. If Columbus did not write his letter in his way, the benefactor would not have financed him for his next voyage. Both of the authors are seeking frantically to advance it to the next voyage whether if it by surviving from severe consequences or by getting the fund.

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453 Words | 2 Pages

Preston Lipscomb 5/22/17 Hernan Cortes Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conqueror. He was born in 1485 in Medellin, Spain. He died on December 2, 1547. He invaded Mexico in 1519, and he conquered the Aztec Empire in 1521. His parents’ names were Martin Cortez and Catalina Pizarro Altamirano.

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Q1: A. According to Las Casas, the Spaniards had one influence that encouraged such acts of cruelty and that was greed. The Spaniards wanted gold. As much gold as they could get their hands on. Las Casas stated that by becoming rich so fast, the Spaniards hoped that this would lead to a “rise to a high estate disproportionate to their merits” (3).

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271 Words | 2 Pages

The Spanish and American War: The war began in 1898. There was conflict between Spain and the United States. The war started when Cuba wanted to become an independent country and did not want to be ruled by Spain no more. The Cubans rebelled against Spain and Spain tried to stop the rebellion as fast as they could. The United States got into the when the USS Maine was unexplainably sunk down into the ocean.

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636 Words | 3 Pages

1. There were many reasons that had contributed to why the Anglos and few Hispanics made the courageous decision to go to war against Santa Anna. Some believed that it was economical. The cotton boom and the success of it was present with the Anglos presented an issue to the leader as a growing threat of entrepreneurship. Someone with more money could grow a strong army and potentially overthrow the crown.

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966 Words | 4 Pages

In order to understand why the Crown preferred the encomienda over alternatives we need to date back and clearly understand the system and the differences from other force labors such as slavery. Hernan Cortes was a Spanish conquistador who overthrew the Aztec empire and won Mexico for the Crown of Spain (1519-1521). After the victory, the soldiers demanded what they had come for: prestige and wealth. Cortes needed a way to provide for his men. As the Spaniards conquered the New World they resorted to form a native organization called the encomienda.

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Miguel Hidalgo When people think of an epic hero, do they think of an epic hero as being only a story-base character or can they be real people? Miguel Hidalgo certainly fits the epic hero exemplar. He has strong enough qualities that can support an answer stating that, real people are able to represent an epic hero. Most people define an epic hero as “brave and noble character in an epic poem, admired for great achievements or affected by grand

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“Columbus, the Indians, and Human Progress”, chapter one of “A People’s History of the United States”, written by professor and historian Howard Zinn, concentrates on a different perspective of major events in American history. It begins with the native Bahamian tribe of Arawaks welcoming the Spanish to their shores with gifts and kindness, only then for the reader to be disturbed by a log from Columbus himself – “They willingly traded everything they owned… They would make fine servants… With fifty men we could subjugate them all and make them do whatever we want.” (Zinn pg.1) In the work, Zinn continues explaining the unnecessary evils Columbus and his men committed unto the unsuspecting natives.

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Before the Spanish ship that changed it all, which arrived in the “New World” in 1492, thriving organized communities of native people had centuries of history on the land. That ship, skippered by Christopher Columbus, altered the course of both Native American and European history. 1492 sparked the fire of cultural diffusion in the New World which profoundly impacted the Native American peoples and the European settlers. Prior to European contact, Native Americans lived as hunter-gatherers, living and traveling in groups of typically less than 300 people. These Native Americans spoke over 400 languages and practiced a myriad of different religions (The American Pageant).

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Although I agree with some points of the Federalists, I mainly find the Antifederalists’ arguments more persuasive. Regarding the view of ‘The People,’ the Federalists believe that having an authority figure make decisions instead of the mass is more efficient. However, with access to education, people are educated to understand and develop their own choices instead of relying on one person to make the decisions for them. One example are the people voting in the presidential elections. The people choose who they want as the president of the country.

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In 1492 Christopher Columbus sailed the ocean blue. We all know this catchy tune right? But what we don’t know, is what Columbus thought when he arrived in the North America or what he though of the Native Americans he met. In fact, we don’t know much about all the explorers after Columbus and what they thought. Each explore had their own view of the Native Americans, and three great examples are Columbus, Juan Ginés de Sepúlveda and Bartolomé de Las Casas

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Furthermore, the superego is reinforced with the highly regulated cannibalistic acts after the value judgement system is constituted in the Bimin-Kuskusmin’s ideology, as a result of the emergence of two different psychological feelings, pride and guilt, both of which have been put great emphasis by Freud when interpreting human behaviors. Similar to the Korowai witch execution, the Bimin-Kuskusmin cannibalism processes its own cultural logic and follows the clan regulation rigorously. They regard the people who conducts cannibalism without observing rules just for satisfying his or her own brutal appetite for human flesh as uncivilized “animal man” (Sanday 87). They regard themselves as “true men” in contrast to “animal men” (Sanday 87). At

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1187 Words | 5 Pages

In the 16th Century, Spain became one of the European forces to reckon with. To expand even further globally, Spanish conquistadors were sent abroad to discover lands, riches, and North America and its civilizations. When the Spanish and Native American groups met one another, they judged each other, as they were both unfamiliar with the people that stood before them. The Native American and Spanish views and opinions of one another are more similar than different because when meeting and getting to know each other, neither the Spaniards nor the Native Americans saw the other group of people as human. Both groups of people thought of one another as barbaric monsters and were confused and amazed by each other’s cultures.

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957 Words | 4 Pages

Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes were both famous Spanish adventurers during the Age of Exploration. When the explorers came upon land, they encountered two different cultures. In 1492, Columbus encountered the Taino people, and in 1520, Cortes encountered the Aztecs. The two cultures that the men encountered were different in more ways than they were similar in regards to how the natives treated the men, what weapons they had and their war-like behavior, their technologically advancements, their housing and architectural structures, and even their religion.

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975 Words | 4 Pages

Individuals tend to think of a “hero” as a kind person, someone who saves the entire population from a dreadful misery. Hernan Cortes, a Spanish soldier and conquistador, is a hero (in the minds of some) for acting courageously and enhancing Spain’s economy with the gold taken from the Aztecs. But as glorious as he may seem, he also killed many Mexican Natives and Aztecs and caused many unnecessary battles and disruptions for them. Aside from disease, Cortes also majorly disrupted the Aztec culture and religion  by converting many to Catholicism. Depending on what facts were taken into consideration throughout his life, he could be seen as a hero, or a villain.

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