In this week’s reading, “Spanish Conquest” by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloe Sayer discuss the subjugation, ethnocide, and struggle the indigenous population of Mexico endured during the Spanish conquest. The Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortez, enslave and forced the Aztecs to believe that Christianity was the one true religion. Therefore, the indigenous people were forced to convert their faith through the Spanish missionaries to lose their indigenous roots. Later, the authors explain the many difficulties and conflicts Spanish priest underwent to teach the Christian faith to the Aztecs. The Spanish friar first taught the indigenous people Christianity in Nahuatl.
In the early 1500s CE, the Aztec Empire stretched from the Pacific Ocean to the coast of the Gulf of Mexico. All of central Mexico was ruled from the capital city of Tenochtitlán. Moctezuma Xocoyotl or Montezuma II, the king we know today as Montezuma, came to power in 1502. He ruled over a vast empire. Over 15 million people in 38 provinces paid tribute to the new ruler in Tenochtitlán.
The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.
The sacrifice and flaying of the Culhua Princess provoked a ferocious battle, which the Mexica lost. After they exiled out of Chapultepec, according to Mexica myth, the Aztecs wandered for weeks, months, and years searching for a place to settle. The Aztecs, guided by a priest’s dreams of a god; Huitzilopochtli who appeared to the Mexica leader and who instructed him to settle where they found an eagle perched on a prickly pear cactus killing and eating a snake. After 26 years, this place was found in the middle of a marsh with no ground-rock at all. It was where the Mexica founded their capital city, Tenochtitlán in the year 2
The culture of both the Aztecs and Spaniards have similarities, as many different groups of people do. A main theme that was insinuated between both accounts into the culture of the two groups was respect of authority. “When Motecuhzoma had given necklaces to each one, …” “Then he stood up to welcome Cortes; he came forward, bowed his head low …” (Broken Spears 608).
While many worldviews exist, The fall of the Aztec empire was unavoidable. The Aztec’s were a group of people who were very religious and lived in Mexico for hundreds of years but one day a group of Spanish people arrived and executed all of the Aztec people. Many of them died from diseases the spanish brought with them like small pox. The others were killed by the spanish and some were taken to spain as slaves. This was led by an explorer named Hernan Cortes.
The Mask of Xiuhtecuhtli Within the history of the Aztec tribe of Mexico lies many beautiful, yet revealing artifacts. The Aztecs of Mexico began as nomads, constantly moving as resources moved. The Aztecs then drove themselves into Mexico, ending their nomadic way of life in the early thirteenth century. The Aztecs grew a very successful way of living in their new capital city, Tenochtilán. Just a hundred years later, the Aztecs grew to be an empire, expanding their ideas throughout much of Mexico, and with ideas came many diverse artifacts.
Each of these ages had a different Aztec sun god and each also ended in disaster. Tezcatlipoca was the first god to be a sun. The god of the night, Tezcatlipoca was an enemy of Quetzalcoatl. Quetzalcoatl knocked down Tezcatlipoca from the sky and to get it back, Tezcatlipoca took the form of a jaguar and destroyed the world. Some people chose and said that Tezcatlipoca is the “invisible god”.
Moctezuma (1466-1520), was the ninth emperor of Mexico from 1502 to 1520. The Aztec Empire, which Moctezuma ruled until 1520, was taken over by Guetemoc after he was killed by his own men. The fall of the Aztec Empire was caused by Hernan Cortes, a Spaniard who invaded Tenochtitlan, the capital of the Empire, in the year 1519. This letter will include reasons as to why Moctezuma is considered to be a traitor and coward by his own people for betraying them in a time when they needed a strong leader. Hernan Cortes was one of the most famous conquistadors in Spanish history.
The Aztec was a civilization advanced in science and mathematics. At the pinnacle of the Aztecs’s existence in 1345-1521 led by Montezuma ll, the civilization conquered over a significant amount of land, expanded their territory and occupied all tribes in their conquests. When Europeans arrived in North America, they brought pathogens, that natives were not immune to. The Spanish arrival was significant because they intended to change the Aztec religion into Christianity and acquire all goods in the Aztec society. An epidemic disease ‘cocoliztli’ (smallpox), brought by the intrepid Spaniard conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes brutally decimated the civilization of the Aztecs.
This United States Constitution was really the second constitution the United States ever had. The first one being The Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union. It was created by the Second Continental Congress beginning in 1776, all 13 states had ratified it near the beginning of 1781. America fresh off independence from Britain wanted to greatly limit the powers of government and make sure it never became anything similar to Britain’s rule. Because of this the Articles of Confederation gave the government very limited power.
The ease and dexterity in which Cortes’ Colonists conquered the battle-tested Aztecs goes against any modern doctrine of warfare. Octavio Paz, acclaimed Mexican historian and author of The Labyrinth of Solitude, explains that the Aztec’s encounter with the Spaniards ultimately led to their eventual “suicide” (Paz 93). In this instance, “suicide” means any act or behavior which predisposes oneself to vulnerability or harm. Paz outlines the series of events and cultural views of the Aztecs to paint a landscaping picture of the reasons why a small band of Spanish soldiers were able to subjugate one of greatest Mesoamerican societies of all time. One must start at the crux of the Aztec identity, their culture.
The Aztec The Aztecs arrive in the Basin of Mexico.
The Aztecs called themselves Mexica, which was the name of priest-chief from ancient, legendary times of Mexi. There is a legendary story which tells that Mexica hailed from Chicomoztoc, the Seven Caves, from the northern lands called Aztlan i.e. the Place of Whiteness. The word Aztec is derived from this same place known as Aztlan. The shifting of Aztecs from the north to central part of Mexico marked the beginning of a tribal story; the tale about the quest and discovery of the omen and the
