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 1519, Hernándo Cortés, a Spanish Conquistador ventured into Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec empire, searching for gold and glory. He set out to conquer the empire and to capture the Aztecs in order to achieve his ambitions. Moctezuma, the highly respected leader of the mighty Aztec Empire, came confronting with Hernán Cortés, the leader of a small band of professional European soldiers from a huge island that lay six day’s sail to the east. In “Malintzin’s Choices: An Indian Women in the Conquest of Mexico” and “Mexico and the Spanish Conquest”, Camilla Townsend and Ross Hassig respectively present one histories in their own interpretations of the conquest of Mexico.
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 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 Aztec civilisation, led by Moctezuma II, stood as one of the most sophisticated and advanced civilisations of its era (1325 AD- 1521 AD). Armed with powerful weapons, like wooden spears and metal shields, the Aztecs faced a merciless army. When Hernan Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors entered the Aztec capital, Tenochtitlan, on 20 April 1519 AD, driven by their pursuit for God, gold, and glory, it would only take two years before Cortes’s small army had conquered and annihilated this powerful civilisation with Spanish military technology. The collapse of the Aztec civilisation was significantly influenced by their weak wooden weaponry, tactics of diplomacy, espionage, and sacrifice that proved no match for the superior Spanish weaponry,
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.
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”.
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.
These people looked very different from their traditional opponents from the north and south. In Lean-Portilla’s The Broken Spear, Cortes’ feathered conquistadors were able to attend a sacred ceremony where the native’s vulnerability would become a reality. Eventually, a futile effort to stop the massacre of celebrants came to a surprising stalemate. The Spanish were able to capture Motecuhzuna and hold him as King in checkmate. Ultimately the weakness and stupefaction of Motecuhzuma was enough to cause the powerful empire to crumble onto the Aztecs.
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 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
Genetic engineering in humans is a recent development that gives parents the option to design their idea of a perfect baby. The idea of “perfect babies” will lead to designer babies. The term designer babies refers to using biotechnology to choose what type of baby you want. The traits that can be changed in these babies are gender, appearance, intelligence, disease, and personality. Changing these traits can cause many problems and can affect society, the family, and the baby.
The Aztec The Aztecs arrive in the Basin of Mexico.
