The Conquest Of Mexico Research Paper

Robert MacNeish
Dr. A. Poska
History 361-01
9/25/2015
On the differing views on the Conquest of Mexico
Writings which illustrate the Spanish view of the Conquest and existing Native accounts often differ sharply. These differences in perceptions stem from a number of many different factors. For example, the differing religious beliefs, the manner and ideas of warfare, and the individual and cultural perception of the people, are all key factors that influenced and shaped how the Spanish and Natives viewed the Conquest of Mexico. By understanding these differences, we can understand why each culture saw the Conquest differently.
Differing religious beliefs is a very prominent factor that highlights differences in perception of the Conquest.

Another religious aspect that colors the accounts of Spanish writers is their belief that their actions were divinely inspired, or guided by God. Bernal Diaz once wrote after the battle at Santa Maria de La Victoria that he believed that God was with them. Diaz wrote, “I say that all our doings and our victories are at the hands of our Lord Jesus Christ.” The disgust at human sacrifice, the misunderstanding of native religious beliefs, the idea that the natives had to be converted, and the belief that the Conquest was divinely approved, all influenced how the Spaniards perceived the

For example, some of the Native peoples saw the arrival of the Spaniards as the fulfillment of certain prophetic omens. In the Florentine Codex, Bernardino de Sahagun wrote of eight omens that the Natives believed preceded the Spaniards. Fray Martin De Jesus de La Coruña, a Franciscan missionary wrote that the Natives believed that dream had preceded the arrival of the Spanish by about four years. The Tarascan peoples, whom Coruña had interviewed, claimed that some of their people had dreamed of people that would come, riding animals that they had never before seen. Omens were extremely important to the Aztecs, who believed that history repeated itself. Emperor Montezuma, who was trained as a high priest, was said to have consulted his chief priests and fortune tellers to determine the causes of these omens. However, the priests were unable to provide an exact explanation. Modern scholars cast doubt on whether such omens truly occurred or whether they were post-conquest creations to help the Mexica explain their defeat at the hands of the