In order to support my analysis, I will be mentioning some theoretical concepts that will be covered and
In order to support my analysis, I will be mentioning some theoretical concepts that will be covered and
One of the similarities that the Aztec and spanish had was that they both had gods. The Aztec had many gods and the spanish had one god. Huitzilopochtli, the Aztecs favorite god was the one to tell the Aztecs to leave their homeland in Northern Mexico and travel south until they found an Eagle on a cactus. He was also the war god and needed blood from sacrifices to strengthen.The Aztecs most powerful god was Tezcatlipoca. He is the god of the night and struggles with the sun god Huitzilopochtli. He uses a smoking mirror to see the future. Quetzalcoatl Left Mexico after a fight with Tezcatlipoca. Priests prophesied that he would return on the new fire and bring destruction to the Aztecs. Tlaloc was the rain god. The Aztecs feared the most because he could either cause a drought or flood their crops. The spanish had one god, his name was god and he was their creator. Both religions had different gods that they worshiped.…
The fifteenth-century Renaissance and the beginnings of European exploration, conquest, and colonization are part of the same narrativeone in which culture, science, religion, politics, and power are inextricably intertwined. Innovations in science and technology made long-distance travel and exploration possible. The desire of rulers for wealth and power financed conquest, and the desire of the Roman Catholic church for converts provided religious motivation for the subjection of the indigenous peoples of the Americas. Upon reaching Central Mexico, Spanish explorers found themselves confronted with the Nahua people, commonly known as Aztecs, of whom the largest tribe was the Mexica. Stuart B. Schwartz's Victors and Vanquished: Spanish and Nahua Views of the Conquest of Mexico contains opposing versions of the defeat and destruction of the flourishing sixteenth-century civilization of the Nahua.…
In 1493, Pope Alexander VI issued a Papal Bull granting a protectorate of the New World…
Montezuma, who was the ruler of the Aztecs, had a funny feeling about them. Not too long after they arrived, the Aztecs realized that the Spanish could be killed just like their other enemies, so they went to war. They caught some of the Spanish, killed some of them, even ate some. The Spanish won out because of their preparation, and because they brought so many diseases with them, it killed some of the Aztecs as well. The Spanish came to the Aztecs land, and the Aztecs thought that this was the 'God' that they had been waiting for. They treated the Spanish with riches and lavish food, as they would a God. They only treated them to the finest of treasures because they were sure this was what they were looking for. The Spanish reported that they 'were sickened by the people's shocking routines', which was mentioning toward the sacrifice they saw. Then, when the Spanish tried to take advantage of what the Aztecs had given them, they realized they weren’t the Gods they thought they were looking for. So they cut them off. Conversely, the Spaniards had the horses, firearms, and they had most of the people of the Aztec society on their side. With that being said, the Spaniards didn’t like how the Aztec land was being run. With these people and the Spanish's knowledge expansions, they overthrew the Aztec Empire. After the Aztecs were conquered by the Spaniards, they were turned into…
Following the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, the territory of northern Mexico became the burgeoning American South West. Nuevomexicanos, residents of the area of New Mexico, were attempting to dissuade Anglo perceptions that they were still loyal to the Mexico. What emerged was the idea of “hispanidad”, Spanishness, seeing as Spain is a white European country and being white was paramount to gaining political and social status in America at the time. Nuevomexicanos felt being of Spanish descent would shift white perceptions and remove them from their link to Mexican heritage. What emerged from this culture of hispanidad, was a rigid caste system that aimed to use bloodlines to prove Nuevomexicanos were descended from Spanish colonizers. Their goal was to “conjure up an entire history of conquest and settlement with which Americans could identify and that they could even admire.” (pg. 9)…
1.Using the Castañeda article, be prepared to explain how reports of sexual violence by soldiers against Amerindian women threatened the entire mission plan for California, how the notion of Aristotelian theory applies, the symbolic meanings of rape, how rape is justified by conquering nations. Pp. 67-89…
The English and Spanish strategies at colonization in the late 1600’s were very different, resulting in very different outcomes. The English methods of displacement and extermination of the native populations led to wholesale destruction of the cultures targeted. On the other hand, the Spanish attempted to peacefully associate with the local populations. This lead to the creation of a hybrid culture of Spanish and Indian peoples. The birth of this new culture demonstrated the success the Spaniards had in the waning days of the century (Otermin, 2007).…
The year 1492 sparked the dawn of an empire. When Christopher Columbus discovered the Americas he unlocked a world of untold wealth and power for Spain. Within the homeland, Spain exhibited “a lack of natural advantages…Yet, in the last years of the fifteenth century and the opening years of the sixteenth, it seemed suddenly, and even miraculously overcome” (Elliot 1). They expanded their empire to the farthest reaches of the earth claiming land in places as close as Africa and as far as the Philippines. Their conquests in the New World provided them with a new source of resources,…
Religion certainly played a major part in the Conquest of Mexico. However it’s actual impact on the rapidity of the conquest, especially in the early stages, is limited. On the side of the Native Americans, their religious beliefs proved to be at their own disadvantage. For the Spaniards, their devotion to Catholicism provided a plausible excuse for the crusade. As well as the search for gold and silver, the Spaniards held a religious mission, without which Spanish expansion may have not been so conceivable, or at least taken a different form. The discovery and conquest of America was spirited by missionary expansion and sustained throughout by Church resources. Spain had of course the first reformed Church in Europe. The experience of the Moors and infidel in the Peninsula itself is an example of her intolerance and anxiety to extend the faith. Thus Spain had the confidence and the personnel to play this vital role in colonial…
The Spanish benefited from all this, as they were able to capitalize on the workforce and land the conquering of the Aztecs provided. Additionally, because they capitalized on the land, resources, and natives, the Spanish gained power in all facets of a civilization, reaping an exponential positive gain from the New World. Another document that could be needed to show all facets of the cultural and political shifts of the New World, is an Aztec or other tribes King’s response to Spanish intrusion, and whether or not they approved and welcomed the changes. Due to Spanish intervention, the New Worlds political, economical, social, and cultural aspects all shifted and changed, damaging the natives heritage and wellbeing, but improving the amount of land, resources, and workforce that was available to the Europeans, benefiting…
The victory of the Spaniards has typically been associated with Cortes ' qualities as a leader, and in earlier accounts, with the idea that the culturally superior mental and moral qualities of the Spanish gave way to the defeat of the Aztecs. Moreover, the accounts of Cortes and Diaz point to a Spanish victory led by a God whose determination seemed to have been the eradication of an "empire which did so little to promote the happiness of its subjects, or the real interests of humanity." (2) It is remarkable that such an "uncivilized" civilization could impress the Spanish conquerors to the extent to which they did. The conquerors were, in a very real sense, in awe of the Aztec empire. They "beheld the evidence of a crowded and thriving population, exceeding all they had yet seen." (3) To explain the defeat of the Aztecs in terms of the ideas of manifest destiny purported by…
On the other hand The Aztecs worked together to conquer other tribes and became successful. When the Spanish came to take over the Aztec tribe they thought they were dreaming its was nothing like they ever seen before, it was so beautiful The Aztecs grew gardens built…
There were many changes that occurred when the Spaniards decided to take over what is now Mexico. Before the Spanish took over Mexico, the Aztecs had a separate race and also spoke their own native tongue, Nahuatl. But when Spain was settling in, Cortes made it required for a Spanish man to marry one of the local women which created a new race, called the Mestizo. The schools in New Spain educated the Mestizo children to speak Spanish instead of Nahuatl. After to the invasion of Spain, Cortes and his crew set up a new economic system called encomienda.…
“Burying the White Gods: New Perspectives on the Conquest of Mexico,” by Camilla Townsend, hits the points of why the Native Americans were submissive to the Spaniards. The thesis, in short, says that the Native Americans were not exactly conquered by the conquistadors. Instead, they thought the Cortes was a god, Quetzalcoatl. This in no way indicates the development, or lack thereof, in the Aztec society. The Aztecs invited the conquistadors into their society as gods; they were not conquered, per say, because of the Spain being unbearable.…
Beginning in 1492 when the Spanish under the crown of Castile invaded the Americas, where their first settlement was in Santo Domingo, their main motivations were trade and the spread of the Catholic faith through indigenous conversions and economic gain. Due to these objectives they intervened and attempted to change every facet of the indigenous way of life including their ‘notions of spirituality, witchcraft, and intoxication’. The indigenous population had formally been removed from the jurisdiction of the inquisition by order of King Phillip the second in 1571, however the native people of Mexico and other invaded lands of the Americas were still prosecuted on accounts of witchcraft or being Nauatil (witches).…