“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.…
The Aztecs were a great mesoamericana civilizations. The Aztecs lived in current day Mexico City. Their physical features are the Sierra Madre Occidental mountain, and Sierra Madre Orental mountain. They were polytheistic and their gods were nature based. So the historians should emphasize Aztec human sacrifice. First, the importance of their sacrifice, according to Document A it states that the Aztecs intentionally left unconquered land for the purpose of flower wars. Their wars were used to collect sacrificial warriors. Flower means a sacrificial warrior, this is important because if the Aztecs did not have wars to collect flowers, then they would have to sacrifice there own people. Then there population would decrease. The scale of Aztec…
Black-tailed Prairie Dogs, Nicole Lee, Biology 101, concepts of Biology, Aviano Air Base, 20 April 2007…
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…
First, killing thousands of people, the loss of people in a loss that can't be calculated (war). Although the Aztecs certainly weren't the first people ever to sacrifice humans, the fact that they did and the incredible number they sacrificed led to the hatred of some of the surrounding peoples. The powerful city-state of Tlaxcala was one of these. Many of their own had been sacrificed, and in the end they joined the Spaniards to fight the Aztecs. It may be that the Spanish simply was an excuse to start what was already an inevitable civil…
As a result, the Aztecs did anything to please them, so they fed the Spanish and their horses. According to the Aztec account, while they greeted them, the Spanish murdered them. To add on, the Aztec source even claims that slaughter in the Sacred…
A. This document describes how although all narratives about the people and cultures begin with the arrival of Europeans too much credit is being given to their “discoveries” because before the Europeans the Native Americans (Aztecs) were doing the things the Europeans claimed to be doing first. The Aztecs came up with a way of living and a way of doing things before the Europeans did. Before the Europeans arrival the Aztecs had already created a powerful Empire.…
There religion was mainly focused on keeping nature in balance. The Aztecs religion believed it took 5 tries to create the world. The first creator turned into a jaguar and destroyed his world. They believe in sacrifice others. The Aztecs achieved many achievements.…
One difference between the Aztec and Spanish was that the Aztec sacrificed people to nourish their gods.…
The Aztecs were an Native Indian tribe, located in modern day Mexico,who ruled a huge part of Mexican territory from the 1400’s to the 1500’s, before they were conquered by Hernando Cortes and the Spanish conquistadors. The Aztecs had one of the most advanced civilizations in the Americas and built cities as large as any in Europe at that time. They had a very unique culture compared to the Spaniards, for example they practiced a religion that affected every part of their lives and featured human sacrificed. Their impressive empire was destroyed by the spaniards in the year 1521, but the Aztecs left a lasting mark on Mexican life and culture.…
The Aztecs were a Native American tribe that lived in Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was the capital of the Aztec empire. The only weapons that Aztecs had were arrows, spears, rocks and anything that they were able to make to protect themselves. The Aztecs were people who believed in sacrifice, human sacrifice to be exact. The Aztecs were kind people but they were also barbarians. They welcomed the Spanish into their city, which showed their kindness.…
The people of Ancient Aztec believed that death is part of life, even a continuation of life. The Aztec people embraced nature and understood their lives to be like those of other creatures in the world. They easily accepted that we all die and because of this, they had no fears or worries about what was to come.…
Both the Incas and Aztecs highly prized the Sun god, because in their world he controlled sunrise and therefore if the universe would continue. The Aztec Sun god was Huitzilopochtli. Aztecs believed that gods could be kind, but that demons and ghosts prowled in the night and could appear as skulls or miniature dolls (Strange Histories, The Aztecs). The Incas had many gods including Mama Pacha, Cocha, and Quilla, Mother Earth, Mother of Water, and Mother of Storms, respectively. The Sun god, Inti, was most important, but unlike in Aztec culture, they had a separate creator, Viracocha. Aztecs and Incas, however, differed more in rituals than they did in gods. The Aztecs would sacrifice humans, cutting out their hearts with an obsidian dagger, then sacrificing their blood to the gods, and finally throwing them down the steps of the temple (Doc. I). The Incas had other rituals, for example, when an emperor was killed, all of his servants would be killed too, so they could accompany him into the afterlife. They would also mummify deceased rulers. They had many levels of priests, including a High Priest, ten lower priests that counseled the ten religious districts, and then ordinary priests in towns. Finally, Incas had Acllas, young girls who are taken from their homes at early ages to serve in shrines and…
“The dismal drum of Huichilobos sounded again, accompanied by conches, horns, and trumpet-like instruments. It was a terrifying sound, and when we looked at the tall cue (temple-pyramid) from which it came we saw our comrades who had been captured in Cortes’ defeat being dragged up the steps to be sacrificed. When they had haled them up to a small platform in front of the shrine where they kept their accursed idols we saw them put plums on the heads of many of them; and then they made them dance with a sort of fan in front of Huichilobos. Then after they had danced the papas (Aztec priests) laid them down on their backs on some narrow stones of sacrifice and, cutting open their chests, drew out their palpitating hearts which they offered to the idols before them. Then they kicked the bodies down the steps, and the Indian butchers who were waiting below cut off…
So, the ancient Mayan practices of self-mutilation and human sacrifice are neither good nor bad; they are simply cultural distinctives, akin to the American custom of shooting fireworks on the Fourth of July. Human sacrifice and fireworks—both are simply different products of separate socialization.…