“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 used Tenochtitlan to maintain control to local elite and commoners by requiring local elites to attend ceremonies in the city, bring and receive gifts, leave their sons as hostages, and intermarry with the elites of the triple alliance (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 443).Commoner families were forced to provide tributes in the form of food and labor (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 443). Once the triple alliance expanded, the Aztecs either instituted an Aztec governor or had tribute collectors keep local rulers in check, and supervised the transportation of tribute by porters to the valley (von Sivers, Desnoyers, and Stow 444).…
“From the fact that the Indians are barbarians it does not necessarily follow that they are incapable…” (de Las Casas 3). In For the Record, it starts off right away in this section of how the Europeans while not sure of what to make of the Indians they knew that these were not the savages as some had described. De Las Casas goes on to describe of a people that were both loyal and committed to the community and to their fellow man. De Las Casas main adversary, Gines Sepulveda, failed to see the parallel in the fate of the Spaniards at the hands of the Romans and Caesar Augustus. “Now see how he called the Spanish people barbaric and wild” (de Las Casas 3) demonstrates the same philosophy of the thoughts of Europeans as they encountered the Indians. Shall those that are fearful for the loss of all they have worked for not fight back and retain what is rightfully theirs. The Indians, especially the Aztecs had built cities, established political and economic organizations and created richly diverse civilizations. In The Jesuit Relations they recount the gratitude shown to the hospital nuns “The Savages who leave the hospital, and who come to see us again at St. Joseph, or at the three Rivers,…
The land of Tenochtitlan, which is currently owned by the Spanish, known as Mexico City, was not always under the same empire. This land used to belong to the Aztecs but was taken over when the battle between the Spanish and Aztecs occurred. Though some would think that this conflict was avoidable, I believe otherwise. In my opinion, I believe that the conflict of the Aztecs was inevitable, because of the differing religions, the Aztec's resources, Spanish’s excellent technology, and the Aztec's population size.…
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…
8th November 1519 To King Charles of Spain, Today on this very day I led my great army into the place they call Tenochtitlan, something even better happened, I was met by one of the greatest warriors called Montezuma, he was one of the greatest warriors in Tenochtitlan. This great leader they call Montezuma told my interpreter he thought I was the feathered Serpent God, and then she told me. They have a very strong view about their God, they sacrifice a human and they hold up the still beating heart for the Gods because they believed that the still beating heart kept the sun going and if the sun stopped everyone would die so they held up the heart of an innocent person.…
When they arrived in Tenochtitlan, the residents were already resigned to their faith, knowing they were “about to die and perish, we are awaiting our deaths”. This reinforced the Spaniards’ perceived superiority, partly stemming from the esteem that the Mexica gave them. Tenochtitlan was known as the foundation of heaven, and the city itself was given a divine status. This inspired the Mexica to fight and defend something so great. Even the Spanish, when they first entered the city, were in awe as they gazed “on such wonderful sights, we did not know what to say, or whether what appeared before us was real,”. They compared the city of Tenochtitlan to European cities such as Venice. This was one of the first times that the Spanish saw the Mexica as civilized human beings that were similar to the Spanish and…
In the Americas there was a dramatic political shift of power going from the natives to Europeans. Document two suggests that when the Europeans came in, they destroyed the great cities that the natives had already built and established. Hernan Cortes, in his letter to King Charles V, states “This great city of Tenochtitlan…”, “The city is as large as Seville or Cordoba...”, “their [the natives] fashion of living was almost the same as in Spain, with just as much harmony and order…” suggesting that the cities the Natives had already established were as great as the Spanish’s, before they took over and destroyed them. As a European conqueror Cortes would have seen the greatness of these cities and witnessed how they functioned, also being able to compare it to the cities of Spain, from which he was born and lived in. In his letter he seems honest but contradictory because while he says “their [the natives] fashion of living was almost the same as in Spain, with just as much harmony and order…” he follows that statement with “…considering these people were barbarous...”--- hinting that although they lived almost as extravagantly as the Spanish, he still considered them of less worth than Europeans. Natives were used as slaves to mine silver at the Potosi silver mine for the Spanish (document five). Document Five is an excerpt of Compendium and Description of The West Indies written by Spanish priest, Antonio Vazquez de Espinosa, who would have been able to experience the tough and dangerous working conditions that the natives were forced…
The poor judgment of the Aztec people was their main downfall. The timing of the Europeans arriving towards the end of the fall where harvesting was a main priority of the Aztecs and not warfare this led to the underestimation of the Europeans and their goals.…
Mexico City is known as one of the largest concentrations of humanity on the planet. Stretching for miles in all direction. However, before Mexico City, there was once another great city, a city that rivaled cities the like of these in Europe. Tenochtitlan was an urban island settlement built on an inland lake system of the Valley of Mexico, that housed 200,000 inhabitants at its height(Carrasco). Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities in the world at the time.…
This text really showed the huge downfall of the Native American people. I had no idea that there were so many Native American Indians before the Europeans came. All texts I read seemed to downplay or not list the number of them here. It says in the text, North and South America contained between 90,000,000 and more than 112,000,000 people before the coming of the Spanish. That was compared to only 60 million to 70 million in Europe. The diseases really wiped out what seemed to be great civilizations of people. It also surprises me that people tried to justify invading and capturing these people even very recently, within the lifetime of my parents. It is sad hearing how much people hated races that they knew very little about but also encouraging that people have changed over recent years to be more understanding of them.…
The behavioral and lifestyle factors of the Spaniards brought about the cruelest epidemiological event in the history of the world. For example, the Spaniards arrival and subsequent conquest of the native population resulted in a catastrophic die-off of the native population not by wounds, but by a host of infectious diseases that they carried to which the native population had no immunity. At length, Aztec thought that the wildfire spread of this disease is the divine action of the gods. Culture shock, severe depression, and disruption of the family among the survivors shattered their civilization (Anderson, 2007, p. 149).…
Not only were Mexicans such as Benavides accused and punished without being tried in court, they were also driven into poverty and their places of worship were often burned down. The Mexicans in the 1800s had their fortunes in places like California where the land was rich with gold. Mexicans and white settlers alike built cabins and prospered from the land, mining and fishing for gold in the rivers. In one famous account of Joaquin Murrieta in “Major Problems in Mexican American History”, white bandits came to Murrieta’s cabin and told him that they would not allow any Mexicans to prosper from the lands. They told him to get up and leave his land. When Murrieta refused they butted him in the head with their pistols and killed his wife. Before this, angry white mobs had also lynched his brother Carlos when he was accused of stealing a horse which he had honestly purchased some time ago. But with angry screams and outcries of white mobs, Mexicans could not explain their situations. Too often their side of the story was not heard even when they were later proved innocent. In vengeance, Murrieta famously created an organized group of bandidos (bandits) and set out to kill the people who had…
Not only was their slavery involved with the exchanges, but also an exchange of diseases. Diseases such as smallpox, influenza, malaria and whooping cough were just the few that affected the New World. “Europeans inadvertently carried diseases that had a devastating effect on the native population of America that lacked immunities.” These diseases had such an affect on the New World that “the population of Mexico dropped by more than 90 percent in the century after Cortés arrived in 1519.” The people of the New World were not able to cure themselves because they were exposed to diseases that they weren’t familiar with. This resulted in numerous deaths all across the New World and became an epidemic that affected not only the culture, but also the way of life in the New World. Slavery was also a horrible result of the Columbian exchange as well. Europeans bought people from the New World to work for them as their slaved. People were beaten and treated inhumanly for all the wrong reasons. Even though the exchange involved goods, people were also mistreated and used as materials. There is nothing that can be exchanged that is worth more than the value of a human being. The Europeans took that away from the people of the New World. Many natives also lost their homes and their way of life due to the explorers taking over their land. Many were forced to become a part of Christianity due to Christopher Columbus’ want to spread his faith. Many people were forced to convert religions due to this demand. People had their lives in order and had already built a lifestyle for themselves before the European explorers arrived. The exchange of goods means nothing compared to how the lives of so many people were affected. Many were affected emotionally and mentally just because the explorers decided to take matters into their own hands and change places…