The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears‚ the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs‚ but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory‚ is that the Spanish were viewed as gods at first because of their appearance‚ the
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The Broken Spears “The Broken Spears” is a collection of many accounts of the destruction of Mexico by Cortes and the conquistadors in their invasion. The motive behind this conquest was Cortes’ desire to bring a fortune of gold‚ spices‚ and land that can be claimed‚ back to Spain. Although these desires were admirable‚ they were sought after at the expense of the Aztecs and consequently changed an entire civilization‚ due to an initial drive for power‚ control‚ land‚ and money
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Focus Paper #1 The Broken Spears The book The Broken Spears‚ by Miguel Leon-Portilla‚ presents an account of the Conquest of Mexico from the point of view of the some of the indigenous people who survived those events. The passages used‚ written in the native language of the victims‚ provide us a brief description of the encounters with the Spaniards that were not seen in the documented history of the conquest. Native priests and wise men had documented the welcoming of Cortes and his men as
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The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico Author: Miguel León-Portilla History of the Spanish defeat of Mexico and the Aztecs has always been told in the words of the Spaniards. It has often been forgotten that with only having one impression of the events that took place during this time period‚ we can never be certain of the entire story‚ or what actually took place. For this reason‚ Miguel León-Portilla took it upon himself to further explore pre-Hispanic history and gain
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While reading “Broken Spears”‚ written by Miguel Leon-Portilla‚ I’ve had a small view of what Mexican culture was like back in those times. They are sort of different from America’s traditions and societies. Broken Spears is unlike others written about the loss of the empire because it was written from the point of the Aztecs and not the Spanish. As the book goes on‚ Miguel Leon-Portilla describes how the Spanish were successful in taking over the solid empire. The book really starts out by giving
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The Broken Spears Focus paper In The broken spears‚ author Miguel Leon-Portilla gives accounts from the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire in 1519. These accounts include several texts written by surviving indigenous people of the Aztec civilization; these perspectives truly shows the emotion‚ fear‚ and uncertainty the Aztec’s felt in depth during this time. With the accounts in our textbook and the broken spears‚ we are able to draw conclusions viewing both facts and experiences through this
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Two Accounts: Broken Spears and Bernal Diaz In every historical event there tends to be conflicting sides‚ each member has their own point of view based on a plethora of statistics. These statistics include but are not limited to‚ socio-economic classes‚ race‚ geographical boundaries‚ gender‚ etc. When two cultures interact for the first time there is bound to be some discrepancies over what truly occurred. These discrepancies are portrayed quite well through Bernal Diaz’s The Conquest of New Spain
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The Broken Spears written by Miguel Leon-Portilla is a book that goes into depth about the conquest of Mexico starting in 1519 from an Aztec point of view. The book discusses everything in depth about what occurred during this time period of the conquest. It discusses when the Aztecs first take news of the arrival of Cortez and the Spaniards comparing it to small floating mountains off the Mexican coast‚ all the way to the revolt of the Aztec people that lead to the end of the Aztec civilization
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_The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of _Mexico‚ edited and with an introduction by Miguel Leon-Portillo (Boston: Beacon Press‚ 1992)‚ pp. 196 Reviewed by: Nicholas Adams Broken Spears is an accumulated‚ chronological collection of texts and accounts of the invasion of the Aztec empire by the Spanish from April 22‚ 1519 to August 13‚ 1521. This time period from arrival to the surrender of the Aztec empire to the Spanish is filled with interactions between two different people and
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The Spanish conquistadors were successful in their battles against the inhabitants of the New World largely due to the native disunity among the various tribes of Mexico. Local tribes had differing political‚ religious‚ and cultural beliefs‚ and often waged wars against each other. As a result‚ an enemy’s enemy often became an ally‚ as evidenced in Cortes’ alliance with the Tlaxcalteca group. Tlaxcalteca was an enemy of Cholula‚ and members in the Traxcalteca community “brought certain rumors to
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