Throughout his text The Conquest of America‚ Todorov‚ a french sociologist‚ implements multiple theories written by Walter Ong and Jack Goody in regard to the contrasting effects living in an oral versus a literate society plays on its members. More specifically‚ Ong and Goody claim that the way one communicates‚ greatly affects their thought processes as well as their physical brain. To explore this‚ Todorov uses Cortes’ and Montezuma’s communication techniques throughout their battle to highlight
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the greatest and strongest civilisations of its time‚ be defeated by only a few hundred men? The answers to this question are many but the one we shall explore is that of the factors that gave the Spanish soldiers the advantage over the Aztecs. The main factor that led to the victory of the Spanish Conquerors was the Aztec religion. The Aztecs had many myths about their gods however the most important was the story about Quetzacóatl (ket-zahl-co-ah-tul)‚ the god of fertility and life. It was believed
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Restall‚ _Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest_ New York‚ Oxford University Press‚ 2003 3 pages‚ 889 words _Myths of the Spanish Conquest_ is broken into seven chapters‚ each dedicated to a different myth or mis-conception regarding the Spanish conquest. In debunking these myths‚ Matthew Restall works with three themes regarding the conquest. First‚ that the European discovery of the Americas was one of the greatest events in human history. Second‚ that the conquest was the achievement of "a few
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fallen to the Spanish conquistadors. Cortes and his followers had only landed in Mexico in April 1519. By the time of Cortes’ last departure form Spain in 1540; Mexico City had become a powerful colonial metropolis‚ the capital of a Spanish territory extending south into Central America and North to or beyond the Gulf of California. The campaign waged by Cortes was so successful that all ensuing campaigns were modelled upon the Aztec conquest. The question posed is how was the conquest of Mexico achieved
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control of the entire valley. Conquering city after city‚ Moctezuma and his warrior empire took food‚ luxury goods‚ exotic raw materials and war captives. The prisoners of war were saved for sacrifices to the gods. Embarking on a journey of his own in search of gold‚ General Hernando Cortes lead his group of Spanish troops into the path of the powerful Moctezuma monarchy. After meeting face to face‚ both men seemingly viewed the other with mutual respect after a friendly exchange of greetings. Trust was
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The book offers important events and discoveries that were by the Spanish in both Europe and America. The author highlights that the Spanish were first people to discover the printing press. The Spanish Conquest was made possible by the elaborate strategies utilized by renowned individuals such as Christopher Columbus and Pizarro. According to Restall (2003)‚ the European discovery and the conquest of the America were as a result of courageous adventurers. The author highlights how powerful empires
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Adam Smith says that the discovery of America was one of the two greatest and most important events recorded in the history of mankind. "The general advantages which Europe‚ considered as one great country‚ has derived from the discovery and colonization of America‚ consist‚ first‚ in the increase of its enjoyments; and‚ secondly‚ in the augmentation of its industry." (Page 2‚ Voices of Freedom) The production in America was considered a surplus to Europe‚ as it gave them a variety of commodities
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Factors Causing 2 Many different factors ultimately led to the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire. Many of the factors could be considered luck and it can be mind boggling how the Spanish took on the largest empire of the day with only a handful of soldiers and weapons. The reasons the Spanish were able to control and systematically destroy the Aztecs was because of their alliances with neighboring cultures‚ their advanced weapons‚ their domesticated animals‚ disease‚ and the luckiest part of
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practiced an incredibly wealthy lifestyle. Nonetheless‚ this rule began to deteriorate when Spanish explorers disembarked at Tabasco and Vera Cruz on April 21st 1519. When the Spanish voyagers first arrived‚ they were welcomed warmly‚ respectfully and received Godlike treatment. Montezuma‚ the ruler at that time‚ believed that the Spanish military leader‚ Hernán Cortés‚ was the great god Quetzalcoatl. The Spanish took advantage of this Aztec belief and conquered Mexico within two years. By 1521‚ the
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With the Spanish conquest in Latin America came many accounts from both Spanish and indigenous writers. These primary sources are not only useful because of their content‚ but also because of their omissions. That is to say that the discrepancies found among writers of different class‚ race‚ or political position‚ are expressive of their individual biases. Analyzing what these variations are and why they exist allows for a deeper understanding of the history of this colonial period. Especially in
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