To what extent did Spanish military superiority facilitate the success of Cortes’ conquest of the Aztec Empire between 1519-21? Extended Essay Word Count: 3‚888 Abstract: This essay addresses the question ‘To what extent did Spanish military superiority facilitate the success of Cortes’ conquest of the Aztec Empire between 1519-21?’. In order to reach a conclusion‚ a range of primary and secondary sources have
Premium Mexico Aztec Mexico City
Chicano Studies 101 Tuesday/Thursday 9 AM Mid-Term Essay Question The Spanish conquests of Montezuma and the Aztecs were both a Spanish conquest as well as an Indian civil war. The thing that ties them both together is the Conquistador Hernan Cortes. You could argue for both sides as to which played a more significant part in the fall of the Aztecs‚ however‚ I feel they both played an equal role in the defeat of the Aztecs and the fall of Tenochititlan to the Spaniards. When Cortes first came
Premium Aztec Quetzalcoatl
The Spanish conquest of the Americas was heavily impacted by the cultural demographic and economic change. This led the Spanish to becoming very powerful. The Spanish conquest Was effected by the demographic change. The Spaniards killed off most of the native population. They killed off most of the natives so that they could acquire their gold. Their land was very rich and the natives were very easy to kill off. They did not know about guns so they were ambushed by them. They also weren’t immune
Premium United States Native Americans in the United States Indigenous peoples of the Americas
Hernan Cortes‚ a fierce Spanish conquistador‚ landed at San Juan de Ulua‚ in April 1519. With him‚ Cortes had 508 soldiers‚ one hundred sailors‚ artillery cannons‚ eleven ships and sixteen horses. Cortes and his small army‚ marched through Mexico‚ forming alliances with Aztec rivals‚ until reaching the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Tenochtitlan was the capital city of the massive Mexican empire known as the Aztecs or Mexica. It had a population of 200‚000 people; almost three times that of the largest
Premium Aztec Mexico Spanish colonization of the Americas
disease and the spread of Catholicism gradually asserted Spanish dominion over the indigenous population in America‚ who nonetheless survived and endured both the conquest and 300 years of colonial rule. Due to Spanish pestilence and wholesale slaughter the Native American population was decimated. Committed by Royal decree‚ Spanish conquistadors converted their New World indigenous subjects to Catholicism. Once Native Americans were scattered Spanish conquistadors subdued and exploited them. Beginning
Free Native Americans in the United States Indigenous peoples of the Americas Population history of American indigenous peoples
August 1521 the Aztec capital‚ Tenochtitlan‚ had 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
Premium Mexico Mexico City Aztec
Aztec Empire‚ also known as Mexica‚ was formed by certain ethnic groups in Central Mexico‚ especially those who spoke the Nahuatl language and politically and militarily dominated a vast region of Mesoamerica in the XIV‚ XV and XVI. Tenochtitlan in the Valley of Mexico‚ was the capital of the Aztec civilization. In Nahuatl‚ the language of the Mexica‚ Aztecatl means "one who comes from Aztlán". In 1810‚ Alexander von Humbolt coined the term Aztec applicable to all persons associated by commerce‚
Premium Aztec Mexico Mesoamerica
history‚ to wipe out a powerful empire? Hernan Cortes‚ the Spanish conquistador conquered the Aztec Empire and claimed Mexico for Spain‚ in the 16th century. The Aztecs were a Nahuatl speaking nation of central Mexico‚ in MesoAmerica. They were very powerful and wealthy in natural goods‚ in addition to creating their own weapons and techniques. When Hernan Cortes came to the land of the heart of the Aztecs‚ he had brought unknown weapons and diseases to the Aztecs‚ as well as an army of men. He also
Premium Spanish colonization of the Americas Aztec Mexico
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 all: the Aztecs referred to the Europeans
Premium Aztec Mesoamerica Mexico
gives the accounts of which the Aztec Empire falls to the Spanish in the 16th century. The book‚ Broken Spears‚ shows the view of the Aztecs more over than the Spanish‚ Miguel Leon-Portilla describes the many reasons as to why the Spanish were successful in the victory against the Aztec empire. The Spanish had technology advantages over the Aztecs‚ and they also had the poor leadership of Motecuhzoma. One of the most notable factors that caused the fall of the Aztecs was the plague‚ this factor was
Premium Mexico Aztec United States