Pros And Cons Of The Aztecs
A century after Columbus made the Americas known to Europe, the Spaniards sent out additional ships to explore and bring back wealth and knowledge. However, Hérnan Cortés, the leader of this expedition, did not follow his mission. He first conquered a city on the coast and moved inward to continue overtaking the Aztec empire (Lecture?). The moment Cortés and his men touched the land, European diseases such as smallpox and yellow fever began decimating the Aztecs, who had never built up immunities. In addition to this, there had already been drought, causing a shortage of food and water throughout the empire. In all, this made it relatively easy for Cortés to capture the capital city of Tenochtitlan. The immune systems of the inhabitants of the Americas were completely unaccustomed to the diseases of the Old World. Thus, smallpox, a disease that the Europeans usually caught in their childhoods, wiped out up to ninety percent of the population of the Aztecs. The pestilence inhibited the Aztecs from even the smallest movement which made a great percentage of the population bedridden. This caused them to weaken, and starve due to the fact that no person could rise to get food, and those who were …show more content…
The drought led to “the price of grain skyrocketing, left granaries empty and many people without water.” When the battle of Tenochtitlan began, the city was put under siege. The citizens, already starving and dying from smallpox, began to run out of food. One Aztec accounted that “there was famine, [and] many died of hunger…The water they drank was salty. Everything was eaten: lizards, swallows, maize straw, grass that grows on salt flats…and they chewed at…wood, glue flowers, plaster, leather…” Anything that could possibly be eaten, was consumed to some degree. In this way, many of the Aztec people died off without Cortés having to kill them
Analysis Of Seven Myths Of The Spanish Conquest And Guns, Germs, And Steel
1044 Words | 5 PagesUsing the native peoples, the Spaniards gained an advantage in knowledge and strength which helped them mostly conquer the Americas. Finally, the spread of disease can both be agreed upon in both Guns, Germs, and Steel and Seven Myths of the Spanish Conquest. Restall says that the diseases began to be brought to Mexico in the year of 1518 and spread to South America by the end of the 1530’s . Disease in this time is almost inescapable and targeted both the conquistadors and the indigenous alike.
Essay On Sundiata
912 Words | 4 PagesThe Malinke people did not maintain the food and economic cycle; instead they broke it by lessening the supplies of food and population. The last evidence is the disease. Because of the smallpox that spread in the city of Tenochtitlan, Aztec people had no immunity to this type of disease; the Empire’s armies and population were weakened a lot. On the other hand, many of Cortes’s people have immunity; they began to attack the Aztecs. The Aztec Empire had no power to fight with Cortes; this gives Cortes more opportunities to take the city.
Spanish Influence On The Aztecs
182 Words | 1 PagesWhen the spanish arrived, usually because of what the aztecs believe in they would have been sacrificed immediately but, in the 1500’s when Hernan Cortes a spanish conquistador, entered Aztec territory with a small group of men the aztec men thought that they were sent by their god, Quetzalcoatl which is a very important god to the Aztecs who had vowed that he would appear when the world was near its end. The spanish came looking to convert people to the catholic religion and also to get gold. The spanish stayed for awhile as a guest of emperor and the longer they stayed the more suspicious things started to become because they did not act like gods nor did they attend sacrifice ceremonies. When the Aztecs decided it was time for the Spanish
Age Of Exploration DBQ
961 Words | 4 PagesIn the Age of Exploration, the Columbian Exchange was created between Europe and the Americas as a massive exchange of plants, animals, and diseases. In document 2, the Columbian Exchange is depicted, and a main part of it shows how many diseases– smallpox, measles, and typhus– were brought by Europe to the Americas. In The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, Miguel Léon-Portilla claims that diseases struck "everywhere in the city and kill[ed] a vast number of... people" (Document 7). The illnesses caused many sores to appear on peoples' faces and bodies. Some people could not walk or move as they were helpless and cried in agony.
Aztec Empire Turning Points
1036 Words | 5 PagesThe Spanish had to retreat but one of the most lethal weapons was disease that had already been passed on to the Aztecs. Smallpox with no treatment or prevention swept through the Aztec population. This killed their army leaders and left them weak to attack. Cortés took this as an advantage and in his final attack along with Aztec enemies he
The Broken Spears Summary
573 Words | 3 PagesThe Aztec leader Montecuhzoma was a poor leader, he wasn’t concerned about the wellbeing of his people. In Broken Spears, readers will see that the Spaniards use nearby tribes to take over the Aztecs land, the Spaniards killed men, women and children. When the Aztecs hear about what the Spaniards have done they become furious and plan to retaliate but are quickly stopped by the diseases brought by the Spaniards. The Aztecs are exposed to small pox and measles but the Spaniards were unaffected by the diseases because they are well known in Europe and they are exposed to diseases
Informative Speech On Aztecs
600 Words | 3 PagesSlide 1- Introduction Good morning/afternoon everybody, today I have been assigned with informing you all about the Aztecs, or more importantly, the reason for their annihilation. Now you may be thinking that it was mainly to do with a war, but it is actually almost solely a disease called the variola disease or as it’s more commonly known, small-pox Slide 2-What were the symptoms and effects Now you may be wondering what made the disease so dangerous to the Aztecs. The main problem of the disease was the fact that not only did it kill 3/10 people effected it also severely lowered the victims fighting capabilities meaning that when the Spanish attempted to fight the Aztecs, it became much more favourable to the Aztecs. (Healthline, n.d.)
Hernan Cortes Manipulate The Aztec Empire
444 Words | 2 PagesInstead of converting the Aztecs to Christianity, Hernan Cortes committed genocide. Originally he traveled with an army of six hundred men to Tenochtitlan, to introduce the Aztecs to Christianity. In the end, he was a murderer in the eyes of the Aztecs and conquered the Aztec Empire. Hernan Cortes was a villain because, he was ignorant, manipulative, and ambitious. He slaughtered a nation and destroyed a magnificent city.
Negative Effects Of Spanish Colonization On Latin America
1513 Words | 7 PagesThe Colonisation of Latin America had a major negative impact on these indigenous people as the arrival in Latin America collided with 12,000 years of isolation from Eurasia which imposed many diseases on the natives. The natives were unable to fight of these diseases as they did not have the immune system for these types of sickness nor the appropriate medicine so many of them died as a result. These diseases included small pox, measles and influenza, bubonic plagues, cholera and tropical
Fall Of The Aztec Empire Essay
1135 Words | 5 PagesCuitlahuac Soon died from Chickenpox. Then Cuauhtémoc took throne, how is Cuitlahuac’s nephew. The Spaniards brought Chickenpox, Measles, Mumps, and a few other dieses from Europe. It is estimated that almost 80 percent of the Aztec population was killed by dieses, this is because the Aztecs having no immunity to these dieses what so ever.
Aztec Dbq Essay
484 Words | 2 PagesThe Aztecs were one of the most famous and successful early civilizations of the Americas that we know of, who ruled an empire in the modern day country of Mexico from 1350 to 1519. From their capital city of Tenochtitlan, now known as Mexico City, to their daily routines, the Aztecs had many achievements that they deserve recognition for. Two very important components in the history of the Aztecs are agriculture and human sacrifice. Although they both play huge roles in Aztec culture, historians should emphasize on their methods of farming. The reasons why historians should center their focus on the Aztecs' agricultural techniques are they affected the growth of their empire, were used on a huge scale, and were very unique in comparison to other
The Aztec Dbq
679 Words | 3 PagesHernan Cortes killed 5% of the aztec empire. The 90% died from smallpox and the 4% died in the attack. The spanish brought the other 5% with them to Spain as slaves. On August/13/1521 most of the Aztecs race died and Hernan Cortes was declared
How Did Europeans Succeed Over Natives
623 Words | 3 PagesDiseases only found in the European world, such as smallpox, spread to the Americas due to people migrating with these diseases. Since natives did not have diseases like these, they were easily killed off by them. These diseases ended up killing 90 percent of the population native to America. The large number of deaths allowed the conquistadors to greatly outnumber indigenous people and easily capture the now weak tribes. Some may point out that the American diseases must have also affected the Europeans.
Difference Between Latin America And Caribbean
700 Words | 3 PagesDue to the native belief that their god Quetzalcoatl was going to come back, they mistook the European riding a horse as their god and invited him into their intricate kingdom. However, a civil war breaks out and the Europeans destroyed the empire with their more advanced weapons and European diseases such as smallpox. Similarly in Peru, Francisco Pizzaro destroyed the Inca Empire with advanced weapons and smallpox. Latin America was now a site of colonization as it became exploited of its natural resources and people.
Hernan Cortes Hero
975 Words | 4 PagesThe Spanish were able to colonize Mexico without much resistance.” After the smallpox epidemic, the Aztecs were even more vulnerable. The Spanish exploration and conquering of Tenochtitlan was to gain power for the Spanish empire, but the city’s people were somewhat considered rebellious, and consequently, Cortes needed to conquer/kill the people first. By taking down the people of the city, Cortes was exposed to the city’s great treasures for his reward of gold; he retrieved all the gold he could, and travelled back to Spain where he was labelled a hero for his acts of
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