Reasons Why The Aztec's Collapse

In this week’s reading, “Spanish Conquest” by Elizabeth Carmichael and Chloe Sayer discuss the subjugation, ethnocide, and struggle the indigenous population of Mexico endured during the Spanish conquest. The Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortez, enslave and forced the Aztecs to believe that Christianity was the one true religion. Therefore, the indigenous people were forced to convert their faith through the Spanish missionaries to lose their indigenous roots. Later, the authors explain the many difficulties and conflicts Spanish priest underwent to teach the Christian faith to the Aztecs. The Spanish friar first taught the indigenous people Christianity in Nahuatl. However, there was a debate if teaching the Aztecs in Nahuatl hindered

The Aztecs were a great Empire that lasted approximately 200 years. They entered the Valley of Mexico from North and founded their capital in the center of a lake. Their capital was called Tenochtitlan, and it was founded in 1325. In 1428 a Triple Alliance was formed with other two cities, Texcoco and Tlacopan, consolidating what we now call, the Great Aztec Empire. The primary source, The Broken Spears, not only tells us about the Conquest of the Aztec Empire by the Spaniards, but it reveals us some of their social, cultural and political aspects.

Throughout the Porfirian era Mexico had struggled to develop as a country and move towards any steps of progress up until the year of 1910. In William H. Beezley’s book Judas at the Jockey Club he considers this period on Mexican history to begin around 1876 and he points out many of the social, economic, and political factors that helped shape the foundation for modern Mexico. Beezley also looks at some of the regular aspects of the daily lives of Mexicans. Whether it be the sports and recreations, ceremonies and celebrations, or jobs and work that are part of the Mexicans everyday live, he uses these aspects to illustrate the extent of the two main culture groups of Mexican society. The two main culture groups in Mexico were the Los de Arriba,

The conflict and defeat of the Aztecs was not avoidable because the Spanish were looking for gold and land, and would have eventually come into contact with the Aztecs no matter who found the land of Tenochtitlan first. Since the Aztecs had everything the Spaniards wanted, it was likely that a battle between the two was bound to happen. In war the Spanish had a large advantage because of their weapons and battle gear. If the Aztecs came into contact with the Spanish, they were likely to die because of the disease the Spaniards carried with them. Also, a lot of enemies were created against the Aztecs because of the human sacrifices they had to make in order to nourish their gods.

In 1519, Hernándo Cortés, a Spanish Conquistador ventured into Tenochtitlan, the capital of Aztec empire, searching for gold and glory. He set out to conquer the empire and to capture the Aztecs in order to achieve his ambitions. Moctezuma, the highly respected leader of the mighty Aztec Empire, came confronting with Hernán Cortés, the leader of a small band of professional European soldiers from a huge island that lay six day’s sail to the east. In “Malintzin’s Choices: An Indian Women in the Conquest of Mexico” and “Mexico and the Spanish Conquest”, Camilla Townsend and Ross Hassig respectively present one histories in their own interpretations of the conquest of Mexico.

The musical phenomenon corridos came about in the 1800s. However a dramatic increase of this music occurred until the Mexican Revolution. The Mexican Revolution started on November 20, 1920. The revolution started because of a very corrupt government that was ran by Porfirio Diaz. His 34-year term called El Porfiriato, was violating the principle and ideals of the Mexican Constitution (EDSITEment). He did not allow for freedom of speech and press. As result there was no communication between people in different landmarks and if there was it was very difficult. People did not know was happening around them because of the lack of communication. This is bad for society as a whole because the people need to know what is going on in the world they

Religion played a huge role in the Aztec society. Religion was the most important thing to the Aztec people . The Aztecs used omens and stars to tell the future. The Aztecs had believed that a god named Quetzalcoatl would and destroy the entire Aztec civilization and he would return in the year of the seed. In 1519 a Explorer named Hernan Cortes discovered Mexico in 1519. 1519 was the seed year according to the Aztec calendar. The Aztecs Believed that Hernán Cortés was Quetzalcoatl.So they treated him great respect. Hernan Cortes had lunch with the Aztecs and after lunch he killed all the Aztec people. The aztecs could not attack him first because they believed that he was a god and they had to treat him with great respect.Hernan 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

The author gives insight on how many ways the Spaniards used their power to assist in the downfall of the Aztecs. The reason why the Spaniards became victorious, was because the Spaniards were looked upon as if they were gods because of their outer appearance. The Aztecs broke bread and welcomed the Spaniards with gifts and parties. The Aztecs triggered their relationship with the Spaniards by holding a ritual for the arrival of the god which included a human sacrifice. The Spaniards didn’t agree with the rituals and began to despise the Aztecs.

The Aztec tribe was established during the 14th century in Mesoamerica.They were connected with their use of the Nahuatl language. This tribe eventually grew to become one of the great empires. It became possible with the Aztec Triple Alliance, consisting of the Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopan. The Aztec culture was a crucial part of the history of many Native American tribes.

The Aztecs began as a northern tribe whose name came from a valley known as Aztlan, which was the name of their homeland. They appeared in Mesoamerica, today known as the south central region of Mexico, in the 13th century. There, the Aztecs built their proud city, Tenochtitlan. It was the heart of the Aztec civilization. The Aztec emperor didn’t rule every city state. Local governments remained but they were required to pay varying amounts to the city of Tenochtitlan, Texcoco, and Tlacopa. This empire is called a hegemonic or informal empire (Moreno-Aguilar, 2013). The Aztecs ruled through a local government, this ensured the locals would keep the people happy. This system worked very well for the people, but the empire would eventually be

I believe that the Spanish conquest was quite effective because they achieve their goal of establishing territorial gains. The Spanish also demolished one of earliest civilization in history. In the book it mentions that the Maya knew not to go against the Spanish Masters because their military was much stronger than the Mayan warriors. There were very much loss with the Mayan Empire because of the conquest itself.

The Broken Spears by Miguel Leon Portilla portrays many themes about the spanish conquest in the account of the Aztecs.However, The Seven Myth of the Spanish Conquest by Matthew Restall conveys themes harmonize with The Broken Spears concepts.

“Aztlan, Cibola and Frontier New Spain” is a chapter in Between the Conquests written by John R. Chavez. In this chapter Chavez states how Chicano and other indigenous American ancestors had migrated and how the migration help form an important part of the Chicanos image of themselves as a natives of the south.

History should say that the Aztecs were politically and technologically advanced. The documents A, B, C, D, F, I, J, K, L, M, N, and O are used. These documents can are into two groups: technology and politics. Documents B, D, F, and K, have ideas in which it includes technology to make agriculture more efficient to simply counting the days on a calendar. In the politics group, it also contains a subgroup with military and beliefs. The following groups: A, C, I, J, L, M, N, O represents parts of agriculture, yet mixing in with the political stance of Aztec people.

The fall of the Aztec Empire was due to the determination of the Spaniards. The Spaniards were destructive. They did not respect the Natives’ religions at all. They almost destroyed all of the Natives’ culture, and now we know very little about Natives. The Spaniards’ greed and obsession with power, this was their main motivation to conquer the Aztec Empire. The Aztecs’ religion is what got them into the most trouble. They sacrificed humans for their Gods, which was wrong in the Spaniards’ eyes (and mine too). They also were very superstitious .The Aztecs may have won the battle against the Spaniards if they too had advanced weaponry and battle tactics. The Aztecs and the Spaniards were vastly different people, however they had similarities. They both killed in the name of religion, and both growing empires willing to do anything to gain more power.