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
In addition to control of marriage, forced labor, and various other factors; the Spanish had a main goal of widespread Catholicism. Ramon A. Gutierrez, a well-known and established professor in the area of history, breaks down the events leading up to the revolt, while directing the cause of the battle at religion, or “contempt for Catholicism” by the Pueblo Indians (39). In the beginning of the essay the abuse and restriction of Indian religion is quickly exposed through the beatings committed by Fray Salvador de Guerra. Gutierrez goes on to state, “Guerra Viciously whipped Juan until “he was bathed in blood.” A second beating was inflicted later that day inside the church.
A lasting motto of the conquistadors is: “For Gold! For God! For Glory!”. The words “For Gold” are a reference to the riches that were present and taken from the native empires, the mention of “God” represents the religious work their missionaries would attempt in converting indigenous people to Christianity and
The natives did not receive correct treatment from those who conquered their land. For example, Hernan Cortes demanded that the natives must change their beliefs. The Aztecs would sacrifice 50 souls every year to their gods. Cortes opposed of this and therefor forced them to adopt a new religion. The Aztecs didn’t easily accept the new religion since they have been following their religion for a very long time (document 3).
This is evident when Portilla (1962) states “The Aztecs. As we have said through the strangers were Quetzalcoatl and other gods returning from over the sea, while the spaniards . . . considered the Aztecs Barbarians and thought only of seizing their riches and of forcing them to become christians and spanish subjects” (xxxiii). Lastly, the trust the Aztecs had in their gods led to their ultimate downfall. For instance, during the massacre at Cholula, the Indigenous people “ had placed such confidence in their idol Quetzalcoatl that they believed no human power
The Renaissance era was a great transition from the Medieval times. The arts started to be emphasised and individualism became a major theme. Human exploration was celebrated through art, literature, and theater. Not only was the Renaissance time period the age for human exploration it was a time of global exploration. Hernan Cortez was one of the many explorers of the Renaissance age.
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.
In 1494, the Treaty of Tordesillas was established in order to evenly divide unclaimed lands between Portugal and Spain. This led to the Line of Demarcation, in which the non-European world was divided into two zones. Portugal had rights to the eastern hemisphere, and Spain had rights to the western hemisphere. This allowed Spain to colonize areas in the New World. Even though they had this opportunity, they were not able to colonize specific areas in North America due to competition with other European countries.
These differences were also smaller details under the larger ideas of barbarianism, new cultures, and the even bigger idea of inhumanity. The Spanish saw the Native Americans as slaves because they showed to be hard laborers and gave into the Spanish power. The Native Americans had a natural knack for manual tasks, so much that most Spaniards compared them to insects because both insects and Native Americans could do certain tasks that normal humans, such as high class Spaniards, could not. The Spaniards would never do such work as they believed that work was meant for slaves. When the Spanish took over the Aztec capital city, Sepúlveda remarks of how the Native Americans were “oppressed and fearful at the beginning.”
The Spaniards came from the east, across the Atlantic. They came from a mysterious world outside Mesoamerica, of which the Nahuas knew nothing. Cortés insisted that Motecuhzoma and other native rulers submit to a foreign power, the Spanish king, and to a new god”(Burkhart, 84). This could be a
The Spanish then began to demolish the religion and culture of the conquered people step by step, even burning their holy
Sydney Cooper Professor Seekatz History 017A 21 February 2018 FEEDBACK REQUESTED: Spanish Colonization and Its Lack of Progress Father Luis Jayme’s critique of the Spanish Soldiers Behavior, written in 1772, accentuates the little success Spanish colonization had made due to the maltreatment and lack of trust between the Spanish soldiers and the Natives, along with faultiness in religious customs. The relationship between the Spanish settlers and the Native Indians was brutal and unstable. The Spanish desired the California land and saw it to be ideal to try and colonize, but in order to do so, they had to overcome and intervene with the daily life of the Native Indians whom already called this territory home. Instead of trying to create a positive relationship with the Natives, the Spanish went in and demanded for what they wanted. The soldiers were cruel to the Natives, and used rape and obstruction of their land in doing so.
Christopher Columbus and Hernan Cortes were both famous Spanish adventurers during the Age of Exploration. When the explorers came upon land, they encountered two different cultures. In 1492, Columbus encountered the Taino people, and in 1520, Cortes encountered the Aztecs. The two cultures that the men encountered were different in more ways than they were similar in regards to how the natives treated the men, what weapons they had and their war-like behavior, their technologically advancements, their housing and architectural structures, and even their religion.
In The Requerimiento by Juan López de Palacios Rubios, natives in the new world were told, “We ask that … you acknowledge the Christian church as the ruler and superior of the whole world, and as superiors that you agree to let the Christian priests preach to you … (The Priests) shall not compel you to become Christians unless you yourself wish to be converted. But if you do not do this … we shall forcefully enter into your country and make war against you.” The Spanish conquistadors allowed natives to choose whether or not they wanted to convert to Christianity, However if they did not, then the Spanish turned them into slaves. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain by Bernal Diaz del Castillo openly stated that a reason for Spanish exploration was, “To serve God and his majesty, to give light to those who were in darkness.” The Spanish viewed non-Christians as unintelligent people because they believed in a different God.
Just as the gods of Teotihuacan had to atone for their sins in order to return to their celestial paradise, the sacrifiers wanted to participate in human sacrifice through the victim’s death in order to be granted entrance into heaven. Rituals recorded in the Historia de los Mexicanos por sus pinturas portray the victim as substitute for the sacrifier and symbolize self-sacrifice in order for the sacrifier to expiate, confirming the understanding of Aztec human sacrifice as a religious function. Examination of all three aspects – creation myths, sacrificial victims, and sacrifiers – supports the importance of religion in Aztec
Latin American and feminist theologians, artists, and writers have reimagined the sedate and obedient Virgin as an ordinary woman experiencing the joys and challenges of sexuality, work, and motherhood as exemplified by Yolanda López’s “Portrait of the Artist as the Virgin of Guadalupe.” Although the Virgin of Guadalupe has made an impact on the country of Mexico, at the same time, she has also had effects on others parts of the Americas. The apparition did not only convert the whole nation of Mexico to Catholicism, but the apparition of Our Lady of Guadalupe brought an end to the Aztecs worship of stone gods and the practice of human sacrifice. When the indigenous people embraced Catholicism, the religion of the Spaniards, the two groups discovered a way of living together in relative harmony. In 1737, she was proclaimed patroness of Mexico City, and in 1746, her patronage was accepted by all the territories of New Spain, which included part of present-day California as well as Mexico and regions as far south as Guatemala and El Salvador.