"The Broken Spears" by Miguel Leon-Portilla The author argues that the Spanish were completely at fault for the total destruction of the Aztec Empire. In Broken spears, the author explains how many factors other than Spanish power contributed to the downfall of the Aztecs. Not only did the Spanish have many advantages over the Aztecs, but also they also exploited them and took advantage of the cultural difference. The main key aspects to the Spanish victory, is that the Spanish were viewed as
The People of the Sun The Aztecs, the people of the sun, people of reason and the people of knowledge. The Aztecs knew the land; they were one with the earth using the stars for direction and time telling and the earth as a producer of life. The universe was sacred, it was to be preserved, treated and used as a source of life because for the Aztecs the sun was life, they are the people of the sun. Conquering was very important to the Aztecs; they were warriors, strong ones who trained their
The Broken Spears is a book written by Miguel Leon-Portilla that gives accounts of the fall of the Aztec Empire to the Spanish in the early 16th century. The book is much different from others written about the defeat of the empire because it was written from the vantage point of the Aztecs rather then the Spanish. Portilla describes in-depth many different reasons why the Spanish were successful in the defeat of such a strong Empire. Portilla starts out by giving a thorough background of the
brings into the argument that a “vast majority of those of us who write about colonial period are either or criollo origin or mestizos totally integrated into the occidentalized society that predominates in most Latin American republics,”(2). León-Portilla is a Mexican who is most likely to have a criollo origin, and considering from what Verdesio stated earlier, that there might be a slight twist of the real accounts since it comes from a history that has already been integrated in an altered manner
creation was to provide blood for the maintenance of the Sun’s life” (Leon-Portilla, Aztec Thought & Culture, 122). With this perspective of themselves, the Aztecs believed that human sacrifice was not only justified but necessary for the lives of civilization. Simply put, mankind was “food” for god. On the other hand, “the tlamatinime’s interpretation of the creation perhaps held more meaning than might be supposed” (Leon-Portilla, Aztec Thought & Culture, 122) because they saw themselves as “playthings”
written by Miguel Leon-Portilla, honorable Mexican anthropologist and historian that studied in the National Autonomous University of Mexico in 1956. The book The Broken Spears or Vision de Los Vencidos (original Spanish book name) has been translated into six different languages; English, German, French, Polish, Catalan, and Otomi. The book was originally published in Spanish in 1959, and presented the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire from the point of view of the natives. Mr. Miguel Leon Portilla
“If you fell down yesterday, stand up today.” An inspirational quote by H.G. Wells that describes how Spain reclaims territory after the Treaty of Tordesillas was disregarded. The Protestant Reformation undermined the authority of the Pope. As a consequence, Spain lost territory in the New World. Hernan Cortes, a Spanish Conquistador would serve as an alternative way to gain territory. The methods that he used were vile, but Spain would reclaim land in the New World. Despite the failure of the Treaty
presented the history of the conquest of Mexico from the point of view of the local native people, and this helps us understand this critical encounter of Europe with America. The reminds me of my history book I am reading The Broken Spears by Miguel Leon-Portilla and uses native accounts of the conquest of Mexico. In the book, both Huitzitzilin and the priest begin to create a relationship. The priest Benito Lara begins to see the story of the conquest of Mexico from Huitzitzilin perspective with great
particularly historical documents. Examining the history of the conquest of the Aztec empire is no different, and in a scenario as tense as it was it is extremely important to consider the authorship of the text. Bernal Diaz’ The Conquest of New Spain and Miguel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico offer two distinct looks into the same event in history. Both documents offer differing takes of the same events, so when
The Rise and Fall of the Aztec Civilization The Rise and fall of the Aztec Empire is possibly the most important area of study in the modern world. Of all of the nomadic tribes who migrated into Mexico, the Aztecs were one of the last. At first driven away by established tribes, the Aztecs slowly began to develop an empire of immense wealth and power by the late fifteenth century. Due in large part to the accomplishments of their ruler Itzcoatl, the empire expanded to include millions of people
smallpox which the natives did not have an immunity to. The disease was a plague among the natives very rapidly. When the Spaniards fought and temporarily left Tenochtitlan, many Aztecs died due to the smallpox of the Spaniards as recorded by Miguel Leon-Portilla (Doc. 4). When the Europeans learned of how their disease was affecting the natives, the Europeans took advantage and used it to kill natives that were in places of possible settlement. Geoffrey Cowley gives some modern statistics of just how
Christopher Columbus set sail across the Atlantic Ocean in 1492 to discover the West Indies. What he stumbled upon would become known as the New World. After Columbus’s discoveries, Europe sent explorers such as Magellan and Cortes to discover new land and to fulfill their curiosity from the Renaissance, gain money and revenue, and gain fame and fortune. From 1400 to 1700 C.E. the world went trough the Age of Exploration. This was a time of new trade methods, routes and exploration. These explorers
the Natives who were isolated from such disease. “After the Spaniards fled Tenochtitlan after La Noche Triste, a great plague broke out here in Tenochtitlan... A great many died from this plague and many others died of hunger” (Document 4). Miguel Leon-Portilla describes in the previous quote how smallpox was introduced to Tenochtitlan. Because the natives did not know what the disease was, many died from it; those who did not die from the disease died from lack of nutrition because of not being
The Exploration age for the europeans was the way to get rich famous and make money for their mother country. With the new exploration tools that helped many explores sail to the new world and explore the land and to learn about the native people culture and how they lived. With the new knowledge of the new world introduces new threats to both the Europeans and the Natives such as disease, enslavement of people and the decimation of populations in the new world due to exploration. The age of exploration