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Reasons for the successful conquest of mexico
Conquest of mexico essay
Conquest of mexico essay
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During the week, we watched the movie, La Otra Conquista. The movie is historically based on the journey of Hernando Cortes and his conquistadors to the New World. On the journey, the conquistadors traveled to Mexico to conquer the Aztec empire. Topiltzin and Dona Isabel were children of the great emperor of the Aztec Empire, Moctezuma. His half-sister, Dona Isabel was in a relationship with Hernando Cortes. In the beginning of movie, the scene was the aftermath of a war. Majority of the Aztecs died including the emperor. The conquistadors were astonished by the ritual, the Aztecs performed. In the ritual, the Aztecs sacrificed Topiltzin’s mother to the sun goddess by removing her organs. The conquistadors immediately implemented the Aztecs
to convert to Christianity, destroying the statue of the sun goddess and replacing it with a statute of the Virgin Mary and Jesus. The conquistadors assimilated the Aztecs to learn their culture and religion by changing their native names to English. Topiltzin was changed to Tomas. Majority of the Aztecs assimilated, except Topiltzin resisted conversion. As a punishment for his actions, he received several whippings from a conquistador. One of the missionaries, Friar Diego devoted his time in converting Topiltzin. Dona Isabel and Topzilin had a close relationship. In order to preserve their bloodline, Dona Isabel and Toplitzin had a sexual relationship with each other. Dona Isabel and Topiltzin created a letter to the King of Spain to explain the conquistador’s departure from the New World. The letter ended with a forged signature of Cortes, eventually a failed attempt to send as Friar Diego discovered their scheme. Separated from his sister, Topilizitin started falling into a state of depression. Topiltzin had dreams about the Virgin Mary and the sun goddess, revealing both are the same. The missionaries tried to resist his urge from believing in his goddess. He tried to convince the missionaries that the Virgin Mary was similar to the sun goddess, calling them both mother. Towards the end of the movie, Topiltzin could not resist his belief and died in peace with sun goddess and Virgin Mary. At the end of the movie, Friar Diego believed in Topiltzin’s reasoning. It is the same god overall, even from two different races. The Aztecs and the Europeans are not that different in the eyes of religion.
Anais Nin once said that “we write to taste life twice: in the moment and in retrospection.” In his book, Seven Myths of Spanish Conquest, Matthew Restall tries to change our perception of the past in other to open our eyes to what life was really like during the colonial period. As Restall puts it, the main propose of the book is to “illustrate the degree to which the Conquest was a far more complex and protracted affair” (p.154) than what was supposed in the latters and chronicles left by the conquistadores. Each one of Restall’s chapters examines one of seven myths regarding the mystery behind the conquest. By doing so, Matthew Restall forces us to look back at the Spanish conquest and question
The religion and culture of the Aztecs played a role in the way the way they thought and fought. They worshiped the war-god Huitzilopochtli. He was identified with the sun and was called "the Giver of life" and "the Preserver of Life" (xxxix). The religion carried some ridiculous rituals such as human sacrifice along with using magicians and wizards to cast spells. In war conditions, human sacrifice played a big role because the Aztecs would not fight to kill,...
The documentary El Contrato follows the exploits of Mexican migrant workers as they find themselves being exploited. In particular, it follows one man, Teodoro Martinez, a father of 4 who has worked many seasons in Canada. Teodoro returns year after year. He does not return because he enjoys it, he returns for the pay. The migrant workers are chosen with certain criteria in mind. These ‘desirable’ traits are that they have minimal, if any, education and a family in Mexico. The workers chosen are typically quite poor, many not owning a house. The pay is better than what they could get in Mexico, so they must make the decision to desert their families for two thirds of the year to support their loved ones. They are brought to a town where most
A well-known Meso-American deity, Huitzilopochtli, is the Aztec god of war and human sacrifice. It is written that he had a constant battle with evil within himself and required human sacrifice for nourishment. It is believed that Huitzilopochtli’s mother, Coatlicue, an Aztec earth goddess, conceived him after she kept a ball of hummingbird feathers in her bosom that had fallen from the sky. Huitzilopochtli’s sister, Coyolxauhqui, plotted to kill her mother after discovering the shameful way she had become impregnated. When his mother was decapitated, Huitzilopochtli burst from the womb and killed his sister Coyolxauhqui ...
It is the 1450s. Foreigners have invaded your land, and they’re capturing the citizens living there for their lethal rituals. (Doc. A) You are unlucky enough to find yourself kidnapped, along with your family. Your mother is taken away quickly, but your father is forced to become a human sacrifice for the Aztec gods. What does this mean, exactly? According to The History of the Indies of New Spain by Friar Diego Duran, your father’s chest is severed, and his heart is taken out of his body. This is all while he is still awake, and before the time of pain medication. He slowly bleeds to death on the temple stairways - and you’re watching it all. This sounds terrible, does it not?
The statue was important to not only the Aztecs but to the Spanish as well for Catholics seen she as being related to Mary, the mother of Jesus. The Coatlicue is seen as wearing a serpent skirt given the name of her meaning of the serpent skirt. Serpents meant childbirth and blood to the Aztecs which is why it is important that she wears a serpent skirt as it represents the childbirth of Huitzilopotchi and the blood from the decapitation of her head from the two serpents. In the Aztec culture, man trained to for battle while woman were the child bearers. Those who died during childbirth were believed to have become goddesses which relates to the Aztec myth. The Coatlicue’s face has been carved in many monuments to keep in touch with the earth since she was the goddess of earth and fire. The Aztecs were the largest army in Mesoamerica and took in many prisoners of war. They believed in ritual sacrifice so that their god would not desert them and their world would not come to an end. Thought to have been through four different worlds already, they believed to have lived in the final world that the gods sacrificed themselves for. The prisoners captured by the Aztec were mostly
The history of the Western hemisphere is full of war and conquest. One of the most significant and defining of those conquests is the downfall of the Mexica/Aztec Empire. While there are many other events to choose from, this one stands out since it was one over one of the largest empires in Central America. It is also important to look at because of the immense cultural impact it had. The story of this takeover reads like a movie script, a small band of Spaniards single handedly takes down the most powerful empire in Central America. It was an epic battle, which unfortunately led to the destruction of a magnificent culture. As in any major historical event there are many underlying themes and storylines that come together to make the event happen. The Spanish conquest of the Aztec is no different. Three major themes are seen in this struggle. One of them is the incredible advantage that the Spaniards technology gave them over the Aztecs. A second major theme is the greed that fueled the conquests in the New World. The last major theme was the effect of the political divisions and rivalries within Montezuma’s Central American Kingdom. As this historical event progressed each one of these themes began to intertwine until they became an almost unstoppable force.
Looking back into the history of certain events affords the modern researcher the ability to examine a variety of documents and artifacts. It is important, however, to take into account biases, inaccuracies, errors in translation, and overall misinformation when examining primary sources, 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
Imagine living in a civilization that practiced beautiful ritual dances and ceremonies. Then one day, that civilization does not exist anymore because another civilization decided to conquer them. In the novel “Song of the Hummingbird,” written by Graciela Limo, an Aztec women named Huitzitzilin, which means Hummingbird, tells her life story to a Father Benito Lara, along with confessing her sins from her lifetime. I find this novel to be very informative because it tells the reader the truth on what actually happened between the Spaniards and the Aztecs. As I read this novel, I could picture the events in my head as Huitzitzilin described them.
The traditions my parents instilled in me at a young age are important to me. They are part of my Latin culture and identity. One of the most important traditions that I value the most is our devotion to “La Virgen de Guadalupe” (The Virgin of Guadalupe), and although I don't go to church or share a specific a religion, I believe in La Virgen as a protector and a guardian figure and maintain her presence in my daily life. The story of La Virgen de Guadalupe goes back to 1531, during the time of the Spanish conquest, an indigenous man named Juan Diego encountered the apparition of La Virgen who told Juan Diego that a church should be built in her honor at the top of Tepeyac hill, where she appeared, which is now in the suburbs of Mexico City.
The caudillo system established in Latin America after the wars for independence consisted of unstable transitional governments that achieved few of the goals recognized in an effective democratic government. Despite these shortcomings, the caudillo system maintained a predictable social order and prevented chaos. This system was the best available until the formation of a middle class could be achieved, resulting in a more democratic political system.
A tall, stately conquistador sat high in the saddle of his blood red, high stepping stallion, its long tail was perched high over his back, the masculine man adorning the magnificent creature sat as if in a rocking chair as the high spirited animal danced about. The conquistador held his stallion firmly by his reins, forcing his steed to step to the side as the rest of the regiment moved along the trail, trudging alone in the balmy heat, he removed his helmet tucking it firmly under his left arm against his body, he located his handkerchief that he had tucked into his left sleeve of his shirt, retrieving the white hanky Carrasco begin dabbing his handkerchief around his forehead and the back of his neck, mopping up the corpus amount of perspiration that was running down the sides of his face and trickling down the back of his neck, gobs of black hair tossed about his head as he dabbed his handkerchief about trying to keep the sweat from running into his armor. Dear God, he thought to himself, this is intolerable, what did I do to deserve such punishment? It is only spring and alrea...
The eternal endeavor of obtaining a realistic sense of selfhood is depicted for all struggling women of color in Gloria Anzaldua’s “Borderlands/La Frontera” (1987). Anzaldua illustrates the oppressing realities of her world – one that sets limitations for the minority. Albeit the obvious restraints against the white majority (the physical borderland between the U.S. and Mexico), there is a constant and overwhelming emotional battle against the psychological “borderlands” instilled in Anzaldua as she desperately seeks recognition as an openly queer Mestiza woman. With being a Mestiza comes a lot of cultural stereotypes that more than often try to define ones’ role in the world – especially if you are those whom have privilege above the “others”.
says that the Aztecs would stage flower wars in order to get sacrificial victims. Another reason
The imagery of decapitated female lunar deities is a recurring theme in Aztec cosmology. These images symbolize politics in relation to events of the solar calendar, such as lunar and solar eclipses. Among the Aztec cultural group as a whole, there were three variations of the story of Coyolxauhqui's decapitation. According to the Mexica, the founders of Tenochtitlan, Coyolxauhqui plotted with her brothers to kill their mother, Coatlicue, who was mysteriously impregnated by feathers. Upon hearing of this plot, Huitzilopochtli, the Sun god associated with warfare, came forth from his mother's womb and decapitated his sister, then proceeded to devour the hearts of her, his brothers, and 400 Southerners who attempted to assail him at Coatepec.