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Conquest of mexico and peru
Conquest of mexico essay introduction
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After America was discovered, we all know that world's biggest empires had a colonial race, which means they went out to these new worlds and seized the native land. France, England, Portugal and Spain as the most notable forces. The famous Spanish conquistadores disembarked in Mesoamerica, the Yucatan peninsula; the home of the great Mayan civilization. These Mesoamerican civilizations – Mayas and Aztecs – made a famous drink that they used in various ways. The conquistadores took the recipe back to Europe. This drink was called “bitter water,” when translated to their native language, is pronounced Xocolatl. Chocolate is a food in the form of a paste or solid block made from roasted and ground cacao seeds. As suspected, its name is derived
from the Nahuatl language to Spanish, French and finally to English. Chocolate is primarily made from cocoa, which is a tree on which cocoa pods grow. They have seeds on the inside that are covered by a fruity pulp. The seeds are put to ferment under banana leaves. After fermentation the seeds, or from this point onwards, beans, are set to dry in the sun for many days before they are roasted and cracked to reveal these cocoa nibs, which are ground and mixed with other ingredients to make chocolate. One of the first deities the Mesoamerican cultures believed in was Quetzacoatl, the Feathered Serpent – god of peace, power and wisdom. There is a myth that he flew the sacred cocoa tree from paradise to give to humans, thus it was imbued with the knowledge of Quetzacoatl. The Aztecs and Mayans followed the process explained and mixed water with the cocoa powder to make the beverage. Spices like chili, black pepper, vanilla, etc. were added for enhanced flavor. The drink was expensive and reserved mainly for the royals. Aztec emperor Moctezuma drank 50 golden goblets of hot chocolate every day. Also it was used as a currency and in royal and religious ceremonies along with Psylocibe and other entheogens. Hot chocolate was introduced to the Spanish nobles, which resulted in great popularity and spreading across the Europe. Colonists started making an industry out of it, with the manual labor of slaves. Europeans added sugar or honey to sweeten its bitter taste. Then the industrial revolution came, making chocolate production less difficult, as well as dropping prices and making it available for everyone. Today we have many different types of chocolate, but they are mostly classified as: dark, milk, raw and white chocolate, which is technically not chocolate, since it does not contain cocoa parts.
During Valentine’s week alone, millions of pounds of chocolate candies alone are sold (“Who consumes the most chocolate,” 2012, para 8). This naturally creates a demand for product, which in turns causes a need for ingredients. The main component in chocolate, of course, is cocoa. Since Côte d’Ivoire provides 40 percent of the world’s supply of this crucial ingredient (Losch, 2002, p. 206), it merits investigation i...
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.
Chocolate or cacao was first discovered by the Europeans as a New World plant, as the seed of the tropical Theobroma cacao tree. In Latin, Theobroma literally means: “food of the Gods” (Bugbee, Cacao and Chocolate: A Short History of Their Production and Use). Originally found and cultivated in Mexico, Central America and Northern South America, its earliest documented use is around 1100 BC. The majority of the Mesoamerican people made chocolate beverages, including the Aztecs, who made it into a beverage known as xocolātl, a Nahuatl word meaning “bitter water” (Grivetti; Howard-Yana, Chocolate: History, Culture, and Heritage). It was also a beverage in Mayan tradition that served a function as a ceremonial item. The cacao plant is g...
The cocktail becoming the great American drink is no accident, as claimed by Kimball in her article. “Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum” had to lead somewhere, and colonists who were already naturally eager to drink as they had at home were bound to be the creative minds behind its invention. With wine difficult to obtain due to price and beer not subsisting in northern climates, the rigors and loneliness of life tended to foster a taste for spirits – something easily distilled and found in cookbooks on the shelf. Although rum had become thought of hostile, it was cheap and easily acquired. And no sooner do people get a taste for rum were they mixing it with other liquors and flavors. Thus the start of the earliest concepts of cocktails.
A drug is a medicine or other substance that has a physiological effect when ingested or otherwise introduced into the body. Many people use drugs without realizing how addictive they can become. During the 1960s and 1970s drugs had a huge impact on the people and as years went on they became more and more dangerous to the point where marijuana, and LSDs were becoming popular and the group most affected were teenagers.
The Aztecs were the Native American people who dominated northern México at the time of the Spanish conquest led by Hernan CORTES in the early 16th century. According to their own legends, they originated from a place called Aztlan, somewhere in north or northwest Mexico. At that time the Aztecs (who referred to themselves as the Mexica or Tenochca) were a small, nomadic, Nahuatl-speaking aggregation of tribal peoples living on the margins of civilized Mesoamerica. Sometime in the 12th century they embarked on a period of wandering and in the 13th century settled in the central basin of México (Encarta). Continually dislodged by the small city-states that fought one another in shifting alliances, the Aztecs finally found refuge on small islands in Lake Texcoco where, in 1325, they founded the town of Tenochtitlan (modern-day Mexico City).
In a matter of three to four years, Cortes had effectively conquered the Aztec peoples through a blend of fierce militarism, diplomacy, and treachery as part of the motivation to colonize the indigenous peoples. Surely, the symbolism of the Spanish conquistador is conformed in the total colonization and defeat of the Aztec civilization ass part of Cortes’ mission in Mexico. More so, the capital of Mexico, Mexico City, was built on the foundations of the city of Tenochtitlan as a basis for the formation of Mexico as a colonial state governed through Spain: Since Hernan Cortes made the decision to construct his new capital on the ruins of Tenochtitlan, the Aztec city of lakes” (Krauze 3). In this context, the importance of Cortes’ role in Mexico is defining moment in the Spanish culture that dominated the indigenous populations after the defeat of the Aztecs. Cortes was a leading figure in the first phase of Spanish colonization of Central America, which would result in larger Spanish colonization of this region through the 16th
When Cabeza de Vaca came to the "New World" he was just one of over 300 conquistadores led by Panphilo de Narvaez. They sailed to the New World and landed in Flordia. Struggling to find their way through the swamps and wetlands, their problems only increased when they were killed one-by-one by the Native American tribes (the Seminole tribes). Hoping to save their lives after running out of food, the conquistadores went back to the sea. However when they arrived they saw that their ships and commrades had assumed that they were dead and left to sail back to Spain.
The Aztecs name means "heron people" their name is derived from the mythical homeland to the north called Azatlan. Their native language (Nahuatl) came from Soshonean, linguistic family. The Aztecs civilization major key crop was maize. They used maize to cook with lime. Then they ground it up to make dough for tortillas. They had several other major crops such as, cotton, chilies, beans, squash, and tomatoes. Maguey and agave were crops that were used to make cords, sandals, sacks and in clothing. Juice from the maguey was used to make an alcoholic beverage in which they used in traditional ceremonies called pulque. The elderly men were the only ones that could drink anytime they wanted to. Other generations could drink only when it was a certain religious ceremony going on. Getting drunk was something that was not taken lightly. Punishment was so harsh it was that if caught you could have died.
The meaning of the word chocolate came from the Spanish language. It is unknown how the word entered the Spanish language but there seem to be many assumptions about how the word came about. Many sources that date to the time of the Spanish conquest find that "cacahuatl" is the original word for the bitter cold beverage drunken by the Aztecs. Sophie and Michael Coe (chocolate experts) of the time suggested ...
The English and Spanish empires in Americas differ largely in terms of their relation with the native people. The treatment of Spanish colonist was much harsher than that of the English. Buoyed by the stories of gold lying to the west, Spanish conquest was focused only on gather invaluable treasures rather than building relation with the native settlers. The invasion of Aztec empire by Hernán Corté (1485-1547) with superior weapons aided by vicious attack dogs represents the climax of brutality and the harsh treatment of Aztec warriors fighting bare foot with stones, spears, and arrows. Spanish were not at all tolerant of their unique identity and beliefs.
Native Americans were using alcohol long before Europeans colonized America. Alcohol was consumed mainly for spiritual reasons, and their beverages contained only diluted alcohol, as much effort was required to produce it. Native Americans used alcohol to communicate with spiritual forces, and only highly ranked priests had access to it. Distillation, then a European process of making more potent alcoholic beverages, was unknown to them, but when the Europeans started trading with the Native Americans, the newcomers introduced them to methods of making more potent drinks. The sudden abundance of more potent beverages did not permit the natives to regulate their use of alcohol, in contrast to the Europeans, who had thousands of years of experience and had regulated its distribution centuries before. Due to the history of alcohol in the New World, factors such as socioeconomics, culture, and genetics have influenced modern Native Americans to abuse alcohol comparably more than other ethnic groups, and it has had a destructive effect on their society.
Fryer, Peter, and Kerstin Pinschower. "The Material Science of Chocolate." Mrs Bulletin December 2000: 1-5.
Chocolate is a sweet food preparation made of cacao seeds in various forms and flavors. It has large application in the food industry and can be consumed either as a final product or as a flavoring ingredient for a great variety of sweet foods. Its primary ingredient – cacao, is cultivated by many cultures in Mexico and Central America as well as in some countries in West Africa, such as Cote d’Ivoire.
Tequila is an alcoholic spirit obtained from the distillation of a fermented agave plant, Agave tequilana, primarily in the area surrounding the city of Tequila, Mexico (25,26). The location of agave production is illustrated in figure 1. Historically, the Aztec people learned that cooked agave, when soaked in water, fermented to produce an enjoyable beverage (5). It was not until the arrival of the Spaniards—who brought knowledge of distillation techniques—that the Aztec people’s fermented agave juice took the form of today’s tequila (7). Today, the tequila industry is growing enormously, producing 300 million liters of tequila per year, and earning revenue of 21 billion pesos ($1.6 billion) in 2012 (9).