...There are many differences and similarities of the aztec emperor, Moctezuma, and a spanish conquistador and landowner in Cuba, Hernan Cortés. But first, let us review the story. Hernan cortez was a landowner in cuba. He decided that there was a good possibility that he could get to do something that nobody else could. He wanted to conquer the Aztec Empire. He lands near the aztec empire and their leader, Moctezuma, was scared. He had never seen people that looked or talked like this ever before. He was overwhelmed and thought that Cortés might actually be a god. He was intimidated. Eventually Cortés captured and took over the Aztec Empire. The two men were leaders of their own people. This is a way they were the same. Moctezuma was the leader...
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...‘Assess the significance of the leadership of Cortes for the conquest of Mexico and its immediate consequences’ Cortes is a man who historians have studied for a long time and there is a vast amount of evidence about him and the conquest that he led to Southern America. The evidence clearly indicates that Cortes was the driving force behind the conquest of Mexico. In 1519 Hernan Cortes and his men landed in Tenochtitlan in search of power and wealth. Word quickly spread to the king, Montezuma. He heard that men had arrived from a faraway land with ‘sticks that spit fire and deer as big as houses’ had landed on the coast. This panicked the Aztec people as they believed in a fatalistic religion that predicted that Quetzalcoatl, the Aztec god of war, would return in that exact year to punish them. This set up an instant tension between the two oppositions that meant Cortes would have to lead his men if they were going to conquer this land in the name of God. It’s obvious that Cortes was a very confident and cunning man, as he disobeyed the rulings of the Governor of Cuba and went unbeknownst to the current ruler of Spain, Charles V. This put a huge amount of pressure on Cortes because he either succeeded in his campaign for power or he would be sentenced to death. Leading a group of five hundred men into a strange and unknown land was never going to be a simple task but the characteristics of Cortes’ leadership were a driving force in the conquest of Mexico. This becomes evident...
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... Horrible Aztecs or Hypocritical Spaniards? Since the arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas in 1492, many other “explorers” sought to conquer the various native tribes and exploit the resources the Americas had to offer. When discovered by the European explorers, it was only a matter of time the not-so-great- Spanish conquistadors arrived with their plans to take over the Americas – even if it meant generating rumors and propaganda about how horrible the Aztecs were. The conquistadors would bring back reports to Europe saying the Aztecs were a brutal, human sacrificing cult who needed to be destroyed. While there is some archeological evidence to back up these claims, the Spanish strongly exaggerated the truth about such to coerce the Christians in Western Europe into thinking their invasion of the Americas was okay. Upon arriving in Mexico, Hernando Cortes, a famous Spanish Explorer who unbeknownst to many gave California its name, was an enslaver and murderer of not only the Aztecs, but his own people as well. “He was known to dismantle his own ships in an effort to force his followers had no choice but to follow him inland (Jaffee).”1 The sheer self-righteousness of he and his followers, none can fathom. At first, Cortes was mistakenly thought to be “Quetzalcoatl,” or the “bearded god of the Aztecs” because of his light skin and beard. On the contrary, Cortes is nothing close to a “winged god,” or “feathered serpent,” as the natives claimed. Cortes managed to...
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...Discuss these reasons. There were multiple reasons the Spanish conquered the Aztecs. Due to Aztec mythology, Cortes, the Spanish conquistador, was god. The main reason for the Aztecs’ loss was the huge difference in weaponry. While the Spanish had cannons, the Aztecs were still using clubs, spears and arrows. Therefore, the Aztecs were clearly outmatched. How did the Cortes, with only 600 men, 16 horses and a few cannons conquer the Aztec empire with millions? Cortes had an Indian woman who became his interpreter, and on the way he fought into Tenochtitlan, he allied with the local tribes Montezuma had oppressed. Later, he formed an army of thousands. However, Cortes did not directly attack the empire, instead, he was welcomed into the heart of Tenochtitlan by Montezuma because he was believed to be a god. Cortes was given gold and silver jewellery when he was welcomed, but one week later, he repaid the generosity by chaining Montezuma up in his palace. In addition to this, the Aztec sacrificed approximately 20,000 people each year, and that was a cost of huge numbers who could have...
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...have heard about the Aztecs and their empire, but are they aware what truly brought the Aztec civilization to a screeching halt? Among other things the Conquistadors had the largest influence in the downfall of the Aztec Empire. According to a well-known historical anthropologist by the name of Ross Hassig the conquest to Mexico (which was where the Aztecs lived) has captured historians' interest for centuries and the expedition has undergone relentless investigation. The conquistadors took over the Aztec Empire which became known as Mexico, and later became under Spain's control. Since the Conquistadors were from a different civilized part of the world, they had advanced weaponry to aid them in the great feat. Not only did the Spanish, or better known as conquistadors, bring unknown weapons they also brought unknown diseases which was a detriment to the fall of the Aztec Empire. Spain sent conquistadors to Mexico to expand their empire and Herman Cortes was ultimately considered the Gran Conquistador since it was his expedition that led to the conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Aztecs (Levy, 332). Cortes arrived on the shores of Mexico with an army of conquistadors with the intent to expand the Spanish empire. On his journey he schemed to covert the native inhabitants to Catholicism and carry of a fortune of gold, of course the only thing that stood in his way were the Aztecs. Tenochtitlan, the city in which the Aztecs resided, was where Cortes met his counterpart...
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...conquest in the Americas starting around the 1400s. Hernán Cortez was a landowner in Cuba. He came to the coast of Mexico planning to conquer the Aztecs. As he traveled to the capital of the Aztec empire, Tenochtitlan, he conquered people who were in his way. His army grew as he captured people such as the Native Americans. Montezuma was the leader of the Aztecs and had conquered several city states in order to grow his empire. Under his leadership, the aztecs built the powerful city of Tenochtitlan. These two leaders were alike in the ways that they conquered villages and people but are different when it comes to personal life. Reading about these two leaders gave me the impression that they would do anything to get what they want. To me, it seemed like they did not care if their actions were right or wrong, as long as they were the ones coming out on top. Not only were Cortes and Montezuma alike because they were both leaders, they were also similar in the way that they led their people. Hernan Cortes captured anyone who was in his way when he was trying to get to Tenochtitlan. For example, he captured and befriended some Native Americans. Montezuma...
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...be the more powerful, superior country in the Europe, and having the most land was one of the key factors. When The Americas were discovered it be the first type of imperialism. They not only almost take over the entire west coast of the world, they nearly wiped the entire population of the natives.(Britt) People like Hernan Cortes, Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci, and Cosme de Torres each arrived in a foreign country to try to expand their own beliefs to their country’s belief. Cosme de Torres went to Japan to try to convert the natives to Christianity, but while he was there he was heavily influenced by the Japanese. Hernan Cortes was a Spanish Conquistador who sought to take over the lands of Mexico. The author of the excerpt is an Aztec descendant, Miguel Leon-Portilla. He is an anthropologist who studied his ancestors very closely. He was successful with 4 of his novels, all having to do with the Aztec people. He was heavily influenced by the history of his people, about how they were brutally conquered. He was a very respected man after the publishing of his novels. In his book “The Broken Spears”, he very comprehensively explains the how they were taken over by the Spaniards, almost as if he were there to experience it. Instead of showing the Spanish point of view, they had it as theirs. They exposed it as a...
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...more a thousand to one. Their adversaries were people well skilled in war and killing, with strong well organized societies. So how did the Spanish manage to be victorious in the face of such odds? One of the fundamental differences between the Spanish Conquistadors and the Mexican was language. The Spanish were able to control the conversations however because they had trained a woman called la Malince, to be an interpreter. This gave the Spaniards the ability to have open conversations, while the Mexican could not. The Spanish knew what the Mexica were saying all of the time, while the Mexica only knew what the Spaniards wanted them to know. An example of this would be during negotiations with Montezuma’s emissaries, Cortez could issue orders to his troops in the middle of negotiations to do things like fire cannon, and tactically this gave the Spaniards an advantage Another difference between the two cultures was religion, even though both parties had a religion based on human sacrifice, the Mexica actively sacrificed people in a ceremony of blood, while the Spanish religion was based upon a single sacrifice. The Spanish were monotheists while the Mexica were polytheists. However while the Mexica believed in active human sacrifice and bloodletting, the Spanish had no problem spilling the blood of thousands of Mexica and Amerindians. The Aztecs thought that the Spaniards might be the reincarnation of one of their gods, as they had a legend of this god returning. Therefore...
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...across the Atlantic Ocean, he was looking for such a route. Instead, he landed in the Americas. Columbus thought he had reached the Indies. In time, Europeans would realize that he had found what they called the ”New World.” European nations soon rushed to claim lands in the Americas for themselves. Early explorers often suffered terrible hardships. In 1520, Ferdinand Magellan set out with three ships to cross the Pacific Ocean from South America. He had guessed, correctly, that the Indies lay on the other side of the Pacific. But Magellan had no idea how vast the ocean really was. He thought his crew would be sailing for a few weeks at most. Instead, the crossing took three months. While the ships were still at sea, the crew ran out of food. One sailor wrote about this terrible time. “We ate biscuit… swarming with worms…. We drank yellow water that had been putrid [rotten] for days... and often we ate sawdust from boards.” Why did explorers brave such dangers? In this reading, you will discover some of the reasons for the Age of Exploration. Then you will learn about the voyages of explorers from Portugal, Spain, and other European countries. You will also learn about the impact of their discoveries on Europe and on the lands they explored. 2 © Teachers’ Curriculum Institute Reasons for the Age of Exploration hy...
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...Aztec Vs Spanish (Comparison Essay) The Aztecs and the Spanish were both dominant groups in their region, and both had very long and prosperous civilizations. But when the two groups met up, who would prevail?? It was in 1519 that the clash of the century occurred. Spanish conquistadors led by Hernan Cortes met up with the Aztecs in Tenochtitlan, and ultimately conquered the city and empire, leaving the Aztecs as slaves working their own land to benefit the Spanish Crown. Even though the Spanish obviously seemed much more powerful, the Aztec people actually had many similarities to their conquerors. Firstly, both civilizations relied heavily on religion and made most decisions based on their religious beliefs. Yet there were also many differences in the worldviews of these people. I think that the biggest elements we can compare between the Aztec and Spanish civilizations are how their societies functioned. In many ways, their social hierarchies were similar, but also quite different. Lastly, it is important to take a look at the education received by people in each group, to better understand their societies. First, it is crucial to recognize how these two societies operated, which brings our focus...
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...The discovery of “New World” did not begin with Christopher Columbus and colonizing did not end because of Roanoke. Despite the methods of colonizing, the Spanish and English both raced to the Americas to expand their empires and open up the world. The colonies established by the Spanish and the English were prosperous; however, their tactics for establishing these new regions were both akin and different. To begin with, the manner that the Spanish colonized the “New World” was different from the approach that the English colonized. The Spanish were cruel and brutal to the indigenous peoples. According The Black Legend, the Spanish were vindictive and they massacred the Aztec people by the thousands. Or they killed the people indirectly by smallpox and/or other diseases. The article continues to support this claim by stating "The 1492 arrival of the Spanish in the New World "was an invasion" fueled by greed and leading to "an annihilation" (The Black Legend). The Indians weren't the only people aware of the Spanish cruelty either, William of Orange describes that Spain, "committed such horrible excesses that all barbarities, cruelties and tyrannies ever perpetrated” (The Black Legend). William of Orange could not help the Natives suffering under the colonizing efforts of the conquistadors, because the other European countries were inferior to the Spanish power. Bernal Diaz, a soldier in the army of Cortes, wrote, "We came here to serve God, and also get rich", verifying that...
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...slaves to creating permanent settlements. In 1519, some Spanish soldiers landed on the coast of Mexico. Three years later, these Spanish soldier conquered Aztec empire. The three factors of Spanish victory were technological advantages, division within the Aztec empire, and disease. Later, some other Spanish soldiers conquered a richer empire, Inca empire. By 1550, Spain’s New World empire, which stretched from the Caribbean through Mexico to Peru, was administered from Spain by the Council of the Indies. The council enacted laws for the empire and supervised an elaborate bureaucracy to maintain political control and extract wealth from the land and its people. Then, two expedition went to north America to find gold and silver but they did not find any gold and silver. So Spain stopped to extend its empire and just maintained two precarious footholds in north of Mexico. By a large number of gold and silver flowing into Spain, it became the richest and most powerful state in Europe. However, these American treasure undermined Spanish predominance. Many leading merchants who refused to become Christian was expelled from Spain. The remaining Christian merchants, awash in American riches, had no desire of trading. Consequently, Spain’s economy eventually stagnated. French began to pay much attention to America after news of Cortés s exploits. King of France wanted to enrich...
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...Global Exploration 1500-1700 Trident University Module –Case 1 The fifteenth century was a time of great advances, so much so that this period is called the Age of Discovery. The European sailors and ships left the coastal waters of the lands they knew to embark upon adventures in the unknown “green sea of darkness”. It began with the Portuguese and was soon followed by British, French, and Dutch ships who eventually set out to explore what became known as the “New World”. There were many reasons that motivated these cultures to set out into the unknown but the most compelling reasons included gold, religion and the drive to explore and expand territory. The first motive was wealth. Although Genghis Khan was best known for his bloody legacy, he had done wonders to improve the trade across Eurasia. He provided the security for travelers to cross what is now known as the Silk Road. This trade route extended over 5000 miles on land and sea with interconnected trade routes that connected with Asia Minor and the Mediterranean. The world had developed a taste for the spices and silks that had been brought back by the crusaders, and now men saw this as an opportunity to make their fortune. They traveled the Silk Road to bring back to the items that were in great demand and brought a large profit (Rossabi, n.d.). However, the Mongol empire eventually fell. China became Buddhist and a rising Islamic threat shut down travel on the Silk Road. Trade was restricted...
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...The author explains the accusation of premeditation with the reasoning that the natives did wait until as soon as the Spanish were divided to unleash an attack. Analyze: The speaker’s audience would likely be other Europeans who spoke his Spanish language. This led to his choice of highlighting the details that made the Spanish sound defenseless and the natives to sound like bloodthirsty savages, though there clearly had to be more to the story that the author chose to leave out. Evaluate: The speaker may have left out details that showed the Spanish causing fair reason for the natives’ attacking them, such as unreasonable behavior or provocation. He either overlooked details of his own sides’ faults, or chose to exclude them merely for self-preservation. Document 1.11 Voyage to the St. Lawrence Identify: Cartier emphasized how joyous and welcoming the natives were towards the Europeans. He went into detail of how they danced and sang for their visitors, and strived to build a positive relationship with one...
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...Ashley Glover History Midterm 1. The first Europeans to come across North America were the Norse. They are better known today as the Vikings. Leaf Erikson, the leader, led the group of Vikings to North America looking for money and resources. However, no profit was found. On the other hand, though the Vikings did encounter Native Americans and called them Skraelings. Even though no profit was found the Vikings chose to bargain with the natives. Unfortunately, they left due to the fighting that occurred between them and the Natives. It is now five hundred years later and a man named Christopher Columbus is looking for a direct trade route to Asia. He begins searching for place that will fund his voyage. He goes to England first, and they...
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