The Broken Spears Chapter Summary

The Broken Spears begins with a foreword from J. Jorge Klor de Alva, exposing the reason for the creation and publishing of this book: to shed light on the real history of the natives of the New World, one that displays the grotesque horrors committed against them by the Spanish—though the Spanish are often painted as heroes who conquered all odds . Before the arrival of the Spanish, the Aztec people saw several bad and confusing omens . The Spaniards then arrive . Motecuhzoma sent out gifts to them, as he thought them gods , and messengers brought them to him, which also led to the slaughter of the Cholula as the Spaniards marched inland, much to the surprise and horror of all other city-states in Mexico . Other tribes began to accept the …show more content…
The lectures leave off with the decline and extinction of the native populations of the Caribbean, such as with the Taino peoples, and with the establishment of urban cities such as Santo Domingo. However, this first chapter does bring a connection to the book because it draws on the fact that the Spanish left their colonies for gold, the primary reasons for murdering the Aztecs and seizing their cities, and also, the decline in the native population serves as an example of what would happen to the other natives in the mainland. Chapter two of Colonial Latin America opens with the Conquest of Mexico, specifically with the line, “The conquest of Mexico gave substance to the Spaniards’ dreams of finding great wealth in the New World” . It also draws on the fact that Cortes used the different city-states to help him conquer the Aztecs , though in this book, the allies are gained more through fear, which is not really presented as the case in The Broken Spears. The timeline also fits in with the narrative of Broken