The Aztec’s worshiped many gods (deities). The most worshiped god in the Aztec culture was Huitzilopochtli, whose name meant left handed hummingbird. An interesting characteristic of Huitzilopochtli is he was born full grown. He was the god of sun and war and was a cultural god. Coatlícue, his mother became pregnant by placing feathers under her breasts.…
Summary In Miguel Leon-Portilla’s The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico, the author shares the Aztec account of the Spanish conquest of Mexico in 1519. Throughout the book, Portilla discusses the significant events that occurred in the Aztec society. The indigenous groups in Mexico such as the Mexica (Aztec) had a thriving culture and advanced society in ancient Mesoamerica. The people of the Aztec society were educated, studied many subjects of interest such as astrology, and built great architectural pyramids that were breathtaking and beautiful.…
Bonfil Batalla’s book, Mexican Profundo: Reclaiming a Lost Civilization, highlights the struggles of the Mesoamerican culture in the past and present. The author provides an insightful look at two different civilizations that have occupied Mexico throughout the centuries. Batalla named these two civilizations the Mexico Profundo and the imaginary Mexico. He explains how these civilizations have major differences that restrict their ability to coexist peacefully together. This book provides a detailed perspective of the differences and effects of the Mexico Profundo and the imaginary Mexico, the colonization of Mexico, Mexico after the colonial period, and the modern resistances of the Mexico Profundo.…
This work does an exceptional job of explaining the entire history, customs, and culture of the Aztec people without reading like a fact book. It presents itself as a very readable narrative, a story of a people who built a civilization up to a climax of extraordinary greatness, and then witnessed a massive and unexpected fall from grace. This work is easily readable for an audience high school level or above and, while it does present a large amount of names and terms, it does not ever become overwhelming or dull to read. An understanding of the Aztec civilization is crucial to understanding the history of Latin America as a whole and this book is of great historical importance due to the fact that it can be used by anyone as a concise but thoroughly detailed history of an exceptional and controversial civilization whose existence still hangs on even…
This account is a much better research source than Bernal Diaz’s piece, because the information provided is more believable. Broken Spears, specifically describes the roles of both the people and leaders in both armies as well as quotes and statistics from the time. Moreover, Broken Spears grants readers a look into the cultural beliefs and customs of the Aztecs. Whether it was the Sacrificing of the Spanish, or the belief that the “Quetzal-owl” could throw the “Serpent of Fire, the Arrow that Pierces Fire,” and potentially beat the Spanish, this article gives readers a glimpse of Aztec’s beliefs.…
In 1492, Columbus sailed the ocean blue. Christopher Columbus discovered the new world in his voyages, but by accident. The reason for Columbus’s voyage was to find an alternate trade route to the Spice Islands And at this time the passage required Spain to go through the Mediterranean Sea. The sea, however, was controlled by the Ottoman Empire and required a hefty toll. For this reason, Columbus did “not go eastward by land in the usual manner but by the western way” (Doc 1).…
Through All Evil, There is A Light: Sacrifice “If you don’t SACRIFICE for what you want, what you want becomes the SACRIFICE” -Unknown. Agriculture and human sacrifice were major parts of the Aztec Empire’s history; from their amazing inventions for farming to how they worshiped their gods, this impacted how historians wrote Aztec history. Both influenced the empire equally and stood out as the unique factors of the Aztecs’ thriving civilization. Although the Aztecs had great advances toward agriculture, human sacrifice should be further emphasized, due to the many hidden facts to why and the intentions of the Aztecs to perform these horrid rituals.…
The gods promised Tenochtitlan, The Aztec capital, and is an example of the religion deeply rooted into their Empire. An aspect of their religion included human sacrifice used to please the gods and was thought of as a normal activity. When the Spaniards witnessed this religious practice, they were horrified and it made them feel threatened by what they thought to be ruthless savages (Document D). The empire relied on conquest and tribute to gain needed resources for their capital, which in turn made smaller…
Huitzilopochtli is the god of sun and warfare and is also one of the principle deities of the Aztec religion. In Aztec mythology, the god is the offspring of the supreme earth goddess known as Coatlίcue (Britannica). The Aztecs believed that Huitzilopochtli needed “daily nourishment” in the form of human sacrifice, as the “people of the sun” were required to provide the god with blood and hearts for strength. The sacrifice was offered to the sun, or the “eagle who rises,” and burned in “the eagle’s va-se,” (Britannica). Warriors were used as sacrifices to Huitzilopochtli because it was believed that their death would form the sun’s entourage and its spirit would later live in the bodies of hummingbirds.…
The Spanish Conquest of the Aztec Empire in the early sixteenth century has been recounted by two primary documents. The True History of the Conquest of New Spain and The Broken Spears: The Aztec Account of the Conquest of Mexico both share some similarities and differences pertaining to the author's perspective on what truly happened such as the way the Spaniards were welcomed, outlook on culture, and interpretation of the war. This paper will compare both accounts of the encounters between the Spanish and the Aztecs from different points of view. Although the events in both sources took place during a similar time period, the differences vary in the author's tone of voice, the purpose, and the circumstances from where it was told. Based on the collected findings, The True History…
The Aztec and Inca empires grew rapidly during the fifteenth century and were far superior than the other Indigenous groups in their land. While these two empires expanded differently they both prove to be the most power empires to have existed in Mesoamerica. The Mexica, who were the Aztecs, and Incas became powerful through their military successes, and reformed religious ideologies. While both of these empires proved to be successful in growing their empires where they both experienced power struggles before the Spanish conquest. Civil wars and over ambitus expansionism lead to the empires power to be in jeopardy however, the empires would eventually fall due to the Spaniards conquering the land.…
In his book “Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth,” David Carrasco successfully explained the life of the Aztecs, so the reader could better comprehend what the Aztecs went through. Carrasco effectively accomplished reliving the Aztecs life in 282 pages which was constructed of a preface, a chronology of Central Mexico, nine chapters, notes, glossary, selected bibliography, and an index. The “Daily Life of the Aztecs: People of the Sun and Earth,” was published in 1998 by The Greenwood Press. From the preface of the book, we discovered that the author’s thesis is, “attempt[ing] a new interpretation of the complex relationships between cultural practices, social order, and religious myths and symbols. The book is organized as…
The question is raised “whether Aztec practices should be considered as part of the history of murder and homicide at all” (Pennock 284). Pennock explains the religious motivations behind the human sacrifices; that “creator gods let blood from themselves to bring life” which “established the reciprocal blood debt” that sacrifice satisfied. She goes on to explain how the public education system helped cement homogenous views of the sacrifices. She also showcases the wonders of the Aztec world, such as the “efficient legal system” and “the huge marketplace” (Pennock 292, 294). The article then transitions into a look at how modern scholars “accept an underlying premise which demonizes the practitioners of human sacrifice,” hindering proper analyses of Aztec culture (Pennock 297).…
The Spanish soldiers were ready to repel against Cortes because of the promise of riches (most had been shipped back to Spain). Cortes agreed that the soldiers deserved their pay and asked Spain to give it up. Cortes goal was to colonize Mexico into a powerful Spanish empire. The Aztecs were a group of Mesoamerican people of central Mexico in the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth centuries. Aztec culture had complex mythological and religious traditions.…
Human sacrifice was a common practice in early latin american cultures. Many such cultures believed that these sacrifices brought about good luck and pleased their gods, thus the Aztecs emulated these previous and contemporary civilizations, yet far surpassed them in both the number of victims and the brutality which they inflicted upon them. All written evidence of human sacrifice by the Aztecs was written by the Spanish conquistadors, who greatly exaggerated all accounts of human sacrifice to further their agenda of making their conquest of latin america legal. Despite these over exaggerations, human sacrifice was greatly practiced by the Aztecs to inspire both terror and to satisfy their religious beliefs. The Aztecs 's religious ideas…