Nahuatl

Camilla Townsend’s Malintzin’s Choices depicts the ways in which one young Indian woman’s bold decision impacted the outcome of the Spanish conquest of Mexico. The master narrative is commonly told through the perspective of the conquistadors themselves, rendering the history largely biased and lacking the views of the indigenous communities that were conquered. The inclusion of indigenous experiences challenges white male authority by shedding light on the inaccuracies of the major accounts and…

Additionally, surrounding the face, there is an elaborate headdress, suggesting the woman held a role of some status or importance. However, the clearest indication of who is represented on the mask comes from the bells adorning the cheeks of the figure. In Nahuatl, the traditional language of the Aztec empire, Coyolxauhqui literally translates to “She Who Has Facial Painting with Bells” (Pillsbury 264). The myth of Coyolxauhqui, goddess of the moon, and her brother Huitzilopochtli, the Aztec…

the Temple Mayor. It also contains a simplified skull rack which was also found near the Temple Mayor. The Codex Mendoza was created to contain information about the lords of Tenochtitlan. The images were often in Spanish by a priest that spoke Nahuatl, the language spoken by the Nahuas (an Aztec ethnic group). The Codex was intended to be sent to the Spanish King, Emperor Charles V of Spain. However, it never made it to Spain…

another tribe that spoke a different language. When the Spanish defeated a tabascan Chieftain at Potonchán, it included a gift of 20 native women, one of whom was able to speak both Náhuatl and Mayan tongue fluently. She then got baptized with a Spanish name, Marina, and took the Task of translating the Náhuatl and Mayan to Aguilar, who then told it in Spanish. Marina soon became Cortés' mistress. Later on, she gave birth to his son, Martin, who was the first mixed-blood Mexican.…

¬¬ Have you ever wondered how civilizations managed to live during the height of their power? One of the greatest pre-conquest Mesoamerican cultures was the “Toltecs.” According to the dictionary of World History, it defines the Toltec civilization as: A northern Mexican tribe, who established a military state between the 10th and 12th centuries at Tula, 80 km north of modern Mexico City. They played an important part in the downfall of the city of Teotihuacán and were themselves overrun in the…

Aztec science developed their way into the Aztec society and life, helping with communication, education, and medicine as well. The Aztecs spoke the language Nahuatl, which is still used to today in some parts of Mexico. Instead of using the alphabet, they used pictures to communicate on paper, also known as symbols (glyphs or pictographs). They also used these pictographs as a way to store events and anything…

a result of a shipwreck, Jerónimo Aguilar, and a Nahua girl given as a gift named Malinztin (renamed as Doña Marina), who had ended up proving herself to be one of Cortes’ most important allies. Malitzin had served as an interpreter, as she spoke Nahuatl (the most common language that was spoken in Central Mexico) as well as Mayan, and mediator between the Spanish and their indigenous allies, as well as their enemies. Communication became the first factor in having a successful conquest.…

The Aztecs had one of the most distinctive and intelligent cultures of its time. Aztecs were very educated. They studied the stars and created an accurate calendar. Creativity was another key aspect in Aztec life. Many statues and paintings that displayed their imagination were found where they used to live. Poetry was also found at their cities. Aztec poetry was written for ceremonies and common life, about important themes relevant to the Central American civilization, and by wise men and the…

Our Lady of Guadalupe is the mother of God, also known a Blessed Virgin Mary. Our Lady was seen in Aztec Mexico City in the 1500’s by Juan Diego, and his uncle on the top of a hill. She appeared as an apparition and spoke to them in the nahuatl language saying that she wanted a church to be built on that site in her honor. Juan was a Catholic in a country that mainly practiced polytheistic beliefs. Our Lady appeared and told him that she was to have a church built, and that he was supposed to…

European exploration was a time period that in which Europeans discovered there was a whole new world than what was just known them. There were fabled lands that had riches beyond their imagination.Some explorers seeked the thrill of being legends by conquering these lands while others wanted to spread the word of the lord. However not everyone was pleased with the intentions of the westerners because of how they invaded their lands and took their riches. Exploration would help shape the world…