Quetzalcoatl

After Columbus’s opening of the New World for European with his 1492 voyage, it was not long until more Europeans came to this unexplored world. One such explorer was Hernan Cortez of Spain who came into contact with the Aztec Empire. Through the work of The Broken Spears, edited by Miguel León-Portilla, a relationship of conflict from a lack of understanding and misinterpreting of the others intentions was seen between the Mexica and Spanish empires as the Mexica saw the Spanish as gods, and…

Aztecs The Aztecs were one of the most historic figures in the 13th century to the mid-15th century. In the paper I will discuss where they came from, there religion, where they ruled, and most importantly their life style and how they ended. The Aztecs originated as a nomadic tribe in northern Mexico, arrived in Mesoamerica around the beginning of the 13th century. From their magnificent capital city, Tenochtitlan, the Aztecs emerged as one of the most dominant force in central Mexico,…

1. Where, and at what time period did the Aztec Civilization exist? Where and what time period In 1110-1248 the first of the Aztecs searched for a place to stay. It is said that their god Huitzilopochtli told them to settle were they see an eagle eating a snake on a cactus. They roamed for ages until 1325 when they spotted the eagle eating a snake on a cactus in Tenochtitlan. Timeline 1110-1248- The Aztecs traveled Mexico to find a location to settle 1325- they settled in Tenochtitlan 1350-…

While presenting a lecture on the “Danger of a Single Story” in a 2009 Ted Talk in London England, Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie remarked that if a people are shown as one thing, over and over again, that is what they become. For centuries the conquest of Mexico and the fall of the Aztec empire has been a single story told through only European accounts. In The Broken Spears Miguel León-Portilla provides an account of the first arrival of European colonizers through a collection of codices authored…

A legend found in the Aztec culture was that a god named Quetzalcoatl, was supposed to return to the native people from the East shore. Ironically, his appearance as described by the Aztec people is oddly similar to the European appearance, who like the legend arrived from the East, which may be contributing factors…

However, Cortés’ resolve held and his determination carried him into the city. After Cortés marched into Tenochtitlan with approximately one thousand Tlaxcalan natives, Montezuma regarded Cortés as the reincarnation of their god, Quetzalcoatl (Navia, 2015). Montezuma received Cortés well, showering him in various gifts of gold. However, Cortés nevertheless took Montezuma hostage and subsequently seized control of Tenochtitlan (Beck, 2003). Soon after however, another Spanish expedition…

European Invasion of the Aztec Empire After Columbus discovered the New World, Europeans began to flood into the new region where they encountered many native people mistakenly referring to them as people of India hence the term Indians. These native civilizations, though seeming cut off from the rest of the world flourished with large cities and advanced technology that is still revival in today’s modern science, especially in the field of Astrology. One of the societies the Europeans…

The areas know as Mesoamerica, are large and were once filled with strong and prosperous civilizations. The Olmec, Teo, Monte Alban, and much more. All of these civilizations were powerful but came to an abrupt end. However when an empire falls another one will rise to power. This is where the Mayan and Aztec civilizations come into place. Both of these settlements were large, strong, and well know having territory all over Mesoamerica. The Aztec and Maya both shared some common ideas and…

For this thesis, I travelled to the Snite Museum of Art on Notre Dame University’s campus in South Bend, Indiana. I chose this particular museum for the simple fact that I had indubitably limited transportation and time windows. The piece of art that will be discussed in this theses is the Human/jaguar transformation head on a tenon. The artwork was a gift to the Snite museum I visited from a gentleman known as Peter David Joralemon in 2005. Properly displayed within the Snite, the viewer can…

or human could have added to pagan ideas that previously existed. Another preexisting idea of the native people that was carried over post-conquest that we have evidence of, was the veneration of the feathers of the Quetzal bird. Associated with Quetzalcoatl, a creator diety, the Quetzal feathers were still used to adorn crucifixes. Matthew Restall shows us a…